Rock and Roll

Fast forward a couple of years and I find myself picking up my oldest daughter Rachel from a piano lesson. Her piano teacher is Mark Hall who runs the music and drama departments of Warringah Performing Arts in Brookvale, NSW, Australia which he owns with his wife Julie who runs the dance school.
Rachel mentions to Mark that I write and record songs. Mark asks if he can listen to some of my material. I took in some old recordings of Roller Coaster, JoyRide and Lemon Tree which I recorded a few years back plus an early version of The New Elvis Presley.
Mark really likes the songs and said he could really improve my vocal performance by having formal lessons. I have never been the lead singer in all the bands I have played with. I have been content to write the songs, play guitar and let others sing so this propsect was very daunting.
I recall at my first lesson, I played Mark my latest song 'Kicking and Screaming' on the piano. Mark was able to transpose the song to the correct key for my voice and also play the song on his Clavinova with various accompaniments which really lifted the song.
I was very self conscious about my voice and so it was re-assuring to have someone who could place it correctly, play the song immediately in the correct key and provide an arrangement that sat perfectly with the integrity of the song.
Around Christmas 2010 we were discussing recording The New Elvis Presley and using a tribute artist to sing it, but we didn't get round to it. That project would have to wait another year. During that time, I had been writing plenty of material and working on a set of other peoples songs Mark has chosen to improve my voice.
One of my songs was called 'Superstar' and Mark felt it was time that I could be unleashed to an unsuspecting public, so after starting my lessons in April 2010, my first live performance was in December of that year and as Robert Plant one sang - It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.