Rio Scafone

Rio Scafone is an award-winning music artist under her own name as a solo artist as well as with  her band, Rio and the Rockabilly Revival. From Rock and Roll and pop rock to Rockabilly and Americana, Rio has garnered fans from around the globe earning numerous music awards including top honor as Band of the Year and Entertainer of the Year at the iconic Josie Music Awards, the largest International Independent Music Award show in the world. Three time winner of the coveted Detroit Music Awards including Song of the Year for Testify and Americana Band Of The Year and HOUR Magazines iconic Best Of issue to name but a few. 

As a Rock and pop-rock solo artist Rio is known for her soulful, spitfire vocals and powerhouse belts. Rio also brings her legendary bombastic energy to Rio and the Rockabilly Revival live concerts. She may take the stage like a perfectly coiffed pinup from 1950’s but look a little closer and you will find combat boots under that dress and by the time she’s done she’s drenched in sweat, her makeup destroyed and often has bloody knees. She’s more like James Brown, Little Richard and Elvis than Patsy Cline. Using themes of sin and redemption surrounding the earliest forms of Rock and Roll when famous preacher, Rev. Jimmy Snow would preach about the evils of Rock and Roll, warning parents that the “devil was in the beat.”

Rio leans heavily into those historical events seemingly responding in real time, exorcising her own demons and enjoying every minute of it. Critics and fans alike refer to Rio and the Rockabilly Revival concerts as the “church of rock and roll.” Fans rush the stage, some drop to their knees, head bowed, hands raised to the sky as Rio “preaches” from the pulpit of  Rock and Roll  belting out fan favorites like On My Knees (in the chapel of love), Backseat Betty, Devil Inside and the roof- raising Save My Soul. Preachers daughter meets Bettie Page on a rampage. It’s a spectacle of vintage fervor delivered with all the sin, sweat and swagger of an old school, whiskey-fueled southern revival tent.

It only makes sense that Rio would gravitate toward that early rock and roll/Rockabilly sound. She is after all the niece of Rockabilly pioneer, Jack Scott (The Way I Walk, Leroy, What in the Worlds Come Over You.) It’s in her very DNA. Coming up under his musical wing, as early as age five Rio  could be heard belting out, Jack Scott and Johnny Cash songs out her bedroom window in the middle of the night. Rebel, the neighbors German Sheppard would listen down below into the wee hours of the night. As an adult, Rio would later go on to record the “Midnight Rebel Sessions” album as a nod to her first fan.

Rio has also been a television, film and stage actress for over 30 years –

(The Detroiters/Comedy Central, Smooch/Hallmark-Lions Gate, Hung/HBO, Detroit 187/ABC Television to name but a few.) 

Rio was diagnosed with Stage 2 Colon Cancer in December of 2022. A sudden, sharp pain had developed in her upper abdomen and thinking she had given herself a hernia from weightlifting,Rio went to her Doctor who ordered an ultrasound. A week later, Rio received a denial letter from her health insurance stating there was “not enough evidence” to show the need for an ultra-sound. Infuriated, Rio made a decision that most likely saved her life. She went into the emergency room at University Of Michigan Hospital. She knew that if they ordered an ultrasound in the emergency room, her health insurance could not deny it. Fully expecting to be told that surgery would be needed to correct a hernia, nothing could prepare her for what came next. “You do not have a hernia. You have a 9.3 cm tumor that has begun to perforate your transverse colon. You have colon cancer.” Time stood still. The shock set in, paralyzing her in disbelief. Rio had aways lived an incredibly healthy lifestyle. She didn’t drink or smoke, ate very little meat preferring a primarily plant based diet. Her heart and cardiovascular health was tested yearly and categorized in the “Elite Athlete” range due to her years of performing live and extensive training in the gym. Rio had zero family history, in fact all genetic testing came back negative. The proverbial rug had not only been ripped out from under her, the floor and the very earth beneath her feet swallowed her up.

Surgery was scheduled immediately not only because the tumor biopsy came back positive for cancer, but because it had begun to break through her intestine. It was a ticking time bomb. If it were to completely break through not only could it rupture and spread throughout her body, she would probably go septic which could quickly lead to death. 

While waiting for surgery, Rio roamed the halls of the hospital, devastated and terrified. It was a week before Christmas. She came upon a large bank of windows where people were allowed people to write on with washable markers. Heartfelt messages filled nearly every inch of glass. Messages written for lost loved ones. Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto a bench in front of the wall of windows. Would her husband be writing her name on these windows? Would her daughter draw her mama as a an angel? The realization that this could very well happen tore through her like a tornado made of broken glass and barbed wire. She wailed. Many stopped to offer comfort to no avail. Rio has described that moment a soul crushing, excruciating grieving process, dragging her through the different stages of grief almost simultaneously. She picked up one of the markers and held it up to a sliver of empty space on the window in front of her. Her eyes were blurry and her hand shook. She wondered how this wall of glass did not bend and break from the weight of the sadness and grief that adorned them.   

She wrote a message to her late father and to her best friend Mike who had both died a few years before. “Dad, Mike, I may be seeing you sooner rather than later. Love, Rio”

In that moment, something shifted inside her. An unexplainable wave of calm washed over her. Not only that, she felt an inexplicable, overwhelming sense of excitement filling her every cell. The fact that she would be reunited with two of the most important people in her life dissolved every ounce of sadness, fear and grief that had literally brought her to her knees mere minutes before.

Rio realized she had one of her own original songs running through her head. A song she had written a few years prior but had not yet recorded. That song was called, Train To Glory. A song about accepting your fate and presenting your ticket to Saint Peter as you board that train to what comes next. Suddenly the lyrics she wrote for others to enjoy were like a message sent from the past to the present. It filled her with that same sense of

hope and redemption she had given to her fans at every live show. It filled her with the kind of joy that only music can provide. She knew in that moment that no matter what happened, she was going to be ok.

Thankfully, the surgery was a success, they were able to remove the tumor  and as of today, a little over one year later, Rio is in remission. When invited to work with Jim Ebert, producer and founder of Cancer Can Rock, Rio knew exactly what song she wanted to record, Train To Glory. The release of this single is a full circle moment and Rio is honored to have this track brought to life by Jim, the incredible musicians and production team at Cancer Can Rock and 38 North Recording Studio.