I'm a 27 year old bassist from the small town of Halifax, NC. I was introduced to music when I was very small. My parents would take me to gospel concerts all the time. Until I was about 16, I was only listening to Quartet groups like The Gospel Keynotes, The Jackson Southernaires, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Fantastic Violinaires, Willie Banks & The Messengers, The Sunset Jubilaires, The Pilgrim Jubilees, and The Christianaires. Around the age of 16, I started playing and listening to more Contemporary gospel artists such as Karen Clark-Sheard, John P. Kee, Yolanda Adams, etc.
At the age of 18, i moved to Atlanta to go to college. While there, i started playing at area churches and I got into a Go-Go band (The X-O Band). Playing with those guys forced me to become a more disciplined bassist. I was in Atlanta for a year and I moved back to NC due to the passing of my father. Not too long after that I went on the road with Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson & The Spiritual Voices. That lasted a little shorter than a year.
I then tried to enter the Music Program at East Carolina University (ECU). Unfortunately it didn't work out. Since I couldn't read music at the time, I was told to register for remedial music reading classes. Even with high, passing grades in those courses, (due to a lack of room, per the director) I was unable to get into the program. After that experience at ECU, I moved to Knightdale, NC hoping to meet the right person that would help me launch a career in music. I was in Knightdale for about 3 years and, during those 3 years, I was given the opportunity to play for Karen Clark-Sheard, Maurette Brown-Clark, and Valerie Boyd.
Around the beginning of July 2005, I was given the break of a lifetime. I was called to play for Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers for two gigs at Kings Dominion, Doswell, Va. Those two gigs were lifechanging. A week later, I got the call to be in the house band for the One Church Tour including Kurt Carr, Smokie Norful, Vicki Yohe, RiZen, Vashawn Mitchell, and James Fortune. During the tour I was given the position as the full time bassist for Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers.
I've had the privilege to perform and record with Grammy and Stellar Award winners Mary Mary & Smokie Norful, Stellar Award winners Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers, J.Moss, Marvin Sapp, Tramaine Hawkins-"I Never Lost My Praise", Bishop Paul Morton-"Still Standing", Karen Clark-Sheard, Rizen, Maurette Brown-Clark, & Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson, Dove Award Winners Vicki Yohe & Martha Munizzi, Soul Train Award Winner David Peaston, as well as VaShawn Mitchell, Paulis Sanchez-"Seguro En Ti", Valerie Boyd, Bernard Harris-"I Can't Imagine", James Fortune, The Angelic Voices of Abundant Life-"He's Turning It Around", The Pace Sisters, Ami Rushes-"Lifting", Da TRUTH & Multi Platinum R&B Group JODECI.
The Lord has been blessing me to the point where I'm amazed daily!!! I stopped working a 9-5 job on July, 2005. The Lord has made a way for me to live off of playing bass guitar ever since then. It hasn't been a "crystal stair", but all my needs have been supplied. If you trust the Lord, really trust him, HE WILL BLOW YOUR MIND!!!!! I'm a living witness!!!!!
Check me out in this video clip of the Valentine's Day show in London with Jodeci.
Here's a slideshow with pics from the "First Sunday" movie shoot.
