John Joseph Hall is an American musician and progressive environmental activist, and was the U.S. Representative for New York's 19th congressional district, serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 19th District includes all or part of five counties on both sides of the Hudson River: Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Rockland, with more than 650,000 residents. Hall also co-founded the rock band Orleans in 1972, a musical collaboration that continues to this day. Hall was born in Baltimore and grew up in Elmira, NY, son of James A. Hall, PhD in Electrical... Engineering and Marie W. Hall, MA in Divinity. A three-time National Science Foundation summer scholar, he skipped two grades in school and left Notre Dame High School in Elmira, New York in at age sixteen to study physics at the University of Notre Dame, and then Loyola College, Baltimore. He led another life in music, starting with piano at age 4, studying French horn in school and teaching himself guitar and bass.
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