At 4, Skoota’s grandmother surprised him with his first drum kit and his banging started to take on a rhythm.  She arranged his first audition that landed him his first gig playing with a local church group on the radio and by 9 he was touring the South with various gospel groups.  At 13, Skoota was in his first recording session with The Mighty Evangelists. 

After high school graduation, he moved to New York City to live his dream.  There he caught the attention of Pepeu Gomes and Baby do Brasil, Brazil’s top artists. At only 18, Skoota moved to Brazil and played live shows with Pepeu and Baby and recorded several albums with them and other famous musicians throughout Brazil.  After two years, he returned to New York landing gigs with blues musicians Johnny Copeland and Johnny Johnson. 

Skoota is the consummate professional.  His ability to adapt to any genre of music earned him a place of honor on numerous stages. In 1989, Omar Hakim, New York’s premier session drummer chose Skoota to be the drummer for his Rhythm Deep Project.

Since the nineties, Skoota released two solo projects, NGA Style and Vignettes, and produced several records for independent artists.  During that time, he also played for some of the hottest artists of all time–Santana, The B-52’s, Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Mary J. Blige, Patrick Stump, the Brecker Brothers, Matisyahu, Yerba Buena and Philippe Saisse, to name a few.  He’s shared the stage with many artists including Ron Wood, Pink, Roberta Flack and Adam Lambert.  He was a member of Dave Koz & The Kozmos, the house band for The Emeril Lagasse Show. In 2009, he began touring with Jefferson Airplane founding members, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady of Hot Tuna fame.

New Projects

In early 2020, Skoota reunited with his rock band RA to perform on the ShipRocked cruise.  The band signed a record deal with Wake Up! Music Rocks and recorded a new album following that performance.  The new album, Intercorrupted, was released in March of 2021.  The band is starting the first leg of their tour in August of 2021.