Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he played piano and sang gospel as a child, and sang in a band with future Doobie Brother Michael McDonald as a teenager. With quite a bit of help from Rich Lang, friend and fellow multi-talented musician, they wrote and recorded several demos, drove to New York City from St. Louis and signed a publishing contract with CBS Records in 1977 and wrote songs for Climax Blues Band, Robbie Dupree, Exile, Johnnie Taylor, Sawyer Brown, and Reba McEntire. Read more on Last.fm