Patrick M Calello:  

My life took a sharp turn right after high school. A few months after graduating from East Side I joined a night club band and worked as a musician and a singer full time and part time for the next 15 years. I spent about three years working on the road. For a few years I had a recording contract with Epic records and I also was the lead singer on a dozen radio commericals. For four years I performed in a trio with Joe Pesci, the actor, and Frank Vincent, a lesser known actor but recently a regular in the cast of the Sporanos. I thought my singing was decent, but I realized after a while that my song writing ability wasn't good enough for the big time, and I had the good sense to leave the music business while I still had many good memories. (The first time I heard "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" Frankie Valli was singing it in my ear in the control room of the recording studio while the musicians were laying down the music track in the other room) They were good years for me and I learned many things about people and business that would help me later in life. I was in and out of college three times and never graduated. At 21 I got a part time job selling real estate, and at 26 years old (1970) I opened my own real estate office in North Newark. For 25 years I sold houses. In the late 1970's I formed a few partnerships and started buying, rehabilitating, and managing apartment buildings. Real Estate investing turned out to be my life's work. When I was 25 I married a beautiful girl from North Carolina who had recently moved to New Jersey. This year Diane and I will celebrate our 39th anniversary. Diane was an English teacher, but became a stay at home mom when our children were born. Our son, Patrick Joseph "PJ", attended Delbarton School and Richmond University. He has taken over as the Broker of Calello Agency which is still in the original location on Bloomfield Aven...Expand for more