Michael and Velina were 14 years old the first time they met in 1975. Velina was introduced as a new horn player for the school band, where Michael was already playing percussion. “My dad was in the army so we moved around a lot,” she says. “We’d just been transferred to San Francisco and I was starting a new school.”
Michael was smitten straight away, but he was too shy to talk to her. “She was the only Black girl in the band and that was a big deal at the time,” he says. “I remember her flashing this cute, shy smile when she sat down. I was at that awkward age where I worried that if I talked to her I might never stop.” Although he felt a connection, it was years before they formed a friendship. “I spent a lot of time looking lovingly at the back of her head,” he laughs. After middle school, they went to the same high school where they joined the band, choir and theatre group. “I always noticed him and thought he seemed really nice,” Velina says.
