Speaker 1: Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Quest Love Supreme. I'm your
Speaker 2: host Quest Love.
Speaker 1: We got this. Yeah, we still got Team Supreme with us. Yeah.
Speaker 3: How are you doing good? Doing good?
Speaker 4: From the from the east, from the East coast, so
Speaker 4: well looking forward?
Speaker 1: Yeah, wait, you're you're in the East Coast.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm doing I told you to the vaccinated. Visit buddy.
Speaker 5: Everybody vaccinated.
Speaker 4: Yes, Mama, daddy, everybody.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Welcome back home.
Speaker 3: That's rank you.
Speaker 1: I pay bill you.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm also vaccinated. I feel fantastic.
Speaker 1: All right, fan Ticolo, you cool.
Speaker 6: I'm good man. I'm good man, enjoying some grilled chicken
Speaker 6: and a salad.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 6: You're not trying to live better, you know?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm on day twelve of salad, just salad. What's up, Steve?
Speaker 2: How's it going.
Speaker 6: I'll be the only honest one to here and say
Speaker 6: I am stressed out this anyway, everybody, I want to
Speaker 6: get this done.
Speaker 2: No, we're not stressed out. We're putting good vibrations out there.
Speaker 2: I will say that our distinguished guests are the founding
Speaker 2: members of the legendary Grammy award winning Fifth Dimension. Of course,
Speaker 2: during the mid seventies, our guests left the group and
Speaker 2: paired down to a duo. Released several Grammy caliber songs
Speaker 2: like the Inescapable, You don't have to be a star
Speaker 2: to be My Show your Love, I Hope we get
Speaker 2: to love and time Shine on Silver Moon, plenty of
Speaker 2: other seven Grammy nominations in total.
Speaker 1: I would actually paraphrase and say that.
Speaker 2: They are They are Jane Beyonce are the Billy and
Speaker 2: merm mccow of now, not the opposite that they are
Speaker 2: the Jade bad for real. They are absolute happiness, enjoy.
Speaker 2: I consider them the first couple of pop and soul.
Speaker 2: Their marriage has been strong for fifty plus, fifty plus years.
Speaker 2: I believe fifty second coming this Jill anniversary.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. And they're still releasing music Lazy and Gentlemen,
Speaker 1: which is incredible.
Speaker 2: They released a new collection of Lennon McCartney compositions, aptly
Speaker 2: titled Blackbird Songs that were inspired by the turbulent experiences
Speaker 2: that we've been through in the last year or so
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: What else can I say?
Speaker 2: Oh not to mention they are a vital part of
Speaker 2: the I hear it's an excellent documentary about Cultural Festival.
Speaker 1: Nineteen sixty nine. I hear it's good, you know.
Speaker 6: Anyway, this is the week it comes out, too.
Speaker 1: Really, it comes out this week.
Speaker 4: I hear it comes out this week.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. All right, cool, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: He's welcome the legendary, the legendary Billy Davis Junior and
Speaker 2: Marilyn mccou toquest left, Suprie.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you, thank you. Listen, you said you heard
Speaker 3: about the doctor Vennery being good. You heard right.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go see it for myself
Speaker 2: all those things you said about us.
Speaker 3: How much do we owe you?
Speaker 2: I owe you, guys. I owe you guys. I really,
Speaker 2: really really do love you guys. Actually, you know what
Speaker 2: that one story? I don't. I know a lot about
Speaker 2: you guys, But can you guys describe I know that
Speaker 2: you guys were acquaintances before you got married, of course,
Speaker 2: like no one starts off being married and then starts,
Speaker 2: you know, with friends. Can you guys describe the first
Speaker 2: time that you met each other? Do you guys remember
Speaker 2: the first day you met each other?
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: You don't remember the first day you met.
Speaker 2: It's like the newly white game was to hit him
Speaker 2: on the head.
Speaker 3: Well, don't forget, don't forget. It was fifty something years okay, okay,
Speaker 3: was breaking.
Speaker 4: Oh no, you're trying to say, gotta keep us mighty.
Speaker 3: When we got married, I was never going to speak
Speaker 3: to him again. And guess what.
Speaker 5: I was walking down the aisle and I looked into
Speaker 5: his face and I saw red eyes.
Speaker 1: Oh shots, fine, bachelor, he was. Okay, I get it,
Speaker 1: I get it. So you remember up to that, right,
Speaker 1: remember to that point.
Speaker 5: Okay, before we before we met, I had been hearing
Speaker 5: about this guy from Saint Louis, because the mont Maclamore
Speaker 5: from the group and from the group, we're all from
Speaker 5: Saint Louis, and they were talking about this guy named
Speaker 5: June Bud who was coming out from Saint Louis looking
Speaker 5: for a record deal, and that he could say.
Speaker 1: Right, and that's June bug.
Speaker 2: I see you're so you're not from Saint Louis, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Louis, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So so the group was formed by and we should
Speaker 2: also note that uh Ron Malamore, I'm not Ron. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Lamar Macklamore is the week baby, the the legendary what
Speaker 2: now Beauty the Week Jet Beauty the Week pace He's.
Speaker 4: He's a photographer or something.
Speaker 1: He was the original Instagram shut up.
Speaker 2: Yes, even even to like when whenever Jet went uh,
Speaker 2: I don't know when Jet stopped uh publication, but he
Speaker 2: went to the very end.
Speaker 3: So, yes, the Lama took all.
Speaker 7: The pictures of all of them, but most of the
Speaker 7: pictures of that the women in the bathing suits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the middle of Jet Yes career, even at
Speaker 1: the height of fifth dimensioned them like right, he.
Speaker 3: Was he was still doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how can one juggle both and still and still
Speaker 2: do that. I'm also in the mind state that once
Speaker 2: you're in the fifth dimension, you're touring all over like
Speaker 2: nine months out the year. But he was able to
Speaker 2: maintain both on a weekly basis.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, I mean he would.
Speaker 7: I don't know just how his setup was, but he
Speaker 7: was definitely still doing it, you know, and still making
Speaker 7: our rehearsals. And sometimes when we would be out of
Speaker 7: town he would be all and we had a day
Speaker 7: off or something, he would find some young lady to
Speaker 7: shoot you know it, take out somewhere to shoot a
Speaker 7: you know, and even.
