TRIBUTES

My first tribute is to a man who showed us the way!! His name is Don Blocker and I've not seen or talked to him in decades. When we were trying to launch our career, we were niave and thought that we could just go around and knock on doors in Hollywood and people would talk to us and listen to our demo tapes. Well, it worked some of the time, but Don Blocker was the first person to take the time to explain to us how things should really be done. He was at Liberty Records at the time and I guess felt sorry for us. He took time with us and referred us to a young, up and coming manager in the San Diego area where we were all living. We met with this young man; he liked our material and our live performances and took our demos to Hollywood on our behalf and finally had us sign with Valiant Records. But without Don's help, we might have continued to go unrepresented and knocking on doors much longer. Ironically, Don passed on the group for his label, but we did record for Liberty later on in our career. Mr. Blocker spent many successful years in the music business and I know later on was on the payroll at Motown Records. Our thanks for to him for reaching out to a bunch of inexperienced kids and giving us some sound advice.

Next.......Mr. Barry De Vorzon. Barry was the driving force behind The Cascades. He molded us and rehearsed us and put together our sound with his unique brand of genious. He brought our demo to Perry Botkin Jr. for a truly incredible arrangement. Perry's celeste figures in "Rhythm of the Rain" were so catchy and gave my song a real identity. Barry then took us into the legendary Gold Star Studios, along with the best studio cats that Hollywood had to offer and produced what we all know now to be one of the greatest classic pop sounds of Pre-Beatles pop/rock. Thanks Barry, Great Job.

Next....... My long time friend and collaborator, Lenny Green. Thanks Len for always believing in me, for your inspiration, for your great talent. You are the reason I began composing in the first place. And you know, I've always been one of your biggest fans. Your writing is a joy and always so totally unique. Those of you reading this can learn more about songwriter, Lenny by going to his web page which is linked with mine. I thank you for all your encouragement through the years from those early days right on up till now. I treasure your friendship. You've enriched my life and I wish you, your lovely wife and your family the best always.

My next tribute is to my friend, David Wilson. The world lost David just a few months ago to cancer. He was the drummer in the band; always was from the very beginning up till The Cascades broke up in about 1975. Like Len, David was always there to encourage me, to make me try when I didn't think I could really do it. He was the tenor part of our harmony, just a third above the lead. Our parts truly made up the best of the Cascade sound. As you may have read in other parts of this site, David and Len and I were all in the Navy together and the three of us were truly the first beginnings of what eventually became, The Cascades. I'm proud to have had David as a friend and I will miss him greatly.

Next........My deep and sincere thanks to RADIO!!!!!!! Where would I be without the people of radio, especially Oldies Radio. You have made "Rhythm of the Rain" the 9th most perfomed song of the last century!!!! I am eternally grateful. Please contact me anytime for interviews, promos, whatever I can do for any of you, I'm at your disposal.