Joe Lala

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Joe Lala
Lala (Manassas, TopPop) in 1972
Born
Joseph Anthony Lala

November 3, 1947
Ybor City, Florida, U.S.
DiedMarch 18, 2014(2014-03-18) (aged 66)
Tampa, Florida, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Musician
  • actor
Years active1966–2014 (musician)
1977–2006 (acting)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1996; div. 2004)​
Musical career
GenresRock
Instrument(s)
  • Percussion
  • vocals

Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image.

Life and career[edit]

Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida,[1] to parents from Contessa Entellina (an ethnic Albanian community in Sicily). His father was Sicilian, and he left the family when Joe was a child, so he was raised by his mother on her own. Lala's mother, Janie Cacciatore, an avid dancer, took her son to as many shows as she could. Lala spoke fluent Spanish and Italian.[2] He started out playing the drums in several Florida bands, before forming the band Blues Image. He also occasionally sang lead vocals, most notably on the song "Leaving My Troubles Behind". As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Stills-Young Band, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees' 1976 US chart-topper You Should Be Dancing, subsequently included on the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Lala provided the wide selection of percussive effects on Barbra Streisand's 1980 worldwide No. 1 album Guilty, and contributed to Whitney Houston's eponymous 1985 debut album.[1] Throughout his career, Lala accumulated 32 gold records and 28 platinum records. He played on the movie soundtracks of Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, D.C. Cab, Streets of Fire, All the Right Moves, Breathless, Defiance, The Lonely Guy and Airplane!. A severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome[1] ended Lala's career as a percussionist. It kept him from performing full-time, but he continued to record with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, the acoustic band Firefall, Dan Fogelberg, Dolly Parton, Rod Stewart and many others.[2] Joe Lala was the last in the drummer stool for the handful of concerts given in February 1973 by the disintegrating Byrds.

He made the most of his Italian-American background and his mastery of Spanish, Cuban and Puerto Rican accents with TV roles in Miami Vice, General Hospital, Melrose Place, Seinfeld,[1] Hunter, and Who's the Boss?, and starred in a summer replacement show named Knight & Daye. He portrayed another native of Ybor City, Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, in Ali: An American Hero, and co-starred with Andy Garcia in For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. His films included Active Stealth, Sugar Hill, On Deadly Ground, Deep Sleep, Havana (with Robert Redford), Out for Justice, Marked for Death, Eyewitness to Murder, and Born in East L.A., plus many more.

Lala also guest-starred on several animated shows; Batman: The Animated Series, Pinky and the Brain, Quack Pack, The Angry Beavers, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Danger Rangers, ChalkZone, Johnny Bravo, Ozzy & Drix, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Woody Woodpecker Show, and many more. Additionally, he voiced Kun Lan in the 2005 video game Killer7.

Lala was married to voice director Ginny McSwain from 1996 until their divorce in 2004.[3]

In the mid-2000s, Lala retired from acting to care for his mother, who had dementia. Lala coached young actors at the Italian Club in his native Ybor City.[4] Joe Lala died from complications of lung cancer on March 18, 2014, at the age of 66.[5]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1991 Out for Justice Vermeer
1997 Demolition University Carlos Ramos Direct-to-video
1999 Golgo 13: Queen Bee Don Roccini, Gomez (voice) English dub; direct-to-video
1999 Our Friend, Martin Reporter, Demonstrator (voice) Direct-to-video[6]
2000 An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster Bootlick (voice) Direct-to-video[6]
2001 Monsters, Inc. Augustus "Spike" Jones (voice)
2002 The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Guard (voice) Direct-to-video[6]

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Pinky and the Brain Francois (voice) Episode: "Napoleon Brainaparte"[6]
1995 What-a-Mess Additional voices 3 episodes
1996–1997 Superman: The Animated Series Electrician, Maitre D' (voice) 2 episodes[6]
1997 The Legend of Calamity Jane Additional voices 13 episodes
1998 Oh Yeah! Cartoons Fox, Old Timer, Max (voice) 2 episodes[6]
1999–2002 Hey Arnold! Miller, GIs, Cops (voice) 2 episodes[6]
1999 The Angry Beavers El Grapadura, Alien (voice) Episode: "Norberto y Daggetto en El Grapadura y el Castor Malo"[6]
1999 Johnny Bravo Raoul (voice) Episode: "Mama's New Boyfriend"[6]
1999 Batman Beyond Spike, Sailboat Captain (voice) 2 episodes[6]
2001 Static Shock Security Guard (voice) Episode: "Replay"[6]
2001 Time Squad Leonardo da Vinci (voice) Episode: "Daddio DaVinci"
2002 Samurai Jack Owner, Engineer, Passenger (voice) Episode: "Couple on a Train"[6]
2003 Ozzy & Drix Hector's Dad (voice) 2 episodes[6]
2004–2006 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius Sir Estevez (voice) 4 episodes[6]
2004–2005 The Batman Crime Bosses, Bomb Technician (voice) 2 episodes[6]
2005 All Grown Up! Enrique, Doctor (voice) Episode: "Dude, Where's My Horse?"
2005 Danger Rangers Hector, Joey Clams, Raccoon Dad (voice) Episode: "Water Works"[6]
2006 W.I.T.C.H. Guard, Mayor (voice) Episode: "X is for Xanadu"

Video games[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1992 It Came from the Desert Koolman
1999 Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned Train Conductor, Vittorio Buchelli, Bartender [6]
2005 Killer7 Kun Lan [6]

Collaborations[edit]

With Gypsy

With Barbra Streisand

  • Guilty (Columbia Records, 1980)

With Stephen Stills

With Dionne Warwick

With David Crosby

With Joe Walsh

With Dan Fogelberg

With Don Felder

With Bill Wyman

With Ringo Starr

With Neil Diamond

With Jackson Browne

With Kenny Rogers

With Graham Nash

With Neil Young

With Rod Stewart

With Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Perrone, Pierre (May 7, 2014). "Joe Lala: Sought-after percussionist who switched careers when illness struck to become an actor and voice-over artist". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-09. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Meacham, Andrew (March 19, 2014). "Legendary Tampa percussionist Joe Lala dies at 66". Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  3. ^ www.independent.co.uk
  4. ^ Jeff Giles (March 19, 2014). "Drummer Joe Lala Dead at 66". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Guzzo, Paul (March 18, 2014). "Drummer Lala, who teamed with a generation of rock stars, dead at 66". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Joe Lala (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved May 23, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.

External links[edit]

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