For me, it actually wasn’t until I picked up my brother’s bass guitar and plucked a few notes that I realized I had to surround myself with music. I had always been a HUGE music lover and came from a family of music lovers, so jazz, rock, blues, folk, etc. was constantly being played in my house. But when I felt the rumble of the bass coming from my own actions, I knew I had to do something with this. And though it is more of a hobby for me now, it is the passion that I have as a musician that has helped me to do what I am doing now with everything else in my life. Gave it a sense of direction and purpose you could say.

at 11 years old,I was a run away.Met Bukka White in Memphis and he took me in and showed me the joy of playing “the blues”…he was a wonderful human being.Thank you Big Daddy Booka!

I’ve literally been playing the piano since before I have memories. My mother tells me that I’ve always sung, and so I think becoming a performer/songwriter became an extension rather than a choice.
But what cemented the deal for me was seeing concerts like The Police Synchronicity Live, and watching videos of people like John Lennon create their work. Unfortunately I can’t remember the exact moment I decided that’s what I wanted to do.

Thanks! It’s always good to have some JD and JV in your library.

My grandparents always kept an old green Broadman hymnal in the house, so we sang those old hymns all around the house from the time I was old enough to talk. But the real aha moment for me was ’81…and in the middle of all my mom’s old Beatles and Stones and Elvis 45’s, someone bought “Jessie’s Girl” (I know, I know…yes…Jessie’s Girl). And when I heard Rick Springfield (his name being obviously divinely and fatedly similar to my own) singing and playing that Strat, wearing his All-Stars and that skinny neck-tie, and saw women swooning over Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital and the girls absolutely freaking out on The Tonight Show…well, I was hooked. Seriously, from that moment, that’s all I ever wanted to do. Thank God I still spent the Summer with the boys from Liverpool and The King…still some of my favorite music of all time. By the way, did you see Rick on “Don’t Forget the Lyrics” last year…still looks cool…still sounds fantastic. Check out “Victoria’s Secret” his latest single…very good, man. Very good.

When I noticed that the girls were hanging out near the guys with guitars. Who knew it would stick?

I’ve been making music since I was about 10. There were definitely moments in my mid teens where light bulbs went on about how much I loved creating music. This mainly happened experimenting with midi and tape machines.

The big ah ha moment was when I finished high school I was suppose to go to school for business. Took me weeks to mail my tuition check and then finally riped it up and decided to follow my dream and make music full time. Haven’t looked back.

As early as I can remember, I loved music. My Mom was a big fan of Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee. She also had a reel-to-reel recorder that she taped 50s and 60s off the radio. At the time, the unit was state-of-the-art and the songs were current.

She recorded me singing Leaving On A Jet Plane. I loved it!

My cousin John Zucco played a Hammond B3. He had one in his home with a big old Leslie speaker. I wanted to get my hands on it bad!

My brother Frank began taking guitar lessons from Sister Jean. A nun at St. Christines Catholic School. I had no desire to play the guitar, but loved the way it sounded.

I began with a chord organ, listening to the car radio and asking Mom and Dad to rush home before I lost the pitch and melody of the song. I figured out the correct key and chords even though I didn’t know the theory behind it.

I soon began to form my own triads. It was then my Mom scheduled my first organ lessons at age 7.

About the family:
Dad: Violin, Sax and Clarinet
Mom: The radio and great jitterbug dancer!
Frank: Guitar and Vocals
Ken: Drums and Vocals
Mike (me): Keyboards and Vocals, fully stocked studio
Daughter (Marie): Piano, Vocal, Flute, Trumpet and Mellophone
Son (Dominic): beginning piano and vocal
Nephew (Ben): Drums
Nephew (Daniel): Guitar

I’d always been singing and acting as a kid, but when I was 14 I remember singing at a church and people were so moved, there were tears and I remember afterward people wanted to speak to me and tell me what the song and my voice did for them in those moments I sang that one song. It was that experience that made me realize how much power for positive transformation music had and decided that I wanted to do it as my career and use it to touch peoples’ hearts. Music has amazing, transformational powers…

Front row at a Rush concert right in front of Alex Lifeson. I had just been fired from my job that day as an auto mechanic. I was looking at Alex play and thought “I want to do that”. At that exact moment, Alex looked me straight into the eyes from the stage. My whole body felt a tremor. I went out and bought a guitar the next day. I just release my first album. You can find it on CD Baby. Terrence McManus – Album You’ll Never. I’ve sold exactly ZERO copies…but thats ok. I met Alex Lifeson about 4 years later. He told me to never give up. I just turned 56 and I WILL NEVER GIVE UP. Life is good. Thanks for listening.

I never went through the “girls are yucky” phase that most young boys go through. I liked girls and I wanted them to like me. Then one day, when I was still quite young, something happened that changed my life. It is one of those memories that would be a key scene in the movie of my life. It takes place in my little tropical playhouse my father built for my brother and me that we called The Tiki Hut. My dad was an elementary school teacher (second only to dentists in the category of worst professions for a kid to have as a father, according to him), and as part of his science class he had his students make crystal set radios, one of which I had in my Tiki Hut. A crystal set was a little homemade radio which worked with a copper coil and you listened through headphones. Not the light sponge rubber ones of today but the big heavy ones recording engineers called cans. On this particular summer afternoon in the early 1960s I was back in the Tiki Hut with my next door neighbor, a beautiful little girl named Kimberly. She was in fact, a child model and my first crush.
I showed her my radio and she put on the headphones and started tuning the dial. She then suddenly went through this weird transition. She shut her eyes tight, she clenched her fists and hunched up her shoulders. And then she started moving her body. Twisting and turning… I didn’t understand what was going on. Even worse, I couldn’t understand the feelings I was getting from watching her move like that. But I knew I liked it. I grabbed the headphones from her to hear this magical spell that she had been put under and what I heard was one of The Beach Boys’ first hit songs, Surfin’ Safari. Then we started fighting over the headphones and I had to kick the little bitch out, but that day I discovered the power of music. I remember that as the start of my lifelong problem.

From The Rock & Roll Rehab Members Guide (amazon.com)

As a young teenager in Dayton, Ohio, I saw The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and became smitten with the electric guitar. I sought out my close friend Clarence Willis (now the lead guitar of The Ohio Players)to teach me to play. This began my career in the music business in a variety of roles including, but not limited to: guitarist/songwriter, road manager, personal manager, local concert promoter and The Ohio Players’ PR rep. Today, Clarence and I have “The C-Dub Project” as our debut CD release, being sold right here on CD Baby!

I finally accepted that the only career that would work for me had to be in music after my nephew died of cancer. I was the last person in the room before he died and it made me realize how short life can be. After a year or so I gave it a go and recorded my first album for kids.

Music has always been a big part of my life. About five years ago I decided to make it my living. I was not sure how successful I would be but I was determined beyond doubt to give it my all. I have played with different groups throughout the years but I thought it would be much easier to make more money going solo. The first two years were a little difficult but now I’m performing about two hundred times a year. I’m not for sure if there even is a “bad day playing music” but if there is such a thing, it sure beats a good day at the office.

