At the age of eight, a tortuous, stilted regimen of piano lessons began, but by age eleven a new, younger teacher had opened Joe's eyes to the more theoretical dimensions of music and the magic of chords. Joe began to hone his craft as early as high school, writing music for various ensembles and choirs. After a few years of writing commercial jingles for Santa Barbara radio stations, Joe began to work for Hagen on the TV series 'Eight Is Enough'. This introduction to television led him to work with composers Mark Snow on 'Starsky & Hutch' and 'Hart to Hart' and Hoyt Curtin on Hanna/Barbera's 'Smurfs' and 'Popeye'. Joe's first screen credit soon followed when Barry De Vorzon brought him on to write the score for the new series 'Simon & Simon'. Joe's musical influences reach from Lennon/McCartney and James Taylor to Claude Debussy and Aaron Copland, to Tom Scott, Radiohead, The Chemical