He is a keyboardist, arranger and producer born in Los
Angeles, California, who began learning to play the piano when he was ten
years old.When he was
fourteen he also began playing the trumpet at school, although also continued
with his piano studies, adding harmony tuition from Stan Kentons arranger,
Ken Hanna.He took his further
education at the Valley College, where he was a member of the California
State Championship winning "A" jazz band, and then at the California State
University, Northridge from 1970 to 1971. A career in music was calling though, so he started playing
at local private events before performing at various clubs, including as
part of a duo with Al Jarreau, whose band he became a member of.He took over from Edgar Winter in
the band White Trash and also became a member of Al Jarreau's band.In 1974 he began touring with Helen Reddy and once that
had finished in 1976 he took on another two year tour with Olivia Newton
John and performed on two the chart hits "Hopelessly Devoted To You" and "You're
the One That I Want" from the soundtrack of Grease.At the same time as this tour he
formed his own fusion band in 1977 and began making appearances at jazz
clubs.He met up with the
guitarist Larry Carlton and his association with him has led to at least
four album recordings and countless live performances, which are still
going on.He decided to stop
touring in 1978 and just concentrate on session playing in Los Angeles and
this led him to not only performing, but also becoming a much sought after
string and horn arranger. Soon
he was performing and arranging hit records for some of the major artists such
as "MacArthur Park" and "Heaven Knows" by Donna Summer and "Enough is
Enough" by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand and also working on movie
soundtracks such as Midnght Express.This still wasn't enough for him to get his teeth into
so he ventured into producing as well as performing and made his name known
early on in this guise with hits such as "Gloria" by Laura Branigan, "Mickey"
by Tony Basil and four Top 10 hits and two platinum albums for Sheena
Easton. He also continued with
his own recordings and 1981 saw the release of Super Live at the Baked
Potato from a concert he performed with Pops Popwell of the Jazz
Crusaders and Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather of Toto. Five years later he released For
My Friends, recorded with several renowned guest artists, which became
a Top 5 hit album in the Billboard Jazz Chart. During the 1990s he spread his wings by producing and
performing with his band in Europe and the 2000s have seen him releasing at
least 4 albums with his "The Jazz Ministry". The acts he has worked with during the course of his
career as a musician, arranger or producer are countless and include Alex
Acuna, Christina Aguilera, Alessi Brothers, Stephen Bishop, Cerrone, City
Boy, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Cocker, The Commodores, Paulinho Da Costa, David
Foster, The Four Tops, Leif Garrett, Jay Graydon, Faith Hill, Thelma
Houston, Hues Corporation, Billy Idol, Julio Iglesias, Gladys Knight, Greg
Lake, Michael Landau, D.C. LaRue, Nils Lofgren, Melissa Manchester, The Manhattan
Transfer, Martha & The Vandellas, Giorgio Moroder, Nazareth, Juice
Newton, Les Paul, Lee Ritenour, Demis Roussos, Seals & Croft, Simple
Minds, The Stylistics, Tavares, The Three Degrees, Randy Travis, Tina
Turner, Frankie Valli, Carlos Vega, Dionne Warwick, The Weather Girls, Deniece
Williams and Syreeta Wright.The
many albums he has appeared on under various guises include his own Another
Night at the Baked Potato, Live at the Bake Potato, West Coast Groove
and Laboriel/Mathieson with Abraham Laboriel Sr. as well as Fandango
by Herb Alpert, Best of the Casablanca Years by Cher, United
by The Commodores, It's All in the Game by Engelbert Humperdinck, Jarreau
by Al Jarreau, Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones by Quincy
Jones, Rescue Me by Tom Jones, Love Performance by Olivia
Newton John, Stop and Smell the Roses by Ringo Starr, Songbird
by Barbra Streisand, Live and More by Donna Summer and the
soundtracks of American Flyers, Elmo in Grouchland, Gigli, Quicksilver
and Unfaithfully Yours. An international and national live performer he has
appeared in many venues dotted all over the globe and on TV programmes such
as "The Midnight Special" and "Saturday Night Live".
