Alfred Joseph Canecchia was born in Wickersham Hospital in Manhattan in 1945. For the next thirty years, he lived in Greenwich Village.
He holds a B.S. (1967) and an M.S. (1971) from The City College of New York. He received a Master of Arts degree from New York University in 1978.
He has two sons, Aubrey and Arden, by his former wife Angela DiStefano.
He now lives in Riverdale, Bronx, New York with his wife, Roberta.