Speaker 1: Of Course Love Supreme is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.
Speaker 1: What's Up, y'all? Last week on Quest Love Supreme, Greg
Speaker 1: filling Gains took us on a journey through his career
Speaker 1: for auditioning for Stevie Wonders Band fresh out of high
Speaker 1: school to work with the Jackson's during the Destiny the
Speaker 1: Triumph years, and he left. Greg he was telling us
Speaker 1: how he got Jack for his Riots credit for tim
Speaker 1: per cent of the publishing royalties for Michael Jacksons Don't
Speaker 1: stop Team getting enough and uh. He also said there
Speaker 1: was a Quincy Jones version of that story too. So
Speaker 1: there's part two of the special Gregg Feeling Gains edition
Speaker 1: of Course Love Supreme. Here we go. So you know
Speaker 1: it's well no oh no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: not that. There's something a lot more subtle. Op. Huh no,
Speaker 1: no no, no no no. You're never gonna get it.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get it. I'm going to set it
Speaker 1: up for you because you're never gonna get it. The
Speaker 1: set up. It's good in it, having fun with you.
Speaker 1: Want to do another one? Okay, So here's the thing
Speaker 1: the thing is is So it's me and it's Neil
Speaker 1: stupid house and oh, I want to say, Paul Jackson's
Speaker 1: you and your guitar wife. I'm not sure, but I
Speaker 1: think so. And I'm pretty sure it's j R. And drums.
Speaker 1: We're in the studio and we're just vibing, you know,
Speaker 1: we're just right about here. We're vibing, you know, and
Speaker 1: it's a nice little thing going on. We're just finding
Speaker 1: you know. Quincy's like, hey, you know, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: We're just vibing and this vibe is being recorded, you know,
Speaker 1: right about here. And Okay, some time passes, and I
Speaker 1: don't mean hours, I don't mean days, I mean some time,
Speaker 1: and now Quincy is working on I think I figured
Speaker 1: it out. I believe so I believe. So wait wait wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait before you all say anything about it. So and
Speaker 1: it says, yeah, you know, um, we're doing this thing,
Speaker 1: and I wanna I wanna recreate that groove thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to recreate that thing that's right about this
Speaker 1: temper right here. And so if you think, you know what,
Speaker 1: what is the song secret? Oh damn, I had the
Speaker 1: wrong one. What's out? Then Okay, and that's okay. Yeah, damn, Oh,
Speaker 1: there's a story for everything. There's a story for everything.
Speaker 1: So it's like, I love Quincy's dirty draws. But he
Speaker 1: never he would never admit that, because you know what,
Speaker 1: I asked Hi about it one day. It's like, what
Speaker 1: are you talking about? A long time ago asking and
Speaker 1: he reared up at me, like what are you talking about? Okay,
Speaker 1: I get it. After that, it's pretty stupid. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's the here's here's the king. The thing is this
Speaker 1: I I was too busy being hurt. I was too
Speaker 1: busy being emotionally affected, as opposed to saying, oh hell
Speaker 1: with this, I'm fighting this. But really, are you really
Speaker 1: prepared to fight Michael Jackson for a piece of a song?
Speaker 1: With Michael and his his his team of lawyers. Are
Speaker 1: you really gonna you really think you're gonna like succeed
Speaker 1: in that? They have a freaking prayer? So what am
Speaker 1: I gonna do? You know? And so um, I had
Speaker 1: to suck it up. But what I lost and looked
Speaker 1: ten percent? Please, I'd be living next to Quincy with
Speaker 1: of that. But you know what I lost in revenue,
Speaker 1: I'd like to think I gained in a relationship because
Speaker 1: it went from that. And by the way, it ain't
Speaker 1: just that. What else you got? Oh? How about did
Speaker 1: did the did the end of Heartbreak Hotel play itself?
Speaker 1: It was beautiful thank You, which was orchestrated doubled with
Speaker 1: strength because Michael said, um, we need some dramatic here
Speaker 1: at the end. So I came up with that and
Speaker 1: then they added new orchestra to that too. Did you
Speaker 1: start after this? Do you start looking around when you're
Speaker 1: just jamming making sure the button a plush? Because I'm
Speaker 1: too busy being inspired because it happened so quick for
Speaker 1: me literally, when Michael said, and we need some dramatic
Speaker 1: here at the end before you can finish the Jeopardy
Speaker 1: theme song, I just go, okay, Oh but then there
Speaker 1: what else you got? So now it's the dangerous Is
Speaker 1: it dangerous? It's dangerous? I think it's the dangerous album.
Speaker 1: I think it's a dangerous album. It's a dangerous album.
Speaker 1: And we're working on this one song and Michael says,
Speaker 1: beautiful song, by the way, beautiful and he says, um, um,
Speaker 1: when gonna do here is I'm gonna I'm gonna talk
Speaker 1: kind of like a monologue, thinking and I just want something.
Speaker 1: I want some music underneath, because in the closet, in
Speaker 1: the closet world, and I just need um. So I
Speaker 1: need some music because it's gonna be dramatic and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna talk talk talk through this thing at the end
Speaker 1: of it, you know, And so I just need some music.
Speaker 1: So it's okay, no problem, any takers, your mama? Is
Speaker 1: it is it? Is it a joke? We didn't? Is it? Um?
Speaker 1: What was the it's not here the world? Is it?
Speaker 1: That will be there? What will you be there? Thank yeah?
Speaker 1: At the end, thank you, at the end of the end,
Speaker 1: which was level with orchestra and choir, thank you. That
Speaker 1: is about another three minutes, if I'm not mistaken, somewhere
Speaker 1: to three on the Free Willy Money. Yeah. So can
Speaker 1: I ask a questions? So, um, can you explain to
Speaker 1: the listener who may not know that intricacies of of
Speaker 1: of what your what your jobs were at these at
Speaker 1: these sessions. So, can you just explain the difference when
Speaker 1: when um arranging becomes writing and when when associate producing
Speaker 1: becomes composed to see if I'd love to explain that,
Speaker 1: Except there's such a fine line, it's such a slippery slope.
Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to define because basically this is
Speaker 1: the equivalent of beauties in the eye of the of
Speaker 1: the beholder. Will arranging is in the in the eye
Speaker 1: of the who deems you uh an arranger, as opposed
Speaker 1: to a songwriter, as opposed to just an arranger, as
Speaker 1: opposed to just a little keyboard player that we're gonna
Speaker 1: give a check one time to and send him on
Speaker 1: his way because I want all the credit, right. So ultimately,
Speaker 1: those things come down to whether you are going to
Speaker 1: stand up for It comes down to either whether you're
Speaker 1: gonna stand up and fight it or if it's mutually agreed,
Speaker 1: mutually agreed in writing, have you ever seen someone been
Speaker 1: like hey, by the way, and then they didn't get
Speaker 1: a call back? Like have you ever seen someone get
Speaker 1: black balled or not used again? Or I don't even
Speaker 1: mess with that guy, he's a trouble maker. Yeah, nothing specific,
Speaker 1: But is there a way to be x nat and
Speaker 1: black balled from because you're in a sweet spot. You
Speaker 1: keep getting work, and you keep getting work, and you
Speaker 1: keep like you're on I mean between you're on every
Speaker 1: I know, but I mean whenever I would try to
Speaker 1: to raise a little dust. I always got pushed back.
Speaker 1: I mean there was the time when um, what was it?
Speaker 1: Uh it was Triumph M and and I was uh
Speaker 1: I was I was classified as an associate producer. Well
Speaker 1: I think wait, wait, wait things things things went on
Speaker 1: and on and on and on and on, and things
Speaker 1: were fine until one day I showed up to the
Speaker 1: studio and Bill Bray standing outside the door. He says,
Speaker 1: don't need you today, bubble what. I'm like, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? I gotta go and just don't need
Speaker 1: you today, bubble m. They just decided that I was done. Wow,
Speaker 1: did you see something? Because no, no, no, no I did.