My story is exactly as described by Chris in the opening invitation. The experience was so transformative that I wrote a more involved article and posted it on my web site at:

http://bartreardon.ipower.com/www/McCartyStory.html

Music was always a retreat growing up – a place to run to, hide, and feel better. I had no important it would become for me. But all through college I kept feeling an itch – an itch that I was a songwriter even though I had never written a song.
Through a series of events (roughly 6 years in the making), I took up the piano, stumbled through my first few tunes, and then my first few years of songwriting, worked a 9-5 while playing on nights and weekends, and then left my job to pursue music full-time after losing my brother to cancer at the age of 29 (I was 24). It was a mighty roller coaster. But if I had to pick a defining moment, it was the loss of my brother. It reminded me that life is too short to not do what you love.

My first word was guitar. My name is Jim and my website is: JimGuitar.com

Got my first guitar when I was 12 years old. My mom suggested it, and it was some of the best advice I’ve ever had. I wrote songs while in college, some not recorded until 40 years later. “Drugstore Cowboy” was one of them. I had a 22-year career as a U. S. Air Force fighter pilot (125 missions in Vietnam in the F-4 Phantom; went on to fly the F-16 my last five years on active duty). After the Air Force, fifteen years a high school teacher. All the while making music, writing, publishing, recording. Retired from school teaching in 2004; told my wife we were NOT going to retire, because people who retire, die. So, we became full-time musicians. I do classic country, folk, western, and patriotic. CD Baby has been a big part of whatever success I’ve achieved. They’ve made it possible to be heard all over the world. Thanks, CD Baby!!

I first fell in love with music and wanted to become a musician when I was 9 years old. My brother bought me a Metallica cassette tape and I listened to it everyday. A few years later I received a drumset as a birthday gift, and that was the real start of my becoming a musician.

As I got older I grew to enjoy all sorts of different kinds of music, namely electronica. When I was fifteen I finally got into producing my own music, which turned out to be goofy sounding techno. Luckily, people grow up and mature, and my music has grown with me. I am 24 now, and more passionate about music than ever before.

For me I started playing and writing to express myself at twelve. I remember the moment I was sitting in my dorm room at 19 when I realized I was going to write songs and sing. I was on mushrooms at the time. Yes I wish I were joking but it’s true. Still this was the real me feeling it, just without any consideration for earning a living or any industry connections. It’s been a wild rollercoaster, no regrets! Some real highs, just as many lows. But I can’t deny I’m a musician!

2/16/11

It all started on the piano in my grandmother’s front room in Ruleville, MS. First there was a little tinkling on the keys, and a melody developed. From that melody I learned enough to pick out “How Great Thou Art”. Soon after, I heard Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Gotta Hold on Me” and picked out the opening bars, and found the melody and began practicing it. Then one day bad weather forced all of the students to the gymnasium, and several of us gathered on stage, and a piano was there. I sat down and played my version of “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and kids came running to the stage to see who was playing it. I was amazed!

I later joined the school choir, and when I moved to Jackson, MS in 1963 I joined the high school choir. There I was discovered by Dr. Ariel Lovelace Tougaloo’s Choir Director and professor of music, and Dr. Ernst Borinski, PhD (Political Science) who knew of my interest in politics and law. Dr. Lovelace gave me an audition, and Dr. Borinski promised to help me get a degree in Political Science, and English Literature. In exchange I would perform with the concert choir for four years. As a result, I was on stage at Carnegie Hall with Duke Ellington and his orchestra on April 4th, 1968 the night Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed in Memphis. Though my dream to be like Duke was strong, my urge to work toward freeing my people was stronger. I became a journalist (TV and Radio) and a published author (prose & poetry).

Fast forward to 9/11/01, and I lost my fiancée on flight #77 that crashed into the Pentagon. We were scheduled to be married on December 22, 2001. She (A national Geographic Fellow) was taking one of her students (11year old Asia Cottom) on a deep sea diving outing in Santa Barbara, CA.

My world came to a stand still.

She had encouraged me to pursue my music. For my birthday on December 18th, 2001 I decided to give myself a small Yamaha keyboard, though I had Sarah’s (almost new) piano in my living room. Soon my healing was connected to the music, and practicing and over a period of six years, I wrote and arranged more and more songs and now I have forty (40) originals in various genres (Jazz, Blues, R&B, Old School Soul, Reggae, Afro-Cuban, Bossa, Samba, etc.). On December 1, 2010 I released my first CD of my music “Salvos The Music…Part I”. When I heard my arrangement and recording of “In My Arms Tonight”, at that moment I realized. I am a musician!

You can check it out at: http://www.ReverbNation.com. Just enter my full name and follow the link.

Thanks for allowing me to share my story.

John Milton Wesley

I was listening to Fu-Gee-La by the Fugees. I had been making records long before that. But sitting in the car on that one particular day over 15 years ago made it all make sense. That song inspired me to really make songs that have purpose!

Although it was a long, long time ago, I still remember the exact moment I decided that I wanted to become a guitar player and start a band. I had just graduated from high school, and was working in the steel mills in Gary IN. I came home after work one day and heard “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry on the radio. The guitar riffs just blew me away, and I knew then that I had to buy a guitar and learn those licks!

Although it was a long, long time ago, I still remember the exact moment I decided that I wanted to become a guitar player and start a band. I had just graduated from high school, and was working in the steel mills in Gary IN. I came home after work one day and heard “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry on the radio. The guitar riffs just blew me away, and I knew then that I had to buy a guitar and learn those licks!

I remember the exact moment I decided that I wanted to become a guitar player and start a band. I had just graduated from high school, and was working in the steel mills in Gary IN. I came home after work one day and heard “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry on the radio. The guitar riffs just blew me away, and I knew then that I had to buy a guitar and learn those licks!

I was in 9th grade, hanging out alone in a stairwell and someone gave me a harmonica to play…well I just started breathing in and out on it and before you know it, I was bendding notes and making tunes just like a duck takes to water! I was in Barcelona Spain (growing up) so classical flamenco & folk/blues were just in the landscpae, plazas, bars,homes etc.
My folks did take me to see the Beatles live at Hollywood Bowl and like the rest of the Beatlemaniacs, I spent the concert screaming like a banshee…
and I guess their lyrics and music converted me to the magic of it all…

I heard John Lennon screaming out Twist and Shout and thought… That’s for me.. then I found out that musicians got the best looking girls and thought… that’s for me.

Now I try and take my music more seriously

As a kid listening to radio in my parents car turned me onto Burt Bacharach in a big way… Soon I was singing in choirs. At 14 we were sitting in a friends basement (having our first beers) while listening to Kiss Destroyer which changed my life. That was the day my friends announced that we were starting a band and that I was the bass player. I joined the club at that moment and never looked back.

