The top photo is current, the bottom is one of my favorites from a trip to Italy, circa 1976.

I was born and raised in the Napa Valley of California. When I was a child, music was always around my home. My mother had a beautiful voice and sang at church. Around 1950, my uncle started a radio station in Napa and my mother originally came to California to work there. She had a large number of records from the 40's and 50's that I used to listen to. And she always listened to Top 40 stations in the early 60's. She was the one who actually introduced me to The Beatles. She bought me "Meet the Beatles" just before they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.

I have wanted to sing and play music as long as I can remember, and especially since that first time I saw The Beatles on television. A few years later, at age 12, I attended my first concert — The Beatles, Candlestick Park, San Francisco, August 1966. It turned out to be their the last concert of the last tour they ever did.

I love most types of music and have pretty eclectic tastes but my favorites are blues, blues rock, R&B, old Motown and Memphis soul, swing and old school punk music (Yes, I was a punk rocker in the 70's). Some of my favorite musicians and musical influences are Koko Taylor, Etta James, Tina Turner, Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, Janis Joplin, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Tommy Castro. I also like John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Sly and the Family Stone, Ike and Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, the Ramones, The Sex Pistols (GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!), and, of course, The Beatles (I said I have eclectic tastes!).

Me and my three sons in June 1984. From left, Ian, Andrew and Tony.

Greg and I met in college at UC Berkeley in 1975 through a friend who played guitar with Greg and asked me to sing with them. Greg and I have been together ever since. I graduated from Berkeley with a degree in Italian and I have traveled to Italy several times to visit my relatives there. The ancient picture on this page was taken by one of my cousins at Alassio on the Italian Riviera in the summer of 1976.

After college, Greg and I decided to settle down and become mature and responsible adults. We have been married for 25 years and our three sons are all adults now. We are all owned by Mojo the Bad Dog, official mascot of The Delta 88's, and her cohorts, Brutus and Bella.

Mojo, the Bad Dog, is the official mascot of The Delta 88s.

The Delta 88s evolved out of a group that Steve and I were in part of in early 1999 that was formed through a program run by a local music store. We were really successful in the program, but Steve and I were the only ones who really wanted to keep things going after the program ended. So we asked Greg to join us as our bass player. Then we hooked up with Michael, our original harp player, and a few months later Dan and Wes joined us. In November 2001, Michael left the band to pursue his own projects and soon afterwards we found Neal who has fit in perfectly as a member of The Delta 88s.

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