Patrick M. DiNizio “Pat” (October 12, 1955 – December 12, 2017)
Patrick M. DiNizio, 62, of Scotch Plains, NJ, passed away on December 12, 2017. For the past 37 years, Pat was the principal songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist for the platinum recording artists The Smithereens.
Perseverance paid off for The Smithereens as the band’s combustible live performances along with Pat’s dark yet catchy British Invasion influenced songs helped them rack up gold and platinum records. Their records contained such hits as “Blood and Roses”, “Behind the Wall of Sleep”, “Only A Memory” and “A Girl Like You” among many others. They performed on top-rated TV programs such as The Tonight Show, MTV Unplugged and Saturday Night Live as well as on stages all over the world.
Besides working with The Smithereens, Pat made a foray into solo side projects over the years too. He was a program director for XM Radio’s “Unsigned Channel”, traveled across the country with his pioneering living room concert tours and ran the grants program for Jim Beam Brands’ “Benefiting Emerging Artists in Music”. Pat has also recorded four highly esteemed solo albums.
In 2011, Pat brought his “Confessions of a Rock Star” multimedia revue to The Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. “Confessions of a Rock Star” blended Pat’s humorous anecdotal tales of life in the rock business with hard driving live rock performances of his solo and Smithereens tunes.
Pat is predeceased by his father, Nicholas DiNizio. In his younger years, Pat worked for his dad’s waste management company “N. DiNizio & Son” before becoming successful with his critically acclaimed rock band, The Smithereens. He is survived by his mother, Antoinette, and a daughter, Elisabeth (“Liza”) DiNizio.
Pat requested that there be no funeral or memorial events for him other than a private burial of his ashes to be determined at a later date.