My Early Years:

My first musical inspiration was when I was about five while riding in the back seat of my dad’s car with my uncle Paul playing guitar and a friend named Ray Truman, singing broadway tunes, among them Hello Dolly, which he changed to Hello Bonnie when his wife Bonnie was with us. He had a booming but beautiful voice and it was thrilling! It was so exciting, it gave me goosebumps at 5 years of age! I decided right then, I wanted to sing like that!  But it would be many years, until I grew up and trained my voice to do anything close.

My mother and grandmother sang folk songs and taught me and my sisters to sing along, either in the car to pass the time on long drives, or at picnics, meals or anytime we felt like it. When I was nine, I wanted to play the piano, but because we didn’t have one and couldn’t afford to buy one, Mom gave me her guitar to play.  She then signed me up for guitar lessons, and I started learning—ever so slowly--my first songs that I practiced at home and in front of my family. I almost quit several times, because it was hard and my teacher was sometimes impatient with me.  But Mom encouraged me, and I continued. Like many kids in the sixties and seventies, I grew up singing at school, at summer camp, in the boy scouts, and later in high school choir, at school plays and talent shows, church choir, parties, etc..

But there was one experience that changed my life! I had been taking guitar lessons for about a year, when my mom, who was an elementary school teacher, invited me to perform a few songs for her class. I was not a popular or self-confident boy.  On the contrary, I was very shy and self-conscious, and so I refused right away. I had never considered doing anything like that! But she persisted and eventually convinced me to do it, because she said, it was only going to be for a very small group of very young students and a few teachers, and that they so much wanted to hear me play for them and it would mean so much.  So reluctantly, very scared and nervous, I practiced Hey Jude and two other songs, that I had learned and went with my mom to her school. I walked into the room with my guitar, and was surprised to see a huge room full of people!  The divider in my mother’s portable classroom had been moved aside and two classes filled the large room!  There were many more than I had expected!  I was greeted very warmly by my mom’s coworkers and encouraged and directed to climb up on a little stage. I was petrified! But I sat down and did my best, in spite of being very nervous. After the first song, everybody clapped like crazy, which encouraged me to continue. This wasn’t going to be so bad. After the last song, they applauded again loudly and I’m sure I must have been beaming, because it felt so good! I was surprised and elated! My confidence soured! My fear was gone! I had done it! I was a success! It was 1969, and it was my awakening!

The Galapagos Islands Trip:

When I was 17, my grandmother gave me and my cousin Eric of similar age a 3 week trip on a small guided sailing boat cruise through the Galapagos Islands!  Besides the wonderful experience of the islands and the exotic animals and birds we encountered, I learned a valuable lesson about entertaining.  Prior to the trip, I had prided myself on my ability to play pretty technical pieces like “Here Comes the Sun” and other finger picking tunes by James Taylor and Jim Croce.  One of the crew had brought along a guitar, so we could entertain each other on the quite evenings on deck anchored off shore.  I gave it my best shot, but the guy who got everyone’s praise and attention was an older man who sang simple folk songs with a beautiful baritone voice and only accompanied himself with simple guitar strumming.  That made a big impression on me!  I realized that in order to be a successful musician and entertainer, I would have to eventually take voice lessons and become a singer, first and foremost.

The Up With People Year:

In 1977, the non-profit sing and dance group Up With People came to our town and put on a show at the auditorium and the high school.  They invited people from the audience to interview with them for the chance to spend a year on the road.  I jumped at the chance, because it was everything I was looking for after my upcoming high school graduation.  They offered me the chance to travel, get musical and performing training and experience, make new friends and contribute to a good cause.  I was given an interview and was soon accepted for the following year, which meant I needed to get busy fund raising by giving talks to clubs and organizations.

The following year in July, 1978, I and five hundred kids between the ages of 17 and 25 traveled to Tucson, AZ from all over the country and the world to begin our stage training.  The first thing the organization did was to show us how it was done.  And wow did they!  The staff from the previous year put on a thrilling show for us, the likes of which I had never experienced before or since!  There must have been 100 of them on stage and in the aisles of the auditorium, clapping and singing in perfect rhythm and time with a 10 piece band rocking it out and tying it together!  They were so enthusiastic, smiling and dancing in unison to big choreography with stunning matching costumes.  That show was a strong motivator for me, that became the model for all the shows I would perform in that following year.

After an intense month-long staging process, learning vocal parts and choreography to over 50 songs, some in Spanish and other languages, we were ready to begin our tour. About 100 of us got on two Trailways buses to begin a brief tour of Arizona and the South Western US.  Not long after that, we made our way deep into Mexico where we traveled for several months, staying with host families, learning Spanish and participating in a cultural exchange like no other. Small groups of us would travel ahead to do public relations work, find sponsors and prepare the cast’s itinerary upon arrival.  The rest of us performed in bull rings, soccer stadiums and large and small theaters and auditoriums.  We did many shows in schools, homes for the elderly, handicapped, and even for a few dignitaries and politicians.  We were given the red carpet at these events, but we took turns doing all the set up and striking of the stage and equipment ourselves, about a two hour job for 50 people!  Then we got on the bus and rode for many hours to the next city where we would begin again.  The people of Mexico were so hospitable, that when I left Mexico 10 weeks later, I felt like I was leaving my new home!

We continued to travel, stay with host families and perform throughout the Western and South Western US, making lasting friendships with our fellow cast mates from around the world and taking in the sights along the way.  One of the highlights of that time in 1979 was performing with the Dallas Symphony for the Cotton Bowl halftime show in Dallas, TX.  To end the trip in June, 1979, we were flown by the Argentine government to spend three weeks in Buenos Aires and two other major cities deep in the interior, doing a TV special and many other small shows.

Up With People meant a lot of things to everyone involved, but for me it was first and foremost entertainer boot camp, where I first learned how to connect with an audience, to uplift and encourage people with positive fun music.