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Early Years

Born and raised in WNY, Scott grew up absorbing music through school musicals, school choirs, school bands and eventually formed his own band at age 17.  He stayed active in music during his college years at Georgetown University, as well as during his time living in London, UK just after college.  However, Scott’s professional musical journey truly began during his time residing in Atlanta, GA in the late 1990’s.  In 1998, he met one of his musical mentors – Alan Schaefer.  A successful full-time Atlanta musician, Alan advised him and introduced him to a number of accomplished people in the Atlanta music scene.  This included vocal coach Jan Smith.  Smith, who has tutored the likes of Rob Thomas and Usher and eventually would serve as Justin Bieber’s full-time vocal coach, worked with Scott for a year and gave him the confidence he needed to make music a career. 

 

Returning to Buffalo

In the summer of 1999, Scott returned home to Buffalo and immediately dove into the WNY music scene.  This led to the formation of Rufus Maneuvers in late 1999, with Scott serving as co-lead singer, rhythm guitarist, manager and booking agent.  Rufus Maneuvers released its debut album – One Clear Moment – to a packed house at the upstairs room at Mister Goodbar in early 2001.  The album received rave reviews, which included a feature in a Gusto cover story.  The album also received radio play on 101.1 The River and 103.3 The Edge.  The band secured high-profile WNY performances including Thursday @ The Square with Eddie Money and 103.3’s Edge Fest with Good Charlotte and Sum 41.  During their time together, Rufus Maneuvers also ventured outside Western New York.  They performed throughout the Mid-Atlantic region which included an appearance at the CMJ Music Festival in New York City and the ‘Catskill Cabin Fever Caravan’ tour. 

 

Solo Career & Debut Solo Release

Scott left Rufus Maneuvers in 2002 to embark on a solo career.  His debut solo release – Them Apples – was released to a crowd of nearly 600 at The Tralf in the Fall of 2002.  From there, Scott reached new heights and his supporting players began touring the entire U.S.  ‘Them Apples’ received rave reviews and the single – ‘Where Did You Come From’ – was put in regular rotation on over 40 commercial stations (Hot AC and CHR) across the country. 

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Saturday – 2nd Solo Release

‘Them Apples’ was followed up by ‘Saturday’ in 2004.  With this 2nd release, Scott and his bandmates continued touring the country as well as further solidifying their fan base in Western New York.  Prominent local shows during this period included Thursday at The Square (with Sam Roberts & The Clarks), The Canal Concert Series (with Tom Cochrane) and Artpark’s Tuesday Night Series. ‘Saturday’ also received rave reviews and its title track garnered extensive radio play nationwide similar to the first single. 

 

Signing With Neon Entertainment

Also in 2004, Scott signed with Neon Entertainment, one of the premier college booking agencies in the U.S.  Since then, Scott has performed at over 300 colleges nationwide and has been rewarded showcase slots at 10 national programming conferences (NACA and APCA).  Scott is still with Neon today, having already performed at 15 colleges this year alone. 

 

Christmas by The Lake

In 2005, Scott released a Christmas song – ‘Christmas by The Lake’.  The song was an instant local hit, as it made Star 102.5 FM’s list of Top 20 Most Requested Christmas Songs.  ‘Christmas by The Lake’ has been in regular rotation during the Christmas season on Star 102.5 ever since.

 

Additional Album Releases

In 2006, Scott released his 3rd album – ‘Wired For Nostalgia’.  In 2007, Scott landed the lead role in ‘Discs’, a highly-acclaimed pilot filmed in Buffalo and considered for feature film release in Hollywood.  An acoustic version of one of Scott’s tracks from ‘Wired For Nostalgia’ was also featured on the show. This was followed by Scott and the band’s release of ‘Huge in Europe’ in 2010 (including the track Make It Up To You’ featured on MSNBC) and ‘Southtowner’ in 2013. 

 

Additional Local and National Exposure

In the process of promoting the aforementioned releases, Scott has had live television performances on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox and has performed live in front of crowds as large as 20,000.  Furthermore, Scott’s music has been featured at National Hockey League games, and he has performed live at National Football League games, National Hockey League games and Major Indoor Lacrosse League games.

 

Sharing The Stage

Scott and the band have continued their touring in support of these releases, and in the process have shared the stage with the following national acts –

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Hootie and The Flowfish

The Goo Goo Dolls

Ben Folds

The Guess Who

Blues Traveler

REO Speedwagon

Jon Secada

Our Lady Peace

Vertical Horizon

Sum 41

Jimmy Ear World

The Marshall Tucker Band

Willy Nile

Carolina Liar

Hello Goodbye

 

(Side note - at the show with Blues Traveler at University of Pittsburgh @ Johnstown, Blues Traveler’s famed singer John Popper took Scott aside after his set and said “You’ve got some pipes, dude!”.)

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The Honeymooners

In 2015, at the urging of family and supporters, Scott formed The Honeymooners and dove into the wedding and corporate market.  Since then, The Honeymooners have become one of the top wedding bands in New York State, having received the ‘Couples Choice’ award from Wedding Wire for 5 consecutive years.  This award is reserved for the top 5% of wedding professionals across Wedding Wire’s network.

