Eric Vetro teaches the stars how to sing for their Oscars.
Keeping pace with Hollywoods perpetual awards horserace.
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Once inside, youll find the ground floor is an unofficial yearbook for Hollywoods A-list.
In the living room sits a piano covered in hundreds of signatures (THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURE IMAGINATION!
The other three display gold and platinum records, many featuring personalized messages.
PRESENTED TO ERIC VETRO IN RECOGNITION OF ACTUALLY TEACHING PALOMA FAITH HOW TO SING, reads one.
CAUSE LETS FACE IT SHE WAS SHIT BEFORE.
AND NOW SHES SOLD ABOUT 4 MILLION ALBUMS!
(He swears they caught him changing once.)
Vetros primary job is working with professional singers of every age and every genre, fromBette MidlertoOmar Apollo.
But if youve heard of the bright-eyed 68-year-old, its likely because of his sideline.
He taughtEmma StoneforLa La LandandRenee ZellwegerforJudy.He taughtAustin ButlerandJacob Elordihow to croon like Elvis andJeremy Allen Whiteto sound likeSpringsteen.
It is a good time to be a student of Vetros.
OnMaria,Vetro helpedAngelina Jolielearn to sing opera.
ForA Complete Unknown,he aided Chalamets transformation intoBob Dylanand taughtMonica Barbaroto nailJoan Baezs vibrato.
He is rooting for them but would never want to take credit for their success.
And, of course, Vetro notes, he has worked with much of the competition as well.
Eric is an institution, says Will Ferrell, who has worked with him on three films.
He doesnt necessarily get enough recognition for all that he does for musicians, says Barbaro.
They dont really have a vocal-coach award, but if there was one, hed be Meryl Streep.
Vetro credits this omnipresence to his emotional intelligence.
But you could also point to the extraordinary lengths to which Vetro goes for his clients.
Weve done warm-ups everywhere: the bath, the shower, on the toilet, says Camila Cabello.
Ive been the woman making crazy sounds on the phone walking through the streets of Saint-Tropez.
Vetro teaches every weekend.
What you put into your head at night really affects your body, Vetro says.
All of my dogs have lived to a very old age.
I would have them go to sleep with me, saying, Youre such a good dog.
If you plant those good thoughts, it really helps boost the immune system.
Increasingly, todays singers need someone like Vetro.
Legend notes that these YouTube or TikTok stars now have to actually figure out how to sing live.
The clock is ticking.
But its also the music itself that has changed.
While there have always been autobiographical songs, 21st-century pop is more diaristic.
If theyre writing about a breakup, months from now theyre not feeling that way anymore.
Theyre like, I dont want to sing that song.
Its not even a year old.
When Vetro first started teaching, he focused almost exclusively on technique.
Giving people all the rules, how to practice, he says.
I realized along the way theres much more to it than that.
Preferably the next day.
Because thats going to be in your head.
Proper feedback is essential, Vetro explains.
If you go, Are you smoking cigarettes?, that is not inspirational.
Now they dont feel good about themselves.
But if you go, I think that could even be better.
What have you been doing lately?
They always admit what theyre doing.
Then I go, Try not to, and lets see if it affects you in a good way.
I know it will.
Eric is there for me constantly to ease my nerves and anxiety, says Lea Michele via email.
I can be feeling unmotivated or insecure, and he can talk me out of it, says Cabello.
Its mostly the younger artists who feel this way, though.
I definitely need less of that, says John Legend.
Im pretty in control of that myself.
Slightly bend your knees, and hang forward like a rag doll.
Your head and arms are loose and free.
Take a deep, silent breath in, then exhale.
Take another deep, silent breath in.
You are now ready to sing with Eric Vetro.
Vetro is not one of those hippies who believe anyone can sing.
The more you practice those, the smoother they will get, he said.
The plan was to take only a single lesson.
Every time, he turned me down.
This is fun for me, he said the first time.
Everyone I work with, its very pressurized.
Theyve got to sound good, whether its on tour or for an awards show.
Theres never a time you go,We can coast.Thats why working with you has been such a pleasure.
Your life isnt depending on this.
Mendes describes Vetro as rooted: Nothing fazes him.
However, despite his unyieldingly positive demeanor, any number of factors can stress him out.
(He emphasized this was indeed a hypothetical.)
He has seen a stylist accidentally put hair spray onto a singers lavalier mic and muffle their vocals.
Even worse, spray it into the singers mouth and give them a catch in their throat.
Then there are the nights when everything goes right.
She got out there and started singing.
I saw this look on her face, the way her body started to sway a little bit.
She was relaxed and enjoying herself, and it was going perfectly, he says.
I cant even tell you what that felt like.
When youre a part of something like that, its exhilarating.
For as long as Vetro can remember, he has loved listening to people sing.
For some reason, my brain goes right to the voice, he says.
There can be the best pianist, guitarist whatever.
