Getting Into the Music

Life while growing up in the Vale household provided very few mysteries. By the time I was 14, we were living in our fourth house – we consisting of Mom and Dad, my two brothers, and me – in the suburbs of Montreal. It was my mother’s dream house, complete with two-car garage and three bathrooms; the only thing missing was the white picket fence, and I’m sure the only reason we didn’t have one of those is because none of the neighbors had one either.

Musically, we were an upstairs-downstairs family. Downstairs, my parents listened to Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Dean Martin on the console (which was completely off limits for the kids), while upstairs, behind closed bedroom doors, the younger generation listened to whatever struck our fancy. (more…)