THE EARLY YEARS
At the age of two, Gabriel already knew that he wanted to be a pop-rock star. He staged elaborate performances for family and friends that almost always went beyond the usual song and dance routine. By the early age of six, Gabriel was marching in the drum and bugle corp. Growing up, Gabriel made a regular habit of skipping school to write and record music with friends and early band mates. After being dropped off for school in the mornings, young Gabriel and his co-horts would sneak back to hide out in a friends basement all day writing lyrics and music and recording what they came up with. Afterwards, sneaking back to catch their rides home from school so that no one would suspect them.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER
The beginnings of Gabriel's professional career included four albums worth of dance/funk material that resulted in generating interest from a Cleveland based production company. Gabriel feels that it was this early work that helped him to create and successfully market the original, heavier style of music that was to come later in his career.

Gabriel's first successful, professional collaborative effort came with the formation of "Toy Oyster" in the fall of 1992. This indie-rock/punk/goth-glam trio recorded two albums of original music and toured extensively throughout northwest PA and the tri-state area until the spring of 1995.

In the spring of "95, musicians from throughout the east coast were forming a new indie project called "Burning Orange" and sought Gabriel as their front man and primary songwriter. This proved to be a winning combination to say the least. With the 1996 Mirror Records release "TAAR", the band reached top 10 status at over one hundred college radio stations as well as finding more than modest success in commercial radio. The group toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Western Europe. A particular highlight of the touring came late in January of 1996 when the band played showcase gigs at CBGB"s and S.I.R. studios in New York for major labels including Atlantic, Columbia, Polygram, Geffen, and Virgin. The group followed up with the successful Music For Nations release of "Thirteen" in 1997.

Despite the success of "Burning Orange", as the saying goes, "all good things"" Sighting creative differences, Gabriel left the fold, as it were, in pursuit of an all-new solo direction.

GOING SOLO
During this transitional period, while he was breaking his ties and ending his obligations to "Burning Orange", Gabriel worked under several "pen names" (to avoid legal complications). Under the name "Esia Diabhal", Gabriel collaborated with rCostello of "iinion" (a Denver based, indie project of experimental ambient noise) that included recordings and a series of live performances. Additional, under the same pen name, Gabriel wrote and recorded original material for bay area producer and Ubiquity Records star, David Beagle. Ultimately these recordings proved too uncharacteristically dark and industrial for the jungle/house angle that was intended for the project. Very few of these rare recordings were ever released.

It was during this time that Gabriel formed the basis of "Toystaar Productins" originally as a means to produce and promote his own projects. However, he quickly found that he could also provide extensive support to other independent artists, not only musicians, but also poets, photographers, painters, etc.