P H I L O S O P H Y

I wake up each morning and try to remember that this road we all share called “life” in a mystery, a complex rollercoaster of emotions laced with ups & downs. Like the Dalai Lama said, “being on the shakey edge of nowhere” is where I like to find myself. Also I think it is equally important to remain in a state of gratitude and counting my blessings. Looking back at my career that now spans some 40 years (come on, I started when I was 9!) it has been simply that, a blessing.

It started at the age of nine with the principal at my elementary school informing me that the Church needed an organist and if I would like to step in. While it would have been nice to think that it was because I was a prodigy, the reality may have been that I was the only visible student who was known to play the piano.

Thru high school I traveled to the West Coast as well as Australia. After high school I chose to continue touring the country with a local band from Honolulu developing my arranging skills privately on the road. I now realize the most important lesson I learned during this period was the art of communicating with people – meeting and having conversations with folks of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities.

I decided to transplant myself from the islands to Los Angeles in 1981. I spent the next two decades working with some of my heroes such as songwriters Brian & Eddie Holland & Lamont Dozier of Motown fame, producers such as Richard Perry & Giorgio Moroder or or engineers such as Bob Clearmountain & Hugh Padgum. I have many great memories from that time such as being in the Bee Gees Studio in Orlando working with Michael Jackson while the historic Victory Tour was in progress, co-producing a recording with Herb Alpert at his A&M Studios, or recording with English artist Limahl in Sydney at EMI Studios proceeding to Union Studios in Munich (where the lovely elderly woman owner would parade her friends in to watch the “rock & roll boys”). It’s been an adventure to work in studios in other countries such as Sweden, Venezuela and Japan just for the experience of seeing how other artist do things.

To hear voices such as Teddy Pendergras, Michael Bolton, Donna Summer & Gladys Knight on my little NS-10’s "dry" was a humbling experience of their great artistry. Most importantly I have made great friends like engineer Craig Burbidge who gave me a home at his studio AIRE L.A. in Glendale CA and a start as well as my late dear friend/mentor composer Michel Colombier well, the list goes on. I’ve tried to include some of the diverse highlights of my career and current works in this site and let the music speak for themselves.

I would like to think of myself as a simple guy who has been blessed with a gift of being able to find the essence or the heart of an artist. Letting the song dictate what it needs and to give support in creating tracks that help the artist deliver the song with passion and credibility. I apply that same philosophy in scoring music to picture: the scene will tell the composer what it needs.

With a commitment to excellence; exploring, discovering and celebrating our uniqueness and finding the threads that ties all of us together has been my ethos in music and life.