Page 23 - BiTS_06_JUNE_2022_Neat

LL: You started playing piano at 5 years old! Did you take formal lessons? Can you tell us all about it
please?

RB: Yes, I took formal piano lessons from around 5–12 years old. I think the story goes I was around 3 or 4,
heard a TV show theme, went over to our piano and picked out the tune. They said, “Hmmm ...she’s got a good
ear! Let’s get her some piano lessons.” I played mostly classical pieces, and other stuff as I got older. I have al-
ways played for enjoyment. Still do. After a while I didn’t want to practice, so my parents let me stop the les-
sons and that’s when I learned to play guitar. I performed piano recitals at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
when I was young. I was always super nervous! ”Butterflies” my mother would call it. But they went away
once I got on stage, sat down, and started playing.

LL: You lost your father at 16
years old. That’s a difficult age to
lose your dad. How did the expe-
rience affect you?

RB: Wow… I do believe it affected
me in a lot of ways, both emotional-
ly and musically. I was just starting
to be a conscious human and we
had started having these deep con-
versations, and then he got sick and
was gone. My father was very polit-
ical and extremely intelligent. He
died a tragic death, and it was hard
seeing that. He was 57. So, it affect-
ed me personally to lose him at that
age. He was a big, strong guy and I
guess I missed the feeling of having
someone there to watch out for me through my life. Maybe that’s why I always felt like I had to fend for
myself. My mother and I were very close until she passed away. She was always there for me, in my emotional
life and also my career. She supported me all the time. In a positive light, I did get all that music from my fa-
ther. He gave me my first guitar, taught me to play and cultivated my love of all different types of music. I feel
like he’s still with me in that sense.

LL: Would you tell us all about your first band?

RB: I first started out as a solo artist, just me and my guitar singing in bars and clubs. I probably worked more
nights when I was 18 than I do now LOL! From there, I met some local musicians in New York, and we just be-
gan jamming and started a group. It was sort of a funk rock, world music type of thing. We played original
music. Two singers, bass, drums, guitar, sax, congas.

LL: You’ve had an interesting career path leading you to where you are now, Regina! I understand that
early in your career, in the 90’s, you were in a band that appeared on the American TV show Star
Search ( a pre-cursor to American Idol) and won the competition 3 times! You were also a member of
an all-girl 60’s A-Capella group that opened for several name acts. Please….Do tell!

RB: OK, well, I was in my original band, recording and playing all over the city. We were approached by talent
scouts for the show, and they asked us if we wanted to be on. At first we were like, nah...but then they told us
we would all get into AFTRA, get flown out to Beverly Hills, stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel and get paid well!
So, we were like ...ok! We won the prize money, too. And the best part was we got to do it playing original
music.