Speaker 1: The agent that's incredible.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2: One of the one of the running jokes anytime that
Speaker 2: you guys were on any show was finding.
Speaker 1: Lamont a wife.
Speaker 2: That's always been like the running joke in any Fifth
Speaker 2: Dimension interview, like this was.
Speaker 1: This bachelorhood like legendary in the seventies.
Speaker 3: Like pretty legendary.
Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, did he eventually get married?
Speaker 3: Yes he did, he's a number of years now.
Speaker 2: Okay, I was about to say no, just just based
Speaker 2: on my Fifth Dimension research, Like every time that was
Speaker 2: like a running joke.
Speaker 1: Did he did he get married yet? Is he still
Speaker 1: a bachelor? Okay, I get it now.
Speaker 7: Well, Lama was always the one in the male in
Speaker 7: the group that always had these long range plans with
Speaker 7: these young ladies.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 7: He would meet a young lady and the hero sell
Speaker 7: long range plans for her, you know. So that's that's
Speaker 7: that's why we always tease him about getting married.
Speaker 3: He was waiting, waiting and waiting, but he finally did
Speaker 3: get married. Yes.
Speaker 2: Okay, what year did the group officially form? I know
Speaker 2: that you guys are under the name the Versatiles. It
Speaker 2: was the Versatiles, correct, that's.
Speaker 5: Right, that's the way we started. Yes, yes, and that
Speaker 5: was in nineteen.
Speaker 1: Sixty five, and then why was it changed to the
Speaker 1: Fifth Dimension.
Speaker 5: Well, we were getting ready to come out with this
Speaker 5: song with our first single, and the man who was
Speaker 5: the head of the record company thought that the Versatile
Speaker 5: sounded kind of old, that we needed something edgy and new,
Speaker 5: and so we all went home and we were supposed
Speaker 5: to come back with creative ideas for a new name
Speaker 5: for the group, and ron Townsend and his wife came
Speaker 5: up with the name the Fifth Dimension. And when we
Speaker 5: first heard it, everybody loved it, and so we voted
Speaker 5: on it, because we voted on everything in the group.
Speaker 5: Dimension one hands down.
Speaker 2: Was there like sort of a cosmic kind of definition.
Speaker 2: Was it supposed to intentionally be like psychedelic because of
Speaker 2: what the times were during that period?
Speaker 3: Or yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 5: You know, we were five members of the of a
Speaker 5: group and.
Speaker 3: I think Ronald was talking about Dimension.
Speaker 5: Well, they decided that the Fifth Dimension was supposed to
Speaker 5: be Fifth Dimension was sound, So we said, okay, that
Speaker 5: makes sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I see did you guys at all? I
Speaker 2: know that Bell Records was a label closely associated with
Speaker 2: Arthur Shimpkin and also with a I believe Clive Davis
Speaker 2: started or at least work there at the time period.
Speaker 2: Did you guys work with him at all or have
Speaker 2: any dealings with him or was he at Columbia by
Speaker 2: this point?
Speaker 3: Actually, well, we didn't work with well, we did, we did.
Speaker 3: We didn't work with.
Speaker 5: But just from minute you know, actually Saul City was
Speaker 5: the was the name of the label, and that was
Speaker 5: the one that started the group. And then uh when
Speaker 5: and then Bell Records came in.
Speaker 1: Larry Utah, Larry you Tall, Yeah, I know I know
Speaker 1: that name.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, Larry U Tah actually started Bell Records and
Speaker 5: the Fifth Dimension was still there, and then uh, then
Speaker 5: some transitions took place and Clive Davis came in and.
Speaker 1: Right when he came in, he turned it into Arista.
Speaker 3: Correct, exactly, That's what happened, right.
Speaker 1: Okay, I see now, I see now.
Speaker 7: I think one of the I think one of the
Speaker 7: guys that at uh Bail Records was Irgelgel.
Speaker 3: Yes, he worked with he worked with yeah in the
Speaker 3: very beginning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the beginning of the group.
Speaker 2: Who decided the direction because you guys had a really
Speaker 2: somewhat sophisticated, elegant sound, sort of a step ahead of
Speaker 2: I guess at the time, like Motown was was the
Speaker 2: leader of a more classier version of the soul. But
Speaker 2: you guys were definitely kind of a step ahead of that,
Speaker 2: Like who decided the direction of the group and how
Speaker 2: do you guys approach your creativity.
Speaker 7: Well, one of the things that happened is when we
Speaker 7: first started the group, and and and and called ourselves
Speaker 7: the Versatils. But we did that because we were all different.
Speaker 7: All of us were different singers. I was more gospel
Speaker 7: r and big blues, Maryland was more pop, and Ronald
Speaker 7: was more operatic sounding, Florence was more pop, and the
Speaker 7: Model was a more of a bass kind of singer,
Speaker 7: and and and and and more of a pop sick.
Speaker 7: So when we decided we started as Diversal and we
Speaker 7: went into it as more of a jazz kind of
Speaker 7: opportunity to do, to just create just different types of
Speaker 7: music and uh. But when we got signed with Johnny Rivers,
Speaker 7: we carried that sound with us right on into the
Speaker 7: record company. And so when he suggested that we do
Speaker 7: go where you want to go, and we said, well,
Speaker 7: from the Mamas and Poppers there was a cover for us,
Speaker 7: and we said, well, you know it's not going to
Speaker 7: sound like Motole you know, we were we were we
Speaker 7: went into what was happening for brothers or sisters, you know, right,
Speaker 7: and even though we know we had a different sound,
Speaker 7: that's what was the kind of music we were looking for.
Speaker 3: But he said, no, let's try. It'll be a hit.
Speaker 3: And when he said.
Speaker 7: It'll be a hit, well, everybody was looking for a hit,
Speaker 7: you know, you everb of every artist want to hit it,
Speaker 7: even if it's pop goals or weasels, you know, you know,
Speaker 7: So we did go where you want to go and
Speaker 7: it came out with more of a soul for sound,
Speaker 7: but not like the pop marmins and poppers. But it
Speaker 7: created our out.
Speaker 1: Okay, I see that.
