Zappacosta's first band was Surrender, a five-piece that recorded three albums in the late 1970's into the early 1980's. In 1984 he recorded his first self-titled solo album which contained the hit singles "Passion" and "We Should Be Lovers". As a result, he subsequently won the Juno Award for "Most Promising Male Vocalist". The next year he lent his vocals to the Canadian charity production "Tears Are Not Enough", singing the lines "Maybe we could understand the reasons why" in the fifth stanza.