Born August 11, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. A musical prodigy, he started entertaining his parents at age two with impressions of Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Ray. By six, he was taking violin lessons from his aunt, a Cleveland Orchestra musician, and at eleven he was playing piano and dreaming of writing songs. The arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones inspired him to pick up guitar at 15, teaching himself from a Beatles chord book.He honed his craft in Cleveland bands, including Cyrus Erie, before forming the Raspberries, writing and singing hits like “Go All the Way.” As a solo artist, he became a global sensation with “All by Myself”, famously based on Rachmaninoff, and continued to score hits for decades, including “Hungry Eyes” and “Make Me Lose Control.”Toured with Ringo Starr, and in 2004 reunited the Raspberries for sold-out shows nearly 30 years after their heyday
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