I was born in Germany and lived in Europe my first seven years. My Father is Persian and my mother is German. At the age of seven I moved to Iran to visit my father's family. I stayed there for four and a half years due to the Iran Iraq war. My passport was confiscated and I was not allowed out of the country. During this time various intense and interesting things occured. One was that we had to take shelter in the basement of the house because of the aerial bombings that took place. In the darkness of the basement, it was music that kept things together. Various songs on the radio and the singing of my family members lightened things up. At school, not by choice but rather force, I led a small vocal ensemble. The songs were national and political songs. I don't think any of us really knew what we were singing. We just knew that if we didn't the teacher would flunk us and that meant the whole year had to be repeated. I left Iran in time for my 12th birthday and went back to Germany.

In December that year, I came to the US to visit my father whom I had not seen in 3 years. I decided to stay because I was able to catch up on my lost time with all the relocation and language changes. I graduated at age seventeen from high school in Cupertino, Ca. At this time I still had no musical interest or training. I had friends in high school who played drums and guitar but I was not into it. I liked music and I always knew all the songs on the radio. I listened to different styles ranging from rock pop and rap to persian and European versions of all of the above. World music really!

It wasn't unitl I turned twenty that the music started to manifest as a life lifelong lifestyle. In those days I practiced eight to ten hours a day, with breaks obviously. I learned what I wanted to learn. I did not take proper lessons from a school or a private teacher. I sought out people who were doing cool things and either listened to them over and over or when possible sought a lesson or two. I did not like the idea of taking regular lessons from any one teacher because I knew that one tends to sound like them. I wanted to sound like me. I had to find my own sound and tastes. But one can learn something from everyone.

It is possible that what brought this about is an experience I had at a public gym once. I remember being really into lifting weights and one day a man saw a friend and I flexing in front of the mirror. He asked me who my idol was or who I wanted to be like. I thought a bit and told him Arnold Schwarzenegger. He said: "No! You want to be just like you. You want to be the most of you that you can be."

After three months of intense practice I was a pretty good rhythm player. Two of my friends and I started a band and before we knew it we were gigging and making money. One of the highlihgts of that era was opening up for Robby Krieger from The Doors. I was a major doors fan in those days. I wasn't as good as I would have liked to be at guitar but I knew that it takes a lot more than just playing the instrument to make something happn. By that time I had been in sales for three years. It helped in soliciting gigs.

In 1997 I decided to learn how to record. As a result, I moved to Florida and took an accelarated course in audio engineering at Full Sail. A year later, after graduation, I started work on my first album. Graphics, printing and digital pre-press was what my father's work was and is to this day. This all turned out to be to my benefit many times over.To this day I either do things myself when needed or I oversee projects. I often say an affirmation to myself. . . that I have all the things I need. It was quite easy in my earlier years to think that I didn't have enough or not the right things. It seems silly to think that I ever didn't have everything that I needed to be right where I am at. I added this because I have witnessed countless rejections and when they stagger it becomes really easy to feel sorry for one self. I now see that all of this was to my benefit. I can wear a lot of hats these days and pull any one of them off quite well.

By 2003, I had a keen interest in Spanish guitar. Having had all the other experience related to starting and managing a group, I marketed myself as a duo and within weeks I had a whole group with various dancers and over 200 shows a year consistently for four years. I recorded and released four more albums and sold thousands of copies independently in the US and abroad. People in the music industry often associate me more with my marketing than my musical capabilites. It is important to note that I was rejected many times by lawyers and agents in the industry when I released my album "Seven" in 2000. I was told it is too diverse and too difficult to market. I realize now that those folks who ran these major corporations had no vision. Industry leaders some call them but really all they are doing is what has worked. Seldom do major labels take a risk. That is why most music today on the radio sounds alike. Just look around the US now! Is it not a culturely more diverse place than it was ten years ago? I added this because I knew then, that if I don't do it for myself, no one will.

Today, as I am updating my bio, I sit in a 33 foot class A motor home; or tour bus I should say. I always wanted to go on tour in one. Combining all the experience and resources I have accumulated over the years is working beautifully in transforming this RV into a moving double sided billboard. In the US especially, if you want to sell it, you must show it. Words from another wise teacher of mine.

Do stay in touch! Plenty of more music is on the way. I have had the material for the next six albums for quite some time. It's time to set ideas in motion. I hope to see you at one of my concerts.

Blue Skies!