1952-1960

Cleveland, Ohio        My first recollection of seeing a live band was at a Bar Mitzvah sometime around 1956, I was four.  I was fascinated not only by the music but by the microphones & snake looking mic chords.   A few years later I used to watch my cousin Sharon and her friends in her bedroom listening to 45’s of Dion, Elvis and The Drifters, dancing with all of her teenage girlfriends.   I was catching the bug.  In 1960 when was 8 years old I got my first guitar.  My path was set.  

 

1960-1970

Columbus, Ohio             In the early 60’s I moved to Columbus and started taking guitar lessons, reading music and learning my chords.  When the Beatles came out it confirmed what I wanted to do with my life.  My junior high was bi-racial and I was introduced to Soul Music. I loved the Temptations, Four Tops, Smokey and the Supremes.  With the British Invasion & Motown, my scope was getting wider.    My first serious band in High School was a 12 piece soul band, half white, half black, with a bangin’ horn section & 4 singers out front.  In the summer of 1969 I visited my cousin Jerry Heller in Hollywood, California, he was the music agent for The Grass Roots, The Guess Who, Van Morrison and Marvin Gaye to name a few.   I knew this is where I would end up in my life

1970-1980

Athens, Ohio        Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jimmy Buffett, the solo singer /guitar players took over my life.  I was now playing on the Ohio University College green, Athens’ street corners and the college clubs; it was like a dream come true.   One of my highlights of that time was singing Neal Young’s “Ohio” for 2 hours non-stop until the police dispersed us on campus with Ron Kovic, the anti-war activist that was portrayed by Tom Cruise in “Born on the Fourth of July”

Columbus, Ohio                Moving back to Columbus after College, I started playing as a solo act at the biggest club on the Ohio State campus, Zachariah’s Red Eye Saloon.   It was now Country Rock time, Eagles, Burrito Brothers,  Poco were the hot groups at the time.  As well as singing around Columbus I owned a Sound Company, Promoted Jazz Concerts and enjoyed the 70’s.

Los Angeles, California        In 1978 I loaded up my big sound system and headed west out to Los Angeles to manage Big Ed Productions, a huge rehearsal studio.  Among the groups I worked with were Chaka Khan & Rufus, Toto, Three Dog Night, the Knack, Air Supply and many, many more.

 

1980-1990

The Road        From 1980-1983 I did my first major touring as a production manager, merchandising manager and occasional opening act for Air Supply.   After that tour of duty I spent the next 7 years on and off the tour busses with Lita Ford, Jeff Lorber Fusion, Richard Clayderman, Hurricane,  Eazy E/NWA and Bone Thugs n Harmony.

Los Angeles, California        When I wasn’t on the road I was performing.  In the early 80’s among other clubs I started playing at an English pub in Woodland Hills called the Pickwick Pub, where I outlasted 3 owners and played for 25 years till it burned down.  Some of the patrons that watched me play over the years we were Ronnie Dio, Air Supply, David Gilmore ( we hung for a month), I jammed with Jimmy Fallon the night he signed his contract with Saturday Night Live, Eazy E, Lisa Marie Presley and countless others. 

 

1990-2000

Los Angeles, California        Coming off the NWA tour in 1990 I went to work for my cousin Jerry Heller who managed Ruthless Records, Eazy E & NWA the infamous West Coast Gangsta Rap group.   The label sold approximately 22 million albums and my responsibilities beside’s organizing all tours  ranged from artist development, office management, budgeting and overseeing press, marketing, TV appearances and dealing with lawyers, agents, managers, gangsters and Eazy E’s baby’s mamas.  Eazy died in 1995 and that was the end of Ruthless Records for me.   REST IN PEACE EAZY “MUTHAFUCKIN” E.

In 1995 I started my management company and managed a heavy metal band called Hurricane (The lead singer Kelly Hansen is the new singer for Foreigner), Harmonica & Saxophone virtuoso Jimmy Z (Etta James, Rod Stewart, The Eurythmic’s), Flesh-n-Bone from the multi- platinum act Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and music producer Damon Elliott (Destiny’s Child, Pink, Jessica Simpson, Old dirty Bastard, Beyonce)

 

 

 

Working with my old high school buddy Ron Anderson I am the west coast rep for Anderson Mobile Estates.  We rent the most luxurious and most expensive on-location luxury trailers to the likes of Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx  and Simon Cowell to name a few.    I’m also currently working on a documentary about the Negro Baseball Leagues with Lou Gossett Jr., trying to launch the New Three Tenors with Placido Domingo, working on a dog training show with Aaron Hall, former singer of Guy and managing an aspiring actress who was runner up on Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, Vanessa Fontana .