AUDACITY BUOYS SINGER'S CAREER AT AREA VENUES.

Byline: Victoria Giraud People and Places

Matt Eisenberg loves to sing and he always welcomes an audience.

Adept at singing all types of music, Matt belts out opera, show tunes or romantic ballads on a daily basis at Cafe Bellissimo in Thousand Oaks and plans a solo concert Feb. 13 at the Westlake Church.

Although he's been singing since high school and is also a vocal technician and coach at Instrumental Music in Thousand Oaks, Matt claims, ``My voice has just woken up in the last year.''

The road to success, however, is a challenging process. Even though he is readying for the goal to become a recording artist and performer in whatever style music fate has in store, Matt, who is a tenor, does have preferences. ``If I were to make it in opera, I would drop the others.''

As a youngster growing up in Illinois, Matt loved to sing the old Alka-Seltzer commercial around the house. But when he decided to pursue music in fifth grade, he chose saxophone and in high school was part of a jazz band. Then, ``someone talked me into auditioning for a (Renaissance music) singing group.''

His singing talent grew with voice lessons and ``I started singing opera a little bit.'' He received a scholarship to Drake University and finished up his degree at the University of Illinois. To make money and further his career after college, he moved to Chicago and started his own telegram/singing business, Cyrano Sings.

``I would go to a four-star restaurant with a bouquet of red roses and pose as a singing telegram,'' Matt remembered. ``I would look for likely couples and I had no qualms about going up to someone and belting out a love song.''

After singing his song, he'd slip the couple a red rose and his business card. Sometimes, he'd make a mistake and pick a couple that turned out to be a father and his daughter, or a couple that were just friends. But his mistakes didn't hold him back.

In 1987, he moved to Las Vegas, where he went from a job as a salesman in a baby store to singing in lounges at the Sands and the Dunes and singing as a cantor at Temple Ner Tamid. Learning about renowned voice teacher Seth Riggs (who's taught Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder and Natalie Cole, to name a few) inspired Matt to move to Los Angeles and study with Riggs.

At $200 an hour for voice lessons, Matt soon found himself bartering his handyman skills. ``I started painting his house, digging holes and other chores for lessons.'' His voice improved and Riggs began referring students that couldn't afford his high prices to Matt.

One of the highlights of Matt's years in Los Angeles was the making of an educational video series for Riggs. Although in the end the project was shelved, he met and did video interviews with some top musical talents, such as James Ingram, Wonder, Jones and Cole.

Matt has never lacked ``chutzpah.'' This enthusiasm to see what he could get away with led him to pose as a courier for Seth Riggs and get backstage at the 1991 Grammy Awards.

In 1995, when he felt his voice was ready, Matt contacted comedian Shecky Greene, an old family friend and Matt's father's high school football teammate. Greene helped him in organizing Matt's solo performance show in Hollywood and a later show at a club in the Catskills resort area.

Restaurants have been a focal point in Matt's life. His family has been in the business for many years, owning The Original Pancake House in Parkridge, Ill. Ironically, his singing talent got Matt fired as a waiter from the Moonlight Tango Restaurant in the San Fernando Valley, when he dared to sing a romantic song requested by Sylvester Stallone's mother. The restaurant already had a singer and the owner was furious at Matt's audacity.

Matt, who lives in Agoura Hills, has been singing at Cafe Bellissimo since it opened more than a year ago. Though singing is his passion, he takes his waiter's position seriously. ``Sometimes I don't sing all night. To me, the customer comes first. I treat their restaurant as if it were my own,'' he declared.

Matt is looking forward to his local concert, which will be at the Westlake Church, 2649 Townsgate Road, Suite 500, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 at the door. For information, call [phone].

The event is ``a four-tenor concert minus three,'' Matt jokes.

Victoria Giraud welcomes comments and suggestions for columns. Call her at [phone].

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Photo

Photo: (Ran in Conejo and Simi) Matt Eisenberg sings daily at Cafe Bellissimo in Thousand Oaks.

Jeremy Greene/Special to the Daily News