From as far back as I can remember, I would lip sink to the tunes of the Stray Cats. Before America’s Home Video’s was on the air, a little 6 year old boy by the name of Greg Fernandez Jr. would face the camera and the blaring lights of our personal tape recorder and imagine that he was on stage, in place of the Stray Cats. While singing along to music in the car, my step-mom turned to my dad and with a serious look on her face, said, “Our boy should take some singing lessons.” I never did, but right around the time Snoop Dogg’s song “Gin & Juice” came out I bought a karaoke machine.

On side B of cassette singles back in those days, songs would have instrumental versions I could write to. I spent several years doing that before I ever got a mixer. I met Dublin Beats, my friend and producer, at a high school talent show, where I was the only rapper – and I lost to dancers, a magician, and a tap dancer, ugh! Not even that could stop me. the next year I performed three times in the talent show and still lost. Yet the applause that I got from that show, and the reaction afterwards helped me stay positive and continue to record songs.

Recently I had my song on a local radio station in a “battle of the unsigned” type of deal where two unsigned artists battle it out, and listeners vote for who is better. The voting poll never was put up on the radio station website and no call in number was left. since my friends and family could not vote for me, I automatically lost. Worse, the song I lost to was called “Drunken Texting.” I should have known then. My song was a positive dance song with real content – something that would make people dance and soemthing that could be enjoyed by people of all ages, genres, ect.

Eventually, I found a genre that was more accepting than the pop genre, for now…

That’s just the beginning of my story. Every day from here on out, that story continues…

I was sitting as a Criminal Court Judge in Miami, Florida’s 11 Judicial Circuit presiding over a 2nd degree murder case when I began daydreaming about the music career I abandoned when I was accepted into the University of Miami School of Law many years earlier. I knew at that moment it was time to try again. Shortly thereafter, I retired from the legal world and entered the music world as singer/songwriter/guitarist. The best decision of my entire life. Music will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no music. Hear for yourself at http://www.riczweig.com.

One more thing: I’m sixty now.

My Dad was a musician. his band used to practice in our basement. When I 5 years old I rememeber sitting on the stairs watching them play. They were a working band so I would get to go to some of their gigs. I was hooked, but it wasn’t until I was 12 years old in my room singing and imagining I was in front of hundreds that I new. I remember saying, “this is what I’m going to do for a living.” I’ve been singing and playing ever since and that’s all I do to make ends meet.

For me it started in the 6th grade when the Junior High band came to our elementary school to recruit new musicians. Like every other young blooded boy I wanted to bang on those drums so I was determined to sign up for drums. Well I entered Junior High and instead on band I got art, what a disappointment. Then in the school bulletin came the announcement there were openings in band. I rushed down to claim my place as a drummer only to learn they were all taken. So the band director began to show me other options. For some reason I had determined I would not play an instrument I had to blow into. So he showed me the tuba, French horn, trombone, and bassoon all these sparked no interest. Finally he offered one more instrument that no one had played in years. As my tiny framed body looked upon this giant I knew from this day forth I would be a bass player. And so 37 years later I still love my bass guitar.

I was a student at college when a melody came into my head that would not go away until I wrote lyrics for it. Then one day while at the record shop I found my self looking for the record when the realization came to me that it was my song and I had not recorded it.

I was already drumming at a young age, my love for playing was there, but the decision to be a musician and have a career came when I went to a midnight showing of Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same movie at a local theater. I knew then what I wanted to. When John Bonham went into his drum solo that was it for me.
I wanted to be a rock star period I have had a long career in this business and still pursue the dreams.
But that was the moment that took me over the top.

Although I had had music lessons of various sort from an early age, and could always carry a tune, probably before I could talk, -

One day in sixth grade, after moving to a new neighborhood, a new friend came over to my house after school. He saw the ukulele that I had recently inherited from a late uncle, picked it up and said “I know how to play this thing!”. He proceeded to show me how to tune it and play three chords – it never stopped after that – got my first guitar on my birthday a few months later – and the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan Show a year after that.

I was never not doing music again.

It must have been when my Aunt Dede stuffed me into that tiny gorilla suit at age two and pushed me out on the stage to sing “Abba, dabba, dabba, dabba, dabba, dabba, dab, said the monkey to the chimp.” We were playing a benefit for the Muscular Dystrophy charity, or maybe the Cerebral Palsy charity….like so many others, music was (and is) a way of life for certain branches of my family. It’s our way of relating to the world. As soon as you could toddle on your own two feet, out onto the stage you went. It never occurred to me that it could be any other way, until I went to school and saw those poor unfortunates who sat in front of televisions and had no life of their own.

I was a little squirt, watching my sister trying so hard to learn her piano lesson songs. When she got done, I’d climb up on that stool and easily repeat what I’d heard. Pissed her off! Later, she got a guitar. When she wasn’t home, I’d sneak it down from the top shelf and study the Mel Bay book. When she found out, she was NOT happy at all. But by then she was losing interest so she sold me the thing for $15.

When I was in my early twenties, I had thought playing music for money was some form of prostitution. But I had two babies and a husband who needed surgery. When someone offered me a job playing a piano bar, I reluctantly took it, because I could nurse the little one, put him to bed, go play 8 – 12 and be back before it was time to nurse again. I hated it. At first. But after I finally got my feet wet in this new and strange environment, and saw the value in getting people singing together and having a straight out good time — I was hooked!

Lilith Fair ’99 Tour. It was amazing, life-changing, and inspiring. I was a high school teenager, who hadn’t really seen women singer/songwriters perform before, and I was blown away when I realized that I could do it too!

-Kristen Graves (kristengraves.com)

It was a lifetime of knowing i was a songwriter, and not stepping out. Until one day i was 30 years old and i decided that i was going to do my thing regardless of anything else.

When I was 6 years old we moved into a house that had a piano in it. Guess the last owners didn’t care for it or was too big and they left it there. Well I really don’t know why but it was like a magnet and my mother couldn’t keep me away from it. She didn’t mind at all though. Kept me in the house. To me it just sounded so beautifull. I toyed around with the notes and the first song I was able to learn by ear was “the homecoming” After that I started creating my own melodies then I got into the lyric writing. On my eleventh birthday I asked for a guitar and that’s been my main instrument since. Well that’s my story. Still doing it.

It was like yesterday. Charleston, South Carolina, inn the summer of 1974, my friend Frank Cone was playing, I Have to Say I Love You in a Song, by Jim Croce, and girls were swooning. It was at that moment that I knew I had to play guitar.

I have been playing semi-professionally since the late 70′s and am still playing today. For me, playing guitar has brought terrific highs, secured attention from girls, ushered my wife into Heaven, led in P&W, helped secure a new wife, and, the least of these, made additional income for me and my family. I am so glad I persevered during those tough guitar plateaus.

Music has enhanced the quality of my life ten-fold.

Every child was expected to experience some phase of music when I was little. So my sisters and I had piano lessons, starting at age 6. Moving around the country with my Dad’s job and the War meant studying with different teachers. But my Mom kept putting me back into lessons. Even in college, my first major was music. But an early marriage and a big family, which I raised by myself for ten years and needing to help financially, I became a real estate broker. But, guess what?! In the back of my head, that little voice spoke from deep inside me: “what I really want to be doing is music”. Well, the family is all grown, I found a little house for a studio, and I went from teaching business to teaching music. Finding a concert pianist to guide me 10 years ago, I have completed a 3rd CD (the first two were dreadful!), and you can find it on CD Baby: “Sounds from Another World” on Amazon and iTunes. And I played at Carnegie Hall in April of 2009, going back this April 23 at 2 pm. If you are in New York, your face I want to see!

