Ryan Chiaverini
"Windy City Live" co-host Ryan Chiaverini has written and recorded a country music song he's about to share with the world as a tribute to his late mother.
The music video for "This Is Country," which Chiaverini co-produced and co-edited, will debut on his show today.
Now in its eighth season, "Windy City Live" airs at 1 p.m. Monday through Friday on ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 (rebroadcast at midnight weekdays).
To record the song and produce the video, Chiaverini assembled a group of Chicago musicians he's known for years in the studio of Jim Peterik, the Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter and founder of the band Survivor. Peterik also appears in the video.
Chiaverini said he was able to play "This Is Country" acoustically for his mother, Edna Avery, before she died of cancer in February 2017. The video ends with a tribute to her and a link to donate to cancer research via Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
"My mom liked to kid me that someday I’d leave TV to become a rock star," he said. "I told her that’s not going to happen, but music is a passion and a great hobby. Getting the chance to produce this song with such accomplished musicians was amazing. And if I can raise money for cancer research to honor my mom, that would be the best feeling in the world for me."
Chiaverini's father, Ed, was a guitarist for The Lively Ones, whose 1963 instrumental hit "Surf Rider" was featured in the movie "Pulp Fiction."
“This is Country” is the second song and music video Chiaverini has released. In 2014 he recorded a rock tune titled "Chicago," to shine a spotlight on suicide and raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. His younger brother Zach took his own life at age 20 in 2009.
Chiaverini, a Southern California native, joined ABC 7 as a sports reporter in 2006 from KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver. He was promoted to weekend sports anchor in 2009. He was tapped to co-host "Windy City Live" with Val Warner in 2011.
Thursday's comment of the day: Warner Todd Huston: Robert has stuff about the Reader, but never mentioned the 40th anniversary of Rich Koz as Svengoolie this past weekend?