He says that he always thought of his time playing guitar during his mother's sewing circle meetings at the age of nine as the true first live performances of his musical career.
[7] In addition to playing music as a child, Oriolo was also an avid artist, and had a strong connection with the cartoon characters his father co-created.
[7] When Joe Oriolo died in 1985,[8] the Felix franchise was left to Don, who took the iconic cartoon and successfully shepherded it into the turn of the century with numerous licensing and merchandising business ventures in various international markets.
[2] When he was first starting out as an aspiring musician, Oriolo would skip classes at high school and ride a bus from New Jersey into New York City, with his guitar.
[10] Oriolo is credited with writing Jon Bon Jovi's first charted single, which was a Star Wars-themed track titled "R2 D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
[citation needed] While at the companies, Oriolo published the works of the Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Donna Summer, Casablanca Records, as well as Gamble and Huff's "Mighty Three" catalog.
[citation needed] His publishing company also owns the hit songs "Supernatural Thing," "This Time I'll Be Sweeter," (both composed by songwriters Haras Fyre and Gwen Guthrie† February 3, 1999) and "Touch Me All Night Long".
"[7] When his father Joe Oriolo, co-creator of the modern day Felix, died in 1985,[8] Don took over as the CEO of the iconic cartoon franchise.
Oriolo created the brand for Baby Felix, including acting as a writer, style guide and overall character creator for the series.
[citation needed] He had licensing deals with Dairy Queen, Carl's Jr., and Wendy's to include Felix toys in the respective fast food chains' kids meals,[citation needed] and struck a deal with Hudson Soft to produce a Felix video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy, in which he was credited with the concept, storyline, and character designs.
When the overgrown, falling down farm came up for sale, he made a commitment to buy it and bring it back to its one-time glory of the winter headquarters for the Meadowlands racehorses—the difference being that his mission was to create a loving, safe environment for the horses (and every other animal for that matter) that need rescuing from ofttimes deplorable conditions.
Horses, alpaca, cows, sheep, goats, mules, chickens, ducks, and pigs who were tossed away, being sent to slaughter, were all rescued and given sanctuary by Oriolo and his amazing staff.