Speaker 1: I did nothing I did the day before I went
Speaker 1: into work. Everything was fine. The next day I go
Speaker 1: and I'm barred. Yeah, sometimes people barred because no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. They just decided they could take it over
Speaker 1: from there and they did not need my assistance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they didn't need my assistance anymore. So they just said, okay,
Speaker 1: you're done by can all right. So my question him
Speaker 1: about Trumph Engineering one I do have. I do have
Speaker 1: a positive punchline story to the end. To finish, I said,
Speaker 1: but you know you want to ask, well, just the
Speaker 1: in the engineering of the Tramp album. It sounds very
Speaker 1: flat to me as opposed to how wide open Destiny was.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I really needs you to tell
Speaker 1: me a really good, uh engineering story of of Bruce
Speaker 1: wardin what Bruce Weadin brought to off the Wall. It's
Speaker 1: like it almost it's like it's like three D almost
Speaker 1: who did the same with the with the same Do
Speaker 1: you remember who mixed the tump? I don't, but the
Speaker 1: same people were not involved, And I bab I kind
Speaker 1: of understand what you're saying sonically, but I just can't
Speaker 1: tell you why I'm not because I don't remember who
Speaker 1: was involved, So you weren't there for the overseeing of
Speaker 1: the mixing and none of that stuff. Side question. Um,
Speaker 1: those sessions sounded really fun because they absolutely were. It's
Speaker 1: almost to the point where I could tell almost what
Speaker 1: order was recorded because some of these songs you did
Speaker 1: the majority of the count off one to be four
Speaker 1: and then some of them songs, you guys sound like
Speaker 1: you were on your fift beer. I mean not that,
Speaker 1: but just sound like so what were the just the
Speaker 1: the sessions like, I mean, the best way I can
Speaker 1: describe it is fun. Everybo there was so much and
Speaker 1: how do you how do you learn this stuff? Like
Speaker 1: how does it come from? Here's the cassette demo and
Speaker 1: dada da da, like do you get the cassette first?
Speaker 1: And do you work out these full flushed arrangements? And
Speaker 1: how long we would wi We would hear the demo
Speaker 1: in some form, and then after I came up with
Speaker 1: the arrangement, I would just we we had charts. I
Speaker 1: have a chart. It's actually my wife insisted that I frame,
Speaker 1: uh the chart to blame it on the book. And
Speaker 1: so it's over. It's over at the piano in the house.
Speaker 1: So we had charts, um, and I would just do
Speaker 1: all out the parts. But it was it was heck
Speaker 1: of fun. It was just so much fun, fun fun.
Speaker 1: I remember, and I think it was during the Destiny album.
Speaker 1: I remember being in the studio part and uh, we
Speaker 1: were just you know, there wasn't anything going on officially,
Speaker 1: just kind of different things happening at the same time,
Speaker 1: just stuff going on. But I remember um hearing somebody
Speaker 1: playing drums and it was really funky. It was just
Speaker 1: like this thing and I remember peering around and it
Speaker 1: was Michael. He could play drums. He could play drums.
Speaker 1: Most people do not know this, but if you think
Speaker 1: about it made perfect sense because like Sammy, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so he could definitely
Speaker 1: play and he was fun and it was I only
Speaker 1: saw it one time, and I was like, wow, as
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I maybe there's a picture of
Speaker 1: and even younger Michael playing drums and I have it, said,
Speaker 1: do you have? I've seen that? Okay, but no, I
Speaker 1: saw him for myself and it was like, wow, this
Speaker 1: is I didn't I didn't see this coming. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: We didn't even get to like Thriller and Off the
Speaker 1: Wall fire and let me let me, let me give you,
Speaker 1: let me give you the positive punchline to all this
Speaker 1: negativity because li is as I was saying, what I
Speaker 1: lost in Revenue, I gained a relationship to the point where, um,
Speaker 1: you know, there was this one faithful evening where we
Speaker 1: were all together in this room, backstage in this arena,
Speaker 1: and ah, we were all together outside of Michael. I
Speaker 1: went to his room separately, but um, I'm standing there
Speaker 1: with the brothers in a circle, and I remember saying
Speaker 1: to them, you know what, Never in my wildest dreams
Speaker 1: did I ever think okay, after you know, listening to
Speaker 1: your records junior high school and watching your shows. I
Speaker 1: never ever imagined in my life that I'd be standing
Speaker 1: in a room with all of you as your music director,
Speaker 1: getting ready to tell you to have a great show.
Speaker 1: And it was backstage in Madison Square Garden and we
Speaker 1: were about to do the thirties. Mh wow. And to
Speaker 1: go from that point early in my life as a
Speaker 1: fan and having just fantasies about them and what it
Speaker 1: must be like to hang with them, to to actually
Speaker 1: be arm and arm with them in a huddle before
Speaker 1: we start the thirty anniversary shows and I get to
Speaker 1: tell them to have a great one. I can't begin
Speaker 1: to tell you what that's like. That sense of balance
Speaker 1: in your system is amazing because at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's like, here you are in that moment, but these
Speaker 1: are still the same guys. Didn't May did a couple
Speaker 1: of shady things to you, So you have to continue
Speaker 1: to be the bigger person and really just appreciate the
Speaker 1: moment and the bigger things that are yet to come. Well, um,
Speaker 1: thank you. All I can say is that you know,
Speaker 1: the the thing that that one over everything else was love,
Speaker 1: and we all realized that we really do love each other.
Speaker 1: Mm wait, I'm not done the technical nerd questions over here,
Speaker 1: like well, microphone, let me ruin this for a second.
Speaker 1: So we want to be starting something. Um, are you
Speaker 1: playing the synth bass the line now? Was sequencing out then?
Speaker 1: Or did you have to do that seven minutes in
Speaker 1: a row? No? I did it. There was a table
Speaker 1: looping on you sticking sequence. Come on, man, But look, dude,
Speaker 1: y'all y'all were playing with a lyne drum. So you're
Speaker 1: telling me for seven minutes but seve rope. But because
Speaker 1: I was, yes, a young and crazy like that, how
Speaker 1: many punchings did you have to do? Not many? Don't, No, dude,
Speaker 1: because I I graduated wonder you. Oh it's like Jimmy
Speaker 1: jam when he said when he would play all the
Speaker 1: stuff in h straight through and they went to school
Speaker 1: the princess. So yeah, I get it. Okay, it makes sense. No,
Speaker 1: I just just now I'm just thinking of all, like
Speaker 1: even you didn't veer off into one at Libert shake
Speaker 1: your body down to the ground like the last minute. No,
Speaker 1: that's not true. That's not true. You gotta I well, okay,
Speaker 1: there I had Yeah, okay, but but I paste it
Speaker 1: to that to your point, yes, I definitely paste it,
Speaker 1: you know. And another thing is another example of that is, uh,
Speaker 1: don't stop. I paced those legs too. I mean I
Speaker 1: I kept basically Oh, an even better example as thriller,
Speaker 1: that's what I want to get to. Yeah, oh, you
Speaker 1: already answered. You're not sequencing, so you're playing the stuff absolutely.
Speaker 1: How are you finding these patches because now that okay,
Speaker 1: now that the remixes are coming out, thrillers almost borderline
Speaker 1: a pre pre precursor to the E. D M at
Speaker 1: least with the patches that you're using. Like how long
Speaker 1: do you That's what I'm saying, like, and well, you know,
Speaker 1: we we had lots of help as far as programming.
Speaker 1: We had guys like that were we had Michael Bodacker,
Speaker 1: he was like on call. That was that was our
Speaker 1: our our go to guy, and there were others but
Speaker 1: or because he was playing on the jack he played,
Speaker 1: but he programmed. But he Yeah, that the the the
Speaker 1: strength I would say, was the program But was it
Speaker 1: a time is money atmosphere? So okay, so we're in
Speaker 1: the studio right now. It was whatever it takes to
Speaker 1: get the right down. Okay, but what's the patient's factor
Speaker 1: because it's like even okay, so even the little like
Speaker 1: right before Vincent Price's rap thing, how long do you
Speaker 1: have to like, let me try this, let me try
Speaker 1: this even with keyboards today, like it takes me twenty
Speaker 1: minutes to decide and this stuff is already pre set.
Speaker 1: What's the what's the time? Like, what time do you
Speaker 1: have to think of something cool? You have mere minutes? No,
Speaker 1: there was no time, There was no when it was
Speaker 1: right then, there was no consideration of time. It's just
Speaker 1: like Lily, I need this patch, I need I need
Speaker 1: this sound rather go and then however long it took,
Speaker 1: was however long? Duck? Mhm? Are you playing on beat it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What is that? Intro? Gang? What is that noise? What
Speaker 1: is this? Could not tell you if you have a
Speaker 1: gun point it's oh god, it's I saw a YouTube video.
Speaker 1: It's an old obviously old synthesizer and they were going
Speaker 1: through the presets on it, and that was one of them,
Speaker 1: not not sin Clavi. I can't remember. I can't remember.
Speaker 1: It's been a while since I saw that video. But no,
Speaker 1: I have no idea, bro, what was that? Human nature?
Speaker 1: Is that the patient all those kids. Yeah, that's deep, Caro.
Speaker 1: They didn't need me for that. It's my man's deep.
