A Pauper in Paradise
A Pauper in Paradise is the fifth studio album by Italian-Canadian singer Gino Vannelli, released in 1977. It was notable for including contributions by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the second side, including a fifteen-minute title track symphony that took Gino five months to write, and which led A&M to offer a warning to Gino to expand his appeal or face rapid declines in album sales that since Powerful People had been a steady 300,000 albums per release.
Detailed personnel
- Art Direction – Fabio Nicoli, Roland Young
- Backing Vocals – Jay Stone, Joanie Bartels
- Backing Vocals, Design, Artwork – Joanne Jayde
- Drums – Casey Scheuerell
- Engineer – John Kurlander, Norm Kinney
- Engineer – Steve Prestage
- Engineer – Jon Kelly
- Keyboards – Chris Rhyne
- Leader – Barry Griffiths
- Lyrics By, Music By – Gino Vannelli
- Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
- Orchestra – The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Orchestrated By, Conductor – Don Sebesky
- Percussion – Dido*, John J. Mandel
- Photography By – Beth Kelly
- Producer, Arranged By, Keyboards – Joe Vannelli
- Saxophone – Dick Morrissey
- Synthesizer, Synthesizer, Piano, Backing Vocals – Bill Meyers
- Vocals – The John McCarthy Choir
- Vocals, Producer, Arranged By – Gino Vannelli
Technical personnel
- Jon Kelly – Remixing
- Norm Kinney – Engineer
- John Kurlander – Engineer
- Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
- Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
- Roland Young – Art Direction
Musicians
- Gino Vannelli – lead vocals
- Joe Vannelli – Fender Rhodes, piano, programming, synthesizer, synthesizer arrangements, synthesizer string arrangement, backing vocals
- Bill Meyers – piano, synthesizer, synthesizer bass, backing vocals
- Nyboma Mwan Dido – bongos, congas
- Jay Graydon – guitar
- Casey Scheuerell – drums
- John J. Mandel – percussion, timbales
- Chris Rhyne – keyboards, synthesizer bass
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra on "Black and Blue" and "A Pauper in Paradise"
Technical personnel
- Jon Kelly – Remixing
- Norm Kinney – Engineer
- John Kurlander – Engineer
- Steve Prestage – Assistant Engineer
- Fabio Nicoli – Art Direction
- Roland Young – Art Direction