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| Birth to Age 5 |
| At 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 4, 1969, I was born as Jeffry L. Price in a hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. The proud parents: LouEllen Dee Price and Mitchell Armfield Price. My very first nickname was given to me by my father just moments after my birth: 'Skeeter' (I always hated that name). I don't have many memories of my first 2 or 3 years for obvious reasons, but from what I do remember, from day one, I was always the little Hellion who had to be the center of attention (imagine that). My mom tells a story of the family sitting around one evening watching television and I, at 2 yrs old, got up from where I was sitting, walked across the room, slapped my elder brother, Franklin, in the face with all my might for no apparent reason, and proceeded back to my spot to continue watching television. According to my mom, that was about the same time she noticed some vodka and gin missing from the bottles in the cabinet. She knew it was one of the kids but not which one until she caught me red-handed gulping the vodka out of the bottle. Yes at the age of 2. |
| Of course, there was more to me than trouble,I had other noticeable qualities as well. I soon became infatuated with the arts: music, performing, drawing, building, and creating. My first true experience with music was at the age of 4. My dad and I had gone to a family friend's house where there was a piano. Like a flash of light, I was at that piano and, of course, it got molested. I began to pick out the melody to "Suicide Is Painless", the theme to the hit TV show, M*A*S*H. It took only a few notes for me to have it down and that was it...I was hooked! From that moment, I decided to make music a goal; not a dream, I wasn't convinced that dreams could come true, but a goal is never really out of reach. I had always been able to remember the smallest details in television jingles and lead-ins to shows and this just carried over into my music world. My uncle Larry was a really good singer and he would sit around listening to mostly country music and to me, it was the most beautiful music in the world. I didn't know why I felt that way until I learned how to "listen" and "appreciate" musical compositions (the music of the era had great melodies, harmonies, and soul). |
| More to come soon. Be sure to come back for more of the story. |
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| When I began going to school, as with most schools, the class had to sing songs everyday. I began being noticed for my musical abilities primarily because I was usually right on pitch and louder than everyone else (no fear in this young boy). Because of this 'no fear' attitude and my passion for being the center of attention, I was always the first to volunteer for class shows/solos whether or not it was 'musical' in nature. I quickly became quite attached to performing in many different ways. I began learning the art of 'performing' in kindergarten. I remember (vaguely) a show that our class did about 'history'. I played Abraham Lincoln and had 2 or 3 lines. In rehearsal, I had no problem at all spouting out my lines, but at the show, I froze...it was the first time I had ever gotten that weird, sick feeling. I didn't know it then, but that was stagefright. What I did know then was that I didn't like that feeling at all. I was so embarrassed with all the students, parents, and faculty staring right at me. Of course, I was only 5, but I felt like I had let everyone down. I felt like the show, no matter how good it was up to that point, was now ruined without a chance to recover. Tha wasn't true according to everyone who spoke to me to comfort me, and as I matured, I came to realize that I probably wasn't the only one who messed up that night. Kids are always doing things like that in their first show. It didn't take me long before I was trying to get into another show or somehow show people that I could peform well in pubic. |
| Birth to Age 5 |
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