When I moved to Montreal on my way to New York, back in the early 70's, I got kidded a lot about living down THE street, from THE corral, where they kept the buffalo. I got used to it. I also got used to people asking you your last name so they could classify according to your ethnic background. The other thing I learned was that when crossing the street, you have to pay close attention to the taxis -- it's their job to try to run you down. I never made it to New York. I met Elyce and decided to stay...
I evolved as an esoteric folksinger for a couple of years, then hooked up with publisher, Ben Kaye and began writing with an aim to being commercial -- a dirty word in my vocabulary up until then. I experimented with MOR pop music, and wrote a load of songs.
Sparked by a friend who said some of my songs sounded like Rock, I joined up with a Punk band, The Strokes. This phase lasted through a couple of bands, until I got fed up with egos and guys being too stoned to do anything, and I went underground, working like crazy with recording gear, drum boxes, synths and keyboards, as well as guitars.
Meanwhile, I earned my living doing sing-along concerts with kids, mostly in schools. I eventually had a Children's record, "Cool Kids", released on the Attic label.
I continued with my other music, and landed a deal with Montreal dance king, Tony Green. My "Pop Modern(e)" album on the TGO label landed me a nomination as most promising male vocalist in the 1985 CASBY awards (Gowan won, but it was great to be nominated). I had a video on high rotation on Much Music , and even 5 years later, "Miracle" was one of the "Top 100 Songs of All Time", on CFNY, the radio station in Toronto that championed the album.
When that deal went sour, I floundered for quite a while as an artist, but eventually rebuilt and evolved myself through a bunch of albums over the last 25 years.
Keep your eyes and ears open for my new CD, "Rockhill", which is coming soon...
EPK - Electronic Press Kit