Career Highlights & Milestones

1985: Professionally recorded first original song "Where's The Fun" with the pop/rock band Teddy Girl.

1986: Joined R&B band "Blind Dates" which included Rockapella Founder, Sean Altman, and Out of the Box star and multi-talented performer, Tony James.

1987: Founder and principle songwriter of alt rock band "Broken Piece" (later "Beaugart)

1988: Beuagart wins “Best Unsigned Band Contest” from a local NYC newspaper.

1990: Co-founded, with Doug Maxwell, the nation's first "weekend warrior" music club in lower Manhattan. Growing to nearly 800 members, The Off Wall Street Jam is featured in countless media outlets, including the NY Times, Forbes Magazine, NY Magazine and the NY Daily News, and on ABC, NBC, WPIX, WNET and the BBC.

1999: Wrote, arranged and produced CD: John Allen Watts: Love Ballads. Features gifted vocalists, Lisa Winner (then Lisa Yves) and Laura Berman.

2001: Began performing Brazilian MPB, bossa nova, samba and jazz standards, with wife, Débora Watts. John and Débora have been performing throughout the tri-state ever since-- in clubs, at private events and in concert at venues including Flushing Town Hall, The Brooklyn Museum and the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown.

2005: Performed the music of G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann, and others, in Armenia at Yerevan's famed "Komitas Hall."

2006: Performed the music of G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann at the Naregatsi Insitute, in Yerevan, Armenia.

2007: Performed a three-piano concert (with Cristiano Tiozzo and ? ) of the music of G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann at the great Teatro Nacional in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

2009: Produced Débora Watts' first CD: Débora. Available on iTunes, CD baby and Spotify.

2011: John founds the John Allen Watts Brazilian Trio, featuring Luiz Ebert on drums and Peter Slavov on acoustic bass. The BASH award-winning trio has been performing ever since at clubs and for private events. 

2015: Completed first full-length musical based on the film "Midnight Cowboy" and successfully produced (with Playlight Theatre) two AEA 29-hour readings, one in Astoria, NYC and one on Broadway in Manhattan.

2016: Joins the faculty of the Lucy Moses School Summer Musical Theatre Camp for children, composing and musical directing original musicals for children.

2017: Completed and presented the full-length musical "In Your Company" (book and lyrics by Jordyn Coats) for Master's Thesis in Graduate Musical Theatre Writing (NYU's Tisch School for the Arts).

2017: Produced Débora's second and fist all-original CD: Um Samba ao Contrario. The CD is selected for TV Globo's People's Choice Awards and the song "Encontros" wins first prize in the U.S.A. International Songwriting Competition in the category of "World Music." Available on iTunes, CD baby and Spotify.

2017: "Letters Home" from the musical "In Your Company" is selected by ALNM (A Little New Music) for a live concert in LA for emerging theatre writers & composers.

2019: Completed with Jason Huza the musical "The Crossing and the Ten Crucial Days"-- an historically accurate portrayal of the turning point of the American Revolution. In addition, an AEA 29-hour reading is presented to a packed theatre at Washington Crossing Historic Park, PA, within sight of where the hallowed events depicted took place.

April, 7, 2020: At the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, John presents the original song, "Miracle," written with Alex Syiek, to his nearby hospital, Lawrenceville Hospital, to help boost morale there and for all the front line medical workers combatting the virus.

Spring/summer 2020: Débora and John continue performing, now live-streaming shows from home for the Jazz Forum and to raise money for charitable organizations.