Gary has been writing music for over 40 years. He was in grade school when the Beatles became popular. While listening to his first Beatles album, he said to himself, "I can do that". And so it started. His focus was on pop and rock and roll. In the 80's he played drums and keyboards, and was the principle songwriter for a band that included his brother and sister-in-law. The band, Ariel, caught the attention of ATCO records, but, unfortunately, nothing panned out. Members of the band eventually went their separate ways, but Gary kept writing. He has written country, pop-electronic and adult contemporary. Lately, he has been putting some songs to video (Youtube channel Heiligen1000)

Gary's Music Bio

I was in grade school in the 1960s when the Beatles first hit the scene. I remember watching them in black-and-white on the Ed Sullivan tv show when they first came to the United States. Listening to their songs for the first time, I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "I can do that". And from that time on I have written songs.

I wrote an occasional song through grade school, mostly for the fun of it, occasionally for friends. In junior high school I learned to play the trumpet and played in the school band. I fell in love with the Tijuana Brass and learned to play several of their songs. I also tried writing a few trumpet pieces. I picked up a songbook of Elton John songs and taught myself how to play chords on the piano, with inversions, key changes, etc.

In high school I switched to drums and played in the school concert band, marching band, and jazz ensemble. I became enthralled with the band, Chicago, and started writing songs which included brass and wind sections. Without actually having been taught music theory, I scored a piece for our school jazz ensemble. I recall that we played it once in practice, and my band Director diplomatically complemented me on it, and then we never played it again. I believe he probably shredded it, then get burned the shreddings, then shredded the ashes.

In college in the 1980s my brother Wayne (guitar), his wife Michelle (lead vocals) and I started a rock band called Ariel. I wrote the songs and we spent hours from midnight to 6 o'clock in the morning (the cheapest hours) at a local recording studio recording our music. ATCO records in New York actually expressed interest in us and requested that we send a second demo. However after sending it we did not hear from them again. Eventually as our college careers came to a close, we had to make a decision on whether to stick with music or go on and pursue real jobs. So the band split up.

I went on to medical school. While there I continued to write songs, mostly as a hobby. Ultimately, my medical-practice and my growing family took me away from music totally for about a decade. But music never left me.

Finally, my medical-practice slowed down enough and my four children grew old enough that they were less demanding on my time, so it was time to get back into music!

I started by joining a local songwriting club, the Las Vegas songwriters Association. Until then I had written mostly pop rock music, but the song writers club taught me that pop rock artists write their own songs, so there is little hope for a non-performing songwriter to get cuts. It's in country music where independent songwriters find most success. So I switched gears and started writing country songs. I joined Nashville songwriters Association international (NSAI) and attended their song camp's in Nashville. Finally I joined SongU, an online songwriting University which, without a doubt, did the most for improving my song writing skills. The result is that after six years of serious writing I've had two songs placed at record companies and four songs have signed with a music publishing company. Although I have had no cuts by country artists at this point, the mere acceptance by record companies and publishing companies is affirmation to me that I am writing at a professional level.

I recently discovered the lucrative markets of film, TV, and advertising music. So once again I'm back to writing pop music. I am still writing country, but the focus is different. With my country songs I get them professionally demoed and then pitch them to publishers and producers with hopes of having country artists, that they represent, record them. With pop, I record and produce all the music at home on my computer system and then pitch my version directly to TV, film, and advertising.

I hope sooner rather than later I will be updating this bio with successes that I've had in country and pop music. Until then enjoy my music!