Covina High School Alumni
Covina, California (CA)
Thomas Appell
Covina High School
Class of 1972
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THOMAS' PROFILE
| First Name | Thomas |
| Last Name | Appell |
| Graduation Year | Class of 1972 |
| Gender | Male |
| Current Location | Trabuco Canyon, California |
| Hometown | West Covina, California |
| About Me | I've been training singers now for almost 30 years... since 1982. It's been a great run. Now I train singers and write/produce music for the singers I train at my very cool home recording studio in Coto de Caza, CA. It all started when I was working as a Civil Engineer at a firm in Rosemead, CA. I was working by myself one afternoon when a call came in for the the president of the company. He was in the General Manager's office having a meeting. I knocked on the door and told him he was wanted on the phone by a former employee named Adrianna. He Looked up from behind his big oak desk and said, "Just tell her I'm not here." I replied, "I feel really uncomfortable telling her you're not here, because you're here but I'd be happy to tell her you're unavailable." As the words were coming out of my mouth he got up from behind his big desk, stood with his face just a few inched from mine and screamed at the top of his lungs, "I command YOU to tell HER that I AM NOT HERE!!#$%#!" I looked him right in the eyes and said, "I can't do that." Well I got fired... but I wasn't worried because I knew I'd gotten the ax for doing what was right. A few weeks later I was reading through my bible when I came across this passage in Deuteronomy Chapter 28 verses 1-7 that says something like this... If you observe to do the commandments of the Lord your God then all of these blessings will overtake you. You'll be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. If you're a farmer your crops will be blessed and I'll bless whatever you decide to do." I read that and immediately saw my name written all over. I thought about what I wanted to do with my life. What if I could do anything I wanted? Would it be engineering? No. I went to college for Civil Engineering pretty much because my parents wanted me to. What would I do if I could do anything? It was an easy choice. I would train singers. I had sung since I was a young boy and had taken lessons from some world class vocal coaches. I knew the lifestyle and that's what I wanted to do. So I said a simple prayer to God asking for wisdom to train singers - but with a catch. I said, "I want to be a vocal coach but I want to be the best in the world at training singers and nothing less will do." I gave my first voice lesson 50 days later and in those 50 days God dropped in my lap one of the greatest discoveries in singing in history - how to sing high notes without straining. That was my ticket. When I figured out how to hit high notes without straining it was towards the end of the month. At the time I had $110 to my name. That was it. I took all $110 and spent it on flyers for my vocal coaching business, Vocal Dynamics. I didn't have money for food or rent, so if it didn't fly I was going to be hungry and on the street. When I got home from passing out flyers I already had a call from my first student. I set my starting hourly wage at double the rate of the guy that fired me and was fully booked in about two years. Looking back, not telling that lie was the defining moment of my life. In 1993 I published the first edition of my book, Can You Sing a HIGH C Without Straining? which is the first copyrighted work to provide a physiological explanation for why anyone can learn to sing very high notes without straining. In 2003 I expanded my area of knowledge to include cold and flu prevention for singers and wrote another book, Never Get Another Cold. Governor Schwarzenegger even has a copy and said this about me: "I truly admire the time and talent you have devoted toward writing a book that provides motivation for others to live a healthy life. I have no doubts as to the success of your proposal... (to significantly diminish the cold/flu season using NEVER GET ANOTHER COLD as the tool). My administration is doing all it can to improve the situation in California and I appreciate all of your efforts." Now singers that I train routinely stop getting sick for the first time in their lives, lose weight and get their health on track. When I work with famous singers, their managers make sure I clue the bands up on nutrition and how to eat like I do to avoid getting sick on a tour. I feel like I'm making a real difference in the lives of anyone that comes to me for training. The diet I discovered for cold and flu prevention is also highly effective for reversing type 2 diabetes. I've seen one of my student's mothers go from 8 shots a day in the stomach to one shot, cut half of her meds and drop two dress sizes in three weeks. In November of 2010 New York Times best-selling author Gene Stone published a new book, The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick. Gene tracked down what he considered 25 of the healthiest people in the world and wrote one chapter about each of them along with their health tips/secrets. I was honored to have Gene pick me as one of those people and he wrote an entire chapter about me in this book. It was really cool because I got to explain my health secrets and will get to influence even more people towards living a healthy lifestyle. Gene had this to say about me: "When researching for my book, The Secrets of of People Who Never Get Sick, I ran into Thomas Appell, a talented vocal coach who never gets sick because he is wise to the secrets of pH balance in the body. I was so impressed with his knowledge that Tom became the basis of an