Despite being painfully shy during my high school days, I managed to be an acquaintance of a lot of students, which turned out to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, I learned to relate to, and communicate with, many different personalities. On the other hand, my acquaintances often assumed I belonged to a different social circle than theirs. So I didn’t get to hang out with any one group, which was perfectly fine with me. Instead, I spent most of my time playing guitar in my bedroom, as I had been doing since the age of five. Outside of family and very close friends, no one else knew about my guitar interest. When I landed my “dream job” at the time, selling guitars at Sam Goody in the mall, it surprised those that only knew me peripherally. Others would find out about my “hidden talent” years later through our connections on Facebook.

These days, I am involved in many aspects of the music business and it’s now a full-time endeavor, but it was not a straight line to get to that point. It included a myriad of twists and turns, starts and stops and doing many different things such as performing, recording, promoting, and teaching. And it was never a one man show, but rather, a cast of thousands, all of whom played some part small and large to get to where things are now. 

One of the First to Know.  Then One Hundred

While in high school, I met Tim Stolese, an underclassman who played keyboards. We immediately hit it off and started writing songs together. He planned a small live performance on Good Friday 1977 for a few close friends. As things tended to do back then, word quickly spread, and it became an open house with over 100 people in attendance, which also inadvertently became my big debut.

Tim’s dad worked in the music industry. One night, he overheard us playing our songs. The next thing I knew, I was in a recording studio with all eyes upon me. I was so petrified that I made the studio hands put up portable walls completely encircling me so that no one could see me singing. The songs had a kind of Bob Welch “Sentimental Lady” vibe and weren’t half bad, either. None of these songs ever went anywhere, but it was a start.

That Time Don Kirschner called me “Green”

In 1978, the year after I graduated, LHS held a “Hot Dog Day” lunch, complete with a band. Steve Nelson, a musician friend, asked me to drop by to hear this kid Brian Drucks play guitar. As we all know, there was no such thing as school security back then. Anyone could freely come and go, especially during open lunch. Steve thought Brian and I would sound good together, so I agreed to go check it out. Steve’s hunch was about to be proven right.

 Brian’s uncle happened to be Rock impresario Don Kirshner, and after we won a couple battle of the bands, including Livingston’s in 1979, we recorded a demo to present to “Uncle Donny”. Don really liked it, but diplomatically told us we were still green. He was spot on, but that didn’t stop us. Some thirty years later he was at an event I was playing. I had the chance to speak with him, and after listening to my band play some hit songs he produced, Uncle Donny gave me and the boys a thumbs up. It was great to come full circle and finally be validated by the man that kindly administered my first dose of music biz reality. 

Jon Bongiovi Does Me a Solid.  Almost 

Within a year of Kirshner’s initial critique, we had a manager, label interest and played all over New York and New Jersey opening for national acts like Huey Lewis and the News, Clarence Clemons, and another band of friends that would soon come to be known as Bon Jovi. Jon liked our songs so much, he gave his producer a copy of our follow-up demo, who offered us a production deal. We had to decline because we had just signed with someone else a month earlier. After several years of “close but no cigar,” we disbanded in 1985. It was then I started recording original songs in my bedroom on a small home multitrack cassette deck.

The Livingston Connection Strikes Again

Unbeknownst to me, another Livingston friend, Steve Frankel gave his copy of my cassette to a record executive with whom he commuted to New York by train. Shortly after, Columbia/Epic Records called to offer me a record deal! Not long after the recording work got underway, the executive left the company, and I was let go. But during that time, Brian and I were fortunate enough to have music placed by our producer in two major movies, “Critters” and “Quiet Cool.” And I still get royalty checks for fifty cents every time “Critters” is on SyFy. Woo Hoo!

Dissed by Ed McMahon.  Well, sort of. 

Later in 1985, I began performing solo acoustic in the area, got married in 1988, and in 1989, forged a new career in Publishing things like Business-to-Business directories, magazines, and advertising. I kept writing songs throughout the ‘90s, and even auditioned for Star Search, the predecessor to American Idol. After I made it through two rounds of auditions, the show was cancelled. Undaunted, I just kept on playing and writing songs as usual. Along the way, I met bassist Robert Murdock. We lived near each other and quickly realized we had similar songwriting styles. So, we started collaborating. Robert released two CDs that I helped produce. I co-wrote some of the songs, played guitar, and also sang backing vocals.