Speaker 2: I gotta say that because of my my weird obsession
Speaker 2: with the song MacArthur's Park. I know that was written
Speaker 2: by Jimmy Webb and if you kind of look at
Speaker 2: his catalog, which is yeah, like Wichita Lineman and all
Speaker 2: that stuff, like it's like really weird unorthodox songs, and
Speaker 2: I know that he wrote up up in a way,
Speaker 2: so like at the time when you were approached, how
Speaker 2: did that song come into into the sphere of the
Speaker 2: fifth dimension and what with the deciding factor that Okay,
Speaker 2: this fits us because it's it's kind of even though
Speaker 2: it's it's a hit, it's a really very weird specific song,
Speaker 2: like we're going to sing about balloons, air balloons or whatever.
Speaker 1: Like how did how did that? How did you guys
Speaker 1: come across that song?
Speaker 5: Well? You know, Uh, Mark Gordon, who was the group's manager,
Speaker 5: introduced Johnny Rivers, who who was the owner of Soul
Speaker 5: City Records, to Jimmy Webb because, uh, he was saying,
Speaker 5: we need somebody creative and new and different. And Mark
Speaker 5: had worked with Motown Records and had left Motown and
Speaker 5: it's it's a long story about how we all met.
Speaker 5: But he liked the group, he liked our direction, and
Speaker 5: he said that he wanted to manage us. So so
Speaker 5: when he was talking to Johnny Rivers and he said,
Speaker 5: and Johnny said, we need somebody young, k new different,
Speaker 5: Mark said, there's a very talented young man who was
Speaker 5: trying to get some of his songs recorded at Motown.
Speaker 5: His name is Jimmy Webb. I'd like for you to
Speaker 5: meet him. And so they met, and uh, we ended
Speaker 5: up working together on our first album, which must called
Speaker 5: Go Where You.
Speaker 3: Want To go well, actually it ended up being called.
Speaker 5: And so we were we were working on some music
Speaker 5: and and there was a hot air balloon festival that
Speaker 5: took place down in Palm Springs on over a weekend,
Speaker 5: and Jimmy went down to that that festival, and he
Speaker 5: came back so inspired by what he had seen that
Speaker 5: he wrote a song. And he wrote this song called
Speaker 5: up Up and Away talking about the balloons, right, And
Speaker 5: so he played the song for the group and we said,
Speaker 5: oh man, that's a wonderful song. You know, it's a
Speaker 5: happy feeling. It makes everybody want to dance and feel
Speaker 5: really good.
Speaker 3: It will never be a hit.
Speaker 1: Oh I just thought it was gonna be filler, like
Speaker 1: just out right.
Speaker 3: That's all we thought was. You know, we were still
Speaker 3: listened waiting for some.
Speaker 7: Motile stuff, you know, up up and a wait and say, man,
Speaker 7: that'll never be a hit, you know, And come to
Speaker 7: find out it was.
Speaker 3: It was. It was a big smash fun.
Speaker 5: And it won us what for well, we won four
Speaker 5: Grammy Yeah, and then Bones how well, no Bones wasn't
Speaker 5: producer on that. Mark Mark Mark and Johnny Rivers won
Speaker 5: Production Grammys and Jimmy Webb won it.
Speaker 3: For the song yeah.
Speaker 2: Now, I remember you guys previously telling me before that
Speaker 2: when you guys won the Grammy for the song that
Speaker 2: you weren't too sure like how important the Grammys were,
Speaker 2: like or if.
Speaker 1: It was a big deal, like in the late sixties.
Speaker 2: Were the Grammys as big of a press to each
Speaker 2: thing as we hold it now or was it just like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's nice, we won a Grammy.
Speaker 1: What's Grammy? Exactly?
Speaker 3: That's what we felt.
Speaker 5: Well at that time, the Grammys weren't being televised, so
Speaker 5: so the record company was so excited, Oh, you've all
Speaker 5: been nominated for Grammys, and we said.
Speaker 3: That is so cool. What's great Grammy? We didn't even
Speaker 3: know what it was, you know. And uh but but
Speaker 3: after we won the first Grammy.
Speaker 7: And got behind all that excitement, the next one we
Speaker 7: were we were in line for.
Speaker 3: We were ready for it, you know, Okay, a Grammys.
Speaker 1: I see you guys mentioned Mark Gordon because.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm like a fan slash aficionado of Soul Train.
Speaker 2: I know that oftentimes, like if Val Wilson was on
Speaker 2: the show, uh, don would talk to Mark or uh
Speaker 2: he was there I think during the Staples Singers episode
Speaker 2: as well, So like I'm familiar with Mark Gordon. The
Speaker 2: thing was, I didn't know that he was married to
Speaker 2: Florence LaRue during that time period. But I was also
Speaker 2: shocked for you guys to go to the levels and
Speaker 2: the heights that you've gone to. Even in my mind,
Speaker 2: I thought, wow, they really had it like a powerful
Speaker 2: white manager.
Speaker 1: How was it?
Speaker 2: How was it that Mark was able to work his
Speaker 2: magic as as a man, and you know, he's managed
Speaker 2: everyone like name it, like Tony. This also probably explains
Speaker 2: why you Antonio, Orlando and Don also at your variety shows,
Speaker 2: Like what was Mark like as a manager that he
Speaker 2: had like further further reached than your average manager where
Speaker 2: he can get his acts even past mainstream, but just
Speaker 2: in spaces where you normally don't see black acts.
Speaker 5: Well, Mark had a lot. You know, Mark came again
Speaker 5: from the Motown background, and so I'm sure he learned
Speaker 5: a lot when he was there, and he was running
Speaker 5: the West Coast office of Motown Records, and that's how
Speaker 5: we met him. And he was also a producer, and
Speaker 5: so we were hoping that maybe he would produce a
Speaker 5: record on the group and we would end up at Motown.
Speaker 5: But again, for one reason or another that Mark and
Speaker 5: Motown agreed to disagree, and so Mark came and said,
Speaker 5: I'd like to manage guys. I like I like your idea,
Speaker 5: I like the sound that you have, and I think
Speaker 5: I can do something with you. And then he and
Speaker 5: Johnny Rivers. Johnny Rivers, who was a who was more
Speaker 5: of a country singer, had some major hits, but he
Speaker 5: loved R and B and he wanted to produce some
Speaker 5: R and B music. So he came to Mark and
Speaker 5: he said, why don't we co produce some projects together?
