Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
It seems hard to believe that this rocker was at home in a lecture theatre teaching eco-
nomics not so long ago. Although she had obligatory music lessons as a child, she didn't
grow up dreaming of a rock and roll lifestyle.
Her priorities began to change when she met Lance in 1982. She recalls it was in a
friend's kitchen but he insists they first met at a bar. “It's a lot more romantic!” he smiles.
Lance was a professional musician already, playing up to six nights a week in Toronto
where they were both living. As was common among working musicians in that environ-
ment, they would congregate on their off days and jam together.
“I realized if I wanted to hang around Lance I had to play something,” Letty explains.
“I picked up the bass and thought, 'I can do this.'” Listening to Pura Vida's expressive
basslines, it's clear she was right.
Lance's instrument of choice is the harmonica, something that caught his attention as
a young man in his native England. He caught a live performance by The Yardbirds, a sem-
inal British rock band that helped launch the careers of a young Eric Clapton and Jimmy
Paige. Lance recalls the Leicester Odeon Theatre gig clearly. “When Keith Relf [the Yard-
birds' lead singer] started playing his harp the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I
thought, 'That's for me.'”
