I was born and raised in the Midwest.  I moved to Colorado in 1978 and lived there until 1995 when I moved to Sierra Vista.  I began playing guitar at age 15, inspired by the hard rock/metal groups of the 70s and 80s.  I was a member of Metal Shop, a short-lived 70s and 80s hard rock/metal cover band in the late 90s.

My guitar influences are too many to list.  My first guitar idol was Michael Schenker (Scorpions, UFO, and MSG).  After that it was Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy).  Nowadays there is no favorite guitarist for me, though I greatly admire the styles of John Sykes (Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Blue Murder), Warren DeMartini (Ratt), Randy Rhoads (Ozzy), Jeff Beck, Al DiMeola, Doug Aldrich (Dio, Whitesnake), Neal Schon (Journey) and John Norum (Europe, Don Dokken) to name a few.