Speaker 5: And so that was how they ended up producing us,
Speaker 5: and that was how we ended up recording Go where
Speaker 5: You Want to Go and then Up, Up and the Way,
Speaker 5: and Mark introduced Johnny to Jimmy Webb. So so Mark
Speaker 5: Mark was a visionary in so many ways he was.
Speaker 7: He was definitely a good manager and he I think
Speaker 7: the popularity of the group is what kind of got
Speaker 7: him in the in the position to be able to
Speaker 7: open the doors, because I don't forget he was our
Speaker 7: personal manager, but but but we also had an agency.
Speaker 3: Opened the doors too, like William Moore us.
Speaker 7: You know, with our popularity, we would we would, we would,
Speaker 7: we were going pop you know, yes, and we were
Speaker 7: right in the middle of that. So all the doors
Speaker 7: were opening for they had televant shows and all the
Speaker 7: all the all of the white shows that would that
Speaker 7: was that was happening.
Speaker 3: They wanted the fifth dimension.
Speaker 1: So was it ever a struggle? Okay? So one one
Speaker 1: of the one of the.
Speaker 2: Kind of a career highlights for most black acts that
Speaker 2: I've spoken to, especially that have started in the sixties,
Speaker 2: most of them were being groomed to play the copa.
Speaker 2: That was like like one thing is surviving the Apollo,
Speaker 2: the other thing is being able to play the copa,
Speaker 2: which you know, I can only imagine that that that.
Speaker 1: Was a prestigious thing.
Speaker 2: Was that necessarily a goal for this particular group or
Speaker 2: was that not?
Speaker 1: Kind of in your radar?
Speaker 5: Everybody wanted to play the coca. Yeah, everybody wanted to
Speaker 5: play the copa. But what happened was there was another
Speaker 5: club in New York.
Speaker 7: Well actually it was it was a club, but it
Speaker 7: was a room, yes, at the Americana Hotel.
Speaker 5: At it was called the Royal Box, the Royal Box.
Speaker 7: And they ended up hiring us and we would work
Speaker 7: the Royal Box every year, right doing a prim season.
Speaker 7: You know, so they knew that the fifth was at
Speaker 7: that place every year, so it was three or.
Speaker 3: Four years straight that's where we were at.
Speaker 7: So I guess the the copa, but they knew we
Speaker 7: were at the Royal Box.
Speaker 3: They never tried to book us.
Speaker 5: They never tried to book us. Blew our chance by
Speaker 5: working at the Royal Box. But you know why it
Speaker 5: was great because because of the Royal Box, that's how
Speaker 5: we ended up with finding Aquarius.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I know this legendary story and it's definitely
Speaker 2: one of the highlights of summer. And so could you
Speaker 2: please share with our audience the the circumstances that actually
Speaker 2: led you to recording uh, the Age of Aquarius with
Speaker 2: the sunshining.
Speaker 3: And this is a show mouth true story right right.
Speaker 1: I can't believe it, but it's amazing.
Speaker 3: Think we made it up for stage, but we can't.
Speaker 1: You can't make up nothing like this, you know, no,
Speaker 1: you can't know you were working in New York.
Speaker 7: And the funny thing is that I went out to
Speaker 7: shop and and and coming back getting out of the cab,
Speaker 7: I lost my wallet and it fell in the cab.
Speaker 7: So I came up stairs in the hotel room and
Speaker 7: I told Maryland. I was looking at my post, Baby,
Speaker 7: I've lost my wallet. And Maryland said, oh, well you
Speaker 7: can forget that. You ain't gonna never see the wallet.
Speaker 7: And so about an hour after that, I got a
Speaker 7: phone call and the guy.
Speaker 3: Said, is this Billy Davis Junior. And I said, yes
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 7: And he said, I got your wallet, wow, wallet. And
Speaker 7: I got all excited because he had found my wallet.
Speaker 7: And I told him, I said, well, just hold on
Speaker 7: to it. I'm coming to your house and get it.
Speaker 7: So I went to his house and I offered him
Speaker 7: some money. He didn't want their money, so I invited
Speaker 7: him to come and see us at the Royal Box
Speaker 7: perform him.
Speaker 3: So he took us up on that. So after the show,
Speaker 3: he came to the show, him and his wife.
Speaker 7: And after the show he came backstage and he said, man,
Speaker 7: you guys are beautiful.
Speaker 3: It's one of I love the show.
Speaker 7: He said, says, you were so nice, Billy, I'd like
Speaker 7: to invite you to see our show.
Speaker 3: I said, what show.
Speaker 7: Come to find out he was one of the producers
Speaker 7: of had Right. Had been trying to get in to
Speaker 7: see hair but I don't know how long.
Speaker 3: No seats. It was like it was like that was
Speaker 3: like the Hamilton of.
Speaker 1: Hamilton with skin that were trying to get in to.
Speaker 7: See hair and well it was the first time they
Speaker 7: ever seen people neked on stage, so everybody was dashing,
Speaker 7: you know. But but we finally got in. He invited
Speaker 7: us over to see it, and we saw this young
Speaker 7: kid by the name of Ronnie Dyson singing aquariums and
Speaker 7: when he he filled the auditorium with that beautiful boss
Speaker 7: of his and when he when he did that, we
Speaker 7: all heard it right there and said, we have to
Speaker 7: do that song.
Speaker 3: That's a fifty minutes song. It's gonna be ah, it's
Speaker 3: gonna be a hit.
Speaker 7: That's what was first time we ever said that it's
Speaker 7: gonna be a hit. And sure enough it was the
Speaker 7: biggest record that we've ever ever recorded.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 3: So how did it?
Speaker 4: How did it go from the stage to your song
Speaker 4: though with that strain with the producer?
Speaker 5: Well, well, we called we called our producer who was Bones,
Speaker 5: how and we said Bones, and I mean everybody when
Speaker 5: we got together at intermission, we were all all five
Speaker 5: months and said this is going to be a hit.
Speaker 5: So we called Bones and said Bones. We found our
Speaker 5: next hit. And he said, what's that and we said Aquarius.
