Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the piano bench next to my mother as she played the songs she’d grown up with. Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein. I taught myself to pick out Disney songs at the piano.

As the youngest of five kids, I was fortunate to have siblings with excellent taste in music and a significant collection of albums. I spent hours laying on the rug in front of the stereo absorbing the harmonies of The Beatles, the intricate arrangements of The Electric Light Orchestra and the pure pop songwriting of ABBA. As a teenager I discovered Billy Joel and started to write songs. In college I saw Elvis Costello and I taught myself guitar. With the additional discovery of Joe Jackson I started to take my songwriting seriously.

I found my way into bands in the mid 1980’s. (picture a skinny tie new wave keyboard player in band of hair metal musicians). That was me.

Eventually I got work as a session musician in a recording studio and was given the title of “Song Doctor”, helping people polish their creations before committing them to tape.

One studio project turned into a full time band called The Frotus Caper made up of musicians with a shared love of songwriting, harmonies and humor. We released four critically acclaimed albums and played constantly opening for a few national acts and sending demos record companies. We never got “the deal” but we created a great body of work and while the band called it a day, we have all continued to create music.

Here’s a sample of songs I’ve written

Hello Cruel World