It pretty much started for me in Los Angeles, California, when I was fairly young. My father used to play the big band drumbeat of Gene Krupa on my back. I liked the way it felt ... somehow I had a natural feel for the drums. My mother would play her favorite music so loud we could hear it from down the street when we came home from school. Then we were greeted at the door by a beautiful red haired woman singing to us, straight out of a Doris Day movie, but looking like Rita Hayworth. My older brother was what I call a "professional audience." He was even in the newspaper and television for being first in line for a Paul McCartney concert. He camped there for three days. He bought and played everything from musicals to the Beatles, Motown, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I loved just about everything he played, from Julie Andrews to Jethro Tull. These were my biggest early influences.

So first I studied the drums for six years from half a dozen teachers. Chuck Flores was probably the best known, having been the drummer for The Woody Herman Band. I was also so interested in acting that I performed in many school productions such as Damn Yankees, My Fair Lady, Babes in Toyland, The Sound Of Music, and Blythe Spirit, to name a few. It wasn't until I was in an original band called "Augustine Castle" when I first realized I had a vocal style and could write songs. I toured and recorded with this band for three years until the keyboard player became extremely religious and refused to play pop music anymore because it was the devil's work! How casual.

I then decided to improve my voice with vocal training. My studies began in college at California State University while privately studying thirteen years classical singing with Elizabeth Walberg. My training continued with other famous teachers in Los Angeles, including Seth Riggs, Gloria Rusch, Elizabeth Sabine, Robert Edwards, and Robert Anderson. I also studied dance for four years at Roland Dupree Dance Academy and two years at Stanley Holden Ballet School. Soon after this training, I received an award from "Our Lady of the Valley" for my creative choreography in a dance show. While studying dance I also studied piano for three years. It was then I composed my first song, "Run Upon The Beach." A song that could easily depict a Kodak moment with the caption "Capture every moment worth remembering" in the lyric.

Because of my varied influences from classical to eclectic pop my style of songwriting became very versatile. I have written many different types of songs that have been placed in film and television and are played worldwide. While performing in Japan with my band, Earth To Earth, I received a publishing deal from Polygram International in Tokyo. I've produced and released two CD's with Earth To Earth entitled "Two Worlds Apart" and "Turn Of The Century" on 9th House Records. I also have over five more CD's of material I have written alone and with other artists. Included is a co-written CD of a musical, Mark Pirros "Nudist Colony Of The Dead." I co-wrote and sang the title track, which is played every year at Halloween on the Doctor Demento Show.

I have always been interested in the current music scene and today some of my favorite artists include Melissa Etheridge, Alanis Morissete, Tracy Chapman, Savage Garden, Bjork and Eminem. Now I am living and working in Berlin, Germany, as a singer, drummer and songwriter. My training and experience have led me to teach as well. I have come a long way with my own voice so I'm a good teacher and still continue to take vocal therapy to improve my speaking voice as well as my singing. I was lucky enough to study voice with Kara Johnstad in Berlin and after so many teachers, I was struck by how her method helped me get to the top level with my voice. It worked so quickly, and I saw my range increase, my belting voice become free and my voice transform within a few short weeks. Kara's method taught me to how to regenerate my voice while speaking and singing and I continue to teach with her words and guidance.

I love to sing. I love people. I would love to give this wealth of experience further at the School of Voice and I hope to be performing until I'm very, very...old.