Mark

I'm originally from Toronto, Canada and I'm living here now, but I spent 30 years in sunny S. California. I'm a big lover of music...in fact, you could say, music is my life. No, I don't play it or sing, but I could listen to it all day long! My main interest is country music although I do also like a little of other genres as well. I grew up listening to top 40 and I still love those golden oldies from the 60's and early 70's. It all changed for me back in 1975 when I first heard the wonderful voice of Miss Tanya Tucker. She opened up a whole new world for me, musically speaking and she knows it....Thank you Tanya! I have such great memories (and photos) of awesome concerts I've been to over the years and the wonderful people I've met (artists and fans). I've been to Nashville so many times, including 20 or more fan fairs.Once again a whole new world opened up for me in 2001 when I travelled to the country music capital of Australia, Tamworth, for their annual music festival. I fell in love with country music again, this time the Aussie style! Once again, I made so many new friends "down under" and if you ever get down to Australia, you will never meet any nicer people than the Aussies! I can't name all of my Aussie friends, because I'd be here all day and night, but you all know who you are! A very special thank you, though, has to go to Gina Jeffreys who inadvertantly introduced me to Aussie country with her fan fair performance in 1998. Gina, you changed my world!As I said, I also like bits of other types of music. My very first "favorite singer" was a British singer by the name of Lulu (of To Sir With Love fame). One of the GREATEST thrills of my life was travelling over to England back in 1980 and not only seeing her perform 3 nights in a row AND hanging out in her dressing room after each show, but also spending one entire hour having tea with her at London's Ritz Hotel, just Lulu and me! That is THE highlight of my life!What would I ever do without music in my life? I hope I never have to find out. img alt="Put Your Foot Down" src="http://www.thesoleofafrica.org.za/Resources/soabanner_l argesquare.jpg" width="300" height="250"