entire chapter in my book." I was adopted at birth by two great parents, Edward and Goldie Appell, lived in West Covina till I was 33 then moved to San Clemente (closer to my favorite surf break, trestles). In 1989 I moved to Cotton Point Estates, an oceanfront neighborhood in San Clemente and built a 6350 square foot custom home on the grounds of former president Nixon's estate. It was way cool because our beach gate opened right up to Cotton Point surf break at the north end of Trestles beach. We sold that home in 1999 and I moved to Coto de Caza - still in orange county, just a bit inland on the edge of the forest. Coto de Caza was the neighborhood used for the TV show, The Real Housewives of Orange County. Two of the guys from the band Linkin Park live right around the corner from me. I still like to surf trestles beach in San Clemente, jog in the mornings and work out 6 days a week, have been married to my wife Dianna (since 1993), play chess and eat organic salads for breakfast. I've read the bible cover to cover 3 times and have taught many bible studies in my home, junior high sunday school at Christian Mission Church, and been a small group leader at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. A typical day for me? Get up at 8:30 a.m. (I'm a musician - we don't get up early), do a 20 minute walk/jog, come back and lift weights at my home gym while drinking 1.5 Liters of Evamor water, then check emails and get ready for work which starts around noon. I'll make an organic spinach-based great-tasting salad for my first meal (recipe is in my book Never Get Another Cold) and eat that before teaching while playing a game of chess at yahoo games.com. I read one chapter in the bible before starting a game of chess during my first meal of the day. I might give a voice lesson, then do a 2-3 hour recording session on an original song I wrote for a singer I'm producing while powering down another 1.5 liters of Evamor water with green vegetable powder mixed in. Then I take an hour break for an afternoon meal, catch a few rays by the pool in our back yard then do vocal editing for an hour. Then I'll lay down guitar or keyboard tracks for a song I'm producing. Drink another 1.5 liters of Evamor water. A singer I'm working with comes in and brings some lyrics and wants me to write a song with her lyrics, so we do that for an hour or so. After that another vocal technique lesson and perhaps polish off the night with editing drum tracks or laying down a bass line for a song I'm producing for one of my singers. But wait... I forgot about the youtube video I'm supposed to have ready by the next day for a singer I shot a live video of the day before so I'm up doing that for another couple of hours. I try to eat some steamed veggies around 9:00 p.m. and wrap up things in the studio by 10 pm if possible so I can spend some quality time with my wife Dianna before we get to bed which is usually around 12:30 a.m. Somewhere in between I work on my books - seems like there's always a way to improve them. I don't drink alcoholic beverages and haven't had a soft drink, eaten candy or ice cream or anyth...(read more) |
Class of 1972 Alumni
→ Reunite with 59 class of 1972 classmates that have joined.
Casey Costello
Class of 2003
Nancy Fields
Class of 1972
Mostyn Faulkner
Class of 1965
Richard Wagner
Class of 1961
Edgar Ontiveros
Class of 2004
Skip James Hutchisom
Class of 1962
Mary Hughes
Class of 1972
Michael Sislofsky
Class of 1980
Ryan Seman
Class of 2002
Sarah Cuy
Class of 1999
Alice Terriquez
Class of 2010
Donna Terlecky
Class of 1965
Shari Fisher
Class of 1980
Phillip Cunningham
Class of 1975
Steve Jensen
Class of 1988
Marie Paller
Class of 1987
Cristina Alvarez-howell
Class of 1990
Steve Didio
Class of 1976
Walt Bailey
Class of 1972
Richard Salas
Class of 1989
Stephanie Gutierrez
Class of 2014
Patricia Sain
Class of 1977
Robin Benjamins
Class of 1977
Chris Didio
Class of 2001
Recent Class of 1972 Reunions
Plan a Class of 1972 Reunion for Free
Covina High School 1970/1971 50th Reunion
Invited Classes: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973
Date: Jul 16, 2022
Description: Recommended attire: Dressy Casual Buffet Dinner No Host Bar Dancing Reconnecting Free Parking To attend please...(read more)
Covina High School Class of 1972
Invited Classes: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974
Date: Jun 11, 2022
Description: Delicious Dinner of Beef and Chicken with sides Coffee, Tea and water No Host Bar Dancing Live music from classmates...(read more)
Covina HS Reunion Classes 72, 71, 70, 69 and 73
Invited Classes: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973
Date: Sep 23, 2017
Description: Dear Covina High School Classmates Classes 73, 72, 71, 70 and 69. We are so happy to announce that we have enough int...(read more)
1970 to 1980 Decade Reunion
Invited Classes: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
Date: Nov 08, 2014
Description: Purchase Tickets at www.covinahighschool.info/decadereunion.html Tanya Bowden Rhiner Class of 74 put this together
CLASS REUNION 70-73
Invited Classes: 1972
Date: Sep 08, 2012
Description: The reunion is in the Cielo Mare Ballroom. It has a beautiful ocean view. DRESS IS CASUAL! GUYS- SHORTS & HAWAIIAN...(read more)
CHS Reunion 73, 72, 71 and 70
Invited Classes: 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970
Date: Sep 08, 2012
Description: IT'S OFFICIAL!!!! WE HAVE BOOKED OUR CLASS REUNION AT THE HILTON FOR SEPT. 8, 2012 AT THE HUNTINGTON BEACH HILTON WATERF...(read more)
Covina Class Reunion
Invited Classes: 1972
Date: Aug 08, 2012
Description: The Hilton is extending our deadline to Aug 20, so if you still want to come send in your check. Also, for those of you...(read more)