1953 - Born in Indiana

1962-3 - Piano lessons - Eileen Miles. Art lessons - Rosemary Browne Beck.

1965 - Violin lessons - White River Elementary School

1967 - A 4-pickup Japanese electric guitar with lousy action is a gift from my well-meaning parents.

1968 - My father embarks on a new career in Indian Rocks, Florida. Our family moves to Clearwater. The piano does not come with us. I'm fourteen and awkward.

1969 - Buy my own dreadnaught guitar - a Kent 6-string - at Breck Music in Largo, where I will work nearly ten years after.

1970-3 - Graduate High School. Road Trip. Attend St. Petersburg Jr. College originally majoring in Psychology. Start attending ROCK CONCERTS! Move out of Mom and Dad's house into a 3-bedroom rental with some friends. For short time I'm a Staff Writer for the college newspaper - The Wooden Horse. In the next few years I spend a considerable amount of my free time playing music (by myself or with others) and slowly but surely writing. I earn an AA degree in Liberal Arts.

1974 - In the fall, after a summer in Indiana working and reconnecting with my lost roots, I return to school at the University of Florida in Gainesville. I live in the Junior/Senior co-ed dorms, and major in Technical Communications. Again, I resist pursuing music, even though I'm playing and writing on guitar (and when I can find a piano). I am a staff writer for The Alligator. Nancy and Mark become an item -- again.

1976 - We rent a house with another couple - musical associate Matt Carroll and Marlee and all our pets. We like to play music and pinochle. Meet bass player John Comerford who seems to take up the cause. I return to SPJC and take classes in Business Law and Piano Theory.

1977 - Join the PTG (Piano Technician's Guild) and serve as part-time apprentice to local expert and restorer Sandy Whetherholt. I start tuning pianos as a side gig. "Matt and Mark" (and Nancy) play out at bars and parties. For money. I am 23, finally performing and hitting my writing stride. John Comerford, who had moved to Virginia Beach, returns, and becomes an integral part of the band. We play an hour-long live radio show Coffee Break Concert on WQSR FM radio in Sarasota. We get live kudos for our original music from Bertie Higgins and Jimmy Buffet's bass player - the late Harry Dailey. A songwriter's wonderful moment. Matt, Nancy and I take voice coaching lessons from singer Mary Bordeaux in Dunedin (FL).

1978 - Matt and Mark, becomes Sweet Madness, with steady gigs in Tampa Bay area. But in an urge to shed acoustic tendancies (folk) in favor of electric ones (rock), Sweet Madness is disbanded. Soon afterward we (Nancy, John Comerford and I) join with lead guitarist John Donniacuo and drummer/singer Jeff Levy to form Rich Rags. Rock 'n' Roll. We immdediately go into the studio to record four songs for an EP to become "Factory Worker", which is never released. We aren't playing out live yet, but guitarist JD wants to leave the band, so we audition for new guitarists. "The Rags" gain singer, guitarist, writer and brilliant malcontent Kacy Ross, and JD decides to stay as well. Two gifted lead guitarists! I get a job as a sales clerk at Breck Music, a music store!

1979 - Our reportoire grows. Rich Rags records and releases a hard-edged 4-song 7" EP "Dentist Office Music" to rave reviews. In our first performance incarnation we manage to play mostly concert venues. Nancy and I split for a short time but remain in the band. By late summer, other personnel issues ensue and we stall, but in the fall we regroup with a new bass player as we continue to write, and gel and start playing clubs to a wonderful reception.

1980 - Rich Rags continues playing clubs and private parties. We win local performance and songwriting competitions, winning two recording sessions, producing three more songs. Mark and Nancy get married. In spite of growing interest and success, Kacy moves on. As guitarist we add Lee Steel. I dodged the bullet for years, but finally get a full-time job with A. C. Nielsen (television ratings) as a clerk. Long story.

1981 - Rich Rags disbands. But first, we go into the studio to immortalize some of our outstanding unrecorded material.

1982 - We rent a garage/studio at Contract Enterprises in Clearwater. I occasionally rent our PA out and run sound for special events.

1983 - Garage jams. We meet Rob Wright and G. W. Rose as well as some other local talent. We buy a home in Dunedin. Join fledgling Top 40/Dance band The VIPs as a bass player. By Christmas we're playing weddings and special events. I even manage to sneak in a few of my songs. In the next few years I write and record, usually in the garage, but sometimes in actual studios.

1984 - Travel to NYC with John Comerford (JC) and Jeff Levy. Meet and stay with David Peel where we go into mid-town recording studio (Rich Rags' Dentist Office Music is displayed on the wall!) and lay down tracks for his "WW III" project. I return to school for computer programming, and get a promotion at Nielsen. The VIPs get an actual management company. JC and I contemplate starting our own studio.

1985 - Nancy (and I) give birth to our first and long-coveted child. I arrange my schedule at work to be home in the mornings, and therefore a primary care-giver for our infant daughter. I get another promotion at Nielsen.

1986 - Amidst my VIPs gigs, we mangage several local performances of The Grownups. Various studio recordings result in The Grownup's self-titled 4-song EP. I get names from a trade magazine and send promo copies directly to Program Directors and Program Managers at select FM stations across the U.S. We hand-deliver consignment EP's to cool record stores all over the Tampa Bay area. The Grownups get a little airplay locally, in Ottawa, Canada and Dallas, Texas, at the very least. We travel to NYC to party with Orange Record president David Peel, meet Jaco Pastorious and rub elbows with Abbie Hoffman. I win third place in an area songwriting competition, and get free time at 16-track Florida Studios in Clearwater. The VIPs, plus Nancy and JC help me record "The Idea of You" in two hours.

