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JON OLIVA

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John Nicholas Oliva (born July 22, 1960 in Bronx, New York|NY) is best known simply as Jon Oliva and as founder of and lead vocalist for Savatage. He was the third of four children. His younger brother was Criss Oliva, the lead guitarist and co-founder of Savatage.

Biography
Early life
Jon and Criss's family moved around a lot during their childhood, living in California for four years until moving to Florida with his family in 1976. Much like his brother Criss, Jon found music his calling during the family's time in California. Starting off with his father's piano, Jon dabbled in guitars, pianos and drums before buying "a really ugly bass". Jon and Criss continued their musical exploits and played a block party, playing Kiss (band)|Kiss, Deep Purple and ZZ Top covers. Although originally the guitar player of the brothers, Jon quickly realized Criss's talent was superior to his and stuck to singing and swapped with his brother and played bass <ref name="JonBio">{{cite web
| url = http://www.jonoliva.net/html/jonoliva.html
| title = Jon Oliva biography
| publisher = JonOliva.net
| accessdate = 2007-03-17
</ref>.

Having been kicked out of high school in 1978, Jon needed a job, and was lucky enough to join a band called ''Metropolis'', a band playing Bad Company and Alice Cooper cover songs. This gave Jon his first tour... read all