These 3 tunes were live band recordings at Soundshine Studio in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Paul Banman - Keys
Don Miller - Bass
Danny Swetland - Drums
John Fifield - Guitar
Influences
My musical influences have been B. B. King, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Count Bassy, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Billy Holiday, Bonnie Raitt, Heart, Journey, Hank Williams, early Elvis, Bessie Smith, Tina Turner, Delbert McClinton (absolutely adore him), Janis Joplin, Etta James, Ernestine Anderson (she's the best) and many, many more. I prefer to sing R&B and straight-ahead Blues.
Some of the Astrologers who have been a big influence on me have been Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker, Robert Hand and Sofia Mason.
My favorite movie makers have been and are Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarrantino.
Some of my favorite writers are Steven King and Ann Rice.
In art, I prefer Michel Angelo and Salvadore Dali.
I really get a kick out of Carlos Mencia, Gilbert Godfrey, Robin Williams, George Carlin, Lisa Lampannelli, Louis Black and Jon Stewart. Did I mention that I like Silly?
Oh, and yeah, I enjoy Swing Dancing too.
Quilting calms me down.
I give as much support as I can to the Humane Society and Pet Rescue Associations. When I was on the road, my Siamese Cat, Caesar, went everywhere with me and helped me to keep my sanity. Pets are earth's little angels. I can't imagine living without them.
And of course, John Fifield who has traveled down the many roads of life with me. It's been a blessing to have a good traveling companion who loves me, battle scars and all!
Mustn't leave out the biggest and most important influence in my life and that was Mama. Nobody ever loves ya' like your Mama.
I've been in the entertainment business most of my life. By the time I was 10 years old I was singing in local radio commercials and was the voice and tap sounds heard on a lot of the records that kids who took dance lessons danced to. By the way, that was how I paid for my dancing lessons by doing the vocals for the records used by the dance studio.
My first band gigs were with the Johnny Knorr Big Band when I was 13 and the Cake Walkin' Dixieland Jazz band at 14. During this time I was also doing theatre. Little did I know that all those musicals that I was in would be a good start for me in building a jazz repertoire. You know jazzers, they like their standards.
During the late '70s, I went on the road with a show band. When that tour ended, I moved to South Florida and landed a house gig the first night here singing with a Big Band at a club called "In The Mood." I stayed around South Florida for a couple of years working the local clubs doing top 40 and some of the rock clubs on the beach.
I was offered a gig with a show/dance band that was going to start their tour at the Americana Casino in Aruba, so I took it. When we came back to the states we played clubs from Florida to Canada and all the way west to New Mexico. I loved New Mexico, but had a hard time with the dryness of the place. During the day, I would leave on the shower for hours just to fill the room with steam so I would be able to sing at night. The guys laughed at me, but they lost their voices and I didn't.
When that tour ended, I came back home to South Florida. I was working quite a bit and would get calls and have to turn down gigs, so I decided I would book someone else on the gigs that I couldn't do. So for a while I was doing double duty.
In the late '80s and early '90s the movie industry was really starting to take off in South Florida, so I tried my hand at it. "Cape Fear," "Chains of Gold," a British TV series called "John Forsythe Presents" and the Latin soap opera "El Magnate" were some of the films I worked in. I also did a couple of Toyota commercials.
All while I had been in entertainment, I had also been doing Astrology. I became fascinated with Astrology when I was in my late teens and took it up seriously at 20. Because I was always around entertainment, most of the charts I looked at in the beginning were of entertainers.
Once I decided to stay in one place for a while, I started teaching, writing articles and lecturing about Astrology. At one point, I was putting together special events for parties featuring Astrologers. I had a column in a South Beach paper called Post Mortem, and wrote articles for local entertainment magazines. I've also written articles for the "National Council for Geocosmic Research" (NCGR) newsletter, their Geocosmic Journal and for their Electronic Newsletter. NCGR is an International Astrological Club with many fine Astrologers.
Currently, I'm working on a new CD called, "All Shades of Blue" featuring all styles of Blues. It has a lot of local South Florida Musicians on it such as Paul Banmon, Gabe Vales, Goran Ristanovich, David Fernandez, Randy Singer, Gabriel Vivas and of course, John Fifield. John is also recording and producing my CD in his studio. It's a lot of fun when it all comes together!
John Fifield, has just released his CD, "IT IS WHAT IT IS", and it's available on CD Baby: www.cdbaby.com/cd/johnfifield
On iTunes: itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum
hey, just stopping by to say hi - hope you're doing well.
I've got my new single 'Dancing On The Kitchen Tiles" on my page at the moment, as well as a couple of new live videos. I'd love to know what you think.
Just spreading some love your way - Thanks and enjoy the Christmas season! PS: the song Feel Good, should make you feel good! :o) Kevin
Hello Bev!!! Thank you very much for your message!!! I'm doing very well on the academy, even though it's hard and sometimes stress me out!!. I will be done soon and will be back to warm weather!!!! Woo hoo!
Hi, guys,
Just wanted to let you know that round 1 of the next People's Music Awards kicks off in on the 12th of July 2009!, and we are putting the call out to all new and unsigned bands to enter their best song into this years awards (completely free of charge)
Online Now!
