For starters, I was born on Broadway in New York City. This imbues a person with a magical gift for writing catchy songs.
Then my dad took a job in Baltimore. Baltimore, despite your misconceptions, was a highly musical place for a musician to come from. Billie Holiday, Frank Zappa, me. We all grew up there.
I starting playing jazz professionally when I was thirteen. Formed a trio and worked 50 nights a year through high school. Went to college to become a doctor which, thank god, didn't work out, then moved to Hollywood where I played in every kind of band I could: Salsa, Country, R&B, Disco, Jazz, Society, Polka, Brazilian. This was awesome training for a jingle writer.
While I was playing in bands (at night) I was a writer and creative director at agencies like Chiat/Day, DDB, and BBDO. And I also wrote tag lines for over 100 movies ("You'll pay for the whole seat...but you'll only use the edge!!!") which is also awesome training for a jingle writer.
Freelancing at Y&R, I sold a national jingle, and that was it for me. Well, not quite. I still do a lot of writing of all kinds: I'm a Contributing Editor at Keyboard Mazazine. I've got a new kid's book out called "The Flying Hand of Marco B". I consult to clients like Walmart and Casio. And I do a live thing called "Jazz Stories" but the rest of the time I'm jingling.
