FEATURE STORY

The Musician Within

Many musicians could tell you stories of the roller-coaster they go through as they build their music careers – from the lift-off of the first piano lesson, to that first low when they realize the technique might not come so easily; to the adrenaline of the first booked show, to the hurt from a low crowd turn-out.

Jeff Straker, however, is a musician of a different sort, with a roller-coaster all to his own. Straker took a circuitous path to get to his current work as a singer-songwriter-pianist. And the last leap he made was a big one - from being in a comfortable, secure job as a Brand Manager at Procter and Gamble (P&G) in Toronto, to being an independent musician. This meant hopping into a land with no benefits – and wait – no regular pay cheque, no holiday pay, no stock options, and it meant walking away from working at one of Canada’s 50 best places to work. MORE