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\u201cI always wondered, \u2018What if I stayed?\u2019\u201d says Paul. \u201cI always wanted to do Berklee, and long story short: when Covid hit and everyone was locked in, I said, \u2018I\u2019m going back to Berklee. I\u2019m going to see what happens. And here I am.\u201d
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Currently, Paul is 64 and based in Albany, New York, with his wife Tanya. Unlike what the Beatles song about that age suggests<\/a>, Paul is spending this year recording in his home studio, gigging around his local music scene, and collaborating on projects with his Berklee peers, rather than knitting sweaters by the fireside. \u201cBeing older doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t make relevant music with today\u2019s technology, and I\u2019m learning that in spades,\u201d says Paul. Paul\u2019s life in music began growing up in Lenox, Massachusetts, home to the annual Tanglewood Music Festival, the summer residency for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His mother was a piano teacher, and Paul says she taught with an \u201ciron fist,\u201d meaning she demanded he practice for four hours a day before he could go outside after school. When the season was in full swing for the Tanglewood Festival, Paul says he would sneak onto the stage when no one was around so that he could play their grand piano. He only got caught once, and the person who caught him was Rudolf Serkin<\/a>, one of the most revered pianists of the time. He says Serkin thought it was funny and even gave him a few piano lessons when he returned to Lenox. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a whole lot of money, but to hear that big, huge nine- or 10-foot concert grand that they had up there, it was awesome,\u201d says Paul. \u201cAnd I used to love going in there and playing. I would just bring a little flashlight and just play all night.\u201d As a teen, Paul was influenced by the music his older brother was listening to and started to transition from classical to rock piano. He had the opportunity to audition for Dan Hartman<\/a>, who was a member of the Edgar Winter Group<\/a>, and went on to have a successful solo career. Paul would have gone on tour, but he was a teenager at the time and his mom wouldn\u2019t sign off on it and insisted he finish high school. \u201cShe was a college teacher and she really believed in school,\u201d says Paul. \u201cSo she was like, \u2018Nope, you\u2019re not going.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout his 20s, Paul had an exciting run performing and touring in the bands Blind Date and the Zarvis-Allen Band, opening for Tower of Power<\/a>, Orleans<\/a>, Bonnie Raitt<\/a>, and many others. One lesson he learned from Bonnie that he\u2019ll never forget is to write from the heart. \u201cThere\u2019s a song I just put out called \u2018Fly Away\u2019 that talks about my misspent youth, but it\u2019s the truth and it comes across in the recording,\u201d says Paul. \u201cIf you write what you know, if you write what\u2019s true, I think people recognize that.\u201d When Paul talks about his \u201cmisspent youth,\u201d he\u2019s referring to a time when he was struggling with substance abuse, which resulted in him being incarcerated for 14 years. He says he\u2019s now been sober for many years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Blind](\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-06-at-7.19.56-PM.png\")
![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/online.berklee.edu\/takenote\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-06-at-7.20.45-PM.png\")
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