Travis currently performs as a soloist singer using backup tracks instead of live musicians. It was his initial intention of performing with live musicians but after a year of attempting to find players with professional skill levels and willingness to practice he finally gave up the idea and decided to perform alone using backup tracks.
Travis started his career as a singer/songwriter/guitarist at the age of 17. He and his high school girlfriend performed at various coffee houses, talent shows, and other venues. Travis, hoping to be discovered and land a recording contract, shared his songs wherever he could knocking on doors of record labels, studios and venues.
After years of pounding the pavement hoping for a break, Travis, while attending college at Rutgers University, responded to an ad looking for talented singer/songwriters. He called and made an appointment to audition at a studio in New Jersey. After the audition, the solicitors were so impressed they contacted Danny Jordan and Rupert Holmes who were with MCA Music in New York City. (Rupert Holmes is famous for his song “Escape; The Pina Colada Song”). Danny Jordan contacted Travis and had him record at Decca Studios in New York City and signed Travis and two of his songs with MCA Records. Not long after that Travis recorded a demo with RCA Records as well.
A few months later Travis and his girlfriend were playing at a coffee house and met Al Bane who signed on as their manager. Al Bane had played piano for Left Bank, (famous for their song Walk Away Renee).
From there Travis signed with Black Top Records and recorded with some of his musician friends at Media IV studios in New Jersey.
About four years later Travis moved to California. For a couple of years he and a long time friend, Doug Belli, played at beaches, street corners and entertained prisoners at various prisons for free, such as Folsom, Chino, LA County jail, and others. Travis continued to solicit his music to various record labels in LA. One in particular told him they didn’t need another good sounding singer; which Travis thought was a pretty stupid excuse. Regardless, he managed to sign with Cherrywood Studios and did a six-month tour with his band, the Yates and Belli Band. The tour started off doing a show at Knottsberry Farms Amusement Park in Buena Park, California and from there went to Canada from British Columbia to Alberta, then to Saskatchewan and ending in Manitoba.
At the end of the tour he landed in Aspen Colorado along with the lead guitarist, Dennis Grady and Doug Belli, the bass player. Two years later he joined the Navy as a Corpsman, (medic), but shortly after put in to attend the Navy School of Music, only to find out a few months into the program he had trouble reading the music charts which later revealed he had bilateral cataracts and was scheduled for surgery, which ended the music school for him.
Once recovered, he returned to duty as a medic and continued playing, writing and recording. He even took his 4 track workstation to work when he was scheduled for 24 hour duty where he would record guitar parts and sing in the privacy of his office at the Navy clinic or when watching jets practice landings and take-offs.
As a retired Navy Corpsman, he added his rate and rank to his name to distinguish himself from other artists with the same name so as not to be mistakenly associated with their music. He considers his music a cross between rock, country and jazz. On his original songs, Travis writes the music, sings all the parts, and plays all the instruments excluding the drums which are pre-recorded digitized drums.