By Ellen S. Wilkowe
Evan Nuzzi credits the Morristown Starbucks for his shot at fame and fortune.
“I ran to the bathroom and sang it into my phone so I wouldn’t forget it,” Nuzzi, 21, said of a song he composed during his shift at the coffee shop.
Come March 4, 2025, Nuzzi will perform his composition at Morristown Onstage. He will join 15 other amateur acts who live, work or study in Greater Morristown competing for cash prizes at the Mayo Performing Arts Center, in the Morris Educational Foundation’s 18th annual fundraiser for the Morris School District.
Titled I Know it’s Wrong, Nuzzi’s song illustrates “the split second that you picture spending the rest of your life with someone,” he said. ”It’s about falling in love.”
The same day he wrote I Know it’s Wrong, he came across a Morristown Onstage flier dropped off at Starbucks.
“Something just drew me in,” he said. “First the song came to me and then the pamphlet. That was two things in the same store.”
Starbucks musings aside, Nuzzi has been songwriting for the last six or seven years. He draws his inspiration from the likes of Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel. He also has The Beatles on hand for his go-to playlist.
In addition to songwriting, the Somerville resident plays piano and guitar, which he learned from his father. He is teaching himself the drums.
No stranger to audiences, Nuzzi has performed all over New Jersey and — and once in Jamaica.
“I was on vacation and there was a talent show that was being hosted and I ran over, last second, to audition,” he said. “I got in and got to play in front of around 100 people. It was very cool.”
To date, he boasts 45 original songs that focus mostly on love and heartbreak.
He finds a therapeutic value in the process of songwriting. “It’s a way to get my emotions out,” he said. “Writing is always there and something you can come back to.”
When Nussi’s not singing into his phone, he is chilling with friends or slinging cappucinos as store manager at Starbucks.
Should he win the $1,000 top prize, he plans on buying a piano.
“I kind of played it into the ground,” he said of his old one.
Sixteen top amateur acts from Greater Morristown will compete at the Mayo Performing Arts Center on March 4, 2025 for cash prizes at the 18th annual Morristown Onstage. Presented by the Morris Educational Foundation, the show benefits programs in the Morris School District. Tickets are $43-$95, available online or at MPAC, 100 South St., 973-539-8008.
MORE COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN ONSTAGE 2025