Speaker 5: He said, well, I don't know. He said, there's a
Speaker 5: lot of people that have tried to make a hit
Speaker 5: out of that song and it hasn't worked. And we said,
Speaker 5: but the Fifth Division didn't see it, you know, so
Speaker 5: determined to record that song. So he said, well, let
Speaker 5: me let me listen to it some more and see
Speaker 5: what we can come up with. So then he came
Speaker 5: back to us a little while later, a couple of
Speaker 5: weeks later, and he said, I think I have an
Speaker 5: idea of how to make this work. And he came
Speaker 5: up with the idea of taking Aquarius and putting it
Speaker 5: together with another song Shineyes, that the Sunshining, which was
Speaker 5: from the song Paul flesh Face right, and uh, by
Speaker 5: combining the two of those together, we ended up with
Speaker 5: the biggest hit of our careers.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh so let's the Sunshine and was not a part
Speaker 2: of Hair. I didn't know that, Okay, well it was.
Speaker 2: It was a part of Hair together. Okay, you just.
Speaker 3: Together like our part what we did with let the Sunshine.
Speaker 5: As a matter of fact, the way that they did
Speaker 5: it in the show was that.
Speaker 3: The sun Shine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was one of those ruslow and okay.
Speaker 5: The Sunshine it was a sad song, yeah right, but
Speaker 5: Bones came up with the idea of making it more joyous.
Speaker 5: And then when we were in the studio recording it,
Speaker 5: then he said, okay, the group was singing it like
Speaker 5: the Sunshine. Then he says, okay, Billy, now go and
Speaker 5: take it to church.
Speaker 2: Many yes, yes, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: On an average how many?
Speaker 2: How many gigs just from a touring standpoint, I know,
Speaker 2: touring from more or less like doing five straight months,
Speaker 2: like living on the road never coming home like after
Speaker 2: five straight months or whatever.
Speaker 1: But could you describe to us like what was.
Speaker 2: What was the the gig circuit like during that time
Speaker 2: and around nineteen sixty nine for the group, Like how
Speaker 2: many was it mainly just one night ers or was
Speaker 2: it you know, concentrated time in America then you go
Speaker 2: to other parts of the world, Like what was the
Speaker 2: average touring season like for the Fifth Dimension, Well, it
Speaker 2: was more.
Speaker 5: About America, about the United States. You played a lot
Speaker 5: of college campuses, right, We did a lot of a
Speaker 5: lot of concerts. We dressed, we got dressed in a
Speaker 5: lot of sweaty locker locker rooms.
Speaker 1: Right now, you come in there.
Speaker 7: You come in there after a game, after they left
Speaker 7: from a game, and it would be lit up.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, but you have to go in there.
Speaker 7: And you did dress and you know, young, young, you know,
Speaker 7: you you get past that, you get out there, but
Speaker 7: you worried about doing the best you could do when
Speaker 7: you get in front of that audience, you know.
Speaker 3: But yes, we but we did. We played clubs too.
Speaker 7: We played clubs, but we were out on the road
Speaker 7: maybe about oh boy, seven to eight months out of
Speaker 7: the year.
Speaker 3: We were on the road, I mean moving constantly.
Speaker 5: We also played Las Vegas, yes and UH, which which
Speaker 5: a lot of the artists weren't doing, but that was
Speaker 5: one of the one of the offers that we got
Speaker 5: and uh we ended up playing the Main Room UH
Speaker 5: as one of the healthy acts fort for Frank Sinatra,
Speaker 5: And that was another way that we were introduced to
Speaker 5: the U, to the country at large.
Speaker 3: And then we did a lot of we did We did.
Speaker 5: A number of concerts just around around the country and
Speaker 5: a lot of riding around on buses.
Speaker 2: Right, really, okay, when when you're doing uh, okay, if
Speaker 2: you're opening for Frank Sinatra, I know that we interviewed
Speaker 2: uh the Jackson's some time ago on the show, and
Speaker 2: I know that their experience with doing Vegas was that,
Speaker 2: you know, they had to sort of expand their repertoire somewhat,
Speaker 2: do more show tunes, do more balance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2: So would you have to change the show specifically for
Speaker 2: Vegas audience or was it pretty consistent the same show
Speaker 2: that you would do for colleges? Were they the same
Speaker 2: for Las Vegas or your nightclub act.
Speaker 5: We wouldn't do the for colleges. We would do more
Speaker 5: of our recorded material, our songs that were recorded material.
Speaker 5: Then we would mix mix up our show with songs
Speaker 5: that were high rhythm, high energy, and and uh Billy
Speaker 5: to get out there and start singing a lot of
Speaker 5: his soul things, and Florence and I dancing and shaking.
Speaker 3: So it changed. It depends upon where we were working.
Speaker 3: We would would change for Vegas.
Speaker 7: We would do more of a production kind of a show.
Speaker 7: You know, we would put some production uh quality into
Speaker 7: the into the show, like a song that we did
Speaker 7: called Old to Old to Billy Joe, you know, and each.
Speaker 8: One of us took apart so it looked like a
Speaker 8: theater piece in Vegas, and it kept the audience right there,
Speaker 8: you know, because they wanted to see what each character
Speaker 8: was doing, you know, and then after that piece, we
Speaker 8: would come up with one of our hits or something
Speaker 8: like that, you know, bring them back down to where
Speaker 8: we're at, you know.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we would do that.
Speaker 2: We also know that you're one of the few acts
Speaker 2: that you know, doing doing a residency on Broadway is
Speaker 2: usually a special occasion. I mean, it rarely happens now,
Speaker 2: Like Bruce Springsteen, I had had a one man show
Speaker 2: recently before the pandemic more Broadway, but you guys were
Speaker 2: definitely one of the first acts to do like a
Speaker 2: residency there. Well, I think I'm trying to lead up
Speaker 2: to why you two were so natural when you guys
Speaker 2: got your own variety special in terms of like doing
Speaker 2: more than just performing your songs, like jokes would be
Speaker 2: you know in the show and little sketches and whatnot,
Speaker 2: Like did that prepare you for that, especially with when
Speaker 2: you did your Broadway residency or we.
Speaker 5: Had a wonderful man by the name of Renee Knight
Speaker 5: who worked with the group and helped helped taught us
Speaker 5: a lot about the entertainment business and about what made
Speaker 5: what made shows work, and we would get together and
Speaker 5: come up with with songs that Renee came up.
Speaker 3: With the idea of Odabilly Jill you remember that.
Speaker 5: Oh, she was the one who realized that there were
Speaker 5: five characters and that in the song.
Speaker 3: And then and we.