 

Nursing Homes & Assisted Living Facilities

Also during this period, Scott kept busy with his solo career and expanded it into new markets.  This included the nursing home and assisted living market, and these shows have proved to be among the most personally rewarding of Scott’s career.  How much more rewarding can it get when a World War II veteran stands up out of his wheelchair to give a military salute during Scott’s rendition of ‘God Bless America’?

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2020-21

This brings us to 2020 and 2021.  While in the process of working on material for a brand new album, Scott and the band released the single ‘Home’, and it has proved to be their most successful work to date.  Co-written by Scott and his old friend/mentor Alan Schaefer and produced by Buffalo Music Hall of Famer Matt Young, ‘Home’ received worldwide radio play, including reaching #4 on the Global Digital Independent chart.  The official video for ‘Home’ has hundreds of thousands of views online and the track has tens of thousands of streams on Spotify and Apple Music. 

 

In late 2020, the Scott and the band released a follow-up single – a cover of the Buffalo Springfield classic ‘For What it’s Worth’.  As of January 2021, the track reached #19 on the Global Digital Independent chart. 

 

Scott and the band will be releasing additional singles as a lead-up to a full album release, including songs Scott co-wrote with Nashville hit-makers Marty Dodson (Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Joe Cocker) and Tyler Hayes (Little Big Town).  There are no signs of the music slowing down.

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CHARITY WORK

Giving back to the community through charitable work has been intertwined with Scott’s music career for the past 2 decades. Highlights include the following:

 

‘Rock For Food’

 

• In 2002, Scott founded the annual ‘Rock for Food’ concert to benefit The Food Bank of Western New York. 

 

• The show featured some of WNY’s finest bands and musicians performing on multiple stages.  All of the musicians donated their time, and generous sponsors allowed 100% of the proceeds to go to the Food Bank along with non-perishable food donations. 

 

• The show ran from 2002 to 2010.  In its final 2 years, the ‘Rock for Food’ concert became the official kickoff party for the National Buffalo Wing Festival.  

 

• Between the money raised and food donated, Rock for Food’s efforts translated to hundreds of thousands of meals donated to those in most need in Western New York.

 

Ronald McDonald House of WNY

 

• In 2008, Scott and the band were asked to donate their time and perform for Ronald McDonald House of WNY’s Annual 5K Run Post-Party. 

 

• They have been performing at this event every year since, and it generates an average of $65,000 for Ronald McDonald House on an annual basis.

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Alzheimers Foundation of WNY

 

• From 2009 – 2018, Scott and his band performed at the annual ‘Eddie Fitz’ Party for WNY Alzheimer’s in Angola, NY.

 

• The event was themed after ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ and all proceeds from the event went to the WNY Alzheimer’s Association.

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The Totally Buffalo & ‘716Mas’ Festivals

 

• In 2016, Scott and his wife Mary formed Totally Buffalo, Inc. 

 

• Totally Buffalo began as a blog spreading positive stories about people and places in WNY. 

 

• Through social media, Totally Buffalo has gained a following of nearly 100,000.  Growing beyond the blog, Totally Buffalo began hosting festivals in 2016. 

 

• They include the annual ‘Totally Buffalo’ Festival every Spring and the annual ‘716Mas’ Festival every December.  Both festivals featured hundreds of local craft vendors, kids’ activities, local celebrities and personalities, and live music featuring multiple genres to reflect WNY’s rich music heritage. 

 

• Collectively, the festivals have drawn over 40,000 people.  More importantly, the festivals collectively raised over $30,000 for local charities.

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Totally Buffalo Cares

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• Growing out of Totally Buffalo, Inc., Scott and Mary formed Totally Buffalo Cares in 2018, a 501(c)(3) charity.

 

• The charity’s mission is to bring hope and help to those in need – particularly around all holidays throughout the year.

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• Totally Buffalo Cares offers gifts, food, supplies and hope to those who may need to be uplifted in WNY.

 

• The charity focuses on those who are alone, afraid, unemployed, stressed out, sick or financially unable to get even life’s basics to get through holidays – let alone gifts and all the extras many of us take for granted.

 

• From New Year’s Day, to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving,
  Christmas and everything in between – Totally Buffalo Cares aims to make holidays brighter, sweeter, and more memorable through donations of food, gifts, trips, wanted and needed items for families in need.

 

• To date, the charity has raised over $100,000 worth of goods and financial donations for these families.

 

EPIC (Every Person Influences Children) ‘Story Time’

 

• For the past 3 summers, Scott has performed for EPIC’s annual ‘Story Time’ series at Canalside in Buffalo. 

 

• This event is part of EPIC’s mission to help families, schools and communities raise children to become responsible and successful adults.

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Additional Charitable Work

In addition to the aforementioned charitable endeavors, Scott and his bandmates have used their performances to raise money for the following charities:

 

American Red Cross

Buffalo City Mission

Carly’s Club

Catholic Charities of Buffalo

Children’s Hospital of Buffalo

FISH of East Aurora

Friends of Night People

Goodwill

Hospice Foundation of WNY

Make-a-Wish Foundation

Mercy Flight of Buffalo

Music is Art Foundation

National Wildlife Federation

Response to Love

Roswell Park

Salvation Army

Senior Wishes

Shriner’s Hospital

Special Spaces

St. Jude’s Hospital

Tunnel-to-Towers Foundation

Wounded Warriors Project