Raised in ST.JOHN'S ORPHANAGE in north PHILA. Moved to ST. FRANCIS school for boys in Eddington Lower Bucks County PA.. Left at age eighteen and traveled a bit. Came back to Phila. area and settled in .Played sax in St. Francis , had to pawn it to eat. Picked up the harmonica and started to play the blues. There was no one in my area to form a blues band , so I learned guitar and played like Dylan. Over time the blues started to be the in thing, and I started to slt in at club's. I just told them my name was AL. When I played the sax I learned by coping everything on a JOHN COLTRANE album. When I learned to play harp I learned the song Room To Move on the Turning Point album by JOHN MAYALL. Add PAUL BUTTERFIELD, SONNY TERRY and the SIEGEL SCHWALL BAND and I had some good albums to learn from. As far as writing and singing goes, my mentors were BOB DYLAN, TOWNES VAN ZANT, JAMES TAYLOR, ODIS REDDING, PERSY SLEDGE, RAY CHARLES, JAMES BROWN, and JOHN PRINE. Time has gone by mighty fast and I beleave that because of the internet I can have a chance to be heard. So here I am , a real Blues Brother and I'm on a mission.