When I was three years old my oldest sister says I climbed on our piano bench and picked out Silent Night with one finger, and I always say that’s what made my mom think, “Guess I’d better get this kid some lessons.”
I started taking piano lessons when I was five, classical, but I played lots of songs from the Sixties–the Monkees, Motown, the Beatles, the Doors, and camp songs, which I taught myself on the ukelele. I also began teaching chords to some of my friends, and I accompanied a few musical theater productions when I was a teenager, culminating in a trip to the White House, where I played for Mrs. Nixon.
I played in New York and San Francisco, and accompanied lots of musical theater, chorus and soloists, and have a CD of original music on CD baby. I’m not sure when I began thinking of myself as a musician; my sisters always sang in church, and I played for them. (There were 13 of us.) Maybe it really dawned on me that I was a musician when I played an entire show–Fiddler on the Roof–as a teen .

A bizarre journey….When I first saw Michale Jackson I thought music was so cool. Though, I started out wanting to be a Jet Pilot..flying at the age of 14 working at the local airport as a Glider/Sailplane line boy. Played drums at age 11 because my brother’s high school rock band kept the equipment at our house.

It all turned into something when I fell in love in high school and started writing poetry with my older sister’s help. That turned into humming a melody and I realized I could turn it into a song. Wow! I thought..this could be something. I then started piano lessons at 16. The strike of lightning truly came when I heard the group THE POLICE. I was already in college by then and their first record was a huge hit. So in college I started taking more and more music courses…..the Dean was not happy with me. I was accepted into the music program by default due to the many courses I had taken.

Upon graduation, my pilot endeavors brought me to California. I landed in Los Angeles to visit with family and when I saw the Hollywood sign in real life I was done with flying as a career.

My piano playing and song writing got better(today I fully orchestrate and Produce) but it was my singing that led me on an incredible path to success. Ironically, I worked with Michael Jackson on “Man In The Mirror” as a session singer and when I performed on the Grammy Awards to an audience of a billion I felt like I had an out of body experience. My life flashed before my eyes. 70 million records later and multi platinum record awards it was a choice I could never regret. The experiences have been priceless. Dream your dream and follow your heart…with a plan if possible and some cash. LOL.

Just a Wannabe
© 2002 Bryce Black

I realize that I’m just a wannabe / When up on the stage I climb, most people flee
But I dream I could be a star / It seems I would go real… far
if I could only play in time and sing on key

chorus I
And my secret life’s ambition / is to be a real musician,
to make these clumsy fingers move / in syncopation to the groove
and sing in perfect harmony / but I’m just a wannabe.

I never get invited to the jam / but I show up anyway and say, “here I am.”
When I sit in the guys / grit their teeth and roll their eyes,
and turn my mike down low as they can.

chorus II
But did I tell ya my life’s ambition / is to be a true musician,
to improvise like John Coltrane / and spew new music from my brain
and fill the air with ecstasy / but I’m just a wannabe.

I stayed up all last night, to write this song / It was, by first daylight, thirty verses long.
Though the same three little chords / repeat you won’t get bored
though I suppose I might… be wrong.

chorus III
And did I mention my life’s ambition / is to be a great musician,
so round the world, my songs are heard / and my name is a household word,
but that fantasy I ain’t gonna see /‘cause I’m just a wannabe,
I’m nuttin’ but a wannabe,
I’m merely a wannabe,
yeah, I’m just a wan-na-be.

I was eleven-years-old and we were living in a tiny city council slum in Birmingham, England. One bright and freezing Saturday in December I strapped on my blue plastic Beatles guitar, slapped on my Woolworths black plastic Beatle wig, and tucked my shirt collar inside my shirt. Then I strode out onto the “stage” that faced the tiny patch of icy mud we defiantly called our back garden. I stood shivering on the stage, a small, cracked patch of cement outside our bog window. While my kid brother, Roy, set up his biscuit tin and saucepan lid drum kit I did a sound check. That is, I turned on our crackling red and white transistor radio and checked to see if any sound was coming out of it. Through the bog window I caught a whiff of cigarette smoke and heard the dulcet grunts of granddad straining away. I twiddled the tuner and Radio Luxembourg faded in. The Rolling Stones were clattering through “Come ON”. We didn’t have long to wait for what we wanted, only Roll Over Beethoven by the almighty Beatles would do for us. Our audience was always the same, the empty balconies and blank windows of the tower block opposite. We were both a bit scared of the rough kids that lived in those tower blocks, and their Dads, older brothers, and dogs tell the truth. So these shows were my first experience of dealing with stage fright. So, needing just that little extra bit of swagger, I was always John Lennon and never mind what song was playing. The bloke next door was burning something rancid and smoke wafted across the stage just as the song started. In my mind the light of the grey afternoon dimmed and the roar of an unheard crowd rose to howl and scream approval. The world lay at my feet.

The whole sordid tale of my life as a professional musician is in my memoir, Stairway To Nowhere, available at:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/stairway-to-nowhere/6483321

i came home from school.. to a friends house and saw nirvana on Mtv. i know that’s ridiculous. but that’s when i quit soccer and piano for guitar. now i produce rock and roll freelance and am about to go to brazil for the 2nd year in a row to do a record.

I’d been infused with music since I was a toddler. My mom was a semi-professional french horn player and concert pianist. I started learning to play the piano and music theory when I was three. But the problem with that is when you’re a kid you just want to do what you want to do and things like practicing the piano are work. I was in band class in grade school, junior high, and high school. I played the trumpet. It was an easy A.

The first time I took it seriously and made up my mind was the first time I smoked pot. I’d never really heard music before then. It was always just there. But getting high in a secret spot in my shitty Buick Skyhawk and listening to Metallica with my hesher buddy Mike Carberry opened my eyes. Suddenly I heard the sounds and I understood it. My parents had a computer with an early midi program called “Ballade” on it. I started recording my own music with a virtual 16-track mixer and a bunch of Casio presets. I joined a metal band with that same friend called SubZero.

But it wasn’t until I was nineteen and living in Los Angeles that I really made up my mind about it. I was homesick and on the phone with an old girlfriend. We were talking about our dreams and our future. She told me that she wanted to be an accountant. I got furious. “That’s it?” I yelled over the phone. “You can do whatever you want and you want to be an accountant?”

Fuck that, I thought to myself as I hung up on her. I want to be a fucking rock star and I’m gonna do it or die trying. I’m not a rock star, but I’m still doing exactly what I want with my time every day. A lot of people seem to forget just how important that is.