I dont hear the instrument; I just hear the voice.
Its a strange thing, but thats how its always been.
As a child, he entertained himself by giving imaginary voice lessons in his head.
The first real lesson he taught was in the fifth grade.
The most popular kid in our class wanted to audition for a musical skit, Vetro says.
I taught him a song that he could sing.
We didnt hang out and stay friendly.
He was into sports; I was, obviously, into music.
But there was something between us from that point on.
Vetro grew up in upstate New York, the son of a lawyer who never enjoyed being a lawyer.
He went to NYU for college and began tutoring classmates on the side.
He was unpaid until one girls grandmother began making him dinner.
Then someone came up to me and said, I cant feed you, but Ill pay you.
But that triggered an avalanche of people.
He played piano in other peoples lessons, too.
That turned into a gig accompanying cabaret singers.
Somebody being in the chorus of a Broadway show was a big thing.
Then it was the understudy of the Broadway show.
Then all of a sudden, I was working every day, Vetro says.
But it was gradual.
If it had happened overnight, I wouldnt have been able to handle it very well.
Vetro moved to L.A. after graduation.
My parents thought the whole idea was absolutely insane, he says.
I just had this core belief inside that it would happen.
Vetro is not one of those teachers who swear by a certain philosophy or method.
He tries to work holistically, tailoring his lessons to each individual student.
My music is not very belt-y, Cabello says.
My style of writing is more Swedish-pop melodies.
So its good for my voice to stretch to power ballads.
If there is one through-line in Vetros pedagogy, its a belief in the power of visualization.
He wants them to visualize the whole song or even the whole show.
He firmly believes that visualizing a successful performance can itself make his students better singers.
Its a mind-over-matter thing.
She was burning up.
A similar thing happened to Vetro in 2022.
Vetro doesnt love that word.
A workaholic is addicted to working hard, he says.
Im addicted to being around people and helping them improve.
Because in this business, theres always someone ready to take your spot.
You cant just go,Ive had all this success.
Im going to take six months off.Six months can make a big difference.
I was still taking lessons with Vetro over the 2023 holiday season, which I spent with my in-laws.
That Christmas morning, one member of the extended family skipped the festivities to give a tennis lesson.
If he didnt, he said, theyd hire someone else who would.
This made me think of Vetro, and a week later, I told him so.
That kid is really smart, Vetro said.
And he said, Im sorry.
I dont start before ten.
Not only did he lose me, but he lost anybody that I wouldve ever recommended him to.
If he said, I cant because it throws me off, it would have been fine.
But the way he said it was so diva that blanket statement.
If someone says to me, I need the lesson at 6 a.m., I say, Okay.
Vetro used to throw extravagant Christmas parties.
Hed put up a huge tent in his backyard with a grand piano in it.
His cousin and her family would come in a week ahead of time to help him prepare.
Another friend decorated the entire space with red roses.
The last time, Grandes mother, Joan, co-hosted, and Grande herself performed.
But it just got too big.
Through his job, Vetro got to know not just his students, but also their entire entourage.
At his final party, over 400 people came.
It was exhausting, Vetro says.
Some agent called and I said, Im sorry you couldnt make it to my Christmas party.
He went, I was at your Christmas.
Thats when I started to think,This is ridiculous.
They became fast friends, and claim that, to this day, theyve never had a serious fight.
No one says, I want to quit, I want to retire.
Thatd be like retiring from breathing, Warren said.
He mimed playing the keyboards, then suddenly dropping dead.
Thats the only time Im going to stop.
And I feel bad for the last student, who has to have a teacher who died.
Do you feel like everybody appreciates you?
In my life some people do, and some people dont.
She didnt want to sound bitter, she said, reiterating that she never took a collaboration for granted.
But shed written songs that had made singers careers.
Most people are pretty grateful.
Some people, they kind of forget.
I once asked Vetro something similar: Do people say thank you?
Everything Im wearing is a thank-you, he said.
He pointed to his Rolex watch, his Gucci bracelet, his Prada shoes.
People thank me all the time.
And even if they dont, I can feel it in their energy.
They deal with her like buying a product.
She always says, Theyre not your friends.
And Im like, they actuallyare.
By the end of our months together, I understood what he meant.
As with Shawn Mendes, Vetro had helped me through difficult moments of my life, too.
And he had worked tirelessly to turn me into a better singer.
I held my hands in the air and dropped them on the high note like I was Lydia Tar.
Physically, my form was improving.
But I still wasnt singing in tune.
I liked to jump out and attack the notes, to show them I wasnt scared.
Vetros solution turned out to be elegantly simple.
Listen in your head how you want it to sound.
The results, Im sad to say, were immediate.
Vetro was pleased I had finally seen firsthand the power of visualization.
There will be other areas in your life youre going to be able to apply it.
He encouraged me to keep practicing.
Isnt it fun when youre able to find that key?
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