I was born and bred in Mansfield, MA, a sleepy little town, south of Boston. My mother always had music playing in the house, usually show tunes which introduced me to beautiful melodies and wonderful voices. To this day, for me the most important aspect of a song is how the melody makes a person feel emotionally.
My early years were also influenced by Du-wop music which I first heard on one of those big floor radios that my Uncle had in my Grandmother’s New Bedford triple-decker house. I can still hear the concert-like boom of the bass, the chord progressions, those soulful voices singing about love and its heartache all in wonderful harmonies.
I began taking classical piano lessons at age 6 and I dabbled in song writing in between leaping through scales and practicing minuets. Yes, the classical training is valuable. But it wasn’t until I heard a new sound that made me want to be a singer-songwriter. BUBBLEGUM! People either love it or hate it. I couldn’t get enough of it. The Monkees, Paul Revere and The Raiders, Gary Puckett and The Partridge Family - I just kept spinning these records and pretending to be Mickey, Davy or Keith.