I was born to it. Both parents were musicians, had a dance
orchestra when I was born. Dad (violin) was leader, rehearsals
at our house. I was, no doubt, hearing their music even before I
was borrn. Mother pplayed piano. Both parents sang, dancd,
lived music.
Mother told me my first performance was at two years old,
when my father stood me up on a chair and had me sing with
the orchestra. (Lodge dance) She said by then I had learned all their songs, Mom told me I
sang before I talked (and started talking early) and before
that was writing my own songs.

We moved to new neighborhood when I was six — no playmates
even close to my own age. My father gave me the mandolin
an older sister had given him as a boy, tuned it ukelele style
and said (essentially) “Here, kid, have at it.” In those days the
popular music had ukelele chords above the chord changes.
I promptly developed that.

Dad had a friend with a music store and would being home
instruments like zither, valve trombone, saxophone (which
needed repadding) and other such instruments. He would
repair them and turn them over to my skster and me to teach
outselves to play. I played zither, saxophone, pianokkukelele

My sister and I had piano lessons, she on 1st plani and me
on 2nd piano. I continued to sing. Music was big in those days,
with local, district and state contests. Through school years
I sang in glee club, a capella choir (the elite group), solo, duo.
trio, quartet, etc. all the way through school, plus community
and church choirs, solos, plays, high school operas — wherever
there was music.

In junior High I formed a duo with another girl and wrote our
arrangements. I had a duo with a boy, singing and dancing
Irish jigs for school performance.

In highschool I expanded the vocal duo to a trio, wrote close
haarmony arrangements and sang on the three radio stations
in the city (Midwest). We backed a national singer on one
station. The high school vocal teacher had me go to her
after school for vocal lessons, and she would take me to hear
famous singers who came to town.

Eventually, I went to the Dean of Voice at a local university,
a well-known singer herself, who determined I didn’t need
lessons, so she worked with me on repertoire.

By that time I was soloing at the various radio stations and
entertainment venues aaround town, with my older sister
accompanying me on piano. When she married and moved
away, I developed a piano method for accompanying myself
on piano. I never thought I coulfd play melody, she didn’t think
she could sing.

I married at 25, became an army wife, continued to sing and
play and write and arrange, although not professionally. Along
the way, worked ih three office careers (25 plus years’ worth),
went back to performing at 62.

Issued my first CD for my 85th birthday (see UTube/Suzie Grey,
Issued a single CD and played a mini-concert for a world’wide
video. Still writing songs. I will be 95 in June

I still live music. And my three adult children all have the
talent. Only one is a professional musician. The other
two simply enjoy the benefits.

Th;is is a partial glimpse at my life as a musician.

Suzie Grey

We were having a hard time at home and I was having a harder time at school and a friend of mine played me a tape of John Martyn singing “Just Now” and I fell in love with it. I asked for a guitar for Christmas and mum and dad got me this old cheap nylon string which I just loved and was hooked. Even before I had a guitar I used to get things out of me by sitting in my bedroom writing songs, using funny codes to write them down and remember them. Music was and still is my heart and soul and my saviour through so many difficult times. Cheesy but true Unfortunately at times the quest for commercial success has dampened my enthusiasm for being a musician professionally, but in my heart it is what I will always be and it is what I will always need to do.

Summer 1986 and Ruisrock. I was at age of 6 and already on my 3rd year in a row at that festival, thanks to my open minded parents who took me to see my idols. The biggest band in Finland in -86 was Dingo and I was a big-small-fan. I told my mother I want to be a singer — but first I need to play drums so I can afford the earrings (greets to all the glam rockers out there).

Spring 1996 I was on my first year in senior high (or is it college) and I had just formed my band. The past years had been depressive and I was kind of searching the meaning of life, I didn’t know what I want to do when I grow up.. I was 16 back then and I still don’t know what else I would do when I some day grow up. But music did it for me, I went so deep in to it that it was maybe year or two later when I noticed I hadn’t been feeling down for a long time and always the creative stuff made me feel great.

Spring 2011 .. I’ve been working at a plastic factory for almost 3 years and it’s been ruff doing so little music or anything creative. Used to do 5 years music only before getting in to the current job. But just lately I helped out one of Sweden’s all time most sold, a multimillion recording female artists with two of her up-coming songs, and she tells me “it’s great to work with professionals who do the job fast and always know what the artists want”. This hit me. I didn’t think of myself as a professional, and then one of my teen-hood idols comes telling me this.

I’m looking forwards to go back deeper in to music now that I’ve settled my equipment financially where I want it to be.

It all started out on a remote family Island in the Bahamas called Exuma.My cousins and i started building amplifiers from old radio parts as replacement for real instruments.Our father/uncle took note of this discovery and loan us some money to purchase real instruments.At that time we would play for who ever wanted to hear for a glass of lemonade and food.It was not until a local farmer working in his farm heard us practicing and decided to hire us for money.Twenty Eight years later the rest is history.

When I was 6 years old my Dad bought a big PIANO for my brother and I .
We took piano lessons for a bit! But on Feb.9,1964 we were all glued in front
of the TV to see this new band EVERYone was talking about..THE BEATLES..
Since that day my Dad sold the piano ,we took guitar lessons and bought
a HARMONY semi acoustic guitar! I still use it till today..
I was in a band in High School.When I got to ISRAEL I took rock songs
and changed the words..And when Paul McCartney finally performed in ISRAEL
in 2008 , I was at the show!

I was always singing but never thought I was a singer, in fact, i was gearing up to become a comedian.
It was my third year in high school and my friends were encouraging me to be at a concert that was to happen
at our school. Over and over they reminded me as to make sure i attend this concert. my friends made special
effort they even called my house to say make sure you be there. That day when i went to the concert, everyone
was having a good time, Reggae Band Jamming real tight to the different performances they had rehearsed.
By this time my friends and i were rocking to the heart beat of the reggae band when all of a sudden, my name
was being called by the mc for a performance. I had no prior knowledge that i would have to perform as i had
never performed on a stage before, I was very hesitant. I really did not want to go on stage especially with no
rehearsal but my friends and everyone was shouting my name as if it was a plot of surprise or something, so i
put on my brave face,and entered the stage. You could not believe the response i received from the audience as
I sang Little Green Apples the Dennis Brown version.
I became an instant star and from that point on I knew I was a singer.

My dad took me to our small-town barber shop. The Life magazine I picked up was probably the first magazine I’d ever looked at. The Beatles were featured and I said out loud “I’m gonna be a Beatle.” Everyone in the place laughed and passed them off as a Fad. I’ve never had the stardom or made the big money, but my fire is still burning. It makes me whole.

My dad was a musician. Even had his own radio show in Miami when I was born 60 years ago. He taught me a few guitar chords and that was it, I was hooked! Then along came The Beatles, then the hobby became an obsession! I wrote my 1st song at age 17. All these years later, I’m still at it, writing and playing. Still having fun!

For me it was hearing Atari Teenage Riot for the first time on cd. Up to then I’d always loved music and all kinds of music but didn’t believe I had any musical talent myself but that album was so raw and basic but aslo so bvital, fresh and punk that I realised I could do it! I also at the time shared the same political ” destroy everything start again ” attitude – It’s evolved some since then – BUT at the time it was extactly what i wanted to hear!! Also the production method was so lowtech and low fi and I realised with a few bits of hardwar I could do the same thing – they just use an obsolete Atari – with my Playstation. So I got a portable digital mixing desk and the rest is history, now I program, rap, sing – badly – an play guitar!!

