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Stephen Garbesi, also known as DJ Beezzy, was mixing beats in his 1130 W. Moyamensing Ave. studio, when founding partner and artist Brandon Tomasello, 19, began to sing. This was the first time, though they were lifelong friends, that Garbesi had heard him belt a tune.
“I was making a hip-hop track in the studio and Brandon was singing [Frank Sinatra’s] ‘My Way.’ I was like, ‘What the hell are you singing? That would sound pretty good on this hip-hop song I am doing,’” Garbesi, 20, said. “And I was like, ‘Damn, you have a voice.’”
Since then, Tomasello became the first artist from the duo’s production company FIMA, which stands for Film Image Music and Animation. Tomasello sings a range of Sinatra classics, and Garbesi DJs for him.
“We started this two years ago, started at FIMA in South Philly,” Garbesi, who lives on the 3100 block of South Sydenham Street, said. “Now it’s a success. We [were] at the [Resorts] Superstar Theater in Atlantic City, N.J. We’re moving up more and more.”
For his own part, in addition to producer/DJ for Tomasello, Garbesi is working on his own musical work, with the latest release in perfect alignment with Black History Month. The single, “Had a Dream,” draws inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Had a Dream” speech.
“I was looking at what he went through in his life. He died pursuing his dream. The song we created, it’s an inspirational song using him as a metaphor, using him as an anchor,” he said. “He said, ‘I have a dream,’ but I say, ‘had a dream.’ That’s the twist I put to it. It’s about not giving up on your dream and to pursue it to the full extent.”
The song is one among multiple projects Garbesi currently has on his plate. In addition to an album he’s working on, Garbesi continues to design websites for clients — which was his first line of work, as well as putting together 215philly.com, a user-generated-content site for Philly’s greatest spots.
“215 — that’s the name of the group we have. It’s two singers and three hip-hop artists. Well, it’s mainly going to be two people doing the hip-hop,” Garbesi said of the performance group that lends its name to the corresponding website. “It’s hip-hop and R&B and pop, more geared toward on the beach crowd, and 18- to 40-year-olds is who it’s targeted to.”
The site is still being prepped to launch, and Garbesi hopes to stage a show with the 215 group this coming summer at the Shore, though no plans are currently solid. For now, he is working on booking a more extensive tour with Tomasello in the coming weeks.
“I would say my biggest dream, and I’m sure Brandon would say this also that it would be perfect, is to play in New York at that stadium, Madison Square Garden. That would be one of my main dreams. And for a producer, it would definitely be [to work with] Dr. Dre or, for Brandon’s stuff, to meet John Williams,” Garbesi said. “That would be a dream to meet him. Two people I would love to meet.”
Garbesi, born and raised on the 1600 block of Jackson Street, met Tomasello in grade school.
“I’d say this is going back to, I would say, all the way back to fifth grade when I started making films,” Garbesi, who moved to Packer Park by the age of 14, said. “I was into photo and video, the first thing that inspired me was ‘Star Wars’ special effects. That film, at that time, I wanted to make ‘Star Wars’ movies and do the effects.”
Garbesi and Tomasello, students at Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, 2600 S. Broad St., made a film in eighth and ninth grades. Though they decided their first venture wasn’t good enough for the public eye, they let their talent shine through.
“It was called ‘Into the Sun.’ It was about a fighter pilot whose mother died and his young friend dies. It was feature length but it never got out. We did the whole film, but the only thing we did put out there was the trailer,” Garbesi said.
Soon after the partners formed FIMA and outfitted it as a video- and post-production center, they realized they wanted to refocus the business on music, with website creation and design as an ongoing job.
“By 11th or 12th grade I said, ‘I think we should make a recording studio at FIMA Productions.’ So we sold most of our film equipment and started buying audio equipment. We had a booth and switchboard and produced most of my album,” he said.
Garbesi later decided not to release his first album, as he didn’t “want people to see that image” of him. During this recording process, however, was when Garbesi first heard Tomasello sing and the two embarked on launching his career as the first under the FIMA label.
“We went into producing big band music, which is a big leap from hip-hop,” Garbesi said. “I’ve always had interest in other genres of music, but just recently I said to Brandon ‘I love doing this but I want to start going back on my album.’”
Now, Garbesi finds himself with a successful artist launched, a multitude of projects in the wings and a hopeful look toward the future. He anticipates that his upcoming releases will reflect the more positive life he was fortunate to find.
“My first album was more street and death and stuff that happened in my life. A lot of my friends died way too early … People would say to me, ‘Your music is very dark.’ I was in a dark part of my life,” he said. “But now I’m in a part of my life with Brandon so that the music I was once making is no longer with me. I found myself as an artist doing what I do now.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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