Other Contributors’ Bios

Gia Williams
Gia is an actress, cabaret artist, and TV hostess. She has toured nationally with the Harlem Gospel Choir and internationally with the Harlem Gospel Ensemble. Her warmth and friendly enthusiasm shines through her stellar performance of Miss Maradise, Starabella’s kindergarten teacher.

Matt Castle
Matt Castle is a versatile actor and musician who has appeared in plays, operas, and musical productions across the United States. In 2006, he made his Broadway debut playing Peter in the Tony Award–winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. Matt is in high demand these days as he actively pursues his multiple careers as a musical director, concert pianist, and composer. We are so fortunate that he provided his magnificent voice as Mr. Oclaif, Starabella’s “Daddy.”

Joe Vulpis
Joe Vulpis is a songwriter/producer born and raised in New York. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1989 with a degree in commercial arranging. Joe has performed, produced, and toured with major acts all over the world, working proficiently in a variety of styles. In addition, he has written and produced many national jingle ads. Joe is the owner of AP Music Studios and divides his time among New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. (Visit the following links to learn more about Joe’s work: http://ladygaga.wikia.com/wiki/Joe_Vulpis and http://www.almartino.com/)

Not only is Joe an outstanding musician, arranger, and producer, but by pairing his talent with his passion for the purpose and messages contained in these stories, he brought this recording to an unparalleled level of excellence in the world of audio books for children. His heart is at the core of the recording and radiates through every aspect of its production. Joe is truly “starific-terrific”!

Anton Petrov
Anton Petrov is an award-winning artist whose illustrations are published globally. Born in Astrakhan, Russia, Anton demonstrated a passion for art from an early age. His mother, a published illustrator and art teacher herself, taught and encouraged her son about art from as far back as he can remember.

After moving to South Africa, Anton studied at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg. In 1996, his family moved to New Zealand, where Anton enrolled in the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland to study graphic design. Within a year of earning a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2001, he won the prestigious Russell Clark Award for most distinguished illustrations in the children’s book The Book of Pacific Lullabies. Since then, some of the many publishers with whom Anton has collaborated are Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Penguin, Holt Rinehart & Winston, Barbour, Concordia, and Sterling Publishing. Anton works from his studio in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Starabella stories have become visually alive through Anton’s sensitive, colorful, artistic interpretation. He sprinkled “magic” throughout the pages of the books. Anton captured the reality of every emotion of the characters as well as the fantasy of their dreams. Bliing! Bliing! Bliing!

Special Thanks

Studio Musicians
We are pleased to have had a host of extremely talented musicians—all tops in their field—collaborate on the recordings. Thanks to each and every one of you for your singular contribution.

Karen Wilder, President, WWP
Thanks for typing and typing and retyping the script revisions with the scratch-outs, arrows, additions, and deletions of the oh-too-many drafts to mention. And thanks for your additional help and advice, and a special BIG THANK YOU for finding us Matt.

Cindy Kaufman-Nixon, Bookmarker Editorial Services
Thank you for your meticulous editorial consultation, precise proofreading, friendly guidance, and, above all, sticking with this until the end.

And to all of our friends, thank you so much for your continued interest and steadfast encouragement throughout this project. Aloha!

MUSICIANS
Piano: Tara Fialco, Joe Vulpis
Keyboards: Tara Fialco, Joe Vulpis, Daniel Lapidus
Guitars: Tony Di Lullo, Dave Keyes, Oz Noy, Bernie Minoso
Drums: Larry Steppler
Saxophones: Daniel Lapidus, Mark Fineberg

VOCALS
Dana Fialco: Lead vocals and background vocals for all songs, singing the parts of Starabella, Baby Starry, Mrs. Oclaif, Julian, Malia, Elizabeth, Emilio, Josh, Jeremy, Tomiko, Zandrina, and Lifisha
Matt Castle: Lead vocals and background vocals for Mr. Oclaif
Gia Willaims: Lead vocals and background vocals for Miss Maradise. Additional background vocals by: Dana Fialco
Follow Me Reprise with Kids’ Chorus:
Voice of kids’ Chorus director: Joe Vulpis
Vocal Performances for All of the Kids: Dana Fialco