About Me
I would like to share some things with you all that many people dont know about me. At the age of 17 months old, I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Neroblastoma. It was found when my left lung had collapsed from bronchitis pneumonia. The doctors told my parents that I was born with the cancer and that if I had been two years old or older when they discovered the cancer I would not be living today, because it would have been to far gone to have been treated. Not long after I was diagnosed with the cancer, I was sent to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee for surgery. In December of 1969 I underwent some major surgery where they removed the cancer from my left lung. The cancer was a film like coating over my left lung, and they also had to remove parts of my 3rd, 4th, and 5th ribs along with some of the muscles on that side. I do have both lungs still, but they are equal to the size of a 5 year olds lungs. In January of 1970,there were eleven kids including me, that underwent an experimental procedure that used cobalt, radiation, and chemotherapy. Out of the 11 kids total that went through this experiment, I am the only one to survive it. All other ten kids had unfortunately died during the treatment experiment. As I got older, I had some complications from the radiation, and again went under the knife to remove ulcers from my esophagus. This was in 1977 when this occured, and needless to say was not a good year for me. Two weeks before my birthday, my father unexpectedly passed away at age 49. One month from my father's death, my grandpa (mom's dad) passed away, and the very next day one of my musical hero's died. It was Elvis Presley. One month after that, I had the surgery to remove the ulcers. Needless to say that was not a good year for me...lol. In 1983, my family moved to a small town in Louisiana called Walker. Before moving there I had been taking guitar lessons, but never got to continue because of the move. Anyways, my family had found a home church to go to and that is where I met some people that helped me musically. A dear friend of mine by the name of Jerry Parkerson told me something that held on to me. He said.."son if you want it bad enough, then you will do what it takes to get it". Which is true for any situation. I was interested in the bass guitar and he only showed me where all the notes were, and then told me "it is up to you to figure the rest out". So I would sit many nights (after homework and driving my mom crazy) listening to records, 8-tracks, and cassettes. Pretty soon I got to doing fairly well and started playing for my church. While I was in high school I was asked by several gospel groups to play for them, but I wasn't old enough yet to travel and besides mom would always say NO..lol. So I finished high school, and we moved back to Tennessee. I went on to college in Nashville, but my mother had gotten sick, so I had to stop college and help her. After she got better, I moved back to Nashville, and started playing professionally for southern gospel groups. Over the years I have played for several southern gospel groups and traveled all over the country performing. I would also learn other aspects about the business which helped me to continue in southern gospel long after a lot of the groups got rid of their live bands and went to track music. During all this time though I met my wife Crystal. We have been together for 15 years now and married almost 13 years. She knew I was a musician and was ok with me being gone for days at a time. I guess that is one of the reasons I love her so much...very supportive of my dreams. Over the years traveling as a musician, I was very fortunate to pick up some endorsements by some musical companies. I am currently endorsed by Samick Guitars, GHS Strings, Swirly Gig Industries, and just recently with Maxline Custom Cases. For a couple of years I was part of the research and development team in bass amplification with Peavey Electronics, through a gentleman by the name of Mark Hayes in whom I met at the summer 2000 NAMM show. Around that same time (summer of 2000) my mother moved in with us so we could care for her. In Oct. of 2003 she fell at our home and broke her ankle. She was placed into a nursing home ( against mine and my wife's wishes) for rehab. Honestly folks, don't ever let any of your loved ones go into a place like that unless you really do some hard looking at that type of place. Needless to say they was not very good to her. In Jan. of 2004 I signed her out of the nursing home and brought her back home. On Feb. 20th of 2004. I came off the road to help my wife care for my mom. She had became totally bed ridden from her nursing home ordeal. Unfortunately, in July of 2005 my mother passed away. It was a hard blow to me because we were so close. She was all I had after my dad died when I was 8 years old. I was the only child they had together, but I have some brothers and sisters from my dad's first marriage. Well I hope that this will tell you a little (actually a lot...lol) about me. If you ever want to drop me a line to say howdy or whatever, please feel free to do so. Thanks for taking your time to read this!I made this myspace background at
