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Willie (Willie Nile)

My name is Willie. I wear the red suit in the Dream Jam Band. I like the color red because it's the color of heart and passion. For me it means having heart and caring about other people and having compassion and understanding for others. Some people know me as the singer and songwriter Willie Nile, but you can just call me Willie. When I was a young boy, around four or five years old, I had many dreams. I wanted to be a classical pianist and travel the world playing music on beautiful grand pianos in far off places. I wanted to meet people from distant lands and play for them in magical theaters and palaces. I wanted to see and hear things I had never seen or heard before and discover new worlds everywhere I went. I have been very lucky so far with my dreams. I have traveled to many countries and crossed the oceans many times to play the piano and guitar and sing in all kinds of colorful music halls. I have met many new friends along the way and seen all kinds of interesting places and things. You see I also wanted to be a poet and put words together in interesting ways so I could tell stories. One day I put the words of a story and some music I had written together and it became a song. On that day I became a songwriter. Now my songwriting and my music have taken me to all these places I dreamed of when I was a boy.

I have played and sang on stage with great musicians like, Bruce Springsteen and opened up for, The Who and I got to sing with Ringo Starr, the drummer in my favorite band, The Beatles. And, not too long ago, I was inducted into the Buffalo, NY Music Hall of Fame; my hometown! Now I play guitar and piano and sing in The Dream Jam Band. I have been a very lucky boy!