The obsession with music began as a young child, watching his older cousins, who supplied jukeboxes in a small town outside of Syracuse, New York. Particularly passionate about the British Invasion, he convinced a local radio station to give him a weekly supply of records, and as a kid forged press passes to meet bands like The Rolling Stones and The Kinks in their early heyday, as well as Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Them, The Who and Ike & Tina Turner amongst many.