I sing because I have to. I sing because I can't live without singing. But before I learned to sing, I learned to listen. My earliest memories are of sunlit mornings in my mother's Red Hook, Brooklyn apartment, the air full of music. Tunes drifted from my brother Rob's room as he played his keyboards or tap danced, even as music poured from the stereo in the living room...Streisand, Caruso, Marvin Gaye. I always remember the joy of simply being alive in a house where every spark of creativity was fed and fanned into flame. I remember my mother's voice ringing from the kitchen, singing along with Stevie...or with Uncle Harold...he would always come over by lunch time and make himself comfortable at the piano. Those two would play and sing for hours on end, rehearsing for gigs or just enjoying themselves. It was natural to join in & I did.
The first lyric I memorized was Stevie Wonder's Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer. I can't count the trains my mother & I missed while I sang on the platforms, learning about acoustics from those subway tunnels. During all my school years, working with theatre groups and playing in my own bands, I learned the most valuable of all lessons: the collaboration and nurturing that worked so well in the theatre could work anywhere. From Red Hook, the family moved to New Jersey. The music & the joy continued.
Liquid Smoke was my first band's name - and we ruled the talent shows several years running. Eventually, we were the teen band of choice at New York's "The Cellar" and "Under the Stairs." Meanwhile, Rob and Margaret Conway formed Conway & Temple (listed in Who's Who of Rhythm & Blues). I can't count the nights I spent listening, grooving and learning while working as roadie, a sound engineer-in-training. Liquid Smoke was followed by Pegasus, which lasted through high school. After high school, I tried serving in this man's army for a while. Came home, got married, settled in and became a family man. When that marriage ended, I found a way to be a single parent for my 2 girls and still be in the studio. I never could really stay away from the music. Eventually, I ran across an old friend, Greg Hatten, who asked me if I wanted to work at A&R Studio for him. Did I?!!? I wanted an apprenticeship, a chance to thoroughly learn how to use every bit of equipment, to edit tape and do everything else there is to do in a studio. I got it and am forever grateful for that opportunity. There I met people like Joey Gold and Mark Mendoza - who were destined to change my life. People who hear like I hear, who feel music like I do & can't live without it any more than I can.
Greg & Mark, the core of 280 West, asked me to write lyrics for the track that later became my 1994 track Love's Masquerade (Kaleidiascope Records) and 280 West featuring Diamond Temple was born. The background vocalists for that track were Kenni Bobien and Eddie Shockley - superlative vocalists, both. We performed at places like The Tunnel and Studio 54. A year later, we recorded the gospel dance track Lift Him Up (1995 - King Street) - a treasured project for me because it brought my mother, Conway & Temple and others into the studio together. In the interim, I met & became friends with both Hank (Big Bank) Jackson and Michael (WonderMike) Wright (of The Sugarhill Gang). Over the years, I have worked as their bandmate, travelling with them worldwide, making contacts and learning even more about performance & recording.
Love's Masquerade and Lift Him Up laid the foundation for everything I am doing now... creating an international fan base that still amazes me. If I doubted it, the love everybody showed at the PhutureSole 2004 Winter Music Conference party in Miami erased those doubts forever. I wish my mother were still here to share my joy, but I so long as I live, so does she.
Now? I'm teaching & managing a vocal group (my 2 daughters & their friends), teaching my sons to play drums, and back in the studio doing my thing. I'm at talent shows and in the clubs, listening and learning. I'm as hungry as ever and working with PhutureSole/280 West. It's cool to look back and feel good about the things I did where I was in the front & soaking up the glory - but my joy grows from the support and love of the people I worked with, couldn't have it without the talented mentors who made what I do look effortless. I've heard that from him to whom much is given, much is expected. No problem. I am psyched about working with Mark & Rob again, psyched about all the love the Fly project is bringing my way...more than that, I am psyched to work with those who share this hunger & this joy. The PhutureSole/280 West family has asked me to be out there, searching for & cultivating new talent, and I am only too happy to oblige. When you see me out there, holla.

  Diamond@PhutureSoleRecordings.com