John A. Manzi, 68, flamboyant Rhode Island disc jockey from the 1960s through the 1980s
Hoodoo
5:03 PM Mon, Jul 19, 2010
Thomas J. Morgan
http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/07/john-manzi-big-ange-on-radio-d.html
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- John A. Manzi, 68, a flamboyant Rhode Island disc
jockey from the 1960s through the 1980s, died of cancer Sunday in Miriam
Hospital, his family reported on Monday.
Manzi was better known by his noms de plume Andy Jackson and Big Ange.
While on the air for radio station WPRO, he once described himself as
"the Cadillac of PRO radio." In a typical opening on his WPRO show,
recounted in a 1973 Rhode Islander magazine article, he shouted into the
microphone, "WPRO, this is the BIG ANGE comin' at you Momma. BIG ANGE
comin' to you from the shady side of the street."
According to the article, "He bobs and weaves in front of the mike,
snorts and growls, popping the mike button on and off, his voice "riding
over" the music, raises his hands the way gospel preachers do when
delivering a sermon, then changes the mood mid-sentence to an earthy,
teasing, down-home sound he calls 'funky.' "
Laurie DiBiase, his ex-wife, said Manzi also worked stints at WZON in
Bangor, Maine, and at WASY in Gorman, Maine, and at other radio
stations. He also worked nightclubs in Rhode Island, including Sh-Booms
and Bahama Bob's, she said.
She said that in recent years he worked selling ads for the Shopper
Rhode Island magazine in North Providence.
The funeral will be held Friday at 7:45 a.m. from the Carpenter Jenks
Family Funeral Home, Warwick, with a Mass of Christian Burial at 9 a.m.
in Our Lady of Grace Church. Burial will be in St. Ann's Cemetery, Cranston.
The family asked that in lieu of flowers memorial gifts be made to
Hasbro Children's Hospital.
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