About Me
I have been writing songs for as long as I can remember, and although I do many other things that I love to do, nothing gives me the feeling of pure connection to my soul, and to the souls of others, like singing and writing songs.When I was 10 years old, I got my first professional singing job, singing background vocals on "Song Sung Blue" for Neil Diamond. (Little did I know, at the time, it would become one of his biggest hits.) After that, I got to sing with The Carpenters, at the Universal Amphitheatre, for seven nights. I was part of a group of kids singing background vocals on "Sing a Song." As I recall, we were the first encore and went on at around 10 pm, but they wanted us there at 7 pm, so those were seven very long nights!My singing teacher, Miss Shabazian (who always used to tell people I was going to be the next Karen Carpenter), told somebody that I was the best singer in the group, so each night, Karen would push me up to the front, right up close to the microphone. I remember being so nervous, standing close to that solid gold microphone and singing in front of all of those people!After that, I sang on some commercials (some were my dad's jingles), a funky cover of Donovan's "Sunshine Superman," for Melba Moore's debut album, and got to sing on the soundtrack for the 1970's remake of "Lost Horizon," which meant rehearsals with Burt Bacharach, the composer. That was so much fun! I loved that movie, even though no one else did, and I still love the score and those songs, and remember all of the lyrics, like it was yesterday.Since then I've done a few sessions, here and there, including some vocals on a Guns 'n' Roses record (that was just finally released), while I was working for Suzie Katayama, and even got to sing some background vocals for Jeff Lynne. I did some live shows, singing background vocals for my sister, Jennifer, for a while, which was really great. She is such a fantastic songwriter and she can really sing! And, once in a while, I get out there, to perform my own songs.I worked for Carole King, for three years, and then for the great Shirley Walker (whom I miss terribly), which was probably the highlight of my career in the music business. What a talent, and a beautiful human being. Being there on the scoring stage, with her, hearing her scores come to life was something I will never forget. I learned so much from her. How blessed I have been.I've gotten to do some work on the sidelines, with my sister, Vanessa, and her quartet, which has been a pleasure. They are such pros and they play so well! (See Sonus Quartet).I even got to perform, once, with my daughter -- when she was 14, she played drums on one of my songs when I performed at a songwriter event at the Baked Potato and I'm pretty sure she is the youngest person that ever graced that stage.My wonderful step-mom is a fantastic violin player, and my father is a brilliant composer/arranger/group singer/classical music radio host, and so on, who still sings on film scores and can be heard every weekday morning and Wednesday nights on KCSN 88.5 FM. In fact, my daughter has followed in his footsteps and now has her own radio show, too, at KUSF in San Francisco!Another highlight of my adolescense was being there, at the Shrine, the night my dad won a Grammy award for his arrangement of "Evergreen," a gorgeous song performed by Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of "A Star is Born." My sister, Jennifer, danced with Al Green and Andy Gibb at the Biltmore Hotel, during the after party, while Count Basie and his orchestra played in the ballroom while we ate dinner. (I couldn't dance because I had one leg in a cast!)Anyway, I've had a lot of fun in my life and I am truly blessed, mostly because I have the most incredible daughter in the world, a wonderful family and really great friends. But, also, because I have music in my bones and no matter what, it just keeps playing on.
