Multi-instrumentalist and composer Sal Filipelli wasn't always a musician. “When I was a teenager, I competed as a boxer and was one of the last, if not the last, kid to be trained by boxing legend Archie Moore before his passing in 1998. I have stayed in touch with the Moore family to this day.”

Filipelli was twelve years old when his mother put him in piano lessons, which started a life long love for creating music. He began playing the guitar, ukulele and occasionally bass during his high school years at SCPA (School for Creative and Performing Arts; Class of 2002), where he began taking interest in composition. His guitar playing style, however, needed to be reconfigured.

“When I was living in London, my roommate got caught cheating on his girlfriend. He was upset and drunk, and I was the unlucky one that happened to be around. He attacked me, and I got my ring finger on my left hand broken. It still causes me pain when I play guitar. I’ve had to adapt my guitar playing so that I don’t use that finger as much, if ever.”

Based in North Park, Filipelli considers himself a composer first, with releases such as Not British Productions presents 23rd Century, the Sal Filipelli Band EP (2006) and The Last Generation of Tape (2008). Since 2008, Filipelli has produced several singles including "Soon" featuring Reece.

In 2011, Filipelli worked as a City College Associated Students Senator where he was in charge of the Spring and Fall Concerts, while still composing songs for a new release. In 2013, he began working on new music with former Family Stone frontman Sly Stone, for an album also featuring Munyungo Jackson, Andra Day, and others.

His 2015 album This Day In Music History was preceded by a single written and recorded with Sly Stone, "One More Hit," released in June, on Filipelli's birthday. “The press likes to eat him alive because of more recent performances and his unwillingness to talk to the press himself,” says Filipelli. “Sly has been very good to me, a true friend, and I am only interested in portraying him as the musical genius and legend that he is. With that said, I realize that is what the press is interested in.” Three of the album’s nine tracks are from the Stone sessions (“the whole time, I was working on a bunch of songs”), though Filipelli mentions “several more songs [with Stone], which are not scheduled for release.”

2023 saw the release of "Destiny ft. Cornel West," the first single from Filipelli's album Destiny, co-written with Sly Stone. The song also features guest performances by Greg Errico, Jerry Martini, and Rustee Allen. A second single written with Stone just dropped, “Without a One.”