I was beating my head against the music business wall for a good seven years after I got out of college. Think of it as a constant learning and growing process. Try to stay upbeat in the face of massive amounts of rejection. I didn’t play the piano but it made me think I want to do that. Very specifically, those two musicians got me totally immersed in it. I heard Amoreena by Elton John from the Tumbleweed Connection record in the summer between 10th and 11th grade. It was a young British pianist and a young piano player from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I didn’t start getting serious about the piano, didn’t really start playing it intensely until I was 17. You can catch up if you’re willing to do the work.
I’d tell my younger self not to worry that you’re a late starter. I had a band when I was 12 but I was never serious about it. Having a laugh or 20, as you have already figured out, is a healthy and enjoyable way to live.Įvery little white kid in the world wanted to be a guitar player when The Beatles came out, then the whole British invasion. I’d tell my younger self to retain your frivolous prankster ways as you get older. Or more than slightly in certain situations. That may have made me a bit cocky and slightly insufferable. I was also a jock, totally immersed in basketball. Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoĪt 16, I was the happy-go-lucky nut always goofing. In his Letter To My Younger Self, he talks about his lengthy route to the top, and how his story is a classic example of how you should never give up on your dreams. It speaks of the world that Covid has created, but is nonetheless upbeat, and includes collaborations with the likes of Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and Danielle Haim. He then carved out a great career for himself, that resulted in him joining his heroes The Grateful Dead, becoming an inspiration for rap artists like Tupac Shakur and collaborating with filmmaker Spike Lee. Bruce Hornsby took a while to find fame, but after the worldwide success of his 1986 single The Way it Is he became one of the biggest stars of the Eighties.