This is how my career at songwriting began:

My first attempt at writing was a poem I wrote in sixth grade at Kellum Street School for a class contest; “Keep Kellum Clean”.

I remember classmates Joey Gebbia and Irene Crolius were in the finals and she blurting out to me on the bus “A poem isn’t an essay. You will never win”. They both wrote essays.

Nonetheless soon after it was announced on the loudspeaker before classes began that I had won! I was shocked and elated. As my poem was being read out loud to the whole school ,I knew I had won the contest with these last two simple poignant lines of my prose:

So don’t be a litterbug like some people know keep Kellum clean wherever you go.(A strong ending.)

The prizes were a notebook, pencils and pens. But the confidence and recognition were the inner rewards that still remain in my being today.

I graduated in 1969 from Lindenhurst High School, got married in 1979 ,received a Masters of Social Work from Fordham University in 1983, raised a family in New Haven, Connecticut, divorced in 2011 and currently live in Florida as a professional musician.

I never had a guitar or singing lesson in my life and I don’t read music. I wrote all the lyrics and music for all the songs listed on the site. The songs span from 1974 to the present.

Footnote: Irene was chosen over me for the High School Choir when someone dropped out so she got the last laugh.