My Music Career

When I was age 4, my uncle taught me how to play the piano by ear. At age 8, I found a bugle in a window seat at my grandpa’s house and taught myself to play it. When I was 10, I got a trumpet to play in the grade school band and learned to play the guitar.

In 1957, when I was 14, I got a Gibson electric guitar and started a 4 piece Rock Band. We played 3 nights a week throughout high school. We played teen towns, country clubs, weddings and parties. Our music included Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and light Rock.

In 1961, when I was 18, I got a Gibson EBO-1 electric bass and joined a 5 piece Dirty Two Horn Blues Band. We played 4 nights a week at Little Milton’s club, Artesian Park and played BB King, Little Milton, Chuck Berry style.

We played most of the bar mitzvahs in St. Louis. I would sing: Havah nagilah, have two nagila, have three nagila, they’re pretty small…..have a neranenah, they’re yummy too.” The boys loved that one. Other originals included The Girl with Emphysema. I would routinely substitute lyrics just to amuse myself.

In 1962, we became the house group at the Livingroom on Gaslight Square and played 6 nights a week throughout college. Bonnie Bramlett was our singer.

http://www.bonniebramlett.com/

Chuck Berry showed up at the Livingroom in 1963 and played with us for several days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry

In 1965, I graduated from college and took my first career day job and limited playing band jobs to 2 or 3 nights a week

Later I joined a series of Piano, Bass and Drum Jazz Trios and played jazz on weekends.

In 1971, I joined a Jazz Trio called “The 3 of Us”. It was one of the most popular jazz groups in St. Louis. I had done all the singing, but I got the other guys to sing 3 part tunes. 

In 1972, we added two girl singers and became “The 3 of Us plus 2”.  We worked weekends at Schneidhorst’s Restaurant on Lindberg Blvd and Hwy 40 in Frontinac.for a year and then moved to Arthur’s on Grand Avenue and Hwy 40 for the next year.  Both were owned by Schneidhorst’s

http://www.schneithorst.com/

We sang 5 part jazz and were recorded live often by fans from local radio and TV stations. I have CDs from these live recording sessions and still enjoy listening to them. Other fans included the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra who would file in to Arthur’s on Grand Avenue to listen and relax after their concerts. We played Brazil 66, Bossa Rio, Carpenters and all the great jazz standards and 1970s music. We all had day jobs, but we sounded like we did this full time. We were very talented musicians who also had other interests.

I also got to put down my bass and sing with George Johnson’s 26 piece orchestra in 1974 at some of his concerts.

In 1975, I ended my 18 year music career when we moved to Salina Kansas.

We did regather the 3 of Us plus 2 for a reunion performance in 1977 at Al Baker’s Restaurant in St. Louis and all the fans showed up.

From 1957 to 1975, I was able to move from Rock to Blues to Jazz and follow this natural progression and I was very fortunate to be able to do this. This was great fun.

This is a case study that demonstrates the use of motivated abilities.  In my own case the abilities focused on musical talent, curiosity, self-learning, self-support, fun and entrepreneurship. I use my own experiences because it allows me to use first-hand knowledge of events. There are similar stories for those who won athletic scholarships and went on to play professional sports.

My goal was early self-support. My grandfather was home-schooled, grew up on the family farm and took a job in a factory at age 11 to earn money to pay for a science tutor. At age 16 he entered Barnes Medical College. He graduated at age 19 at the top of his class and was hired as Professor of Internal Medicine. He also completed his surgical residency and opened his practice at age 21.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader