“My love of music began at an early age. I began taking piano lessons at Grinnell Brothers piano store in Downtown Detroit. Later, my mother bought an Whitney-Kimball upright piano from the same store, and I began having weekly lessons at home throughout elementary and junior high school. I still have that piano at my home today. I studied music and science at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, where I played piano in the jazz band and played in several bands. My first band was called “Hot Ice”. By the eleventh grade I was apart of my first serious project, the band Peyote. We were an all-purpose band; we liked to play anything from George Duke and Chick Corea to the Ohio Players. We were playing concerts, parties, and dances all over the city, and I began to get my first taste of being an arranger, arranging most of the music for the groups, as well as sharing the booking responsibilities.
I went on to go to college at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. I started off college pre-med, still torn between creating music and the social pressures to do something “safe”, that I could “make a living” at. In the end, I transferred to the Composition and Arranging Department of the School of Music, studying by day and playing professionally by night. I continued to play with the jazz band at the University of Michigan, and joined the music director, Lou Smith’s, band. I also played with a group called Solid force, started by a few frat brothers (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.) over at Eastern Michigan University – we were gigging a minimum of 2-3 nights a week. On top of that, I was leading my own projects! It was tough to balance but prepared me for what it would be like as a professional.
After graduation, I went to work as a drafter for my father’s architect & engineering firm before booking a tour with the Bride of Funkenstein with George Clinton. I went on to play with the group Martini, then the Ortheia Barnes Band – both were gigging 5 nights a week. The rhythm section of Ortheia’s band put together another group to work on the weekdays with Belita Woods (Brainstorm). One night, we needed a last minute sub for Belita, and Gwen just happened to know most of the tunes (she had gone on a break from singing at the time). Gwen sang and completely knocked it out of the park. She was the singer from then on out, and our duo evolved from that group.
For every group I was a part of, I was always writing charts and arrangements, trying to push the envelope. Early on in my performance career, I decided to go back to school for studio engineering to become a producer as well. I joined Paragon Records as a staff producer/studio co-owner and got involved in various aspects of the music business, from contract review and negotiations to marketing and promotion, radio, etc. As an arranger and producer I’ve been able to work with Detroit staples like Kevin Saunderson, Gene Dunlap, Ron Otis, Al Turner, and Althea Renée. Later, I worked for a stint at Oracle Audio, composing and producing commercials.
Today, I am focusing on producing new music for myself, Gwen, and our daughter, Lauren, who has been making waves of her own in the music scene. Every day that I get to wake up and create, I’m happy.”