I was born on December 23, 19xx in Modesto, California and was raised in a small farming community just east of Modesto, in the little town of Waterford. My parents, Lloyd and Jackie were very hard working people. I also have two sisters. Eva, who everyone calls Mike, and Joan who I call Sis or Sistoo.

We were a musical family and I can remember my Mother and Mike singing special music in church on many occasions. My Dad wasn't a Christian so he never went to church with us (that is another story). There were many evenings we just sat around and sang songs. Neighbors would drop by and soon we would have a house full. We discovered that we could rent a reel to reel tape recorder from a store in Modesto, and when my folks could scrape up enough money, we would rent a recorder, then sit around the house and record for hours. Somewhere out there are those tapes. I wish I had them.

When I was 11 or 12 I learned to play the guitar. I got hold of a book that showed me where to put my fingers on the strings to make different chords, and away I went. Eventually I got to where I could play enough chords, and then I began singing and accompanying myself on the old guitar. It wasn't long before I started being asked to sing for church.

I grew up listening to country music which I loved to sing. Even at a very young age I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. You guessed it. I wanted to go to Nashville, TN. and become a country music star. Music was my life. I would go to bed at night with my guitar on my chest and sing myself to sleep. If I wasn't listening to country music on the radio, I was singing it with that old guitar.

I started high school at Oakdale High which was 15 miles or so from Waterford, and in my sophomore year enrolled in a Christian high school in Modesto. It was there I met a kid who played the upright bass, and boy, did we have fun. There were many times that Bill would bring his bass to school; I would bring my guitar and we would find a room that wasn't being used. There we would start playing and I would start singing some Elvis songs. We would always have one of the kids at the door so we would know when a teacher might be coming. When the teacher got near we would go right into a Gospel song without missing a beat. Many years later I saw one of the faculty and I told him about those times. I thought he would die laughing.

I graduated from high school, went to college for a year or two, then got married to Cheryl, the girl I dated all through high school. We moved to Oregon, started a family. There I started singing gospel, and had Cheryl, my wife, John Gepford, and later my brother-in-law, Dick Wheeler, as my backup singers. Later when my son Jeff got old enough he joined us singing and playing the piano. We sang for several years in the Northwest as" THE QUIET SOUND ". Still, I wanted Nashville and country music.

One night I was so depressed about my music I walked out of the house down to a logging road that wasn't far away. There, I knelt down on the pavement and asked God to take the desire for country music away from me if he wasn't going to permit me to go to Nashville and do the music I loved. He answered my prayer but not the way I was wanting Him to . He not only took the desire for Nashville and country music way, but he took my love for ALL music away. For 2 years I never sang a note, never played the guitar, and stopped listening to the radio. That was a miracle.( it was during that 2 year period that our daughter Laura was born).

After 2 years or so went by, the desire for music came back. However, this time it was a desire to do a different kind of music. I no longer wanted to sing country music, nor go to Nashville. The music I now wanted to sing was gospel music, and I was content to stay in Oregon and sing on weekends.

It was the mid 70's and I was selling real estate. Things were going quite well for me. In the town where I was working, a town of 10,000 people, there were 22 Real Estate offices, all doing very well. But by the late 70's there was a drastic down turn in real estate. By the early 80's there are only 2 real estate offices in business. I tried to find work, but Oregon was in a very bad recession, and there were no jobs available. I found odd jobs where I could, but we finally decided that we had to leave Oregon. The only relatives we had not living in Oregon were Cheryl's sister and her husband, and they lived in.....you guessed it.......Tennessee. They were kind enough to let me live with them until I could find work and send for my family

I found a few jobs there in Cleveland but nothing was working out, so I decided to go back to Oregon. I had a friend, Billy Burks, who lived in Nashville, which is 150 miles from where I was staying, and I wanted to visit him before I went back to Oregon. You guessed it again. Billy had a friend in Nashville who needed an employee. I interviewed and got the job. I will always be grateful to Sam Martz, who hired me.

It wasn't long until my family and I started singing again. My children got to the age where they had things of there own that they wanted to do so I started singing solo. In 1997 I went full time in my music ministry and have never looked back.

As I write this story, memories come flooding back and I can see how God has led me all of these years. Never forcing, but gently leading me to where I am today. There is no doubt in my mind that He has called me to do exactly what I am doing and I thank Him for that.

Since coming to Nashville God has blessed me with 16 albums (4 of which are available) and 4 music DVDs. It is so exciting to see what he has done for me in the past, and what he still has for me in the future.

Thank you for visiting me today on my website. May God bless you.