Music has been literally in my soul all my life. A child soprano soloist at 5 in our church choir, put in advanced music classes in public school and being sent to the junior high school to play in its orchestra. In junior high school I was moved to French horn in grade 8 which I became so proficient on I made 1st French hornist in the East York high school orchestra in grade 10. I also started piano lessons at age 10 getting my grade 8 Conservatory in 3 years. Here's my overall training:
- Classically trained pianist
- Studied opera voice with Bill Nehr
- Studied jazz piano with Ted Moses
- Studied French Horn
- Studied Trumpet and Flugelhorn
My first band was in high school which was from 1964 to 1968 and consisted of the sax, trumpet player and drummer from the orchestra, guitarist and singer forming a 7 piece R&B band The Blues Den playing church halls and battle of the band contests in Toronto which were very popular during that era. After high school I eventually joined a sax player, bassist, drummer and guitarist and did the typical quit-my-job-move-to-the-farmhouse in Brampton when I was 21 in 1974. We played a couple of gigs but I wasn't quite the right fit so I found a 5 piece playing progressive rock, any keyboard players dream. However we were starving and I needed to buy at that time was a huge investment of keyboards, so I switched to showbands which tripled my income just to start and I was one of the most in-demand keyboardist musical directors for the rest of the 70's. The showband era ended with a thud around 1980 so I started doing solo work playing piano bars and developing a one man band show which I do to this day. When I moved here in 2010 I decided to open a teaching facility incorporating a recording studio, musical instrument and vocal teaching facility that has evolved to also teach performance and songwriting. Since 2017 I have gone back to playing with bands as a sideman as well as doing solo piano vocal gigs which has really got me back to my roots.
Professional resume
- Musical director/multi-keyboardist/lead/backup singer for 5 piece progressive rock band Riff 1974
- Musical director/multi-keyboardist/lead/backup singer/multi-horn player and technical director from 1975 –1980 for major Canadian Showbands: Free Ride, Harmony Street, Nobody's Angels, True Reflection, Sensation, Tabloid
- Started One Man Band Show from 1980 to present, entertaining major resorts and clubs in Canada. When the Macintosh computer with MIDI arrived in 1985, evolved into the largest production high-tech One-Man-Band Show in Canada incorporating a double Martin PA system, 16ch 32 x PAR38 MIDI lighting system and 80lb video projector. As a keyboardist, vocalist and trumpet/flugelhorn player, this eclectic show covers all styles of music.
- Musical director, technical director, multi-keyboardist and vocalist for 3 Canadian and 3 European/Middle East Canadian Armed Forces Entertainment Shows in the 1980's with such headliners as Donna & Leroy from the Tommy Hunter Show, Cecile Frennette, John Allen Cameron, Carla Charest and Laura Hutton
- Got off the road in 1990 and spend 10 years in the Mac reseller community as a digital audio/video systems expert selling the first Avid in Toronto and becoming one of the top Mac nonlinear digital video systems experts.
- Studio player, singer, songwriter, engineer and producer for many individual and cowriting projects through my home based studio and teaching facility Musicians Performance Centre which I encourage you to explore the website musiciansperformancecentre.com for further information.
Since 2017 have revived being a sideman in bands. This has resulted in buying a Hammond XK2 and a Casio XWP1. Covid cancelled all my gigs for the seniors/retirement LTC community but being a technically minded person have purchased a stereo 24bit 1080p unit that allows me to do 1hr Facebook streaming shows.
This summer 2021 I played with Hard To Handle on a 40' flatbed trailer stage 5 weekends in August playing the festival circuit in trailer parks. I am also collaborating with songwriters writing/playing tracks.
I have been triple vaccinated for Covid-19 as of December 16 2021
