It's 8:30 in the morning when singer-songwriter Len Monahan (Univ Coll ’80) picks up the phone to start the interview. He's hundreds of miles away from Toledo, nestled in a cozy home in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains with his wife, Elaine, nearby.
He apologizes for his gravelly voice and asks if I've listened to his album yet. That album is the March 2008 release Songs of Len Francis Monahan — A Unique American Artist (available on Amazon), a CD retrospective of studio recordings and live performances from his 30-year music career. Most of the songs are Glass City-made, like Monahan himself.
Monahan was born and raised in Toledo in a family of eight children. Even his earliest memories are touched by music. "I think I was 3 when I first got interested," he said. "A Polish couple lived next door, and the man used to put me on his knee and pretend like we were playing guitar together."
Monahan later taught himself piano and guitar and recalls always knowing how to write and compose music. "I remember writing a song and hearing it as I was writing it. Suddenly, it just comes out." He paused a moment. "I always laughed at people who said songwriting is a gift. But I think, really, the creative process is very mystical. I used to look at it as a natural process. But some of it is happening below your conscious. Some just comes out."
During his late teenage years, Monahan wrote and recorded songs in a studio on Toledo's east side while he pursued work as retail store manager, merchant marine on the Great Lakes, and pots and pans salesman.
Monahan's first commercial recording was "Being Alone for Christmas," which was released with "Christmas Lullaby" in 1975. The songs received national and international airplay and changed his mother's estimation of his singing abilities. "When I was younger, my mom used to say, 'You can't sing. What are you doing?'" Monahan recalled. "When my first Christmas record came out, my mom was calling relatives and playing it over the phone."
After that first success, Monahan focused on writing and recording songs when he wasn't working, going to college at UT (where he took his first vocal music class), or spending time with his wife and children. His recordings started to make the charts, but "as an independent, I ran into opposition," he said. "It's a lot more difficult then than it is now. Now, you have the Internet and can get on there and get a million hits." He said the symbiotic relationship of the radio stations, record companies and retail outlets made it difficult for independents to break in. "The stores would say you have to be on the charts and on the air for us to carry you. The radio stations would say you have to be in the stores and on the charts to get played."
"But I managed to break in and my first national stuff was in the 1980s. I was coming out of nowhere!" he said. Monahan's chart hits from this time include "Tapping At Your Window" and "Take It Easy." He was in good company. "Julio [Iglesias] and Willie [Nelson] were at the top of the country charts, and I was at the bottom," he said. "I was told, keep putting these songs out. You'll be fine."
So Monahan followed industry insiders' advice and moved to California to be closer to the record companies and stars. But he said he "didn't find anything compatible" and couldn't find that musical opening he needed. Who would have thought, "I was actually doing better in Ohio," he said with a laugh.
Monahan stopped recording full-time and worked for a few years as a writer and an editor with a publishing company. During this time, he lost his singing voice for seven years.
"I got a virus. I started coughing. I sounded like Rod Stewart with a bad cold," Monahan said with a chuckle. He and Elaine moved to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and he tried different therapies. Time proved the only remedy, and his voice returned four years ago. "I got up in a casino and sang 'Only You,'" he said, adding that the virus "actually extended my lower range."
With Len's voice restored, the Monahans decided to give music another try. They founded All Occasion Music and Entertainment, a business for DJ and music services, mobile recordings and karaoke hosting at weddings, parties, and local bars.
Things were looking up, and then they hit the jackpot. The owners of the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino visited a bar during one of the Monahans' performances and offered them a regular gig doing weekend shows at the casino. Monahan is excited about the new venture. "I was always torn between being a musician and a singer," he said. "Now, I sing some of the standards and do a lot of ad-libbing with the audience. Things seem to work out. I get to do my comedy and get some laughs."
Len during a California performance as the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera,
tickling the keys on the farm in Delta, Ohio, and with Elaine in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
And it helps having a great on-stage partner. "Elaine and I been married more than 30 years. We're like John and Yoko. When we do things in public, we work well together. She's a big asset. She does real well," he said.
As for his future plans, Monahan said he plans to transfer more of his songs to digital format (the Songs of Francis Monahan CD has the only existing digital versions of his songs) and see where the casino gig takes them. "What I've learned is that success shouldn't be the goal. Concentrate on what you're doing. If you succeed, fine. If you don't, fine," Monahan said. "I think so much [during my career], I was trying to push and getting resistance from the other side. If you don't push, it's gentle and the door opens and you can walk right through. I don't concentrate on that at all and things just seem to open up."
By Deanna Woolf (A/S ’05), Office of University Marketing