Boots, Boardrooms & Ballads: The Multifaceted Life of a Singing Bear, Meet Luciano

22nd July 2025 Luka Musicki

Luciano is a multifaceted professional whose career spans agriculture, education, and music. He is a CEO, agricultural educator, musician and MC. Luciano grew up on a farm and has a real passion for agriculture and educating people to break down the barrier about which agriculture today, which is vastly different to only 10 years ago. Luciano was a university lecturer and school teacher for many years, also teaching agriculture. Luciano also have many university qualifications in agriculture, horticulture and education. In his CEO role, he gets to travel a bit around Australia.

In addition to his educational and agricultural pursuits, Luciano is also a singer, songwriter and performer. He has released three albums showcasing his talent and passion for music, which can be found on streaming services. He currently has a group that performs cover songs of well known groups from the 70’s and 80’s. His musical endeavours add a unique dimension to his professional profile, reflecting his diverse interests and abilities. Luciano is also a trained Opera Singer and has performed in many operas over the years.

As well as musical performances, Luciano is also found to be an MC at public and private events. He also is involved in many community environmental volunteer activities. Luciano’s biggest event is a Carols by Candlelight concert that he organises and is MC, which is thousands of people attend every December. And when Luciano is not working or performing, he is looking after his sheep, alpacas and chickens and extensive vegetable garden on his property near the Blue Mountains.

When did you start performing behind the microphone as a MC, singer and performer with your guitar, what was the passion and why?

I started performing when I was 8 years old. I learned to play the guitar at that age and quickly was performing to family and friends and then at school and at talent quests. My Dad played the mandolin and guitar and I had a great need to learn to play the guitar and soon picked up the basics to allow me to sing and play guitar. I grew up in a time in the 70s when there was so much great music and the singer songwriter genre was just starting and I wanted to be James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, The Eagles, Paul Simon, so I had all this music in my head and I wanted to be like them. Every talent quest I entered I won and whenever there was a school concert, I got to be the performer. I have sung solo at the Sydney Opera House, something I am very proud of and a moment in my career that has stayed with me forever.

You are involved with the agricultural industry, tell us about how it all started?

I grew up on a farm and I was very passionate about growing food which led to me going to university to do a horticulture degree and then a masters degree in agriculture I also commenced a PhD and was teaching agriculture at university. I then re trained to be a high school teacher and taught technology and agriculture at high school. I then moved on to working for an education company that helps schools teach about agriculture so I’ve had a very diverse career in agriculture.

Talking about agriculture, would it be safe to say that you seem to be a person who might know what fruits, vegetables and plants, or basically how to eat? What is your favourite plant to grow and why?

This is a great question because I am very passionate about growing my own food. I have a great deal of expertise, knowledge and experience about producing food and how a lot about how to grow plants and raise animals. I have an extensive vegetable garden and fruit orchard and love growing and tending to my garden and in many ways I am self sufficient. I have lots of favourite plants that I grow, things like tomatoes and corn and egg plants are my favourite because they are great summer vegetables and it’s fun to see them growing well in the heat of summer. Plus they are delicious!!

Who are some of your influences/inspirations with your style of performance with playing the guitar?

My big influences were predominantly the singer songwriters of the 60’s, 70s and 80s and very much performers like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Billy Joel and bands like The Eagles and The Beatles have been a huge influence and inspiration my style of singing guitar playing and songwriting. There are many more influences in the 80’s and 90’s with new wave, synth pop, and rock that I also love and listen to a great deal, such as Tears for Fears, Human League, Pet Shop Boys and more. My tastes in music are quite broad from Opera to Rock and Roll. I love todays music as well, I am a big fan of Taylor Swift, Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swift, Gaga and more!

How do you compare to other bear performers in New South Wales?

I don’t like comparing myself to anyone! I think there are so many amazing Bear performers in NSW and Australia and I have been lucky to share the stage with many of them over the years.

You were on “Who wants to be a Millionaire?”, what was this experience like? Win any cash? What was it used for?

Yes I was on Millionaire Hot Seat and I won $1000, as I was the last person standing but got the last question wrong! I used my money to pay for an overseas holiday. I had a great time on the show and I encourage anyone to enter a quiz show.

You are Italian heritage, is this right? And have you been involved with the Italian community in rural NSW?

Yes my family come to Australia nearly 100 years ago from Italy, and I was born in Sydney. I am mostly involved with my own family in NSW as we are a big family!!!

As I can see on Facebook, you have this interesting airplane game with a friend of yours – John Rinaldi, which is “guess the seat?”. How did this all start, and is John good at this game and why?

This was a funny joke between us, as we both travel a bit and John worked for an airline and has an extensive knowledge of seating on planes! It started as a fun thing and John is a genius at working out my seat, but I have been competitive!

Would you say being a bear has helped or hindered your career? Is your audience primarily bears?

If we are talking about music, most of my career hasn’t been influenced by being a bear. I have an appeal that is quite wide and I play to all age groups in many settings, both public and private concerts. I am grateful that bears have come out to listen to me sing, and I wish I had more opportunities to perform to bears, in Australia and all over the world. I actually would love to go on a Bear music tour around the world – are there any promoters reading this??

Is there any advice that you would give someone (like a bear) would be interested in starting in the entertainment industry, including being a musical career, and what is involved?

Firstly, be clear about who you are and what you stand for and what you’re comfortable doing. Focus on the performance you want to give and practice, practice and PRACTICE! Find like minded people to work with, find artists and venues that are supporting gay performers and get out there and do it often, you will develop confidence only by performing in front of people!

Do you have any favourite gigs?

My favourite gig of the year are the Carols by Candlelight concerts I run in Sydney. Always a joy to see families together having fun. Also my band and I do some great shows every month. I look forward to performing for the Bear sometime in the future!

What are your career goals for the future?

Retirement! I think I will continue to work in my various professional capacities, but I would like to be doing more music gigs and my big goal for 2025 is to record a new album!

Thank you Luciano for answering those in-depth questions.

Here are some quickfire questions:

Location: Sydney Australia
Pronouns: He/him
Relationship status: have boyfriend
Favorite Drink: Pina Colada
What type of guy are you into? Bears and cubs and chubs
Favorite Cities/Vacation Spots: Florence, Venice, Siena, Palm Cove (queensland)
Favorite Hobby or Pastime: Gardening, cooking, seeing friends and family, cooking and more cooking.
Idea of a good date? Someone intelligent and good looking
What do you look for in a guy? Nice smile and good hugger