How Did I Get Here?
First Electric Guitar – 1974My first real musical activity was learning to play the guitar around age eight. If I recall correctly, my mom traded a neighbor a wall mirror for an old acoustic. Through most of my teen years, I played guitar and sang in a rock band called Future Earth.
At Bedford High School, music occupied an even larger part of my days – playing bassoon in Symphonic Band, guitar & bass in the Jazz Band, sousaphone in the Marching Band, and playing bass in Bedford High’s show choir. Chosen by my peers to be President of Bands, I also received such honors as The Director’s Award, The John Philip Sousa Award and was fortunate to be named Co-Valedictorian. In my senior year of high school I began playing with The Ovations, a Toledo area variety band. Duties included playing bass and guitar, lead and background vocals, and running their sound system. While in college, I continued to play with The Ovations, as well as record and mix live sound for friends’ bands.
Creative Images – 1982In the early 80s, I began working at a small, 16-track studio as a recording engineer. Projects there included recording commercial jingles, demo tapes, and even finished 45s and LPs. With time, I was producing, arranging, and performing on many of the sessions as well.
In the mid 80s, my career path veered away from music, but I continued to play on weekends with The Ovations. Little did I know at the time, my days in that band would last until 2002!
After the fat lady sang with The Ovations, I played a few ‘open stage’ gigs, and became the regular bassist at the Gay Galvin Jazz Jam at The Vineyard.
VIBE at Club Soda – 2004It was at that gig that I met two other musicians who were looking for a bass player and wanting to start a band. This trio became the core of the group known as VIBE, from 2003 until late 2007.
Since then, I was involved in 4 cover bands, a church praise band, and was fortunate to be able to do some recording with my son at the legendary RCA Studio B in Nashville, for one of his class projects at Belmont University.
In 2016, I bought my first upright bass and began fulfilling the longtime dream of learning to play such a challenging instrument. As a result, I was able to play 9 shows on upright that year.
In 2018, I served as Adjunct Faculty in the Music Department of Siena Heights University.
These days, I’m laying down the low end for Triplicity (jazz quartet), numerous musical theater productions throughout the region, recording sessions, and various cover bands and artists.
