Raleigh’s ROWELL GORMON has long made North Carolina’s state capital his home but it is now also the home of former Buffalo, NY native PETER K. O’CONNELL.
The longtime friends, and also both members of MVO: The Voice-Over Guys, got together on Thursday for lunch AND to celebrate Rowell’s birthday.
Peter didn’t ask how old he was because it’s impolite to ask a voice talent his or her age. It’s only important as to how old they SOUND (or how old you need them to sound) 🙂
Plus it’s great for Peter to go out with Rowell as Rowell can show him all the cool places to eat in and around Raleigh.
Happy birthday Rowell!
ABOUT ROWELL GORMON
Rowell (conveniently rhymes with “role”) Gormon is a full-time professional voiceover talent. He provides commercial voices (for TV, radio & web), narration voices and of course, character voices.
Known to many as the “Man of 999 1/2 Voices”, Rowell is equally at home doing a relaxed guy-next-door read in one session, then a convincing businessman or senior citizen in the next, shifting to laid-back storyteller, to a toy robot, to a stuffy butler, or an animated light bulb…all before lunch.
Rowell provides full audio editing and production too! Rowell works from his ISDN-equipped studio, making his clients’ lives a lot easier as “Mr. Warm and Friendly Voice…with Character”.
Rowell is also available for quick turnaround voiceover projects like e-learning, documentary narration, animation, explainer videos as well as audiobooks.
ABOUT PETER K. O’CONNELL
Before Madonna sang about her virginity, when making a phone call from the road meant plunking twenty five cents into a phone booth and back when getting “on-line” meant waiting to check-out at the grocery store, Peter K. O’Connell began his career as a male voiceover talent and live announcer.
As America’s friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent, Peter’s amazingly versatile vocal talent allows him to share many voice acting styles with his clients, who range from Fortune 500 Companies to companies who think $500 is a fortune. From his conversational everyman voice to his hard sell straight announcer performances, Peter’s natural voice over abilities are favored by clients for commercials, narrations, e-learning, documentary, TV promo, radio imaging and live announcing.
A natural born storyteller and an award-winning voice talent, some of Peter’s professional voice-over credits include productions for General Electric, Kraft Foods, Duracell Batteries, PBS Television Network, Bonefish Grill, Shell Oil, Pitney Bowes, Western Union, Bacardi Rum, Deloitte Canada, Rich Products, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield, SunSetter Awnings, and Fox Sports North.
Peter K. O’Connell’s voice-over recordings have been heard globally including London, England; Seoul, Korea; the Caribbean; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada; Delhi, India and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nationally across the United States, Peter’s voice has been heard in all major markets including but not limited to New York City; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas; Dayton, Ohio and Buffalo, New York.
OK you’re right, if you’re scoring at home, Dayton, Ohio and Buffalo, New York aren’t really major markets but he has spent so much time there, Peter felt they deserved a shout-out. A native of Buffalo, NY, Peter grew up in the Nickel City – he even worked in radio there at WLVL, for, like a week. He truly developed his broadcasting and voice-over skills in Dayton at WVUD-FM as a top rated disc jockey and then as a commercial producer for the station.
Peter produces his voice projects through his audio production company, audio’connell Voice Over Talent which is a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. In addition to Peter’s voice over work, which represents a majority of the company’s production schedule, audio’connell also provides casting services for clients looking for professional female voiceover and audio production services for national and international clients. The voice over needs of foreign language clients are served through another O’Connell-owned company, International Voice Talents.
Peter has also written an e-book entitled The Voice Over Entrance Exam. The book examines the business and performance realities of becoming a voice-over talent and maintaining a career among a spirited field of established voiceover professionals. Sometimes, when he’s feeling very “authory”, Peter wears an ascot around his house – it’s very obnoxious.
After years of giving away his hard earned knowledge about everything voice over, Peter decided he should be getting PAID for it so he started audio’connell’s Voice Over Workshop. In private one-on-one voiceover sessions in his studio or via Skype, Peter teaches new and experienced voice talents what he’s learned after nearly 30 years in the voice over business and critical stuff voice actors need to know to get paid voice jobs.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio and Television Communication from the University of Dayton (OH) – no one is quite sure how – nonetheless the official diploma can be found somewhere in his Cary, North Carolina home (just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina) where he lives with his wife and children.
Thank you for reading all the way to this point in Peter’s biography but now you really need to get away from the screen and go do something more productive – even basket weaving would have been a better use of your time, as opposed to reading all the way down to here, but thanks anyway.