Having an indie release started opening some interesting doors for me. In the fall of 1983 I got an invitation to join a new R&B band in town as one of two backup singers. The bandleader, Willy Ward, was a trumpet player with a voice like David Clayton Thomas, and he put together a truly killer lineup of some of the finest players in town.

Willy Ward's Wevenge (aka WWIII) was Darryl Burgess on drums, Mark Weston on bass, Tony Koch on lead guitar and Michael Creber on keyboards. My fellow vocalist was Kendra Sprinkling. After a few rehearsals, the band proceeded to set the clubs on fire with a kick-ass rhythm section and a great repertoire. My very favourite was "Givin' It Up For Your Love" by Delbert McClinton.

We even did one of my tunes, a rocker called "Gimme One Night," which wound up getting recorded and put on my next indie cassette. The band did a fantastic version of it live, and it was one of the most fun songs I've ever had the pleasure of singing.

Kendra took a shine to a country song I was working on, and before I knew it, she had worked up a classic 80's synth-pop arrangement of it and we went into the studio to record a fairly elaborate demo. That song got entered into a local song competition sponsored by a radio station, and we won recording time at Little Mountain Sound (home to Bryan Adams and Loverboy, among others) and the #1 slot on a 4-song EP that got onto the airwaves. Great fun!