Randy was born in
Hollywood to a somewhat musical family. His mother
was one of the Earl Carroll girls and had a singing trio (The Tailor Maids)
which performed in nightclubs and movies ("Cowboy Canteen" -
Columbia 1943 with Tex Ritter and the Mills Bros. - "So's Your Uncle"-
1943 Universal with Billie Burke, (they sang Gershwin's "Liza"
with Jack Teagarden's Orchestra) - "Artistry In Rhythm" - 1944
with Stan Kenton - plus other soundies). His father played the drums in
amateur bands in the '30's and in England during the war. In 1955 Randy's
dad was one of the founders of the Society of Photographic Instrumentation
Engineers (S.P.I.E.) which is now a world-wide organization. His older
brother Paul, (who played with Tom Marion and Robert Armstrong in the
Cheap Suit Serenaders) lives in the Seattle area and plays bass and alto
sax with the Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band. He is easily one of the finest
'20's style sax players in the world!
Randy started on the piano at age seven; and at age 12 he took drum lessons and then organ lessons at age 14. These have been his three main instruments since. After moving to Orange County in 1964, he was caught up in the British Invasion of the time and his older sister Gina was a member of the Ian Whitcomb Fan Club. With his sister and bewildered mother, Randy saw Ian in concert at the Melodyland Theatre in Anaheim (with Chad and Jeremy) in 1965. During high school, he played either drums or piano in the Happy Jazz Band of Newport Beach. In 1969, they were the featured band at Knott's Berry Farm. At about this time Randy heard the LP Bing Crosby In Hollywood album with the King of Jazz tracks and was forever hooked on that period in music. Randy won the John Phillip Sousa Band Award in his senior year and in 1971, he hired a young Ralf and John Reynolds to play in the orchestra for "The Boyfriend" at the Laguna Playhouse.
During the '70's and '80's he played in top-40, disco and big bands and later for many musical theatre shows. In the '80s he also played the timpani and orchestral percussion for several different orchestras, writing his Fantasy Allegro for Timpani and Orchestra and the Concerto for Orchestra and Piano. In 1986-87, he attended the USC Film Scoring program and hooked up with several L.A. studio musicians to form Rising Winds - a chamber ensemble of original music. Some of the musicians included Phil Feather, Vince Trombetta Sr., John Swan, John Mitchell, Tom Pedrini, etc.
Randy was heavily "lost" in classical-contemporary music until out of the blue who should call but TV star/crooner Johnny Crawford. Eleven years later Randy is still with the eccentric but lovable band which allowed him to re-hook up with John Reynolds, Tom Marion, Benny, Danny Weinstein, etc. Then, he was tapped to play with Janet Klein who for some reason liked his vibraphone playing. After the previous drummer (the eccentric but lovable George Edwards) moved to Japan, Randy has been playing more and more with Janet which is an unmatched experience like no other! He greatly admires the talents of everyone in the group and considers it an honor to be a part of it (even if it resembles the Mad Hatter Tea Party!) In the '90's, Randy went back to school and completed a Bachelors in Music Composition from Chapman University, and in 2005, received his Masters in Organ Performance from Azusa Pacific University. Randy plays an authentic 1931-style drum set that he built from parts. He also plays with Dean Mora's Modern Rhythmists, Mike Henebry's Crazy Rhythm Hot Society and Ian Whitcomb's Bungalow Boys. He also has been a regular church organist since 1970.