Speaker 5: Were able to put those five characters together and and
Speaker 5: do that song. And h he had been with a
Speaker 5: group called the Delta Rhythm Boys who were very, very
Speaker 5: successful h in Europe, and he when he came and
Speaker 5: saw us and saw what we were about, he just
Speaker 5: felt like, you know, he wanted to work with us
Speaker 5: and teach us some of the things that he knew
Speaker 5: about how to make live shows really work for your
Speaker 5: audiences and how to mix the music up. And Renee.
Speaker 5: We give a lot of credit to Renee for helping
Speaker 5: to teach us about the business and about how it
Speaker 5: worked and and how to make it work. You know
Speaker 5: when you talk about when we did that residency on Broadway, Yeah,
Speaker 5: we were working with a dancer. His name was Jojo Smith.
Speaker 3: You remember jo Smith?
Speaker 1: I can't say I've heard of them.
Speaker 5: Okay, Well, Jojo Smith had a dancing company and one
Speaker 5: of the members of his dancing dancing company was a
Speaker 5: young woman by the name of Debbie Allen.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And that was how we.
Speaker 5: Met Debbie and we when we did our residency, we
Speaker 5: were on Broadway for a month and we had came
Speaker 5: up with the idea of having a dancing company be
Speaker 5: our opening for the show, because again, it was a
Speaker 5: nice balance and a difference of entertainment and it made
Speaker 5: for a very entertaining show. And that was how we
Speaker 5: That was, That was what we did on Broadway.
Speaker 3: That was yes, yes, yes, it was.
Speaker 1: I see, I see.
Speaker 4: Can I just ask how did you? I just want
Speaker 4: to know how you guys figured out your life physical aesthetic,
Speaker 4: like for your live shows, for your album covers, like
Speaker 4: what was the decision behind the outfits and how everything
Speaker 4: would come together?
Speaker 7: Well, you know, when when it when it came to
Speaker 7: to our live shows, we we were known for wearing
Speaker 7: these different type of outfits, you know, right from the beginning.
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, they dressed us funny, you know,
Speaker 7: but they were dressers in the same colors, but more
Speaker 7: to our personalities.
Speaker 3: You know, So what was your color? What was your color?
Speaker 7: Billy outfit would be a little different, and that that
Speaker 7: was our theme, you know, And and then all of
Speaker 7: a sudden, they got a little bit more sophisticated as
Speaker 7: we as we stayed into the business well longer, you know,
Speaker 7: they became sleeker and you know, different colors like that,
Speaker 7: and they would and they would put those on the
Speaker 7: album covers and and I guess the rec the record
Speaker 7: company would say, hey, you know, put on the album.
Speaker 7: Come because if they see it at album, they know
Speaker 7: they'll notice the fit dimension.
Speaker 3: I would love to say that.
Speaker 5: You know. The idea for that of dressing and different
Speaker 5: different in the themes was actually Lamont's Lamont Matamore because
Speaker 5: we were getting ready to work in a club in
Speaker 5: la and the group was not It was nothing famous
Speaker 5: at that time, and so we had this job, but
Speaker 5: we didn't have any outfits, and so it was like,
Speaker 5: oh my god, what are we going to do? So
Speaker 5: Lamont came up with this idea. He said, hey, well,
Speaker 5: everybody has got something black and white in your closet,
Speaker 5: so why don't we take take an outfit and everybody
Speaker 5: wear black and white.
Speaker 3: And you just wear whatever you want to wear.
Speaker 5: And that was what we worked that night at that
Speaker 5: club and we all had on black and white and
Speaker 5: there was a guy in the audience by the name
Speaker 5: of Boyd Clapton and he was a designer. And he
Speaker 5: came backstage afterwards and he said, I love your idea.
Speaker 5: You know, you took this theme about black and white, but.
Speaker 3: You each wore your own personalities.
Speaker 5: And he said, I would love to try to design
Speaker 5: something for you. He said, would you let me design
Speaker 5: an outfit using that kind of idea?
Speaker 3: And that was how that evolved. And he would come
Speaker 3: up with sketches and different things like that and show
Speaker 3: him to us before he would make them.
Speaker 5: You know, we would okay, and and each one shot
Speaker 5: that would be more in keeping with the with the
Speaker 5: personality of the singer.
Speaker 4: Wow, how long did he stay with you guys?
Speaker 3: Make that was with us for a long time at least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Actually, I'm glad you asked that, Like
Speaker 2: I always wanted to know.
Speaker 1: Questions.
Speaker 5: There were so many amazing things that that happened, the
Speaker 5: people that we met, the people who came involved became
Speaker 5: involved with the group, the people who crossed our paths,
Speaker 5: and it was truly I feel like the fifth dimension
Speaker 5: was truly blessed.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, well I always wanted to know. Okay,
Speaker 2: so I know again, in today's the times that we
Speaker 2: live in today. There are entourages, there's you know, assistance,
Speaker 2: there's wardrobe people, there's blah.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah blahlah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: But I know that at least back then, it was
Speaker 2: sort of like self contained and artists were responsible for
Speaker 2: their own outfits and whatnot. So when you are extensively
Speaker 2: touring and you have these outfits and whatnot, like, how
Speaker 2: do you how do you how's the upkeep? Like, are
Speaker 2: you guys the ones that have to iron your stuff
Speaker 2: before the show? Run to the cleaners in between cities
Speaker 2: and whatnot? Like or was there a wardrobe person on detail?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 7: No, we's no way could we had done, but we
Speaker 7: would do because we ended up having to.
Speaker 3: Take a wardrobe person with us on the road.
Speaker 7: You know, they took care of all the while we
Speaker 7: were doing our sound checks and getting into the theaters
Speaker 7: and different things like that. They were backstage taking the
Speaker 7: outfits out of the trump and and you know of them.
Speaker 1: So you guys were high level. Okay, I get it.
Speaker 1: They did their own stuff to that point.
Speaker 4: Was there ever pressure on you Maryland and Florence to
Speaker 4: make sure that y'all looked as amazing as y'all did
Speaker 4: in these outfits.
Speaker 5: Well, we you know, we we would sit in that
Speaker 5: in that mirror and make.
Speaker 3: Sure we look. Yeah. The pressure that I mean.
Speaker 5: Not to not to not to make iron the dresses
Speaker 5: and iron the guards.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no, I meant to look good in
Speaker 4: the outfits.
