It was close to Christmas, and after many late-night recording sessions, I vividly remember running into too many young kids on the streets of Manhattan with nowhere to go. I don't know why it hit me so hard at the time. Maybe it was the Christmas spirit in the air. It just didn't make any sense to me. I wondered, "What if these kids had just half a chance. Where would they be in 10 years?"

That started me on a long search for creative ways to help young kids like the ones I ran into that December in Manhattan. This quest became more intense after many of my travels, as I encountered kids in even worse conditions, in India, Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. To my simplistic way of thinking, kids are the future of this marvelous, but challenged planet. We have a much greater chance of helping them create a productive future, than trying to turn around wayward adults, who were once those same promising kids.

Over the years, I often dreamed of creating an "oldies" album, one from which all of the profits would benefit kids like the ones I have met over the years. I thought, wouldn't it be great to get that original 50's studio sound, recording everyone in the same room as we did back then-with standup base, fender guitars, Hammond B-3 organ, but also with the clean quality of modern technology. I envisioned sweet Doo Wop background singers, who grew up on the streets of New York City like I did (Okay, Elizabeth, New Jersey, but that's close enough!), and who learned five-part harmony in places like street corners, the men's room, or in the subway. They would surely know what a project like this was all about. Well, after several months of incredible fun, that's exactly what I hope we deliver to you, when you put this disc in your CD player.

Keep in mind, that the sole purpose of this album is to raise support for kids, kids all over the world-every penny of profit goes to them. You hopefully will see this project benefiting all kinds of kids, kids from the inner cities of America as well as tender souls from distant places around the globe. We want to reach kids in Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, and many other far-reaching corners of the planet. So spread the word and have your friends pitch in wherever you see this CD for sale.

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