Speaker 1: You know the story about that song, right, yeah, Rode
Speaker 1: listening to because that's at nauseam and then they're like
Speaker 1: falling asleep and stuff, and it's it's the auto reverse
Speaker 1: and then you know, and they're like in a semi
Speaker 1: sleep state, and I was like, what is that? The
Speaker 1: rest is history? It was Clapper by the way, okay,
Speaker 1: um that I kind of remember that now Clo okay,
Speaker 1: one ways is one of our favorite silly you guys,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna understand it, but in hip hop terms,
Speaker 1: that's all I can say. Yes, it's it's been shopped
Speaker 1: lovely to the point where like almost every line of
Speaker 1: that thing is the solo. Yeah, it means the world
Speaker 1: to us. It was done in ironic I think it
Speaker 1: was done in a very ironic way. But but it's
Speaker 1: just play it. I mean, it's you know, it's yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean the song has been out for forever. Wait,
Speaker 1: what's the title of it? Times like, um, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is Jesus Christy. Ya can't stand right here right hand?
Speaker 1: What's your man's worst night? Man? Enough the Bust Strike,
Speaker 1: ds on Close Trades. The game was not only days.
Speaker 1: What is the most strange? So ROMs like tom the
Speaker 1: like the is you just happy to see me? Trick,
Speaker 1: classical snapstick, wrappers, chap stick, a lot of so so,
Speaker 1: a little something to remember like the Alamo taloa hot
Speaker 1: joke like space game kick back for five year lanes.
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you say this? This is never
Speaker 1: heard song was like one years old. But see that's
Speaker 1: the thing you've heard. That's the first time here in
Speaker 1: this one hundred ways means something totally different to us.
Speaker 1: Like initially it was like that's mom and Dad's song.
Speaker 1: We're like easy, no, but he to that. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: he turned and even when I heard it, I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: I never ever thought this could be shocked And it's
Speaker 1: a crazy person who did that? Yes, a whole lot
Speaker 1: of time on that. Yes, actually did that? Who actually
Speaker 1: produced m F Doom? You're a crazy guy. You're crazy,
Speaker 1: bro is so well they Quincy tell you the story
Speaker 1: that solo he told you like he woke you up
Speaker 1: out your sleep. Yeah. It was during the time of
Speaker 1: of assembly line uh sessions and you when you went
Speaker 1: to work for Quincy, you knew two things. Um, no,
Speaker 1: you knew, you knew three things. Hey, it was gonna
Speaker 1: be fun, be you were gonna eat well. And see,
Speaker 1: you never knew how long you were gonna be here.
Speaker 1: So I mean, it's no o'clock in the morning, man,
Speaker 1: and I had done some other stuff and and and
Speaker 1: at this point I'm asleep under a piano. Somebody came
Speaker 1: in and woke me in and said, all right, you're
Speaker 1: up again. Okay, I in my stupor you know, I
Speaker 1: stumble up to the thing and that's a minimog and
Speaker 1: and Quincy's just right, So this is one hundred ways
Speaker 1: and we need a solo. Go that's who it was.
Speaker 1: He play at least before they play. Yeah, they played
Speaker 1: this song and I'm like, okay, so what you hear
Speaker 1: in that solo? Like it was the first take and
Speaker 1: I only did um so, you know bad, And then
Speaker 1: I only did like a couple of takes to finish it.
Speaker 1: But up until that point, that's the first take. And
Speaker 1: and and Quincy to this day says it's his favorite
Speaker 1: solo of mind because it was done in the what
Speaker 1: he calls the alpha state. What's what's known as the
Speaker 1: alpha state because you know, only he can be scientific
Speaker 1: with it. I was asleep, but you know he said, non, dude,
Speaker 1: it's the alpha state. Alpha state, because you weren't thinking, dude,
Speaker 1: do you don't know about this? There's there's a scientist
Speaker 1: that there's a scientist that did a research on her
Speaker 1: students owner students in which she would do pop quizzes
Speaker 1: on her seven a M class versus prepared test advanced
Speaker 1: notice to her smarter class at twelve in the afternoon
Speaker 1: and did better. Because it's almost like there's there's a
Speaker 1: middle ground of not preparing and over preparing and overthinking,
Speaker 1: and the genius zone is always in the middle where
Speaker 1: it's just like, no, that's that supreme he thrived. His
Speaker 1: goal is to be in that state constantly. Wow. And
Speaker 1: so that's what that's where I was. And again, it
Speaker 1: only took like three takes or so for me to finish,
Speaker 1: for me to finish it. But that that's just the
Speaker 1: first thing that came out. I have a question about
Speaker 1: the Bad album, um, and I guess I shared this
Speaker 1: theory and the documentary. It's what I call the brace
Speaker 1: Yourself moment, which you're a big part of. Like all
Speaker 1: these songs have to start with this stab from hell,
Speaker 1: this chord well not even bad. I mean, that's whybably
Speaker 1: easy patch. But like you know, like Dirty Diana's and that,
Speaker 1: Like by this point, are they telling you, okay, Greg,
Speaker 1: every song on this album we need, well, no, because
Speaker 1: that really wasn't me. Um, that wasn't no. Um those
Speaker 1: examples he said it like with Um, First of all,
Speaker 1: I'm not on Dirty Diana. I'm not on that at all.
Speaker 1: Another part of me. And actually I'm not on that either,
Speaker 1: Speed Deemon way you make me feel. I'm on the
Speaker 1: way you made me feel. I'm not on Speed Demon. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1: That's Jerry Hey, that's crazy, Jerry Hey, with those horns, Um,
Speaker 1: those horns, and that's what made this song, you know that,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's Jerry had to get tightened up for
Speaker 1: that because you know, Michael was a little uh you know,
Speaker 1: slow on that, and it's like equich, It's like oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, there would be no Speed Demon without that
Speaker 1: the horn horns arrangement. So you're gonna tighten up, Jerry,
Speaker 1: you know. But um, I am on the way you
Speaker 1: made me feel. And my favorite memory of that is,
Speaker 1: you know, because I played the string parstitute, right, So
Speaker 1: what I remember is doing that and having my standing
Speaker 1: next to me going vibing with me because I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's like moving, dude. How big is this? Just snaps? Dude?
Speaker 1: He had the big I know he had these big hands,
Speaker 1: and his snaps sound like clouds. Don't think yes because
Speaker 1: you think it's cloud is on the bridge of Rock
Speaker 1: with You, Yeah, but it's not. And when that's his fingers,
Speaker 1: I thought that it's his fingers. Wait, can I ask
Speaker 1: for Rock with You? Who? Well? I guess I should
Speaker 1: have asked Quincy instead. That horn intro, oh, the one
Speaker 1: that got removed? Why did they take that away? It
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense to me. It's just there's there's a
Speaker 1: horn intro to Rock with You that got Here's the
Speaker 1: thing that I love about Off the Wall. I certainly
Speaker 1: don't remember that. I'll play it for you off the record,
Speaker 1: yau um. The thing that I discover about with with
Speaker 1: thrilling Off the Wall is that a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff is I can tell that at least what I
Speaker 1: assume the relationship between Michael and Quincy is let's try
Speaker 1: every idea out and then you're gonna trust me. To
Speaker 1: pull this away in this way and edit this and
Speaker 1: edit that. So there are a lot of elements on
Speaker 1: those albums that had they been there, Oh god, it
Speaker 1: would have been like the worst dated disco album of
Speaker 1: all time. Or you know, it's one slight mis step.
Speaker 1: So I applaud Quincy for knowing what the pull away.
Speaker 1: But there that's just ah, there's just moments of Okay.
Speaker 1: So I'm thinking that you were there on the ground
Speaker 1: floor of the horn intro instead of just the naked
Speaker 1: because what I remember about that was Quincy saying to um,
Speaker 1: they are I want to have a drumleg that's gonna
Speaker 1: live in infamy. I want to have a drum like
Speaker 1: that that that kids are gonna remember, you know, a
Speaker 1: hundred years from now. And so he came over. That
Speaker 1: was that bad question? Please tell me that by this
Speaker 1: time you went on the tour and you and Ricky
Speaker 1: were back together. Oh yeah, absolutely, Yeah, Ricky get that
Speaker 1: gig and not Jonathan Momfatt because you were the MP
Speaker 1: d uh, because I thought like Jonathan would have been
Speaker 1: for life. Yeah you think that. So how did Ricky
Speaker 1: get it? Well, Ricky also had the Victory tour, right, No, No,
Speaker 1: that was Jonathan on a victory? Okay, Ricky did bad
Speaker 1: and dangerous, but you did yeah with Ryl Crowe? Oh
Speaker 1: my what? And what were you three? You just made
Speaker 1: this woman's life. You could have been more than five. Okay,
Speaker 1: So still um, I still have uh. And so I
Speaker 1: don't remember, to be honest, because even though you know,
Speaker 1: he made me the m D and that whole process
Speaker 1: was so weird, he there were other people hiring people,
Speaker 1: so I didn't really hire everybody. So I I didn't
Speaker 1: hire the whole band. I mean there are certain people
Speaker 1: that were chosen before I was even asked, how did
Speaker 1: you present that show without the out of the age
Speaker 1: of pro tools? You know, because oh, oh well that's easy.
