I started playing piano at 3, guitar at 8 and started my first band when I was 11. I played the oboe in high school and headed a mixed-race band called "The Best of Both Worlds." We once won a battle of the bands by singing "There's a Place for Us" a cappella. You could have heard a pin drop.
One of my pieces was used as the theme for the popular British BBC TV show "Snooker." The BBC made this short documentary on the 40th anniversary of the show, and YouTube has lots of videos explaining how to play the song!
Patti and I are the parents of two amazing daughters, and now we are ten! My oldest grandson has just started his own band!
I was fascinated with film music, and the way music could change an audience's perception of what they were seeing. I had one of the first consumer multi-track recorders, and began to write music for small film projects, playing pretty much all the instruments. That led to the creation of a whole library of music I had written, and to which I owned all the rights. When a friend told me I could license the music to other people to use, the light bulb went off. I never looked back.
Over the years I produced more than 350 discs of music, from classical to heavy rock. A lot of it was my own, but I had the good fortune to work with of lot of talented composers who had gifts I didn't have. From our studio in Port Washington, about 30 miles from midtown Manhattan, we produced music for all the major networks and created the Omnimusic library. I joined ASCAP as a writer in 1975.
Eventually I heard my music on TV, but wasn't getting paid by ASCAP. I tried to find out why, and learned a lot about how ASCAP actually works. I met some great people there, but the problem continued. Finally I brought an official Protest against ASCAP. I acted as my own lawyer, and won. As a result, ASCAP instituted some policies that have since brought millions of dollars in royalties to composers and publishers of non-feature music.
I love music and I love helping people. That's why I like to serve on the ASCAP Board. Read my official ASCAP bio here.