Thursday, October 15, 2009

Living Legends

It is a very humbling experience to be in the company of a living legend. Your mind tends to wander, well mine does at least, as to what makes that person the way they are...absolutely fascinating...and as you hear their story...when you reallllly listen, you find that it simply took courage, perseverance and an inexplicable amount of fortitude.
Well I have been fortuitous enough to have met a few people that have the qualitites of a "living legend". However, in the past few weeks I have met two very interesting women in the music industry, who despite eeeeeeeeverything they've been through, they are successful and guess what...happy!
Meet Morgan Ames...
Morgan was a guest speaker at a music workshop I attend in the city, hosted by the one, THE ONLY, Ann Ruckert!
It wasn't the first time I'd met Morgan; she had been a guest speaker before, but this time she shared her life story as opposed to just her music career.
She has worked with so many exceptional people (Quincy Jones, Vanessa Williams and Bette Midler to name just a few) and remember "Sister Act"? Yup, she has worked on that too!
Yet, what was most impressive about Morgan, was her life story. Yes, she has worked with the creme de la creme in the music and film industries, but she has overcome so many obstacles in her life to get her where she is today.




Morgan Ames right next to me and seated below her is Lady Ann Ruckert. Also, pictured here are very talented songwriters/musicians in NYC whom I have the pleasure of sharing time and space with on a weekly basis.
(Click on pix if you wanna see us up close and personal :)


Then there is Diane Schuur a.k.a. "Deedles"...
Diane is a Two-time Grammy Award Winner, and an incredible jazz singer and pianist. Ms Schuur has performed with phenomenons such as B.B. King, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder! (and I don't know if you've ever heard of QUINCY JONES, but yeah, him too!)
Now Diane's story was so overwhelming to me because she was blinded at birth due to an accident at the hospital! When you hear HER life story, you will NEVER EVER complain about not being able to do anything again! She played and sang for us as she regaled us with snippets from her life. This was a HUGE slice of humble pie for me who is still struggling to become a virtuoso on the piano, ok?! :)
And by the way, I know at the beginning of this blog I mentioned TWO interesting women...but I have to pay homage to the powerhouse that is Ann Ruckert.
When you meet her you would never think that such a pleasant lady would have such a fighting spirit. She has a heart of gold, but let me tell you, I would NOT wanna be left alone in the ring with her! :)
She has helped me tremendously as a songwriter and I luvvv her dearly. This paragraph certainly doesn't do justice to such a wonderful person but then I'd have to write a book...My Life with Ann or something like that.......hmmmm!
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