Speaker 1: We just had We just had like was it to
Speaker 1: at least two full blown synclavites? Damn? And back then
Speaker 1: that wash and I he was like whatever by any
Speaker 1: means necessary, I mean, the money was no object, and
Speaker 1: so we had like to full blown Well yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean because that was handled back to vocals and the
Speaker 1: and the the you know, the the extra tracks. Oh yeah, damn.
Speaker 1: What was it like when Cheryl Crow came into the
Speaker 1: picture for that tour? Like, what was what did she
Speaker 1: bring to the table whiteness because she wasn't the one
Speaker 1: with the lights in her hair. No, No, that was
Speaker 1: Jennifer Addams. She she was the guitarist. You know, you
Speaker 1: asked a very loaded question. My okay, because she was
Speaker 1: after that was exiit did it dangerous? Cheryl did bad? Um.
Speaker 1: I would say that the thing that Cheryl brought the
Speaker 1: most of us the silence, the silence here is this
Speaker 1: a hot topic? That something I said Steve the white
Speaker 1: person about the single know what she brought was a
Speaker 1: secret love affair? Oh here in my guard it Oh
Speaker 1: well between two people, and I was the other one.
Speaker 1: Oh oh, Graig can't like you can sniff? That was
Speaker 1: Fante's question. Yeah, you would. You got to say the
Speaker 1: perfect question me. Hey, listen, I guess you talking. I
Speaker 1: guess you don't say that coming hell. Wow, he's probably
Speaker 1: in the control room right now. Wow. Yeah, that's what happened. Man. No,
Speaker 1: I wasn't good because I was married. Leah, he said,
Speaker 1: secrets love Okay. How can you how okay? So not
Speaker 1: just the tour dolling explain that it wasn't just the
Speaker 1: name of the tour. How how can how can one
Speaker 1: can one be a working musician, uh, and have domestic normalcy.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're doing the Michael Jackson Bad Tour,
Speaker 1: are you know what about the kids at home for it?
Speaker 1: Not just you just like the bass player or the
Speaker 1: lighting coordinator. Like you guys were going from from seven
Speaker 1: to the top of January nine. No, understand we ruined
Speaker 1: the world. Understand that, Yes, but um, we're girls flinging
Speaker 1: themselves over all of us, not over all of us.
Speaker 1: And I was in that group. I wasn't getting girls
Speaker 1: flung at me, you know because a lot of people
Speaker 1: us assume, oh my god, you must have had it
Speaker 1: ship bring out of your ears, and I no, no,
Speaker 1: it did not happen to me. I didn't need it
Speaker 1: from that perspective. But I just meant, like, if you
Speaker 1: have a relationship at home, like if you're your college
Speaker 1: professor white, it's very, very difficult and you better bring
Speaker 1: him out at some point. We're like Michael allowed like
Speaker 1: when he charted jet for families succumbed and visited. No, no,
Speaker 1: he didn't do that, but he did welcome families. He
Speaker 1: was into that. And you know, um, several of us,
Speaker 1: including me, brought our families out at different points. I mean,
Speaker 1: and you know Michael, you know, um, one of the singers,
Speaker 1: Dorian Holly brought his little nanna and she spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time on the row with us. And you know,
Speaker 1: uh Ricky brought his kids, uh and his wife, I
Speaker 1: brought mine out. Um. It was great in that way. Uh,
Speaker 1: well not in my case. Um and uh yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I remember when we when we um, we were
Speaker 1: in Tokyo and uh he he arranged for us to
Speaker 1: all go to Disneyland. We shut down the park, baby,
Speaker 1: and it was us. And you haven't lived until you've
Speaker 1: been to Disneyland with the head Mickey. A matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I used to call him Mickey and he would answer
Speaker 1: to that too. But you know, he it was great
Speaker 1: and so yes, he loved you know, the families hanging
Speaker 1: and all that. But to answer the question, yeah, you
Speaker 1: needed to have You couldn't sustain a tour like that
Speaker 1: and never see your spouse at your family at any point.
Speaker 1: You had to have him join you if you FaceTime
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. But it's like going like it's
Speaker 1: a rap. It's like you're going, Yeah, you're going like
Speaker 1: you're doing it. You're in the military. It's like you're
Speaker 1: you're gone. I would have been Wait a minute, we
Speaker 1: did not even ask. But behind the mask, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: behind the mask. Yeah. So um, I was working on
Speaker 1: my second solo album while working on Yeah, while we
Speaker 1: were also doing um oh my god waiting, We're just
Speaker 1: all over the place. Remind me to remind you. Monald
Speaker 1: did right by youth oh for cancel it down? Never mind, No, no,
Speaker 1: what he he did basically, yeah, he did well. He
Speaker 1: did better than me than Michael did, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Or did you do all night long? And no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no here, let me give you a level of find No, no,
Speaker 1: he actually did all night long by himself. But I
Speaker 1: did level find level find a way and love of
Speaker 1: conquer all and I thank you very much a crazy
Speaker 1: video and I I did get you know, credit and
Speaker 1: checks for that. Oh oh crap. I can't remember her
Speaker 1: name right now. I see her face and I can't
Speaker 1: remember her name. Yeah. I always thought that was his
Speaker 1: take on the Al Green song like that was lovel
Speaker 1: con girl. No, that's what it sounds sounds like that.
Speaker 1: Well I didn't because well, I tell you what, I
Speaker 1: wasn't well really, because I wasn't I wasn't thinking of that.
Speaker 1: That wasn't he. That's interesting because I wasn't thinking that
Speaker 1: at all. Okay, mar mar Marva, thank you, Princess Marvit King.
Speaker 1: Well well later, yeah, because I keep getting hurd Marvin
Speaker 1: Hicks confused, James round right, it's a lot of marvels.
Speaker 1: Nice he to join us. Steve Bear, it was you
Speaker 1: missed it. It was a good news. It wasn't bad.
Speaker 1: You'll hear that you're playing. Yeah, yeah, it's good. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: so uh so Lionel did do right right to err
Speaker 1: by me. Okay. Uh he worked on his on his
Speaker 1: first solo album, right, yeah, And that was where I
Speaker 1: first saw your name. Yeah, when I was like four, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy, and then left during the line of Richie
Speaker 1: portion and the first one, the first line of Richie
Speaker 1: you are you're on that question the intro to you are?
Speaker 1: What this? First of all, I'm not on that, but
Speaker 1: what what you said? It was like it was like, okay,
Speaker 1: if you don't come back, but you sound like that
Speaker 1: some kind of movie was like the guy goes no.
Speaker 1: I was like an S and L you know that.
Speaker 1: That was cool. Yeah, that was when we first started
Speaker 1: the show. Okay, thank you, but that was Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I wrote that with very mysterious John McClain. Yes, so,
Speaker 1: oh my god. There's some more John McClean credits that, uh,
Speaker 1: I've seen and I didn't think that was him. He
Speaker 1: was a songwriter. First, Well we wait, I got oh,
Speaker 1: I got a story about me and John hit me? Well, John,
Speaker 1: who I love dearly? Let me just start out pressing.
Speaker 1: Let me just say that right now. I do love
Speaker 1: him dealing. I really do. He's the kind of guy
Speaker 1: that you will never get to love because he just
Speaker 1: doesn't a lot um but I love him. And we
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time together. Um in seventy nine,
Speaker 1: in the early eighties, we spent a lot of time together,
Speaker 1: and I had this dream, we had this dream of
Speaker 1: forming a band that would that would be called PM
Speaker 1: and never yeah, and never happened, no form here, but
Speaker 1: um we we hooked up somehow and and he was
Speaker 1: the first guy that sounded like Prince before Prince. That's
Speaker 1: how he played guitar. That John McLean man, Ye gotta
Speaker 1: farm this motherfucker. Well, if you do, you will win
Speaker 1: the ultimate prize. We're going for him. It's just we
Speaker 1: can't find him and you know what, I'm sorry to say,
Speaker 1: but you probably won't really. Yeah, he's that mysterious. You
Speaker 1: know what, you can google anybody on the planet. YEA, say,
Speaker 1: I can't. Even if he walked in right now, I
Speaker 1: would know. I've never seen what I imagine that he
Speaker 1: was like Stoney Jackson. No, okay, he's a black guy.
Speaker 1: Um damn. But don't you can't find him? Wow? Damn.
Speaker 1: So he Medina eyed his way into the industry as
Speaker 1: an executive the same way that Bennie Medina was musician.
