Hank Cicalo - Early Career

Early Career

In 1957, Cicalo started in the mastering room at Capitol Records, then progressed to second engineer and worked with many great engineers like John Krause, Hugh Davies, John Palladino, and Pete Abbott. Some of the artists’ albums he worked on were Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. He moved up to engineer while at Capitol and worked with such notables as Cannonball Adderley, Peggy Lee, Ed Ames, and Lou Rawls.

In 1963, Cicalo went to work for RCA Records in Hollywood. As one of the lead engineers at RCA, he worked with artists including Eddie Arnold, Vic Damone, Ann-Margret, Eddie Fisher, Peter Nero, Duke Ellington, Wayne Newton, and Tommy Leonetti.

In the mid-1960s, Cicalo also worked closely with Tom Mack, producer for Dot Records. Their projects included The Mills Brothers, The Lennon Sisters, Jimmie Rodgers, Glen Campbell, Ernie Andrews, Frankie Carle, and Harry James. Their biggest project together was Lalo Schifrin’s Mission Impossible, for which Cicalo was nominated for his first Grammy Award.