Speaker 1: Not yes, yes, that's what I meant.
Speaker 3: Well, we tried our.
Speaker 5: Best, and of course, uh with with BOYD coming in
Speaker 5: with his ideas, you know, looking at our bodies and
Speaker 5: trying to think what's going.
Speaker 3: To work the best on the body? Right right?
Speaker 7: You know that's that's the great part of having a designer,
Speaker 7: because they fit the outfit to your body.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm learning that's a grown up thing, learning about
Speaker 4: tailors and whatnot and has.
Speaker 1: Man. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2: Wait, okay, I know, okay, so I know that that
Speaker 2: uh Laura Niro wrote the song, but I always wanted
Speaker 2: to know, and you know, I've seen you guys performing
Speaker 2: millions of times on the show and and whatnot, but
Speaker 2: the significance of wedding bell Blues and and its popularity,
Speaker 2: I'm certain that you guys always get asked like, was
Speaker 2: was this song just a platform from Maryland to put
Speaker 2: Billy on the spot about marriage and whatnot, even though
Speaker 2: I believe you guys were probably married at the time.
Speaker 1: Sixty nine when that came up, So it was the
Speaker 1: same year.
Speaker 2: Yes, whose idea was it to do that song and
Speaker 2: the whole marry Me bill and all those things like,
Speaker 2: because it was kind of unheard of at the time
Speaker 2: where it's in reverse and the woman is asking the
Speaker 2: man to for you know, marriage.
Speaker 5: Well, actually, Lauren Niro wrote that for a bill in
Speaker 5: her life.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, right, I thought you customized it just for
Speaker 2: the years that I didn't realize that, okay.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: She wrote it, and she released it as a single
Speaker 5: and it it did well in California, but not across
Speaker 5: the country because Bones, how our producer came to us
Speaker 5: with the idea of, you know, Billy and I were
Speaker 5: going together and he thought, oh, how cute it would
Speaker 5: be for Maryland to sing wedding belt blues to Billy.
Speaker 5: So and we said the Bones it sar been out
Speaker 5: and it wasn't a hit. He said, no, it wasn't.
Speaker 3: He said.
Speaker 5: It was a hit in California, he said, but it
Speaker 5: wasn't a hit across the country. So we went in
Speaker 5: and recorded it and put it on the album, and
Speaker 5: it ended up being picked as one of the singles.
Speaker 1: I see now.
Speaker 6: I read in another interview that you two did that Maryland.
Speaker 6: You were the one that was actually a little skittish
Speaker 6: about marriage, but Billy was all in.
Speaker 3: Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 7: I was all into it, you know? But you know
Speaker 7: how many bills that I've met since we got married? Man?
Speaker 3: For real?
Speaker 2: Because you guys were bandmates before you became married. Was
Speaker 2: there ever ever a thought of this might be a
Speaker 2: conflict of interest? Like if you're dating now, then if
Speaker 2: we break up, then it's going to be awkward in
Speaker 2: the group.
Speaker 1: Like how what was the awkward factor?
Speaker 2: Because I mean, you guys have been in the band
Speaker 2: since sixty five, but you got married in sixty nine.
Speaker 1: Like what eventually led to that marriage?
Speaker 2: How do you maintain a business relationship and you know,
Speaker 2: keep the marriage happy so to speak?
Speaker 1: Now I need Jill and I.
Speaker 5: Started becoming friends, right. We would go to rehearsal together,
Speaker 5: and we would we spend a lot of time driving
Speaker 5: back and forth to rehearsal. And not only that, but
Speaker 5: after rehearsal sometimes we go to parties and Billy and
Speaker 5: I found ourselves, spending a lot of time with each
Speaker 5: other just talking and laughing and talking about our lives
Speaker 5: and you know, how we felt about music and how
Speaker 5: we'd wanted to sing all of our lives.
Speaker 7: And what we wanted to do and like and you know,
Speaker 7: just share it with each other in our dreams, you know,
Speaker 7: and and our passions. But but we would be at
Speaker 7: parties and the party would be jumping in Maryland and
Speaker 7: sitting on the couch talking.
Speaker 3: People must have thought, were weird. That's stuff, that's stuff
Speaker 3: right into ourselves, you know, And uh, we've been like
Speaker 3: that ever since.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 3: So we were we were friends.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and then when we started really kind of realizing
Speaker 5: that it was developing into something more than friendship, we
Speaker 5: kind of thought.
Speaker 3: We said to each other, are we going to mess
Speaker 3: this outh? Yeah, this is a dangerous thing to do.
Speaker 3: You know, you mess this up, this thing up, because
Speaker 3: you know, you can create a mess in the group.
Speaker 3: That's that's that's going strong.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: We all we need is a big argument, you know,
Speaker 3: it's anything crazy and it's over, you know. But uh,
Speaker 3: but but by that time, we we couldn't stop our friendship.
Speaker 3: Our friendship a stronger than anything else.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know my parents, My parents had been
Speaker 5: married for twenty four years and then they got a divorce,
Speaker 5: and I thought, I don't know if this marriage thing
Speaker 5: is just.
Speaker 1: Scary, right, But you know.
Speaker 7: On the other hand, I wasn't worried about it because
Speaker 7: my parents have been married for sixty eight years.
Speaker 3: Wow, from my own you.
Speaker 4: Know, that's a lot of pressure on your kids.
Speaker 6: Yeah, man, I was curious to know how y'all keep from, say,
Speaker 6: if y'all have an argument or disagreement about something in
Speaker 6: the studio, over something musically, or something in your career,
Speaker 6: how do you keep those disagreements in your person and
Speaker 6: your professional life from bleeding over into your personal life.
Speaker 7: It's a good question, you know, a very good question,
Speaker 7: because those things have happened, you know, but when they
Speaker 7: do happen, we have to realize that that's a moment,
Speaker 7: that's a moment in time. Those things happen to people
Speaker 7: who are in the in the industry, especially people who
Speaker 7: work together. You know, that has when when things has
Speaker 7: happened for one and and and hasn't happened for the other,
Speaker 7: you just have to live with that, you know. Most
Speaker 7: of all, you have to be thankful. The easiest way
Speaker 7: to get over that is be thankful for that one
Speaker 7: that's getting it, you know, and uh, and then you
Speaker 7: can get over the right quick of being thankful.