Speaker 1: Yeah he's Bennie Medina. Lord. Yeah, but no, actually, actually
Speaker 1: John was a little more legitimate. But anyway, we need
Speaker 1: a feed for you, um, or maybe I'll just come
Speaker 1: up with my own. Just do a couple of spots
Speaker 1: for you. But anyway, don't write a check. Get but
Speaker 1: you might be surprised. Um. Anyway, So, yes, you all
Speaker 1: had a group called PM. No, we had a dream,
Speaker 1: We had the idea of a group, but it never
Speaker 1: came to fruition. What projects what? Okay? But you know
Speaker 1: what we did work on together a TV series. Oh
Speaker 1: the name of the producer escapes me right now, but
Speaker 1: the show is called The Righteous Apples. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: the Rgeers. Yeah, they did a cover of let It Go,
Speaker 1: but uh, let the Love out of y'all. Huh. It
Speaker 1: was a Page's joint originally Richard Page the Joint, and
Speaker 1: then they did a cover of it the Righteous Apples.
Speaker 1: It was like they were like a high school yes
Speaker 1: from But I'm trying to think of the name of
Speaker 1: the creator and the writer and I can't for the
Speaker 1: life of me right now. Black guy were he wore
Speaker 1: ring glasses. He was with the PBS thing, and we
Speaker 1: we wrote and produced songs for that show, like Rollarello. Yeah.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I'm looking at the MDB
Speaker 1: page right, Yeah, and we'll just continue. That's what is
Speaker 1: there another song called feels like the First Time? It
Speaker 1: doesn't listen just this one, okay, but yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: we we did that and that was the Yeah, yes
Speaker 1: he was, but John doesn't look like stony and Ernest Thomas. Wow,
Speaker 1: isn't that crazy? Ernest one thought I was Common's bodyguard.
Speaker 1: That's that broke my heart? Man, Why that's funny? Top
Speaker 1: Thank you Martin, Yeah, thank you. Wow. Yes, that was
Speaker 1: my introduction the topper. That was the first thing that
Speaker 1: you scored or like for television. I think it was
Speaker 1: the only thing. Okay, so Michael Henderson was on the
Speaker 1: Sorry really he was on an episode? Yeah he was.
Speaker 1: I guess was just remember just as a member of
Speaker 1: the band as like I wouldn't call well, I guess
Speaker 1: you can call it a drama store, I guess Michael Henderson.
Speaker 1: And what year when the show was on cocaine? Mike
Speaker 1: Henderson sh can you please break it down? Have you
Speaker 1: ever heard of Michael Henderson's rant? Drunken rant in Japan? No? Oh,
Speaker 1: my god, the best best. I'm not breaking it down
Speaker 1: for nobody. I'm not backing it up. Mom game. Curtis Mayfield,
Speaker 1: they're trying to they're trying to kill like he's just
Speaker 1: drunk and he's playing in front of it feels like
Speaker 1: he's performing for artist and fourteen and you can hear
Speaker 1: people like because he's responding to be Oh, you're gonna
Speaker 1: leave baby, Oh that's okay, that's all right, people walking out,
Speaker 1: And it's just like regular. It has to be wasting
Speaker 1: any time. It has to be eighty four. And like Norman,
Speaker 1: I think Norman Connors is drumming, but he takes it's
Speaker 1: a seven minute build up to sing going Places, and
Speaker 1: when he very specials like I didn't, I was like, damn.
Speaker 1: It's like he gets into the verse, who you realize
Speaker 1: it's going places? Nothing. That's what he say. His son,
Speaker 1: His son lives in Billy and keeps taking it off
Speaker 1: of YouTube because I can't I can't find it. Right,
Speaker 1: I got it. I got three that ain't going nowhere.
Speaker 1: Have you ever seen the version where they made a
Speaker 1: video to it? Stones throw stones throw there like a
Speaker 1: animated ad. It's the best thing on earth. Take me on,
Speaker 1: motherfucking yours right, motherfucking He goes into the next song.
Speaker 1: So this sounds better than Ray Charles's. It sounds better
Speaker 1: than Buddy Riches. It sounds better than that one passed,
Speaker 1: those pass those three they're hurting people out. But this
Speaker 1: is just like her? Which one is the Ray? Where
Speaker 1: is he cuting people by that? Someone interrupts. There's a
Speaker 1: scuffle between him and and the drummer. At the time,
Speaker 1: I think was not Bernard, but I al thought it
Speaker 1: was fat Head. Fathead was sexy fact it was the
Speaker 1: sex player. But but it was a scuffle between him
Speaker 1: and the drummer. And the drummer walked off and that's
Speaker 1: all right. No, I know's all right? It went it
Speaker 1: was okay, there's he's doing busted. I never I have
Speaker 1: a version of him doing busted. And then someone gets
Speaker 1: on the stage. It's like you were dog. You were
Speaker 1: dog and raised his like, bless your heart, bless your heart.
Speaker 1: You were none but a dirty dog. She know a
Speaker 1: guy basically like Ray must have did something wrong to
Speaker 1: a woman, either slept with his wife himself. You ain't
Speaker 1: nothing but a dog. Bless your heart because someone because someone,
Speaker 1: please get this gentleman off the stage. League, but do
Speaker 1: you were dog? And then they take him off and
Speaker 1: then like you hear him walking like a cross cuts
Speaker 1: out back and then all right lit like like nothing happened,
Speaker 1: but yes it stops up there. But no Michael, so listen,
Speaker 1: uh what I know you have a billion of these?
Speaker 1: What three songs did you say no to that you
Speaker 1: could have been on? Like did you only stay in
Speaker 1: the winter circle? Michael lionel Stee. The only example I
Speaker 1: have of that is a song that I was originally
Speaker 1: asked to uh over that bon piano, and I was
Speaker 1: very full of myself and I oh, I went into
Speaker 1: the session, but I mean, I was feeling myself musically
Speaker 1: and I thought like whatever I played would be great,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't because they just wanted something. They just
Speaker 1: wanted the changes in the in the rhythm that that
Speaker 1: that it was in, and I was I was overplaying.
Speaker 1: I overplayed and over I overplayed my way out of
Speaker 1: the session. And I regret that because I really love
Speaker 1: this song and it's one of my favorites from George Benson.
Speaker 1: This turn your Love all Round? How do you? They
Speaker 1: just wanted you to play the piano line, they just wanted,
Speaker 1: but I was playing. I was playing dune Man maund
Speaker 1: bank Bound. I was just overplaying, you know, and I
Speaker 1: to ask you to just play simple. I guess they
Speaker 1: just said, well, it's not okay, thanks, and then the
Speaker 1: next thing, I know, somebody else was honest, but so yeah,
Speaker 1: but I remember being asked to play on it, but
Speaker 1: I just I didn't. I didn't play it right, you know,
Speaker 1: And I could have. And I even at that point,
Speaker 1: I was definitely more trained because of all the other
Speaker 1: years of the doing sessions, and I just should have
Speaker 1: known better. But I overplayed. Were you formally trained how
Speaker 1: to play me? We didn't talk about that were you
Speaker 1: formally like you know, how to read or just I
Speaker 1: know I started playing by your at well, my mom
Speaker 1: says the legend as it too. Um, I started playing
Speaker 1: by her around two. But then I started taking lessons
Speaker 1: in around six, and so I did have formal training. Um.
Speaker 1: And and my I had three teachers and the third
Speaker 1: one was the most influential and the most effective. And
Speaker 1: he was the pianist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. And
Speaker 1: his name was Misha Cutler and he was a badass.
Speaker 1: He didn't take any mess. And and you know, I
Speaker 1: needed discipline because I was running over my last teacher
Speaker 1: because I thought I was hot, snot knew everything. And
Speaker 1: he I left his his house crying many times because
Speaker 1: he just he was this Russian, you know, like Polish,
Speaker 1: and he was, you know, very strict and took no mess,
Speaker 1: you know. But it's the discipline I needed. Did Luca
Speaker 1: third produced around He Actually I think he might have
Speaker 1: been one of the producers. Um, I think I'm not sure,
Speaker 1: but but it wasn't Quincy though, right. No, okay, okay, okay, okay, um,
Speaker 1: what what have you played one that we might not know?
Speaker 1: Like j Grayden did turn your liver room. Thank you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so weird? Yeah? What have I played on it? This
Speaker 1: is a hard question for you because you know everything.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, you know, did you stuff for you know? You?
Speaker 1: On the heat is one by Glenn fry Or. I
Speaker 1: can't tell you why I wish, I wish. Let's really
Speaker 1: be playing a yeah yeah, no, I can't even think
Speaker 1: of anything they did for a float or is Disgug's
Speaker 1: lying to me right now? I did a floatry, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I didn't. They can give you credit? Really.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, wait a minute. Oh I'm so glad this
Speaker 1: came to me. It's gonna kill me. I gotta go
Speaker 1: back to Triumph. Explain you said this to me once
Speaker 1: and I didn't know. Okay, so help me out here, guys,
Speaker 1: Dela light works, Okay on your ways on Triumph. I
Speaker 1: was going to ask about that actually oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you said, was that the exact what's going on? Like
Speaker 1: the I don't know about that, but I know that
Speaker 1: the instrument used was, um, I'm electron? Uh yeah, but
Speaker 1: the same one. Did you tell me that that was
Speaker 1: the same exact one that Marmy used on What's going on? Oh,
Speaker 1: I don't think so, I couldn't possibly know that, Okay, No,
Speaker 1: but I know someone told me. Someone said like that
Speaker 1: either Randy something like Marvin Hey or he had especially
Speaker 1: made well. Yeah, and Barry had do you know the
Speaker 1: story of Motown that Raymond Scott had built, had convinced
Speaker 1: Barry Gordy to purchase two of his his version of
Speaker 1: tontouh and this, and he ordered two of them, and
Speaker 1: then I think mid second one they just discontinued the production.
