Paul’s parents were divorced before he turned 1. His mother Cathie Urciuoli and his father Paul Cummings are both currently re-married. His mother currently resides in the southern tier while his dad remains in between Buffalo, NY and Rochester, NY.

Music entered Paul’s life at a young age thanks to his mother who pushed him to start playing an instrument. At this time, Paul chose the saxophone merely because he thought out of all the instruments, that was the coolest one to play. Her reasons are still unclear and Paul never asked, but it became the start of something even Paul didn’t realize at the time.

Paul started into the world of music through Jazz and simply fell in love with it. His director and mentor at the time, Allen Lis, pushed him very hard throughout his school years. So hard in fact that Paul actually wanted to quit music by the time he hit the 6th grade. It was between Al and his mother that convinced him to keep going. During the middle school years is where the love of the music began.

“Well, after I stuck with it, Al kept pushing hard and when I made a mistake he let me know. But he also showed me the rewards at a very young age, and once you receive your first award, or see your first signs of success, the big hits you.”

In seventh grade, Paul and his high school Jazz band traveled to Hershey Park, PA where Paul took the outstanding soloist award, given to one person out of over 100 different musicians.

“I was sitting there at the awards ceremony after the show and remember joking around with friends. I heard the award get announced, but never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get chosen. Hell, look how many older kids were there that I was competing against. I never heard my name called, but my friends jumped up and everyone started screaming. I was the only one sitting down and that’s when it hit me that I had just won my own award. Wow, lol! Our jazz band took 1st place as well and I think that’s the say that changed my whole vision about life. Music was it.”

Paul continued after that to work hard and received many more awards for his accomplishments throughout the years. Country music however, wasn’t an option in his early years. His dad always listened to it, but Paul never gave it much thought. He figured he’d become a professional Jazz musician until one fateful day when against his will, he was forced to watch “Pure Country” starring George Strait. He didn’t know who George Strait was at the time, but it was a movie that made him re-think his ambitions in music. After watching that movie, not only did George Strait become his favorite singer, but Paul tried out his talent as a singer and found it worked.

For Christmas that year, all Paul really wanted was George Strait albums and his first album was “80 Proof Bottle Of Tear Stopper”. From there it was movie soundtrack of Pure Country and many more after that.

“I went George Strait crazy. I loved his music and even during that time, in the mid 90’s when there were many great country singers, George stuck out, much like he still does to this day. I proudly am now the owner of every George Strait album and probably know more of his songs than even he does, lol.”

Even though Paul now knew he wanted to take his music down the country route, he stuck with what was safe and what he knew for a while. Immediately following high school Paul joined up with a few different Jazz bands, but wasn’t satisfied.

“I love jazz, and always will, however, I like the country crowd and the country fans. The music is powerful and to me, more meaningful. You can connect with people through a country song you simply can never do with a jazz tune.”

Paul finally gave his country wings a try and many people around the country are very happy he did. Even at 19 years old, Paul knew exactly what his mission would become and what he wanted to do. He often jokes that this is where his career really starts.

Paul started to notice at the turn of the century (2000) that country music was changing ever so rapidly to become more pop. It’s a business model he understood but didn’t quite agree with.

“Country music was smart. We needed more listeners and at the time, Pop music was the leading genre. The Britney Spears era met the Reba era through Shania Twain. It did the job and that’s why country music is so popular today. Now that’s it’s happened though, it’s time to go back to what country music is all about…story telling and entertainment.”

During the transition period, a lot of “cookie cutter” songs were released. A cookie cutter song is a catchy tune that really has no story. It’s simply a way to get people to hum and memorize the music quickly. The quicker the common fan learned the tune, the quicker they fell in love with it. The quicker they fell in love it, the quicker everyone made money.

“I think along the way we have all forgotten that we’re here to entertain not JUST make money. I always treat my albums and shows with that philosophy. I need to entertain because that’s what I love to do and if I do that right, I’ll make some money. My goals don’t start with a figure, they start with an idea.”

Paul started writing music around this time and also started playing with several different bands. He also started making his first trips to Nashville and talking with whomever he could from the industry to learn the ropes. He knew music wasn’t all about music even at a young age and wanted to learn as much as possible about the “business” aspect and the behind the scenes operations. For years he studied and still does to this day. He always says the music business is ever changing and you need to keep yourself up to date with what’s going on or you’ll simply fall by the wayside and be lost.

Paul has become a very respected figure in country music not only in the Northeast, but also down in Nashville. His knowledge often catches people by surprise and they realize they’re not just dealing with another singer but someone who knows exactly what he wants and what he expects. Just by sitting in at a show, you can feel his passion and see where is expectation level is set. When a moment hits Paul and he doesn’t meet his expectations, he gets very disappointed and people who are close to him know this means it’s back to work, harder than before. You can really see, just by going to a show, how much love he has for this business. He really has dedicated himself to it.

2008 was a turning point year for Paul. He began to work with his vocal coach and vocal producer for the first time, Richard Fink IV. The first song the pair worked on was “Love Songs”, a song Paul wrote in July of that year. The song was the first song of a new Paul Cummings brand. Following Love Songs, came Big Time Lonesome, The Last Thing I Took For Granted, and Wakin Up. Not much time had gone by after recording these songs and Paul started to really catch the eye of many in Nashville. His sound, clean and smooth…unique…but still heavily tied to country.

2009 has been the most productive in Paul’s life. He has been requested to Nashville over 8 times and started to plan a full-length album release with one of Nashville’s longest standing record labels. Details will follow….