BIOGRAPHY

Together, Al and Judy are internationally known as The Harmonica Hotshots, and have performed in many countries including England, France, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Greece as well as performing ten years on cruise ships.

Al began playing harmonica at age twelve and soon began playing in local harmonica bands.  At age 22, he joined the famous Borrah Minevitch Rascals band and performed in Hollywood and Las Vegas and such famous nightclubs as the Moulin Rouge, Latin Quarter and the Copa Cabana billed with Frank Sinatra, Billie Eckstien, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.  He has appeared on many television shows with Arthur Godfrey, Milton Berle, Red Skelton and Bob Hope and currently can be seen in the Youtube movie "Rascals at the Moulin Rouge."  In 2011 the international Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH) presented Al with the lifetime achievement award.

Judy began playing harmonica in 1977 when she enrolled in an evening harmonica class at Akron University. She joined a group of harmonica enthusiasts and became active in Akron’s Rubber Capital Harmonica Club where she soon became president and later served as music director. Judy and Al met at a harmonica player’s convention in 1979. They married in 1985 and began performing as a duo, The Harmonica Hotshots.

Individually, Al and Judy were both selected Harmonica player of the year (Judy in 1985 and Al in 1994), an honor bestowed by the international harmonica organization (SPAH). Together, they won trophies at two World Harmonica Championship competitions in 1987 and 1994 and served as judges in the 2002 World Championships held in Tokyo, Japan.

For more than thirty years, Al and Judy have conducted harmonica workshops at international harmonica conventions and other venues throughout the world. They have written dozens of books of harmonica instructions and harmonica ensemble arrangements.