Speaker 1: He was like, no, never mind, what was this? Because
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if these instruments that you're talking about, if
Speaker 1: they were used in these uh incredible ways for songs
Speaker 1: like Reflections m because I I defy anybody to tell
Speaker 1: me what the hell that sound is in the opening,
Speaker 1: whatever that is, and then they then they use something
Speaker 1: else later on, like what you know in these random
Speaker 1: places in the song, which is brilliant, but I have
Speaker 1: no idea what it is here it is, okay, So yeah.
Speaker 1: Nineteen sixty nine, Barry Gordy tipped off about a man
Speaker 1: musical scientists engage the mysterious works, visited Scott at his
Speaker 1: Long Island lab to witness the electroni. Um, that's what
Speaker 1: he called it, electronow Yeah, and all of its inference possibilities.
Speaker 1: In Gorty hired Scott and seventy one to serve as
Speaker 1: director of Motown's Electronic Music and Research Department. Oh, position
Speaker 1: Scott held until Uh no Motown recordings using Scott's electronic
Speaker 1: inventions have been publicly identified. That is that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: he originally someone says uh that he originally started working
Speaker 1: on the electronium out of Barry's house. Uh. They set
Speaker 1: up a room over the garages and he worked there
Speaker 1: putting stuff together so Barry could get involved and see
Speaker 1: the progress, and at one point worked out of this studio.
Speaker 1: The unit unit never got finalized and Ray had a
Speaker 1: real problem letting go. Uh. It was always being developed
Speaker 1: and that was for by You know what, what do
Speaker 1: you think it probably sounded like crap, it's a waste
Speaker 1: of seven What do you think it probably just wasn't good? Yeah? Uh,
Speaker 1: do you have a weird of the world question, Steve Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't even put it together in my
Speaker 1: head that that that was you on that just you know,
Speaker 1: is your name on the cover of that forty five?
Speaker 1: Like no, not the cat, No, that's just the artist.
Speaker 1: But I did play piano in it. The artist is
Speaker 1: one of the artists. Then what happened there? No I
Speaker 1: wasn't No, it's not on the cover. No no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no everything. Hey, Greg, who was the artist? And maybe
Speaker 1: it's the same person, But who was the artist that
Speaker 1: that you really ran to the studio outside of, of
Speaker 1: course Stevie Jackson's linel that you ran to the studio
Speaker 1: to work with because you were so excited, And who
Speaker 1: was the artist that you ran on tour to be with?
Speaker 1: Nobody so excited anybody? Well, as far as touring, you know,
Speaker 1: there was the time when I toured with a Beatle,
Speaker 1: which one pa Nope, uh this this this this other
Speaker 1: guy that I was touring with. I was in his band,
Speaker 1: and uh we already had a said thing going. And
Speaker 1: then uh, that artist managed to convince George m to
Speaker 1: tour with us, and he he said, you can use
Speaker 1: my band, and so it was the Eric Clapton and
Speaker 1: George Harrison tour of Japan. And you haven't lived until
Speaker 1: you've toured with a Beatle. Jesus, it didn't suck. And
Speaker 1: we go to here's a crazy thing. We go to
Speaker 1: Tokyo and of course George was absolutely lovely. Uh you
Speaker 1: of a human being. Um. We go to Tokyo and
Speaker 1: we're all we're all terribly excited, and we were in
Speaker 1: the h hotel is called the Capital Tokyo Hotel. We're
Speaker 1: in Georgia's room. TV's on and they're playing footage. I
Speaker 1: mean they're they're announcing obviously the George is in town,
Speaker 1: but they're playing footage of when the Beatles pulled up
Speaker 1: to the exact same hotel we're staying in. So now
Speaker 1: I'm in a room, I'm in a suite with a
Speaker 1: Beatle watching footage of when his band pulled up to
Speaker 1: the same hotel we're in. Like, okay, just kind of
Speaker 1: take this in. And so we toured around. It was great.
Speaker 1: And then um and then another uh George story which
Speaker 1: I always love to tell. Um. It was the second
Speaker 1: time I went to visit him at his home and uh,
Speaker 1: he opened the door and he's he's in corn Rows, George,
Speaker 1: George Hampson. Yeah, okay, he opened it and I go, well,
Speaker 1: I didn't see this coming. George was like, what do
Speaker 1: you think? I said, first of all, who, how did
Speaker 1: you even get your hair in corn Rose the girl hiding? Okay,
Speaker 1: how did that work? But he was in corner. I
Speaker 1: wish I took a picture of him. But so we're
Speaker 1: hanging out and then he goes, do you want to
Speaker 1: hear the new song? Then I go, okay, we go
Speaker 1: up to the bedroom, plays the thing, and I got
Speaker 1: my private world premiere of Free as a Bird. And
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there and I'm absolutely transfixed and mesmerized. I
Speaker 1: can't believe that I'm, first of all, sitting in the
Speaker 1: bedroom of a Beatle listening to the last song all
Speaker 1: the Beatles did, damn. And I'm sitting there and chills
Speaker 1: are running up and down my spot. For first of all,
Speaker 1: I'm getting chills even talking about this right now. But
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there and I'm just trying to take all
Speaker 1: this and I'm going I went around with George Harrison
Speaker 1: the last Beetles. Oh my god, I can't believe this
Speaker 1: is happening right now. But Okay, on the heels of
Speaker 1: that question, you also you also emptied a lot of
Speaker 1: specials and awards shows. What was your what was one
Speaker 1: of your favorite experiences with that PS. I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: watching because you're always so in thank you. Well, what
Speaker 1: was your first one that you did, like your first
Speaker 1: Awards that you Oh my goodness, I don't know the
Speaker 1: first Awards show that I am deed, wow, I I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'd have to research that. I don't damn.
Speaker 1: So Ricky Miner wasn't born with that. He just okay,
Speaker 1: here you go, thank you. But no, uh no, I
Speaker 1: don't remember. But I tell you what the pretty much
Speaker 1: the best one was. It was based off of How
Speaker 1: I Got started, The Jackson Third the special did um no,
Speaker 1: he said, how you got started started? I was thinking
Speaker 1: of the Detroit Symphony thing. Uh, Stevie in the Key
Speaker 1: of Life. It was a Grammy tribute. I am dated. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's why that's the best one. So you're an Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the second best one is probably the Jackson's thirty
Speaker 1: Anniversary in the Garden, because I mean, this is the
Speaker 1: Jackson's thirty Anniversary in the Garden. That's I think they
Speaker 1: all right question, Yeah, since that night was so vivid
Speaker 1: and that day after it was so memorable. And by
Speaker 1: the way, this was based off of because we did
Speaker 1: two shows. I know I'm gonna ask you about that
Speaker 1: second show. How did you get out of New York City? Right, Well,
Speaker 1: it wasn't by plane. Um. First of all, nothing was
Speaker 1: happening the day at, the day of or the day after.
Speaker 1: You might want to tell everybody what that day was.
Speaker 1: It was September eleven, two one. And that was after
Speaker 1: the second show, which was September and the first show,
Speaker 1: which was the eight because it was a break in between,
Speaker 1: I think because of the circus. But the first show
Speaker 1: was September eight, the second show was September, and I
Speaker 1: remember after that show just you know, having more of
Speaker 1: a private celebration, you know, dinner with a buddy of
Speaker 1: mine at the time, and had like, you know, just
Speaker 1: kind of a celebratory dinner and everything was great. And
Speaker 1: then uh, my wife at the time, Um, the next morning,
Speaker 1: you know, we we we slept in late, um because
Speaker 1: you know, we had such a great night, so we
Speaker 1: slept in late. And I had this plan. I had
Speaker 1: two plans that I wanted to do. I wanted to
Speaker 1: go to Central Park and take my wife on a
Speaker 1: canoe ride. Um. And I also wanted to go to
Speaker 1: my favorite place, my favorite restaurant for lunch, which is
Speaker 1: a restaurant called Bill Bouquet, and so I called the
Speaker 1: restaurant after I woke up because I wanted to make reservations.
