Music was in Rock’s blood from the day he was born. In fact, Rock was born with a rare congenital eye disease rendering him virtually blind. As he came to rely solely on his hearing, he was instantly drawn to the beautiful, sweet tone of the sax. When asked why Rock chose to play the sax as his instrument, he said "I didn't have a choice"... he just knew it was his destiny. During his younger years, great symphonic music such as Mozart, gospel music and the songs of Little Richard and Fats Domino were of great inspiration to Rock and his passion to play the sax grew a life of its own.
After several eye operations, Rock was divinely given the gift of partial sight at the age of seven. According to Rock, it was the most memorable day of his life and the day he first laid his eyes on a saxophone followed a close second. No one could deny it was love at first sight and this resulted in Rock’s father giving him his first saxophone at the age of nine. In no time, Rock proved to be a natural prodigy. At 15, he started performing with the soul groups of Oakland, California and Rock believes this experience is what gave him the true soul that can be heard in this music today.
Throughout his career, Rock performed and recorded with many legendary performers such as Michael Jackson, John Lee Hooker, Lydia Pense & Cold Blood, The Funkadelics, Michael Buble, Marvin Gaye Jr, Marvin Gaye Jr III, The Temptations, Bobby Womack, Coke Escovedo, Walter Becker and Donald Fagan, Steve Arrington, Paul Hardcastle, Gabriel, Jeff Lorber, Victor Bailey, Willie Hutch, Charelene, The Family Stone, Stacy Ladissaw, Rockwell, Alfie, Bonnie Raitt, Leon Russel, Dave Mason, and Sammy Hagar. Rock also worked with Motown Records on a number of recordings as well.
He also enjoyed living on Oahu for 12 years where he performed and recorded with a number of Hoku award-winning Hawaiian artists such as Cicilio and Kapono, The Cazimero Brothers, Music Magic, Nohelani Cypriano, Azure McCall, Kalapana, Tenyson Stevons, and Joe Cano.
Rock wrote and produced music for Electronic Arts “The Sims” with over 150 million games sold.
In 2010, Rock played on Paul Hardcastle's #1 Hit Smooth Jazz Album "Jazzmasters VI". Rock also played on Gabriel Mark Hasselbach's "Cool Down" Album Featuring Gabriel, Jeff Lorber Warren Hill,Victor Bailey.
Just out this year is Paul Hardcastle's "Hardcastle VI", where Rock shined on 10 of the 13 tracks of this album. Hardcastle VI is NOW #1 on Smoothjazz.com Top 50.
Don't miss Rock on Gabriel Mark Hasselbach's NEW ALBUM "Told Ya So" with Jeff Lorber, Marc Antoine, Darren Rahn which won Album of the year at the 2011 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards.
BIOGRAPHY
