Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1951, Willie was first inspired by his father, a trombone and bass player. Willie would watch his dad playing concerts in the park, and fondly remembers the feeling of going up on stage after the band's performance and watching all the musicians packing up their instruments. He would go on to study drums and percussion as a teenager in Glens Falls, NY at Freddy's, a local drum store. He worked in the drum store cleaning and repairing drum kits, studying, and eventually teaching. Here, he attended drum clinics with
Max Roach,
Gene Krupa,
Joe Morello, and
Mel Taylor of the
Ventures.
Teo Macero, producer of many of the Miles Davis records, lived in Glens Falls and had an Italian restaurant there called “Maceros.” Teo would often invite many large bands to play in his restaurant, often as favors while on their way to Montreal from New York. Willie would sit in the front row as a 16-year-old kid watching Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Max Roach, and Gene Krupa playing live. Willie would play as part of the intermission entertainment between the band's sets playing drums, along with Freddie Hubbard and John Coltrane records on a large stereo system behind the bar. At the restaurant, Willie got to meet with many members of the band, further cementing Willie's career path into the drumming world. After Willie graduated high school, he won a scholarship to the
Berklee College of Music, performing a percussion piece with a resident pianist and composer Dr. Maurice Whitney. They performed a piece by the French composer
Darius Milhaud titled: “Concerto for percussion and small orchestra.” It featured timpani, marimba, suspended bass drum, triangles, ratchets, and multiple percussion instruments. This was a piece that was normally performed by college graduates as their final performance piece for graduation at schools like
Juilliard and
Manhattan School of Music. Willie completed a year at the Berklee College of Music, and quickly transferred to the Manhattan School of Music in NYC. While in New York Willie studied drums with legendary jazz drum instructor Jim Blackley. While attending college, he played at the playboy club and the big band mountain circuit, playing live shows in the Catskills for the classic acts. During his last year at the Manhattan School of Music, Willie auditioned for the Daryl Hall and John Oates band. They were preparing to tour their new record “Abandon Luncheonette” featuring the hit song “She’s Gone”. The audition went well, and he went on to tour extensively with Daryl and John, opening for artists like Lou Reed, The Bee Gees, and Dr. John. This would be the beginning of his rock music drumming career. The next landmark opportunity brought the recording of the record “
War Babies” with
Hall and Oates. This was Willie's first meeting with
Todd Rundgren, who would become a lifelong musical collaboration with Willie in the band “Utopia.” Willie took a gig with Bette Midler playing the show “Clams on The Half Shell”, and performed on Broadway for six months at the
Minskoff Theatre. This was a big band performance and also starred vibes player “
Lionel Hampton”, as well as bass player Gerald Jemott, Aretha Franklin's long-time bass player. Just after this six-month period, Willie was asked to join “
Utopia” with Todd Rundgren. This collaboration would go on to last 25 years, recording some 25 records, and participating in multiple U.S. and world tours. During this time period, Willie also played drums on albums for
Meat Loaf ”
Bat Out of Hell,” Todd Rundgren solo records,
Shaun Cassidy, and
Steve Hillage. Other live and studio projects also included
Mick Jagger and
Ringo Starr. Willie had a significant songwriting career composing and producing songs with artists like
Luther Vandross,
The Pointer Sisters,
Natalie Cole,
Kylie Minogue, Hall and Oates, Meat Loaf, Manny Pacquiao and scoring a #1 hit with dance artist
Stacy Q, “
We Connect.” He would continue his production and composing career at NBC Universal Television writing theme songs for shows like Jim Cramer's “Mad Money.” He spent the next 10 years as the senior audio director at Bally Technologies and Scientific Games, where he produced and remixed all the original tracks from Michael Jackson's hits for the Michael Jackson games in 5.1 surround sound. ==Equipment==