Speaker 1: I call it and yeah, what's going on? And go
Speaker 1: I said, I'd like to, you know, come to the
Speaker 1: to the spot today. And the person said, today is
Speaker 1: not a good day. He said why, I said, it's
Speaker 1: not a good days. People are crying. It's terrible, it's
Speaker 1: it's not a good day. I go, what are you
Speaker 1: talking about? The person went, have you seen the news? No,
Speaker 1: said you might wanted to and the TV on right now.
Speaker 1: That's how we found out UM. And then after the
Speaker 1: initial shock, which took a long time to get over,
Speaker 1: and we started smelling smoke and by the way I
Speaker 1: was staying, I was staying at the Plaza at Tonay Way,
Speaker 1: way uptown, and you could smell the smoke there. The
Speaker 1: producer of the show, UM, David Guest was very good
Speaker 1: to me though, because he let me stay at the
Speaker 1: Plaza Tonay until the end of the week or until
Speaker 1: I could get away out. And so what happened was
Speaker 1: we kept trying by flights and it was very, very
Speaker 1: very difficult free to paint. I remember was one of
Speaker 1: the lucky ones she got out on the plane. Uh.
Speaker 1: Came to find out. I came to find out later
Speaker 1: on that Michael Uh that car ride with Elizabeth, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he went that, he did that, But I didn't know
Speaker 1: the cross country today, Yeah, with Elizabeth Taylor, and I
Speaker 1: watched his name Marlon, I don't know, yeah, because I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that at the time, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know how the rest of the brothers made out. I
Speaker 1: didn't know how anybody else got out, but me and
Speaker 1: my wife at that time, we we couldn't get up
Speaker 1: plane out. So we just decided at the end of
Speaker 1: that week, that's Saturday, that we'd rent a car. So
Speaker 1: we drove over to Um, we got we went over
Speaker 1: to Jersey and got a Hurts wren A car and
Speaker 1: we drove cross country and it was part of like
Speaker 1: a mini mini cavalcade because Cheryl Lynn was with us.
Speaker 1: Yeah and strange. Yeah, she and her cousin or her manager. Actually,
Speaker 1: UM we drove. We didn't drive, we didn't drive all together,
Speaker 1: but we drove, like you know, in in in separate cars,
Speaker 1: and we drove cross country all the way back and
Speaker 1: we stopped in St. Louis where UM, her manager's Mom
Speaker 1: lived um, and I was saying Louis. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: was saying Louis. We stopped there and we made a
Speaker 1: couple of the stif some joke all the way. And
Speaker 1: that was the first and only time I ever drove
Speaker 1: a cross country and I never imagined it would be
Speaker 1: for that reason. Ship crazy huh, No traffic, no track,
Speaker 1: it was. It was eerily calm and still there's no traffic.
Speaker 1: And I remember hearing them play this particular song a
Speaker 1: lot during out cross country. Right, there was a song
Speaker 1: by Enya No d that is not the right change
Speaker 1: like that. For two weeks, no, they only played like imagine,
Speaker 1: there was a whole no no songs or the no playlist,
Speaker 1: which is why, which is why I O on the blueprint. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because yeah, man, can you do you remember you remember?
Speaker 1: Can you take us through where you were when you
Speaker 1: got the dudes about Mike. Yes, I was in Beverly
Speaker 1: Hills and I was I just dropped off a watch
Speaker 1: to get repaired. And my wife at that time called
Speaker 1: me and said, did you hear about Michael? My god,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? I heard the news and
Speaker 1: I just I wasn't shock, you know, I I it
Speaker 1: was just you know, and yet I wasn't you know.
Speaker 1: And what I really remember ah after that is is
Speaker 1: going through the preparations with Brandy because Randy brought me
Speaker 1: in and he wanted me to help out um with
Speaker 1: the with the memorial. And then we we had a
Speaker 1: meeting at Kennerle's house, Randy, Ken and I and we
Speaker 1: started talking things, you know, talking things through and um
Speaker 1: you know, artists and so forth. And I remember thinking, well,
Speaker 1: it would be really nice if Steve saying I never
Speaker 1: dream you'd leave in summer, uh, which was deeply poetic
Speaker 1: because he did leave us in summer. Um. And I
Speaker 1: remember going to remember having private meetings, you know with Randy,
Speaker 1: and I remember going down to l A Live and
Speaker 1: it was the only time that I was in the
Speaker 1: l A Live executive building, you know where all the
Speaker 1: offices were, and I remember having we were we had
Speaker 1: this meeting with Randy and Ken and uh uh uh.
Speaker 1: Simon was Sien's first name. M Um who knows Sidman Um,
Speaker 1: He's Sideman, He's he's the he's the he basically runs
Speaker 1: He basically runs l A Live, Staples Center and Microsoft Center.
Speaker 1: Uh Lee Lee Siman Um and Uhlwick. He wasn't there
Speaker 1: at that time, I don't think, but there were other
Speaker 1: executives and we we you know, they were we were
Speaker 1: discussing everything, like, you know, how many tickets for family,
Speaker 1: how many tickets for VP's all this kind of stuff, everything,
Speaker 1: you know, And then I remember meeting at Staples with
Speaker 1: the brothers in a backstage room and it was me
Speaker 1: and the brothers, Kenner like Valdes Flag legendary stage manager,
Speaker 1: and maybe one other person and we were just all
Speaker 1: sitting there and at different points, you know, one of
Speaker 1: the brothers would cry. It was really really heavy. And
Speaker 1: I remember also UM taking the walk through the underground
Speaker 1: tunnel from Staples to what is not Microsoft Center because
Speaker 1: there's this underground tunnel that connects to two UM because
Speaker 1: they was built that way for you know, just as
Speaker 1: a cool thing for any artist and wanted to do
Speaker 1: double duty or whatever, easy access, you know, And so
Speaker 1: we walked this underground tunnel from Staples to UM. It
Speaker 1: was a different thing then, but whatever, but so we
Speaker 1: go there, and that was UM designed for the family
Speaker 1: to leave Staples to go to UM Microsoft Center. UH,
Speaker 1: for the overflow of people who couldn't get into Staples
Speaker 1: and it was designed for the so the family was
Speaker 1: gonna go. Uh the original idea was that the family
Speaker 1: was going to go and thank them. But they didn't
Speaker 1: do it. They didn't do it. We we we did
Speaker 1: a practice talk, but after it actually happened, they didn't
Speaker 1: do it. They just they didn't do it because it
Speaker 1: was it was like enough of it, you know, It's
Speaker 1: like you know, with everything that went on and and
Speaker 1: uh so, yeah, it was very heavy. And I remember, um,
Speaker 1: I remember having a very very private moment with Marlon
Speaker 1: uh at haven Hurst and him you know, we talked
Speaker 1: and you know, he cried on my shoulder. You know, um,
Speaker 1: very very difficult. But you know, but I also remember,
Speaker 1: you know at Staples when we were there going through
Speaker 1: things that Barry came over, um and we we we
Speaker 1: all took pictures together, Barry and the brothers and me
Speaker 1: and just all kinds of memories. You know, how can
Speaker 1: one how could one be creative in a time like that,
Speaker 1: because you know, you have to go arrangements and came
Speaker 1: all right, what key do you want to sing in?
Speaker 1: And you know, call up musicians and background sound check
Speaker 1: and you know what you just do, You just do man.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, one thing Earli is really good
Speaker 1: at it is just forging through no matter what, because
Speaker 1: he's had to in all kinds he's had, He's been
Speaker 1: hit with all kinds of last mane of things like
Speaker 1: you know, uh, they were rehearsing the grades like the
Speaker 1: day of the Grammy, the Grammy thing where thank God,
Speaker 1: I I think I was I know I was there.
Speaker 1: I was there. So you talk about you talk about
Speaker 1: having a change on the flying and what what was it?
Speaker 1: What the back story was that the Chris Brown Rihanna
Speaker 1: thing just happened, and that was the year they decided
Speaker 1: to let artists double up on things. So timber Lake
Speaker 1: had like two or three songs and Chris Brown had
Speaker 1: two or three songs, and Rihanna had two or three songs,
Speaker 1: and it was gonna be like the first mash up
Speaker 1: thing of duets and multiple songs. But without Chris Brown
Speaker 1: Rihanna there there was like space for five songs. And
Speaker 1: I'd never two things happened that day, which is the
Speaker 1: most real ship I've ever seen in my life. One
Speaker 1: earlier in his whole crew. Literally now it's about let's
Speaker 1: say it in our fifteen minutes until they realized that
Speaker 1: Brown and Rihanna are no shelf. So they're just scouring
Speaker 1: up the boy can you sing Let's say together? Hal Green,
Speaker 1: They're just grabbing people from the audience like this, we
Speaker 1: need a four minute song. That. So that whole thing
Speaker 1: of like boys them and singing let's stay together with
Speaker 1: none of that. Ship was playing the superstitious thing with
Speaker 1: Stevie Wonder with the Jonah's brothers. None that. But wait,
Speaker 1: here's the other funny thing. So, uh, the the the
Speaker 1: cold Play controversy with Joe Satriani. Oh yeah, when they
Speaker 1: hit Jack then, so they've been running away from getting
Speaker 1: their summons from saty honest people for like two months.
