Refer a Friend

Michael Caruso and I met in New York while I was recording my first album with Sunrise. Michael was a guest of band founder Rick Rydell, and was soon in the band. We played a million nightclubs together, drove across country twice in rickety trucks, were signed to managers and record labels together, and did a lot of songwriting together!

Our first songwriter adventures were somewhat naive, yet produced results ... We simply hopped on the train from Philly to New York, slept on friends' floors, and roamed the streets of Manhattan with a guitar ... braving our way into anyone's office we could, and playing our songs live for anyone who would listen. Ha! No guts, no glory!

We managed to interest a few music biz people ... Mercury Records invited us to do some demos in their NY studios ... we met a publisher who later offered to have our song 'Say It' recorded by the Neville Brothers ... a few others. Michael and I also played a few small clubs in Manhattan, just for fun.

When our band landed in L.A. and rented a house with a piano, Michael and I played 'grown up songwriters' and wrote songs every day for a few weeks ... as though it was our job. We wrote a bunch of songs ... a few of which were quite good!

Michael later realized that dream ... he has been signed to several songwriting/publishing deals. Good for him! The first significant 'cover' I recall for Michael was Joan Jett's recording of 'Long Live The Night' (co-written by Joan Jett & Randy Cantor), which appeared in the movie 'Days Of Thunder.' Perhaps more notable was 'Love Is' (co-written with John Keller & Tonio K.) recorded by Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight.

Click the pictures to visit Michael's MySpace page. Click on the links below to hear some of the songs Michael has written with me and others: