My interest in voices began at Ellis Island somewhere between the 1800-1900's. Some of those immigrants who passed through those hallowed gates seeking a new life in this young country were my ancestors, and they brought with them both interesting customs and strange accents.
As a young boy I'd hear many conversations in our home that contained elements of English and also Ukrainian and sometimes Polish or Russian. My relatives would sometimes take some ribbing by us kids in the house because of the way they spoke but I was also listening to the inflections and accents in their languages. Sometimes I would ask to learn a word or 2 but I was mainly interested in the sounds they made while speaking. I was also avidly watching a lot of the great Warner Brothers & Disney cartoons that were on TV at the time. Mel Blanc was a major influence on me due to the way he could change his voice to suit any character he had to play in those cartoons. By then it was not just the voices that interested me but also the personalities and attitudes of each character because that's what made them seem so real. Disney's characters were more friendly and wholesome in their presentation but those in the Warner's cartoons were more sarcastic and more like real people. Daffy Duck was more like a lot of people I knew because no matter what his intentions were the results would still go wrong for him.
This was also the era of the great British Invasion when the ban on bringing talent from the UK was finally lifted. Suddenly it seemed like everyone in America had an English accent and sounded either like their favorite British comedians or pop group. I began to pick up and practice doing voices purely for fun in these times, playing with my little tape recorder at home and trying to mimic the sounds I was hearing on TV and radio. I'd listen intently to Gene Klavan and Bob & Ray on the radio at each chance I'd got to pick up on their amazing character voices, plus comedians like Lenny Bruce and The Marx Brothers for their incredible timing and delivery. When I'd gone to college after high school I had begun to participate in college radio broadcasts and would develop some on-air characters of my own. I also began to write some radio comedy treatments such as a parody of A Christmas Carol and take-offs of popular commercials of the day.
During the 1980's and early 1990's my voice studies took a slight back-seat to music. I've been a drummer since age 12 and during the 80's I worked in a few no-so-successful Vegas club bands and a couple in California as well. During this time I had the fortunate luck of taking some lessons with legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker. I enrolled in some music theory and ear training classes to gain a better understanding of song craft and worked on writing pop songs and song parodies during this time. By the end of the 1990's I had begun doing auditions for commercial voices but found very little use for my abilities in the Las Vegas area at that time.
Prior to leaving Las Vegas I'd written and recorded a demo at UNLV's studios for character voices called The Gypsy Boy, a strange and funny tale in which I played about a dozen or so characters. This piece has been gaining a bit of online notoriety over the years and inspired me to do more writing in my home studio. After moving to the Nashville area in 1999 I'd assembled a home recording studio to write and record both music and voice demos. I quickly began to write & record songs and instrumental music, playing all of the instruments and doing all of the vocals on my own. Some of my music has been featured on Mark Deren's popular Mark From Holland weekend radio show that originates from Heemskerk, Holland and I've done a few telephone interviews as a featured guest on his show as well.
In 2007 I had landed the role of an Irish priest in the independent film Ought, playing Father Moriarity in a couple of key scenes. I also did a few Personal Injury Lawyer commercials for a local agency but these experiences taught me that being in front of the camera is not as much fun as working behind a microphone. I am presently seeking to use my assortment of character voices in animated films, documentaries and commercial advertising. With the renewed popularity of animated films due to the incredible work by Pixar, Dream Works and Indie studios I would love to use my vocal abilities for character portrayal. It is my goal to become a part of this creative community and do my best work for any of these amazing studios. Where shall this road lead to now.......