Speaker 1: So he had a plan. He had a plan. He's like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get the motherfucker's at the Grammys when I
Speaker 1: tell you you remember them old Keystone Caper things were
Speaker 1: like you watch the Yeah, like that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1: So you had the people were running this way to
Speaker 1: serve the papers and then Coldplay running this way, and
Speaker 1: then it was like you could have put the flat
Speaker 1: of the bumblebee to the ship just just in the topic.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I don't know if I should no, just no,
Speaker 1: I said all my stuff. It's just the end of
Speaker 1: the night. Um. You know, like artists are like very thinking,
Speaker 1: like a cat like Oasis, you know, those guys like
Speaker 1: I don't care about the like amazing that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: But um, uh, Tom New York took losing to cold
Speaker 1: Play very very hard, and how hard a very emotional way.
Speaker 1: So just that was the most surreal. But to see yeah,
Speaker 1: literally between early just scrambling for people to sing ship
Speaker 1: and cold Play and Satriani's Uh, I had no idea
Speaker 1: that it was going. It was the funniest day of
Speaker 1: my life. It was funny. I'm glad somebody would had
Speaker 1: something to laugh about that day. Well it didn't. The
Speaker 1: thing was we didn't no, no, no, I know you
Speaker 1: didn't know what was happening, right, Yeah, it's sort of
Speaker 1: like being in the New York doing the blackout, right
Speaker 1: like in Detroit, I saw you. I knew you alreay
Speaker 1: in the black out, but I don't think y'all really
Speaker 1: knew because there was no TV to turn on to
Speaker 1: see could say, we couldn't write you could be already
Speaker 1: in a blackout. But it was just like, oh, we
Speaker 1: heard like Rihanna, it's not coming like. We didn't until
Speaker 1: I got home. Then we said, oh ship that happened?
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah that was the sort of the thing. Wow.
Speaker 1: So uh do we cover everything in your life? No,
Speaker 1: not even close the whole part two? Yeah? And ship
Speaker 1: you did you sport were signs I didn't score it.
Speaker 1: I did. Actually, I just did one thing, okay for
Speaker 1: a female artists who the girl who did Private Joy?
Speaker 1: Shane Shane Yeah, Prince Yeah. And I sang the demo
Speaker 1: produced by Jimmy Irvine. Wow. Oh that's right. Asked me
Speaker 1: to do Uh, somebody asked me to do that, you know,
Speaker 1: produced that thing for that girl. So I did. I
Speaker 1: did Private Joy. What did you in the Streets of Fire?
Speaker 1: Were you in the band? No? No, I was in
Speaker 1: another movie, darying movie, the only my only this is
Speaker 1: it my only movie? Day? But I didn't do this,
Speaker 1: is it? Yea? Because Michael right, you're right, you're right. Sorry, okay,
Speaker 1: I was young, said but you haven't lived until you've
Speaker 1: been directed by Steven Spielberg. Thank you? What movie you
Speaker 1: want to be? We got two? I was the extra
Speaker 1: in the Color Purple as well. I was six your baby, Yeah, six.
Speaker 1: I was on the I was wanting to get the
Speaker 1: scene where the scene where she's hanging up close. She's saying, no,
Speaker 1: you gotta fight, you gotta what Celi and are talking
Speaker 1: and so then like a kid comes and runs through
Speaker 1: the sheet and she's like, y'all get on away from her.
Speaker 1: I was, yeahs you got outstrets, but you're not gonna
Speaker 1: believe this. But also yeah, yeah, exactly, you were the kid.
Speaker 1: You were you were the kid. You were the one
Speaker 1: of the kids up the owner of the general story right,
Speaker 1: some girl. Yeah, but guess what. Guess what? That's not
Speaker 1: even my voice? Do a timeout that? Oh wait wait
Speaker 1: I couldn't but I did say it. Yeah, I did
Speaker 1: say it. But in the final I guess it wasn't
Speaker 1: loud enough, so they had they had somebody else go, well,
Speaker 1: don't go, but I did. That's me playing Wow that hysterical.
Speaker 1: So it's so love. If you want a really good laugh,
Speaker 1: whip that out one night. You'll crack up. Yeah, you'll
Speaker 1: laugh yourself stilling. Wait, Greg, But that's how I met
Speaker 1: Oprah what And that's how I met uh Danny, right,
Speaker 1: And that's how I met the cast of Wacky characters
Speaker 1: and yeah, wait, oh there's another thing that I did
Speaker 1: that I'm very proud of that you probably didn't know
Speaker 1: how I did thanks to Kenner. Like Oprah's final two shows,
Speaker 1: Thank you man. What were her final two shows? An
Speaker 1: extra organza with every star you've ever heard of in
Speaker 1: your entire life, in the entire galaxy that Digits ever interviewed.
Speaker 1: They came out to say goodbye. And so what musical moment?
Speaker 1: Who who was the last you? Indeed, whatever the musical
Speaker 1: moment was, I indeed the whole thing. So who was
Speaker 1: the last person to sing? I don't know who the
Speaker 1: last person was? But but um, probably my favorite segment
Speaker 1: was when we when we surprised it with Steve, because
Speaker 1: what happened was the setup was um uh Jamie mm
Speaker 1: hmm um, you know went to her and started, you know,
Speaker 1: talking on his smack and everything, and he he would
Speaker 1: he started, Isn't she lovely? Right? So he started it.
Speaker 1: So we did a slow version and that's me playing
Speaker 1: with him and everything, and then we we I do
Speaker 1: some um, some chord changes, you know, some different course
Speaker 1: to set up into the original key of Isn't She Lovely?
Speaker 1: For Steve to rise out of the floor on the
Speaker 1: panel that sitting up and she turns around because, um wait,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask, do you have you ever had as
Speaker 1: an empty uh a Murphy's law momentum for you? Everything
Speaker 1: can go wrong? Um? Has a sequencer ever not worked on?
Speaker 1: You know when jam is one at the intro? You know,
Speaker 1: did you miss if you can't feature baby que or
Speaker 1: that freeze or want to be starting something or oh
Speaker 1: I we probably did. We probably had some you mean
Speaker 1: doing the Bad tour. Well, yeah, I mean just in
Speaker 1: general and general not not yeah, probably, but not not
Speaker 1: anything that just stands out to break. Oh you won't
Speaker 1: believe this, so I'm sure they haven't. But they were
Speaker 1: mercifully far and few between. Okay, okay, well I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I really do want to know what you played on
Speaker 1: we other world, Like what instruments? You just piano? Played piano?
Speaker 1: And right? Yeah, but well and to your point, yes,
Speaker 1: and he co wrote the song, but no, he he
Speaker 1: doesn't need to play it. He's one of the featured artists,
Speaker 1: so he doesn't need So they had they had other
Speaker 1: sense and stuff that. Yeah, so Quincy had a few
Speaker 1: of us. It was me David Page and I think
Speaker 1: and there was one other one I can't remember who.
Speaker 1: They're gonna kill you though, but but I played piano,
Speaker 1: Page played um, you know, STUALD piano, I thing or
Speaker 1: other instruments. And there was a third keyboardist as well.
Speaker 1: So there were a bunch of us no well just
Speaker 1: other sense, not strings. But yeah, so there were I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure three keyboard players. And I did the piano.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you well brother Greg. You you gave us,
Speaker 1: You brought it, you brought the stories, you brought the dramas,
Speaker 1: brought the listening. Well you know what, but it takes
Speaker 1: someone as um nerdy and as knowledgeable as you are
Speaker 1: and your fine team. Let me just say right now,
Speaker 1: you guys are really wonderful. I don't know, Okay, I
Speaker 1: get function, that's all I know. I get it, and
Speaker 1: I have to pee right now. But I must say
Speaker 1: I had no idea that I would be here for
Speaker 1: over three hours, but like I have enjoyed every second
Speaker 1: of its felt like three minutes. And blessings to you all,
Speaker 1: and I just thank you for you, just for all
Speaker 1: your contributions, all your music, just for raising all of us.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you. On behalf of sugar Steve and
Speaker 1: I'm paid well he's not here on behalf of Sugar
Speaker 1: Steve and Boss Bill and Fantigolo and la uh yeah.
Speaker 1: I'd like to say thank you uh Greg again. This
Speaker 1: is of course Love, of Course, Love Supreme and we
Speaker 1: will see you on the Mexico Round only on Pandora
Speaker 1: Cours Love Supreme. It's a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.