Born & raised in Ann Arbor, MI, I started voice & piano at 3 and drums at 10. After singing in Operettas, playing drums in musicals and a Beatles Tribute band, I was fortunate enough to play hundreds of gigs in the Community High School Jazz Band, led by band director, mentor and multi-instrumentalist, Mike Grace. My main High School original rock band, Rain, had many influences including Zeppelin, Hendrix and Joe Walsh. I played in a number of cover bands as well playing anything from pop & classic rock to metal. After graduation, the CHS Jazz band toured Europe and played at the North Sea Jazz Festival with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.
In the 90s, I moved to Boston to go to Berklee College of Music for 2 yrs where I studied with Rick Consadine (Rick's Licks!) and took classes with Larry Finn and Skip Hadden with a Dual major in Performance & Jazz Composition. Then started working in cover bands, original bands and playing on a lot of records thanks to Richard Marr, the guitarist from my favorite old band, Flexie.
In 2003 I moved to L.A. Played in many bands including: Macho Pinto, Chemical Burn, Silver Needle, When In Rome II with founding member Michael Floreale and Aurora Sect. I also toured with Boston band, The Charms (lead by Ellie Vee), who had much acclaim on Little Stevens Underground Garage and his label as well as a track on the Christmas with The Kranks soundtrack. Over the years, I've studied with Dave Weckl, Steve Ferrone, Joey Heredia, Dave Elitch, Jason Sutter and had many long talks with the late, great Freddie Gruber: the Godfather of Drumming, whose students included Buddy Rich and Neil Peart. Thanks to Brian Ray and my first L.A. teaching client, Elizabeth Weinstock, I've had many students over the years. I have limited availability for giving lessons, feel free to contact me on Social Media. Add me and message me and I'll send you my text info.