1987 - Our son is born! The Grownups play rare gigs. I exit the VIPs for lack of drive and new material. I'm promoted to Programmer/Analyst at Nielsen. I get a Video Technician certificate at the local cable access, and run camera (and occasionally sound) for the locally produced "Pinellas Past" for over a year.

1988 - I audition as a bass player for Korhan Mutlu, Paul Silvis and Wayne Hoyle. It turns out that keyboard player also plays bass. Since I play keyboard and guitar, it behooves us to swap off for different songs, adding nice versatility and dimension. We become The Inmates. Sax man Johnny Johnson is added as of our first official gig.

1989 - Cutbacks at Nielsen cause me to lose my Programmer/Analyst job. The Inmates continue to expand repertoire, including quite a few of my, and Rich Rags originals. Inmates bookconstant engagements at local bars. With two toddlers I decide to take a sabbatical from a day job for awhile.

1990-91 - I am co-primary caregiving while working as a Desktop Publisher in my home office. In the evenings, The Inmates play regularly, host a Rich Rags reunion (merging past and present) and win a "Battle of the Bands" performance competition in St. Petersburg.

1992 - As a desktop publisher, I design the program for the Tampa Bay Music Awards held at Tampa Theatre, and designed the cover art and layout for the Inmates self-produced "First Offense" album (cassette). To make ends meet I start working temp DP jobs. Jeff releases "Songs from Unreleased Albums" cassette, which contains songs by Rich Rags, Jeff and/or his band, and David Peel with Yoko Ono. It was -- interesting. The Inmates open for B. B. King in a Festival of States concert at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, and for Belinda Womack and Kool Reflecktions for a Boomsday! concert in Tampa.

1993-94 - The Inmates open concert for John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band and Color Me Badd. Nancy has occasional gig as backup singer for Second Helping, a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band. I get a full-time position with the imaging division of a defense industry company.

1995-97 - For several consecutive years, the Inmates headline the WFLA stage at Gasparilla in downtown Tampa.

1994 - David Peel releases "War and Anarchy" on CD and cassette (wisely foregoing his working title "World War III"), some of which was recorded by myself, Jeff Levy, and JC ten years prior in Manhattan. Also on this project is Wayne Kramer from MC5.

David Peel

1997 - Johnny (sax man) moves away. The Inmates continue with a sit-in sax man, but gigs are less frequent. Special events and parties are still fun and profitable, smoky bars hold less interest for us.

1998-2000 - The Inmates play several times a year. Meanwhile, I record and archive my body of personal tapes (reel-to-reel, cassette, 1/2", etc) to digital format, and then to CD, for Backtracks Volume 1. Daughter Ellen is inducted into the presigious "Dunedin Highlanders" choral group. Nancy joins "Clearwater Community Choir". Ellen later is invited into the Madrigals, an acapella subset of the Dunedin High School Choir.

2001 - Produce Backtracks Volume 2 retrospective. Released in time for Christmas.

2002 - Add studio performances and arrangements atop archived material for Backtrack Volume 3, released Christmas, '02. The Inmates still practice and play occasionally.

2003 - I decide it's time to publish all my remaining catalog. From the tape archives I culled about 60% of my twentieth century works, so the remainder must be done primarily from scratch. I find myself enjoying immensely the process of recording and arranging in my PC studio. And I find I'm writing again. I always figured I could when I set my mind to it, but one can never be sure. This labor of love is assembled for the discriminating listener. It might not be Pop, but it's moving, compelling music. Hooks galore. /  David Peel releases a 16-CD box set containing song on which I played. Jeff says I'm in the hall of fame. I'm not impressed, nor do I crave fame. My songs crave recognition. / Produce Backtracks Volume 4 retrospective, this time with some songs produced and arranged from scratch (as opposed to being garnered from magnetic tape).

For a different kind of biography/time line please see the influences page.

2004 - It appears that 'pseudo-punk' is very collectable, Rich Rags records (both releases) are selling on ebay for hundreds of dollars. Jeff Levy and I have decided to co-produce a Rich Rags compilation. Long overdue. I am working on finishing touches of Backtracks Volume 5 (the final disc), a lyric-free "Noo Age", and "Best of" compilation of the Backtracks catalog, and am ramping up efforts for representation.

2005-6 - I take a Media Production course at the local Public Access Cable station, learning all aspects of studio production. For the past four years, I've volunteered to work at the Clearwater Jazz Festival.

2007 - I jam with local friends infrequently, but now that drummer Jeff Levy has moved back into the Clearwater area I hope to get my PC studio running again. It's been down for at least a year, and I'm starting to jones. Jeff says David Peel might need a bass player for a gig in the Tampa Bay area, and if that goes okay, possibly a mini-tour through Asia with Peel. I could get the time off.

2008-9 - After some setbacks, and an analog to digital conversion project that takes months, I finally have a brand new high-power PC dedicated solely to music. With a little help from my friends Ken Frett and John Comerford, and after acquiring some excellent DAW software and a firewire interface I FINALLY have a studio like I've never had before. Thus was borne the new songs that are featured on this site.

I have joined my wife and daughter in the Clearwater Chorus, a long-standing organization of volunteer singers sponsored by the City of Clearwater and Ruth Eckerd Hall. We just performed there for a good-sized audience in our tuxedoes and black dresses.

2010 - Losing my "day" job last year has been hard on the pocketbook, but has also provided me some time to focus on music, which had taken a back seat for a couple decades to raise a family, pay a mortgage, etc. It seems the muse has struck again (and again now), as I start writing like I haven't since back in the Matt & Mark days!

Working with lyricists has also sparked some new songs, as words sometimes can be a sticking point. Music, on the other hand, is dripping off me like honey. More Clearwater Chorus performances have revitalized my voice. To reinforce this I am taking vocal coaching lessons. Some other promising things are in the works. Check back soon for some new developments!