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Born in Schweinfurt, Germany, my Dad was in the service, I was back in the states
at 1 year old.
Guitarist 38 years
Bassist 34 years
Singer 45 years ( yes singing at age 3)
Influences:
Chris Squire
Geddy Lee
Jaco Pastorious
Stanley Clark
John Entwistle
Sir Paul McCartney
Gerold Carboy
Gino Vanelli
I began singing Beatles tunes when I was 3 at family cookouts. I knew lyrics
before I could put regular sentences together.
My Father began teaching me guitar at age 10. My first guitar was a Sears Silvertone
with the strings about 12 inches off the frets - lol - made for blisters, blood and
then finally calluses! I play left-handed.
Then at age 14 I picked up a copy of an SG bass and naturally flipped it left-handed
and since I already knew the neck/notes etc..I just kept playing that way,(yes upside
down-E on the bottom) I instantly new that it was bass that I would want to play more
than the guitar. That same year I got the privilege of joining my Dad's weekend band,
my mother was the lead singer, although Dad and I sang as well. We have a drummer,
and a guy that played trummpet, flute and some mean harmonica. We had killer three
part harmonies. We played many typed of music and I attribute that to my diverse writing
style.
After High School I had an original band called "Dancer" we enjoyed decent
popularity in the Philadelphia area, playing historic but now defunct venues such as
"The Main Point" and "Starz" Myself and my co-writer, George Karras
were offered a contract by SESAC, the performance rights company, but alas, Georges
father talked him out of signing the contract and they wanted both of us.
I then found myself in a power trio called "E.M.P.I.R.E" Exploring Musical
Phenomena Intensely Radiating Energy <---yes were very esoteric, somewhere between
Rush and Triumph with a little Yes thrown in. We headlining and had opening acts such
as Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Heavens Edge, Tommy Conwell and the youn Rumblers, Robert
Hazard and the Heroesetc,,,,yes they were opening for us...We were on the verge of
signing with F.B.I. Frontier Booking Agency <---They handled groups like the Police
and were very interested in our sound...but alas our guitar player fell into a vat
of cocaine and in mid-stride wanted to jump on the fledgling Heavy Metal band wagon
and bye-bye contract, bye-bye E.M.P.I.R.E.
I then moved into the full-time cover band circuit to recoup severe financial losses,
and wound up in one of the premier bands, "Money" - if you goto youtube and
do a search on "Money" and then "Bohemian Rhapsody" you will get
an idea of just how good this band was. We also had an album under the name "USA"
and were written up in Karrang magazine as up and coming, had singles released in 17
countries in Europe, but alas, our manager, the guy footing the bill was busted for
trafficing cocaine from Canada and everything he owned including thousands of copies
of our album were impounded never to be seen again...as punk and heavy metal permiated
the scene, the club circuit changed, so we got out while were ahead....miss that band!!
So then I got married settled down into computer jobs, but still maintained original
bands through the 90's but just couldn't keep a band together long enough to make an
impact, no money in doing your own tunes until and if you get signed, and even then
you have to be careful to have your business end together.
So no in the present I play in the Central, PA cover band circuit on the weekends and
continue to expose my music via the Internet in hopes of being one of those overnight
sensations that took 25 years to get there.
I think my songs have an authentic sound to them whether they are orck, country or
new age or progressive. I have placed 6 tunes on this site as samples, 3 rock and 3
acoustic/country/ez listening tunes.
I have written over 100 songs and am also a decent keyboardist and I utilize a set
of Roland PK5 MIDI bass pedals. I use a 65 watt Soundwave bass amp for practice and
have a Sun Coloseum Single 18" speaker with a Peavey 400 watt BassMaster. I have
a Yamaha keyboard I use to supply sounds for my bass pedals, which really adds a new
dimension of sound to a live performance. Every band I've played in love 'em!
Well that's my story in a few paragraphs. Music is the only medicine. |
