MY BEGINNINGS

I was born in the Bronx NY in BRONX HOSPITAL on Fulton Ave, where we also lived right down the street @ 1459 Fulton Ave.early on. Then in 1963, we moved to 3080 Park Ave only a couple of miles from there & about a mile from Yankee Stadium. During those early days, I grew up listening to WABC 570AM with my mom & dad everyday. That's when & where my love for music was birthed. It was during those times that I listened to every Motown record that was released & roared out of the Motor City, as I sang along to The Temptations, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Jackson 5, The 4 Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, along with The Beatles, Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, The Righteous Brothers, The Association, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, & too many others to mention.
 
At the same time my love for music was growing, my love for writing was right behind it simultaneously. Then suddenly one evening, I was leaving the Bronx with my mother & younger sister Doris, only 2 months shy of my 12th birthday & getting into a car & crossing the George Washington Bridge to go stay with a friend of hers she worked with. We also lived in the same building with them at our first apartment in the Bronx on Fulton Ave, the street my sister & I were also born on. We lived in the projects for 8 years.When we left that night, my Dad did not come with us.
 
We ended up in a little suburban town called Bergenfield where we stayed with them for 2 weeks, & then we moved in with friends of theirs 2 towns away called Englewood. It was only a 10 minute drive from them. Little did I know the impact this small suburban, multi racial, eclectic melting pot, of the Super wealthy, middle class & folks with not much at all would have on my life. And all of them lived together in a town less than 5 sq miles, & not much more than 10 minutes in any direction. And yet it was only 15-20 minutes from the projects in the Bronx that was home for almost 12 years. I had no idea at the time, what coming to this Mini Musical Mecca & enclave of eclectic energy & entertainment across the Hudson River would do to change my life forever.
 
You see I loved music & I loved singing too, & to my shock & amazement, many of the artists & groups I listened to on the radio in the Bronx, were living there, or recording there! Groups & artists like The Isley Brothers, Wilson Pickett, The Moments, Sylvia Robinson, Tony Bennett, The Whatnauts, Larry & Fonce Mizelle, Clyde Otis, George Kerr, Van McCoy, & so many others that came after them, had their own unique connection to Englewood. 
 
Shortly after moving there, as fate would have it I guess, I joined a band while in middle school & then found myself spending a lot of time at a local recording studio called, All Platinum Records where "Love On A Two Way Street" by the Moments, & Pillow Talk by Sylvia Robinson, & I'll Erase Away Your Pain by the Whatnauts were all recorded & produced by the legendary George Kerr, who I would work with years later on my own hit record Huevo Dancin! I eventually became friends with the sons of the owners of that studio who just happened to be Joe & Sylvia Robinson, & their oldest son Joey & I became good friends, along  with younger brothers Leland & Rondo as well. I spent many days over at their house & just as many days down at the studio hanging out with the stars. And before long, I was living only a few doors from them on Liberty Rd. where the mother of the Isley Brothers made her home too right across the street! 
 
As the years progressed, Englewood became a "go to" place for some of the biggest names in the industry to live & record or set up offices to work in. And I saw many home grown kids become some of the biggest names in the business like Regina Belle, The Sugarhill Gang, Today & Big Bub, Bernard Belle, Regis Branson, Cindy Mizelle, Sista Souljah, Brian Morgan, Kevin Jones, & one of my best friends ever, Gary J. Harris (SIP) & others, all found great success in the music business.
 
So this site not only chronicles my brief journey being around the music business, which allowed me to meet, work with, & rub elbows with some of the biggest names in the business, but even more so, it's a celebration of the rich roots & musical history that could only come from my 2nd hometown, Englewood, NJ. And there's no doubt that the music industry would have missed some of the greatest contributions it ever had, if Englewood had not been on the map to make her contributions not only to the music business, but to the whole world! Enjoy the tour & click on every image to get a little history about the legends that made growing up in Englewood, a musical memory I will treasure forever !!!