My mom taught piano and my dad was a singer/dancer. At five years old, my mom took me to a Dorothy White children’s concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Dorothy was doing “Peter and the Wolf” and used kids from the audience to form a rhythm band to go along with her story. During the performance, as Dorothy played piano and sang the story, my mom asked me if I would be interested in learning how to play piano. I said “yes” and she began giving me lessons. She found a good piano teacher(her methods weren’t working)and I took lessons for about 12 years. During that time, I progressed pretty well and played recitals and then many concerts in my area. I also started writing songs around the age of 16. A couple of my songs were pitched to some major singers but I found that honing the songwriting skill was a process.
When I was eighteen, I shifted from classical to jazz and, while in college during the day, I put together a small band and did night gigs in various clubs in my area….
I started traveling after college and toured with a number of show bands. I wound up in Nashville and made a connection with a major label and began writing songs for the company. I linked up with a major recording star and toured with him for a while, would up in Atlanta and settled down there.
I had a spiritual experience and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and that’s when musical things started to happen. I attended my congregation for 23 years and, during that time, I had the opportunity to record 4 CDs of my own music and start a music ministry called Aliyah Music Ministries. The ministry took me to manys places of worship and gave me the opportunity to minister to many people in need. I just released a new CD called “NewHeart” which is available on many online stores.

As a child, I used to sit in front of the stereo and listen to Ray Charles and pretend I was playing the piano. My mom gave me an organ keyboard my first year in high school. I also used to watch this cat in my class in H.S. play guitar and I wanted to play just like him. In junior high, I played tenor sax. I guess I’ve been a musician all my life to this day. Music has taught me to be a leader, a producer, and a multi-instrumentalist.

we were playing with bands like Deftones, Sisters Of Mercy, Young Gods, Dir En Grey and many more. And we did it all ourselves….

check out this video to find out how it all happend….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpjHuaYZWUA

It all started when my sister and I each received Stella guitars as presents. I began lessons in earnest, along with my sister, who didn’t quite take to it like I did.

I started with the Mel Bay Guitar Method and made it through all of the books, then got into jazz, listening to Wes Montgomery, Chuck Wayne, Joe Pass, George Benson and many other guitar players. I was very fortunate to have two very good guitar teachers, too!

While attending a music camp, my guitar instructor introduced me to brazilian music, and from then on I was hooked, and have made my main genre of music brazilian as well as smooth jazz.

I became a classical guitar major in college and developed my fingerstyle approach and have used it ever since.

I can’t help but wonder if it’s in my genes. My father was a violinist, and as the story goes, he got a rare scholarship to go to Europe to study electronic music. I’m not sure what that means exactly or how much of it is accurate because I never met him or heard his music. I guess he also had some compositions of his own. My mother was quite a good pianist, though she did not perform. Too bad because she was talented and very pretty.
The defining moment for me was when I saw a stick drawing of a sax on a flier my fifth grade teacher passed out. She asked who wanted to play in the band, and I wanted to be that cool cat I saw on TV playing the sax.
My brother was taking violin lessons and I talked my Grandmother into stepping up for an alto sax. I was off to the races. I used to compete with my brother for volume when practicing, and man did that torment my poor Grandmother. Can you imagine a violin and a sax playing different songs poorly by two brothers competing for volume? That came to an abrupt halt.
My first exposure to the Beatles was the Abby Road album, and man was that sound magical to me. I was hooked on Rock and Roll from boyhood. I loved to listen to hits on the radio, the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Stones, and so on.
We had a piano in the house when I was a young teen and the first song I learned was the Pink Panther. I still love that song. I was rather introverted as a teenager, so I spent a lot of time alone playing a crappy old guitar of my mother’s. After a few years’ hiatus from playing sax, I realized that was one of my few talents to date and started playing with others. I had to force myself to play in front of others in order to overcome my fear of performing. I got into bands, played parties, shows, and did a lot of open mic’s. It became easier after some kudos. But those old demons never fully disappeared. Sorry I digressed, you only asked for the beginning, not a life story. Woops.

I was eight years old that summer and found yet another piano in yet another apartment in another building we moved to. It was usually too hot and humid to go outside during the day so I amused myself by trying to pick out a tune on the piano. I easily learned to play (with the right hand) The Five O’Clock Whistle. Then I learned to play a little boogie woogie, listening closely to the records I heard being played in record shops nearby. Finally, at 9 years old, a few pennies were found to let me take piano lessons. I memorized some popular tunes and kept on trying to sing and play until I was fifteen and got the courage to audition for the amateur hour at the Apollo Theatre on 125th Street in Harlem.

I hid behind the piano from the tough audience and sang at Amateur Hour, between 11PM and midnight, every summer when I got a chance, until I was about 20 years old. Eventually i wrote a few tunes and at last, in 2002, I recorded those with some new tunes. Back in 1989 I found a coach who gave me enough confidence to stand up and sing, with someone else playing the piano (sometimes with other instruments). After the Open Mic cirucit I got several gigs with my coach and other musicians. My album, IT’s WONDERFUL has two songs that were written in my teens. It’s nice that just one song can be down-loaded for a few cents. Once in a while somebody in my audience buys a cd.

I had two passions….to design clothes and make music. I was told as a child that music was a dream…so I went to design school. Then went to the Vertical Leap Christian Bus. Seminar who’s mentor, Al Hllingsworth said,”If what you are now doing for pay, you would not do for free, then that is NOT your purpose”. I realized I could do both well…but I would not design for free…but I’d often done free shows. So I STOPPED doing the other and continued in my music…cut my expenses in halpf…I am NOW happy…and still doing it…and YES..you CAN make a living in music…especially if you move to where you are needed most. God gives the vision and the PROvisions.

At the age of 8 I use to stand nearby the piano and watch my uncle who was a nightclub musician (back in the day it was nightclub). When he left I would go to the piano and try to play what I heard him play.

When I went to live with my great-grandmother I listened to the radio and learned to play what I heard. As a result I became an accomplished pianist and was asked to play every week at the school assembly.

Once my family moved from Arkansas to Oakland, California I continued hone my gift. At the age of 14 I became a Christian, my parents wanted me to take piano lessons, which I did, but by then I had trained myself to play by ear. This got me in trouble with my piano teacher because other people who also took piano lessons from him, accused him of not teaching them like he was teaching me, so he asked me if I played by ear and I said yes, he said that’s what my other students are talking about. At that point he asked me not to use my ear and to practice my note music.

Of course I did not comply with his request because it was more fun playing by ear. But it was my loss because today I do not play classical music as I should because I did not practice as instructed. However, I don’t regret not giving up playing by ear. Because I have a number of “best pianist” trophies in my living room.

I was born to play and I will always play and my prayer always to God is please to direct me so that I don’t do anything foolish to not be able to play the piano. Even at the age of 81 I have musicians of today asking me to teach them to play the way I play. I love it!!!!

