I first began performing in junior high in the school choir. I started playing guitar around the age of 12, and writing complete songs by around 14. At 15 I made my first demo tape at the recording studio on my high school campus. Music has always been an important part of my life. I have listened to and been influenced by a lot of different artists over the years, crossing all musical boundaries. I've loved everything from rock to pop- including blues-rock, folk-rock, r & b, soul, pop-country, Motown, and new age. I was inspired early on by so many - everyone from John Denver, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King, to Gladys Knight, Stevie Nicks, and bands like America, Journey, and Loggins & Messina. My musical taste today still covers a wide spectrum. You never know what you mind find in my CD collection!

By the time I got to high school, I let the guitar slip into the background while I pursued other outlets, like school choirs and community musical theater. It was all great experience and gave me a pretty well-rounded musical education in those early years.

I took formal voice lessons for a few years in high school and experimented with everything from classical arias to show tunes and old standards; from top 40 to pop-country.

After graduating high school in 1983, I wasn't really involved in anything musical for several years. But I always knew something was missing. Then in 1989 I discovered Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Tracy Chapman, and Shawn Colvin. I realized how much I missed my guitar. I had never stopped writing bits of lyrics all those years, but now the passion to play and write was rekindled and fanned. At the time, I didn't have any idea it would all lead to making my own record, but of course, that's where it took me. Which just goes to remind me over and over again to do what's in front of me, you never know where it will lead.