John D. Green Sr

John D. Green Sr. was born May 14, 1971 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the 2nd youngest of 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls born to Geraline Green a loving, hard-working disciplinarian. As a small child he moved to the South West side of Detroit where he spent many years in childhood cultivating his love for music. Even in early childhood, John was captivated by the choir at catholic school, the street corner do-wop singers, the glee club and the sounds coming from his older siblings radios. Of course the biggest influence was watching his mother and her sisters playing on the piano and singing.

An earliest childhood memory, he tells of a time when his mother left the home to go visit her sisters. He was hanging out with some friends but couldn't control the temptation to play the forbidden Steinway piano and decided to bang away on the keys. As he was playing and singing, he neglected to notice the room got awfully quiet, it was too late, his mom, who strictly played gospel music, was standing behind him with a "its whoopin time" face on. The direction of his music career would change at that moment, when she told him to move over to the higher 88s and started playing boogie woogie with him. Who was this woman sitting next to him? At that time she had just been his mom, a lover of God and gospel music and there she was playing Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire" with him. That was the start of the creation of the man he would come to be.

John was in band, glee-club, and Ms. Champion's Dance Club. He played the Clarinet in Band (not very well, he adds). His cousin, Raphael Bonner spent a lot of time with Pastor Davies at Mount Abram Missionary Baptist Church. Raphael used to take him to the pastors home where the cousins were allowed to play the upright acoustic piano and Hammond B 3 Organ. At that time John's cousin told him that he should start putting together the pieces of his creations to make songs.

High School was a different story, a whole new direction for him. In his high school years he didn't spend time working on music in school. His music "education" came from hanging out in the parks, hitting the different clubs and experiencing music from the streets. It was a life shaping experience. Music was everywhere. There were so many different influences, nationalities and genres, which helped influence his sound. Detroit was alive with music. That is when he joined his first group, "Total Control" which consisted of his cousin Raphael, and a young lady named Violanda Mccuuin. They wrote a lot and they practiced alot, but they spent more time writing and practicing then they did performing.

This and many more experiences have shaped and molded this young man into the musical performer and composer that he is today. But like life's lessons are ongoing, so is music and creation and evolution's lessons. He is ever growing - ever experiencing - ever evolving.