Alfred Joseph Canecchia was born on February 25, 1945 in Greenwich Village and lived there for the next thirty years. He attended Our Lady of Pompeii Parochial School (1958), Cardinal Hayes High School (1962), the City College of New York: B.S. (1967), M.S. (1971) and New York University M.A. (1978). Though unschooled in the following disciplines, he is a self-taught singer, musician, artist and writer. Since 1985 he has resided in Riverdale, Bronx, with his wife, Roberta.