I never became all that professional to begin with, but I did spend about three years of my early twenties in a full-time effort to "become" a musician/vocalist. 90-95% of the time busking on steetcorners, occasionally a few actual scheduled indoor appearances. Three years surviving without a single day job; surely that has to count for something, even if not real full-fledged "profesionalism."

The immediate and sudden end to this phase of my life was my arrest for draft evasion in late 1972, very shortly before the end of military draft on Jan 1, 1973. (Too long and involved a story to provide details here...)

Just over a year later, after accepting induction into the Army, petitioning for discharge as a conscientious objector, and eventually being denied the c.o. status BUT granted an honorable discharge "for the convenience of the government," I was no longer motivated to resume my quixotic quest for a musical career.

For one thing, I had gotten married in the meanwhile. In addition to the obvious economic factors, I felt it necessary to abandon the lifestyle I had cultivated as a performer because it just didn't seem compatible with monogamy.

As hard as I had found it to make any money in music, it had been unexpectedly (even ridiculously) easy to make new girlfriends, most of them interested in only the most temporary of relationships. It was fun while it lasted, but I had come to a point where I had really had enough and was ready to move on.

It's probably wrong to equate an innocent activity like musical performance with a particular set of behaviors, but that was my feeling, based upon my experience, when I first embarked upon a lifetime of day-job toil and of raising a family.

Much older and wiser now, I'm gradually getting back into performing, and I do look forward to a time when I can earn a little income from music ~ not enough to live on, that's not realistic, but something to supplement retirement.

Like Little Hawk, I don't "need" to perform anymore, nor to impress anyone. However, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I absolutely need to sing, and over the years have found various different ways to satisfy that urge. Right now, these days, I'm hoping to develop a way to earn a few pennies in the process.