I was one of the lucky ones who saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan that fateful Sunday evening in 1964. It made me want to be in a band. So I took piano lessons and learned to play and sing Beatle tunes, and in high school I joined a band. I never wanted to be just the girl singer, I wanted to be a real part of the band.
After high school, I went to a Music Conservatory by day and rehearsed and did weekend gigs with various incarnations of a horn band called Albatross. (great name, eh?) Before finishing my 2nd year at the Conservatory, I checked the bulletin board there and found a horn band (named Aureus – “how do you pronounce that??”) looking for a female keyboard player. Perfect. We traveled together for almost 12 years, touring all over the US and Canada. Big fun.
While in Miami, our new guitar player (Ken Berry) and I hit it off; we left the band and moved to LA. We worked in clubs as a duo called Whooz Who (another winning name). Then times got hard for playing in clubs; we both had to resort to “temp”work. Then Kenny went on tour with Barry Manilow, I worked with many local and not-so-local bands (Expose and Real McCoy).
Then when our daughter was born, I couldn’t figure out how to be a working musician and a hands-on mother. Motherhood won; I stayed away from music to raise Abbi; Kenny found life after the road in a new profession: composing music for TV. I did a couple of musical things (joined a couple of bands, took some singing workshops with Peisha McPhee, did some arranging and demo work).
I’m still figuring it out, but Kenny and I have joined a garage rock band of parents from the area. We rehearse once a week for 2 hours – and we have our first gig in April. It’s been fun to play again.