I am grateful to God for the longevity, it is definately a gift from God.

My life appeared to be fulfilling: I earned a bachelor’s degree in Business
from a university in Australia and worked at my family’s business, the
Thavonsouk Resort. Still, I was longing for the next adventure in my life.
Many questions arose. After the degree and work, did I really need a master’s
degree? Many of my other friends were pursuing advanced degrees at
that time. What was next for me? I only knew that I yearned for something
new to make me happier. In 2002, I decided to “look for myself” (I heard
this term from movies, but never fully understood it). I took three months
off from work during the low season at the resort to travel to Europe. That
trip changed my life forever.
During the early morning of June 21, 2002, I took a bus to visit some museums
in Paris, France and suddenly noticed there was a special event. I
heard music along the road, and I saw people spontaneously come out and
play music. They sang about everything using their guitars, saxophones,
trumpets, harmonicas, and accordions. They were everywhere—on roadsides,
in the Metro, and on almost every corner I walked past. I was so
happy to be in this amazing environment. I felt like I was brought back to
something familiar, but also something that I was missing for some time. It
was great to hear music again.

My story…

By 8 years old I’d already developed a relationship with music; I quickly became entangled with popular music and soon thereafter …Mary Jane.

Music for me was like having an affair… I was passionate about every nuance and expression – I just had to find its reason for being. Yeah, I’m a bit crazy yet aren’t most musicians?

By 1980, I was literally breathless and amazed when I started playing the guitar effectively (I’m not kidding, I actually had to remind myself to breathe; an occasional problem). *yet I was very distracted as I loved long distance running and 8 hour days playing basketball (the weekends).

2/1985, as a sort of joke I was dared to play a solo for an original studio recorded song without a solo guitar on it – the guitarist had apparently quit *this was an already established popular band. I was given the tape at my friends bar, her brother was the singer in this band. She said, “I could do it!!” yet I was considered a clean cut studious jock/melodic hard rocker type (Bryan Adams comes to mind); no one was ready for what I had to offer (myself included). I took this very seriously that night, went straight home and dubbed the solo into the song using a double cassette player and a mic. I returned to the bar in just over 45 minutes… gave the tape back and said, “You’re right I’m no match for a band such as yours!!” lol!! (*This very recording/song is on my web-page called “Over The Wall”).

*Thank god there were a lot of people around that night to include a recently signed Roadrunner Records Artist (“Realm”- from Milwaukee) was in the club. The brother saw them and immediately played his demo; lol – he wasn’t ready for what I had done. *Even more funny was he went into great detail stating to all that the solo was missing.

After it was played all in the bar cheered loudly …they loved the song and especially wanted to know who the guitar soloist was. LMAO – my defining moment!! This is the first time I knew I had to channel all my energies into music (I was christened soon thereafter “The Consummate Professional” – because of my intentness regarding music) – A run of cover bands ensued… all with the same singer.

Then in late 1992, I desired to demonstrate my writing skills (lyrics/music). All songs 1987–1992 were written for anyone who wanted to sing and then play them. Sadly, there were to be no real takers except one female drummer [ listen to “Ball N’ Chain” live; solo dubbed] – to this day she wishes to remain anonymous. * It’s been me, myself and I mostly ever since… I think I was and am too impassioned for other musicians. There were always a few musicians yet no one stuck around too long. ** Sadly, I never did play anything live from my first Cd “Spell You’re Under”.

Then in 1998, taking two years of looking and working with mostly inexperienced but hard working musicians; we took a chance on each other… a complete band formed. My new Cd “LUNA” (my 100% input even photos, production and engineering) was accepted very quickly – 25 shows, radio interviews and some decent exposure. We also played two dates at Milwaukee’s very own “Summerfest” 6/99 – the world’s biggest music festival. * I was pretty much without a band right away after these two dates. I won’t bore you with all the details yet it was mainly contract/money issues.

After this I took a 4 year hiatus …I’ve never had a complete band ever since. I’ve written plenty since yet no one seems to want to play originals as pay is minimal so I’ve been using backing tracks *Since my first recording until now I’ve learned all but the drums to include singing …to get the sounds out of my head and into the air …to include recording (rough/raw/home mixes I call them).

Thanx for your time,

DSL

For me it was watching the videos for Guns N’ Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine” when they came out. Just watching Slash play and thinking – I NEED to do that!

It was kind of gradual. I played some clarinet at school, and someone gave me an old Benny Goodman record. Then I found some Count Basie in my dad’s record collection. 1970s, in remote Wales – they were like voices from outer space. I was just so fascinated that music could *sound* like that.

I played a lot, copying off records but everyone told me that music, especially jazz, was no career. I learnt guitar, got into a lot of other music, started writing songs …. it was not until I was nearly 30, in a very dark time, that I realised it was what I really should be doing.

In the end, it haunts you if you don’t do it …

It was December of 1975 in Sydney Australia and I had just been laid off my secretarial job in a television production company. The country was in a recession much like we are here in America. I was devastated and really really scared. How was I going to pay the rent? I picked up the phone to call my parents 1,000 miles away in my home town but halfway through dialing I stopped and thought: “If I do this they’ll tell me to come home and I’ll be right back to square one”. I had big dreams to work on a stage, date George Clooney and travel the world. There was only one small glitch – I didn’t have a clue how to make that happen.

I hung up the phone.

I’d been given two weeks’ notice and during that time one of the talent agents called that supplied actors for our game shows. Lyle was in a tizz that day because he had to find a piano player for one of his biggest clients in Sydney and everyone was booked because it was Christmas time. He asked if I knew anyone and without hesitation I said “I can do that!” Without thinking he said “OK!” I kinda sorta forgot to tell him that although I’d been playing piano since I was five, I’d never played in public before. I also kinda sorta forgot to tell him I only knew 50 songs and most of them were Beatles.

The gig was for two weeks in a piano bar in Sydney’s top hotel, six nights/week, four hours/night. Fifty songs. Do the math.

I bluffed my way through the job by making everyone laugh and turning all their requests into Beatles songs. At the end of the two weeks the agent called and said what a great job I had done because everyone loved me. He then handed me a great big check. I remember thinking “Wow! You mean you can do what you love to do and get PAID? What a concept!”

That’s when I made the commitment to be a professional musician and be the best I could be.

Fast forward thirty one years and here I am living in Houston, Texas having performed around the world in thirteen countries as a piano entertainer (that gets paid NOT to sing). In 2006 Coca Cola hired me to play at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy that was the highlight of my career.

Nowadays I incorporate the piano in my keynote speeches as a motivational speaker at conferences and meetings around the country. I use the same principles it took for me to master the piano to help people become leaders in their field through extraordinary performance.

I’ve seen music uplift and move people of all cultures, religions, ages and social status. It is truly a universal language and grossly underestimated in its power to heal.

Thanks to CD Baby for helping spread the joy of music.

hmmm, I’ve realized it hundreds of times, and forgotten just as many – but the 1st time I realized I was totally into it was when I hooked and EQ up backwards to the tape deck and got the feedback loop going.

