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As all children who come from a family that values education, my mother felt all her children should learn a musical instrument. I was surrounded by many instruments, recorder, guitar and piano. My first musical instrument was a piano. However, as I listened to the musicians of my time, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, I did not feel my playing represented a true passion for the piano. I started playing the guitar, and my musical world opened up completely. I started listening to George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, and George Benson. I felt so expressive on the guitar.
At the age of 7 I started my first band. "The Black Skyline "playing funk and soul on an old 63 Gibson SG (I still have it!). Playing everything from strip clubs to corporate functions to prisons...WE GOT AROUND! The group played up and down the east coast. At 16, we renamed the group to "The Brahmans" and I started to move into bigger venues. In the early 70's the band opened for George Benson, Patti LaBelle, and Phyllis Hyman. As Bass player, after bass player, started leaving the group, I decided to play the bass myself. This opened another chapter in my life of musical expression. I played with local rock bands, funk bands, as well as jazz bands for a few years. |
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| I subsequently had the opportunity to play bass for Solomon Burke, the 2001 inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. From that moment, the bass became my new instrument of choice. |
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