Present for the Best Present

In 1997, I received the greatest gift ever: my daughter Emma. Like her parents, she was bitten by the Music bug too and has the best voice in the family! In 2019, Emma was graduated from Boston University with highest honors and a degree in Computer Engineering. In addition to working for an Internet company in New York, these days, she also creates music and engages in independent filmmaking. I couldn’t be any prouder…or luckier!

Back in 2001, I left my job in New York a mere two weeks after 9/11 and ran a marketing business out of my house. The career change afforded me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home Dad, a time I still treasure to this day. I was also able to officially join Robert’s band, playing at venues like the Stone Pony and the PNC Arts Center.

Career Twists (And Shouts)

The home business went well, too, and morphed into me becoming an on-site Marketing consultant for companies like Educational Testing Service, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America from 2005-2011. In 2005, I still played in clubs and restaurants as a duo with Robert. We also formed a black tie/wedding band.  

One night after getting stiffed on a duo job, we sat on Robert’s front porch and came up with the idea of a British Invasion tribute show, thinking it’d be a lark, with the wedding band being the cash cow. Well, the supposed lark soon eclipsed everything else. On top of it all, I also collaborated with two friends from LHS rival high school Mountain and released a 3-CD set of acoustic ‘60s and ’70s Rock classics. 

I had finally evolved into a full-time musician. 

Silver Linings and Striking Gold 

When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, downed trees on both ends of my neighborhood left us stranded without power or communications for over a week. I listened to the news on a battery-operated radio, and heard about evacuated residents who didn’t even know what they’d be coming home to in the aftermath. At first, I thought, “I can’t even imagine…,” and then I thought, “What if it really did happen to me?” Literally overnight, I wrote a song from that perspective. When power was restored, I fired up my updated, computerized home studio, and recorded the entire song by myself. I didn’t sleep for a day and a half until it was done. Next, I uploaded the song to the Internet and sold downloads to raise money for hurricane relief. 

Once things started getting back to normal, the British Invasion band resumed touring, and I also began teaching guitar and bass. In addition, I was a volunteer musician for the Holiday Express charity, that enabled me to work at one of their client’s facilities teaching music to developmentally disabled adults. It ushered in one of the most rewarding times of my life, next to parenthood, which still continues today. It also led me to my (music) school sweetheart Kathy. Her son is a student of mine who relentlessly insisted that I ask her out. After six months of resistance, I caved in. I’m so happy I took her son’s advice because she and I have so much in common: a positive outlook, a love of music, Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones, and teaching. Oh yeah, and reruns of that little thing classmate Jay Greenspan did on TV. 🙂 

A Dear John Story 

I’m often told that I resemble a certain Beatle. An acquaintance with connections to Broadway productions approached me at a party back in 2019 and said, “You look like John Lennon, you should be on Broadway! If you write it, I’ll back it!”.  

Just a few months later, the pandemic shut down started, and once again I was stuck at home. Since I now had lots of time on my hands, I was thinking about what my friend said about that John Lennon project. I reached out to my buddy Rich Robinson, a radio DJ, unofficial rock historian, and a witness to the aforementioned Lennon conversation. I asked him to partner up and write the story. Thankfully, he agreed. We immediately jumped in, and finally finished it this year. However, instead of a play, it is now a book. We’re publishing it soon, and want to make a movie, tv series, and yes, pitch it to Broadway. Fingers crossed! 

A Lock Down Cheer Up 

During that first week of the Covid lock down, I decided to go live for an hour on Facebook and play music simply to help maintain my sanity. I wasn’t even concerned about anyone tuning in. However, it seemed as if everyone from my entire life showed up. Unbelievably, I wound up performing for two to three hours every Thursday night for 40 weeks. As I took requests, I encouraged viewers to interact with each other. The audience grew from just over a thousand to more than 10,000 viewers each week! To this day, people still come up to me to express how much it really helped them get through those tough times. I never imagined the impact it would have on so many others. I was also honored to be invited to stream live as part of a relief effort for Livingston residents, too. I’m incredibly humbled by these experiences that I will never forget.

Whodathunkit?

As you can see, my life and career paths have been anything but straight lines. But I’ve persisted, adapted, and learned so much on each path along the way. The ability to relate to others that I acquired as a teen has come in very handy. I am so grateful to have connected with friends old and new from Livingston throughout the journey. I can’t wait to see what the future holds, and who else from LHS I’ll run into on the road ahead!

For more information on Lee’s various projects, check out www.leescotthoward.com