Biography
"humming tunes before I talked"
Music has always been a huge part of my life. I was humming tunes before I talked. A few styles of music, which I especially loved, later influenced my writing. The mathematically structured baroque pieces of Johann Sebastian Bach were magical and mesmerizing. I found the musical theater songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein exceptionally tuneful and emotionally moving. And traditional, centuries-old folk songs, which I later learned to play on the guitar, were sometimes haunting.
When I was four years old, I began piano lessons. My teacher gave up trying to get me to sight read classical pieces—reading everything note by note—because I was too impatient to learn to do it well, and anyway I preferred to play by ear. So instead, after hearing the melodies I was improvising, she taught me chord theory. This laid the foundation for my future as a singer-songwriter. For two decades I performed in coffee houses, colleges, and concert halls in New York City and across the United States. I also wrote music and lyrics for two off-Broadway shows.
When I was four years old, I began piano lessons. My teacher gave up trying to get me to sight read classical pieces—reading everything note by note—because I was too impatient to learn to do it well, and anyway I preferred to play by ear. So instead, after hearing the melodies I was improvising, she taught me chord theory. This laid the foundation for my future as a singer-songwriter. For two decades I performed in coffee houses, colleges, and concert halls in New York City and across the United States. I also wrote music and lyrics for two off-Broadway shows.
When I was in my late 30s, a severe illness caused me to lose my singing voice—one of the most devastating experiences of my life. Thankfully, this didn’t stop me from enjoying other, very fulfilling careers. I worked as a body-mind psychotherapist and became an author of non-fiction articles and books, mostly in the fields of psychology and holistic health, as well as short stories. But music never stopped calling to me. I always regretted the halt of a promising music career, but eventually, the universe showed me that it’s never too late: What I had experienced was merely a (very) lengthy pause in my musical journey, rather than an end to it.
Now, at the age of 72, I am very excited to release this album of original songs, intended as the first of three.