Vinicius “Vinny” Martins da Silva is an international guitarist, songwriter, arranger, producer and artist. He has refined his talent in some of the most important music schools worldwide. His technical-yet-soulful playing and performing has been widely acknowledged and compared to some of the great performers of our times. He continues to garner attention and praise by his widespread fan bases, critics and fellow musicians everywhere he has been based, from his hometown to the São Paulo metropolitan area, then Boston and finally New York City.

 

Born in the mixed city of Londrina (“Little London”) in Brazil, Vinicius developed his passion for music from early on. He started to play professionally at a very young age (12); he played with cover and original music groups in his hometown, rapidly making a name for himself in the local scene as a very talented young guitarist. Still while in high school, Vinny was involved in a handful of acts in his city, all well-known and active bands until this day, playing at least one show per week at the time for crowds ranging from 50 to 5,000 people. Meanwhile, Silva also self-taught how to play the drums and bass and started to practice songwriting and producing his first demos in his garage home studio.

 

In 2008, after 3 years of attending Londrina State University for Agricultural Engineering, Vinny decided that it was time to follow what he had been doing best since he first picked up his father’s acoustic guitar (restrung upside down since Vinny is left-handed). There was no doubt that music had to be taken academically and seriously from that point on. So in mid-2008, he enrolled and got accepted to Souza Lima & Berklee College (half at Souza Lima Conservatory in São Paulo, Brazil and another half at Berklee College of Music in Boston, through International Credit Transfer). While in Souza Lima, Silva won the Best Student of the Spring Semester 2009 Award, and completed the first 2 years of his Music Degree in December 2010. Due to a health complication in late 2009; an arm thrombosis (due to long hours of hard practicing) forced him to take a 1-month break. Even with that interruption, he managed to get back and conclude that same semester with exceptional grades.

 

Also while in Sao Paulo, Vinicius was involved in many different bands and musical projects. He began a long time music partnership that lasts to this day with the artist Pam Steebler, with both playing duo and full band shows all around Sao Paulo area to co-writing a vast catalogue of songs in Brazil and eventually in the US, and finally producing and recording them in studios like the world-famous Avatar Studios (now known as Power Station) in NYC. Currently, they work together on both of their solo projects, and do songwriting for American publishing agencies and artists such as Loren Allred (known for the hit song “Never Enough”, in the soundtrack for The Greatest Showman in 2018), as well as being the co-founders and owners of the event band NY Jukebox, playing in events of all types in the NYC area.

 

Back to early 2011, Vinny got awarded a World Scholarship to study at world-famous music school Berklee College of Music. So in 2012, after saving up enough, he moved to Boston, where he attended Berklee College of Music for 2 years and earned a Bachelor’s Degree with Major in Guitar Performance. He had his World Scholarship renewed there, was inducted into the Dean’s List (for students with an exceptional GPA) on every of the four semesters attended, and was awarded an Achievement Grant by the Guitar Department in 2013.

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While in Boston, Vinny had the honor of playing for the legendary Harry Belafonte at a South Africa Partners ceremony (including Whitney Houston’s former musical director Jetro da Silva in the band); as well as performing Jimmy Page’s music at Agganis Arena (Boston, 2014) with himself in the audience, nodding in approval. Jimmy Page was the leader of UK rock band Led Zeppelin and undoubtedly one of the world’s most influential and well-known musicians from the 20th century.

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In mid-2015, Vinicius decided to move to New York City, where he could develop as an artist, as well as keep on working with new and old musical partners, and try out life into the Big Apple, with all of its opportunities but also tough challenges. After almost 5 years in the city, he has made strong connections and partnerships, achieved strong financial stability, and works as hard as ever to keep everything that he has still growing and reaching out to even wider audiences and horizons.

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On August 11th, 2017, with the band Vick & The Velvicks (now The Velvicks) on a show produced in partnership with Live Nation, Vinny performed at the Irving Plaza, considered by many renowned critics and experts one of the US’s top venues, on what turned out to be a very successful night, with a sold-out house. Currently, The Velvicks are releasing their debut EP and touring across the US to promote it through the next year and 2021, as well as internationally, set to play in one of Sao Paulo's biggest venues, Credicard Hall, in partnership with Kiss FM Radio in July 2020, and touring Brazil around that performance.

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Vinny has been on a busy schedule for the last 6 years working in the country. He has averaged at least 100 shows per year since 2014 all around New York and New England areas, as well lots of studio work either as a guitarist, songwriter, producer or recording artist, touring the US and even other countries around the globe through making - and spreading - music. Among Silva’s most eclectic and active current projects are:

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-Acadêmicos de Milton Friedman (Brazilian music; guitarist)

-Amy Allen (Pop music; guitarist)

-Boston Common Band (Event band; guitarist)

-Dol Guldur (Black metal; drummer and co-founder)

-The Frotations (Neo-soul; guitarist)

-Ghidrah Music Productions (as a co-writer for publishing agencies)

-Joppa (Rock; guitarist and co-producer)

-NY Jukebox (Event band; guitarist, co-founder)

-Pam Steebler (Indie Pop; guitarist, co-writer and producer)

-The Velvicks (Rock; guitarist, co-writer and producer)

-and Vicious Clay (Rock; founder)

 

Since 2018, Silva has given another take in his own music, not as just an instrumental music artist, but now through the singer-songwriter and entrepreneur perspective. His solo project Vicious Clay is formed by Vinny exclusively on all instruments (vocals, guitar, drums and bass), as well as writing and producing all songs. The band’s live setting as a “power trio” has been performing explosive showcases in the NYC area since September 2019, when the first single “Space” came out. Following that release, the singles “Selfish” and “Do It”, were released in October and November of the same year. Now, with a fan base starting to be established, Vinny is ready to release the debut EP “Vicious Clay” in April 2020, and hit the road to promote it during the rest of the year, which promises to be the busiest in his career so far.