My love for music began as a child, my mom and dad gave me a phonograph when I was just two years old and I was hooked. My taste in music has always been quite eclectic: my musical interests began with the vocal harmony groups of the ’50s through the incredible Motown acts of the ’60s.

As I grew older, I branched off into classic rock. I knew I could sing when I was a kid: I heard things that other people didn’t, I could tell from a young age if I was in tune or out of tune, and I could hear harmonies naturally.

However, there was a problem. I was an athlete and athletes didn’t sing, so I kept it to myself until the eighth grade when some of my sports friends announced that we were going to try out for the musical. It happened to be Grease, one of my favorites, I loved listening to the 50’s music and the Bee Gee’s penned theme song, sung by Frankie Vallie.

I played the role of Doodie, and had three solos in the musical, including “Those Magic Changes” and “Rock and Roll Party Queen”. Performing in front of an audience for the first time was daunting. I never realized that you couldn’t see out past the first few rows of seats with the stage lights shining bright. Although I came from a musical family, this was my first time performing live in front of an audience.  When I finished my first number, the crowd erupted. Nobody expected much from the point guard of the basketball team.

To say I was hooked was an understatement.

I went on to join different bands in high school and college, trying to play live anywhere I could.  I went on a pilgrimage to see as many live concerts as possible. I saw as many different acts as possible. I studied, boy did I study, I made sure I learned as much as possible about each live band that I saw.

I would study their front men and listen to their musicians, I would analyze what they did, how they did it, why they did it, and what effect it had on the audience. I built as much knowledge as I could and tried to develop a producer’s ear. I wanted to be able to lead live cover bands and make audiences smile, I wanted it to be exceptional.

When I got out of college, I started the Chicago cover band Maggie Speaks. We began by playing night clubs, but we soon progressed to street festivals where we built a nice following.  There was always a great energy at our shows and eventually, we were attracting Fortune 500 companies that wanted us to play at their corporate events.

We performed at all of the Midwest colleges and continued to grow. College students would follow us around on their summer breaks, and as they began getting engaged, asking us to perform at their weddings. Now, we have branched into society and gala events for major charitable organizations. At each turn, I have always tried to make sure we were finding ways to reinvent ourselves.

In 2017, we started our Celebrity Sit-In program. This program allows celebrity singers from world-famous bands to join Maggie Speaks on stage for four to six of their greatest hits. This program has been a dream come true, having graced the stage with so many of my idols that I studied at live concerts throughout high school and college.

To go from sitting in the crowd to standing on stage with some of the most captivating performers has been surreal, to say the least. We have been fortunate enough to perform with former members of Journey, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kansas, and many more.

Thanks to this program, I have picked up at least one nugget of information from each celebrity artist that performs with Maggie Speaks and I want to share some of the knowledge that has been imparted to me by the rock and roll royalty with you.

I hope you enjoy this blog series. Please remember to support live music, musicians dedicate their lives to their craft, and through this dedication, they spread love and joy throughout the world.