I nervously played a string of songs, but I didn’t get much of a reaction. One of the agents, Warney Rhule, wasn’t too busy, so he took time out to talk with me, and asked me to play piano so the rest of the staff could listen. I drove to downtown Detroit and walked into the Marquette Building where I met the receptionist, Dennis Qualey, who was later to become my drummer on the upcoming gig. Max suggested I go to his downtown agency office to make myself known to his staff of agents. It was known as the best and biggest entertainment agency in Detroit. The Gail & Rice Agency had their office nearby in the Marquette Building. At the time I met him he also had a thriving office supply business with his main store at the Penobscot Building in downtown Detroit. He had started his entertainment agency, Gail & Rice, in 1931 from his home office. Max had a son, Max Gail Jr., who later became famous for his role as Detective Wojciehowicz on the TV show “Barney Miller.” Max Sr., was certainly well known in Detroit society circles as a wealthy businessman. He placed me on a year-round gig at a resort in northern Michigan I was there for almost four years, and I learned vocals to hundreds of songs. The people will appreciate your effort, and they’ll go with you!” Sure enough, that’s what happened. “You can learn songs as you go, and you can have the lyrics in front of you on the piano. “You will have a sympathetic audience at this private club, so I think you’ll be OK,” Max said. I’m sure now that it was horrible, but I found that I liked singing, and I had gotten some positive feedback, so I wanted to keep at it. I had struggled to split my brain to play piano and sing at the same time. On my previous gig, two weeks in Lima, Ohio, I had just started singing with the encouragement of agent Graham Prince. He said, “You haven’t been singing for very long now, have you?” He asked me to sing, so I went into “Yesterday,” the Beatles song, one of six songs I knew how to sing. He had a mini acoustic piano in his kitchen area, and he and his wife listened to me play as they ate breakfast. He was looking for a piano player who could sing. I met musical agent and businessman Max Gail, Sr., in November 1971, after driving through a snowstorm to get to his Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, home for an 8am appointment.
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