I could use the EQ to play sounds… lows, mids and highs. So I spliced the cable and ran it into the out of my drum machine and the EQ sounds wrapped around the beats and I could also play the EQ still.. made for some funky stuff, so I bought a guitar fx unit & a mixer and yeeeehaaawww… I was off… next, guitar, and it’s been my love ever since : )

Neal Visher

I fell in love with the guitar at about age 10. I didn’t need or want an audience to play in front of back then, but people were always poking their head around the corner to see who was playing, whether it was good or bad. With the guitar, I had discovered a way to express myself….let it out so to speak. Most of my early life I sort of hid behind it, retreating to it often in times of despair and uncertainty.Only later as I got better did it give me the courage to want to stand in front of it proudly. The guitar has always been my closest friend. Music is the one thing I still have a passion for.. that I’m good at, and songwriting has taken on a whole new meaning….

Some years ago I was searching for a way to be in a band. I thought if I learned to play bass guitar I’d be closer to my goal. I discovered a friend of mine played bass and asked if he’d give me lessons, and he agreed. After that first lesson I told him I thought maybe I could sing and if he would, please listen and let me know. Now this friend of mine is one of those brutally honest type of guys and I knew he’d indeed let me know good, bad, or indifferent. So sang I did…he just kinda stared at me. After a few awkward moments I said, “Hey, just let me know, I can take it.” He said, “We’re gonna start a band!” I told him there was no way after one lesson I could play bass in a band, figuring he just didn’t want to tell me how awful I was. He said, “No you’re not gonna play bass, you’re gonna sing!” And that’s how it began.

I guess you could say it happened while my mom was pregnant with me. At the time my mother was (still is) a gospel singer from Los Angeles, CA. She sang everywhere, churches, events, weddings, you name it. She even wrote and produced two albums as Mattie Collins and the “Soul Stirring” Charilette Gospel Singers. Back in those days (let’s just say sometime in the ’70′s) I grew up with the soulful sounds of the baptist church, but I was also introduced to classical, country, R&B, Jazz and Blues. My mother would always say, “There’s something beautiful in all kinds of music, you just have to be open and listen.” Growing up I thought that music was in every house the way that it seemed to be a normal part of ours. I remember Saturday mornings, that was our “clean up day.” My mother would motivate us with music; and we’d dance around with the vacuum, feather dusters, etc. Hey, it worked! And, it was a lot of fun. I learned so much about music, history about the influence of music on society, culture and our lives. Anyway, I just recall that my mother always played the role of the lead singer–delivering each note with confidence and such a powerful commanding voice. She was amazing to watch. I could sing, but I was shy and I used to ask her, “Mom, how is it that you are never afraid when you sing in front of people?” She’d always reply, “If God gives you a voice to sing, then it’s your responsibility to use it to bring joy to others through a song. And that’s what I do.” Music always made her (and us) happy. I saw the power of her voice to affect change in people; to bring joy to their lives, and to make them think and smile; and you know what? She still has it. It was those moments, those “Saturday morning clean up days” that inspired me to follow in my mother’s footsteps. That’s when I knew that I wanted to sing. Twenty years later, I landed an audition for one of the artists who’s music my Mom would play on Saturday mornings. And, in 1994 I found myself on stage singing one of those songs that I’d heard often as a child. I was working as a Raelette with the late Ray Charles. The song was “Hit The Road Jack.” And, I haven’t stopped singing

Like my mother was my influence, I am working to introduce young children to the power of music with a jazz for kidz music CD and education program that I have developed. Visit Kidz MusiQ Club.com to learn more about it.

“You say ‘I am a musician, now and forever.’”

No disrespect to the esteemed Chris R., but I’ve got to differ with that line of thinking, and by extension, with 90% of the comments here. If you’re focused on the (self-granted) title of being “a musician”, your head’s in the wrong place. Instead, just make the music you are compelled to make, and over time you will earn the title, for whatever that’s worth.

Also, I’m cranky and need more coffee.

When I was about 12/13, the song “dig” by mudvanye came out. I saw the music video and this pushed me to play drums. I learned every mudvayne song I could and actually started a pretty succesfull youtube page. Anyways I finally got to see them live with my brother at Summer Sanitarium and just remember them being the first band and they were just so incredible I couldn’t help but want to be up there with them. From that moment on I vowed to be in a band and play with them one day!

http://www.facebook.com/skycameburningofficial

My dad put me on the piano at age 3. He played guitar and piano so that started it for me. He passed away when I was 7 years old.

35 years later I play in church every week and make my own music. My brother plays for the US Army Band and plays everywhere.

The apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree. I’m glad I came from a good tree.

Thanks Dad,

David Edgerton, Jr.

February, 64! Right?

wow! if there’s any pics of you with that guitar and amp, we’d love to see it! what a time machine.

i were born with it

1. The Bay City Rollers. My girlfriend loved them more than me. 37 years later she (now my wife) is still with me. BUT ONLY BECAUSE I BOUGHT A WOOLWORTHS (Audition) strat shaped electric guitar (£29.50) and spent three years not learning how to play it (bless you Bert, you scoundrel). Plink plink buzz, chord – force fingers into next position, taking about 5 seconds, then next chord – plink squark twang.
A couple of years later I thought about moving myself into a new self declamatory bracket – promoting myself from “learning to play” to ” can play”. I pulled it off. People believed it. Then I started believing it myself. Then Glory be: PUNK! “Anyone can play this shite” I declared. Barre chord that makes F at the first fret and A at the fifth. Leave fingers in position and just mooooove it up and down the neck. Never mind three chords. One was fine. It was enough. Gawd bless you Steve Jones, Peter Shelley and the bloke out of “Penetration”. You showed me how it couldn’t be done and I was able to couldn’t do it as convincingly as every one else couldn’t. Hey – I was cool because I loftily referred to Johnny Rotten and John Lydon. My brother was considered just as cool through knowing him as John Lydon instead of Johnny Rotten. It was cool warfare between me and bro. Believe it or not the following made us cool in about 1977: Being followers of Bruce Springsteen (true, Bruce was CRED then, but with little more than a cult following in the UK, and me and bro were two of the cults that swaggered around with “The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle” under our arms. IT WAS NOT COOL to rate the Sex Pistols. They were considered a joke. Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, Bruce, Patti Smith were the doods. Also those graduates of the London/Southend/ Canvey pub circuit, Nick Lowe, Eddie and the Hot Rods, maybe even the Kursaal Flyers and of course The Feelgoods received nods of “cred” approval. Steve Harley and the TRB held cred until being destroyed by the music press.
Anyway, back to the point. I picked up a guitar37 years ago because of its magical powers, to smooth my acne, sculpt away my love handles and loosen young ladies underwear.
It’ll be worth waiting for…….

Age ten singing “Queenie The Cutie” at a The Last Resort Honky Tonk in Whitewater MN with the Root River Ramblers. My dad bought the band leader a drink, who didn’t expect much. I killed it. The applause and response is the drug of a lifetime…