The 1970s were my years as a teenager. Life was pretty complicated, trying to figure out music, women and my place in the world.

I grew up in Cary, North Carolina and went to the various schools in that town.

My passion was music and still is.

My first car was a 1967 Dodge Dart. My second was a Dodge Colt, I then got a Ford Econoline van, and then bought a brand new orange Ford Mustang, fully loaded.

I married my high school sweetheart, Jill, who I remained faithful with until 1983, when we parted ways.

I made my first money playing music in 1976 with my band in Raleigh.

Some of the musicians I played with in the 70s were Robbie Webster, Chip Wooten, Tim Hughes, Randy Edwards, Jerry Little, Winfield Cheek & George Coghill.

Performed at the Battle of the Bands at the Dorton Arena in Raleigh, high school dances and won other contests, such as talent shows.

I'll never forget my first time playing in front of a live audience in Junior High at the talent show. My band was Blue Odyssey. I was the leader of the band and on drums.

I was so nervous. It was in front of the entire student body and the auditorium was packed. During the performance, everyone was seated and staring. I had no idea what was going through their minds as I sang "Proud Mary" to them. Man, was I sweating bullets. I knew what stage fright was at that moment. When the song finished, the audience exploded with applause. I knew right at that moment for sure, that I was meant to be an entertainer.

We won the contest. After that point, I noticed that my band didn't even have a bass player. We needed a bass player, but there weren't any in Cary amoung my peers. There were other drummers, but no bass players. I decided to start playing bass, and carried on a career with the electric bass guitar for decades to come. My logic at the time was if I'm the only bass player in town, I would have no problem with job security.

In my senoir year of high school, I took choir class. My teacher asked if I would put together a band to perform the class song at graduation. Boy, did I feel honored! I assembled a fine team of the best players and went to work.

I had to rehearse the band, but also rehearsed our entire class prior to the big event. On the night of graduation, my band performed in Raleigh in front of thousands of people. At this point I learned to convert stage fright into pure adrenaline.