Speaker 3: Did it always come that easy to y'all?
Speaker 5: Well, you know, like sometimes before we go on stage,
Speaker 5: Billy and I would be angry, we would be locked.
Speaker 2: In battle, right, But then how do you sing Wedding
Speaker 2: bell Blues to him? Because I know you want to
Speaker 2: kill him. I know that song is such a staple
Speaker 2: for your careers and you have to sell it like
Speaker 2: you're singing to him and he's doing the act or whatever,
Speaker 2: like if if there's an argument that happens, how do
Speaker 2: you sell that song?
Speaker 3: Well, you know you can't take that out on the stage.
Speaker 3: You can't.
Speaker 9: And so we say, I say, you know, you know
Speaker 9: that's that's always the word. Yeah, you're right, Yeah we will.
Speaker 9: You know, when you get out on.
Speaker 3: Stage and start singing, disappear, you can't be angry. But
Speaker 3: could you be angry afterwards?
Speaker 1: Like if you have done all that on stage? Like
Speaker 1: could you could you? Could you get back in? Yes?
Speaker 2: Boy Bill, I can't wait till we do the new
Speaker 2: edition episode because I got a story from you for that.
Speaker 3: I was like, now we got to get back into this.
Speaker 3: And then you get backstage and you say.
Speaker 1: We are we're working, Remember yeah, because I work with
Speaker 1: my girlfriend. It's the same thing, like I don't know
Speaker 1: what we're arguing about.
Speaker 7: And then and then you you know that being anyway,
Speaker 7: you know most of the arguments that that couples have
Speaker 7: a pendy they really are. But I'll tell you think
Speaker 7: about it once the argument is over and you get
Speaker 7: away from it, and you think, well, what was that about?
Speaker 3: Why did I do that?
Speaker 7: It didn't mean nothing if I could have only thought
Speaker 7: about that before we got into it. But a lot
Speaker 7: of times our egos won't let us do that, so
Speaker 7: we've got to carry it out. We can win the battle,
Speaker 7: but you might lose the wallow write.
Speaker 1: That down wise words.
Speaker 2: Amen, But in a group, from a group standpoint, and
Speaker 2: it's five of you, how are you guys able to
Speaker 2: like is it all of us have to be unanimous
Speaker 2: and deciding on something like how how are sort of
Speaker 2: decisions made for.
Speaker 1: Songs or album titles or you know, can we make
Speaker 1: this gig?
Speaker 5: Like? Is it?
Speaker 1: Is it democracy?
Speaker 2: Or is it like is there someone that actually is
Speaker 2: the the alpha leader of the group that makes the
Speaker 2: decisions for the things.
Speaker 3: Democracy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we used to we used to laugh about.
Speaker 5: We used to say laugh about how we would say
Speaker 5: we met more.
Speaker 3: Than the u N Yeah, it was definitely a democracy.
Speaker 7: I mean we we agreed that the one who, uh,
Speaker 7: the majority who who came up with it.
Speaker 3: That was the way we went.
Speaker 7: You know, yeah, we we we talked about all of
Speaker 7: our jobs. You know, we agreed to disagree whatever.
Speaker 5: But most of the time, like with with the things
Speaker 5: that pertain to uh to the career part, like with
Speaker 5: the title of the album and what with the songs,
Speaker 5: the final songs that were going to be on the project.
Speaker 3: Most of the time, the the record company.
Speaker 5: Would make that decision, you know, we we would work
Speaker 5: on it and then we'd say, you know what, we're
Speaker 5: not record you know, we don't know how to run
Speaker 5: a record company. We know how to make the music
Speaker 5: and let them choose what's gonna what's gonna self.
Speaker 3: Well, that was probably the best.
Speaker 7: That was the best way for the group anyway, because
Speaker 7: putting all five people together talking about which one is
Speaker 7: the best one out there?
Speaker 3: You know, then the fight started, I see it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we don't want that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that okay. So that leads me to nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy five. What was the process of you two leaving
Speaker 2: the group and going duo.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, that was a that was a tough decision,
Speaker 7: very tough for us, because I don't remember all three
Speaker 7: of the guys from Saint Louis. I mean, we were
Speaker 7: like family. We knew each other when we were kids,
Speaker 7: you know, and uh kind of migrated to Los Angeles
Speaker 7: at different times and ended up being in a group
Speaker 7: and so and and and and and meeting Maryland and
Speaker 7: Florence and being a part of the family. So they
Speaker 7: we were like a family. But we were a family
Speaker 7: who's who had dreams. It's like any families somebody who
Speaker 7: have dreams. Like my whole dream was to come out
Speaker 7: to be a solo singer with more time, you know.
Speaker 7: But Maryland's dream was to be a solo singer with
Speaker 7: whatever we called and come that she could get what
Speaker 7: that would receive her as her as a solo singer,
Speaker 7: you know, a pop singer.
Speaker 3: But and uh, so we thought about it.
Speaker 7: And after ten years, we thought, will we ever fulfilled
Speaker 7: the dream that we really started with? Uh, you know,
Speaker 7: would we be the ones to come up with the
Speaker 7: saying that said, if I had only I should have
Speaker 7: would have should have I should have?
Speaker 3: You know, you always had it in the back of
Speaker 3: your mind. Could we have done this on our own?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 7: So we decided and then that at the particular time
Speaker 7: that that was, that was everybody in the group wanted
Speaker 7: to do more, you know, so that that thing was happening,
Speaker 7: you know, so we decided, well, you know, it's it's
Speaker 7: about time for us to to to kind of strike
Speaker 7: out on our own and see what we can do ourselves.
Speaker 2: Did you guys still maintain the friendship after you guys
Speaker 2: left the group in seventy five, Yeah, yes, we did.
Speaker 5: It took a couple It took a couple of years
Speaker 5: before we you know, because there were hurt feelings and
Speaker 5: which was understandable.
Speaker 3: We could understand that.
Speaker 5: But we're very close as family now.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you know, we got through.
Speaker 6: We're just still surviving members. Just who's still surviving alone
Speaker 6: with you guys of the group? Is everyone still alive?
Speaker 3: Not everyone? Ron Townshend has passed away.
Speaker 1: They gave a big one with the beard, right, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: That's the way and all the rest of the other
Speaker 7: four are still living, so is like, in fact, we
Speaker 7: talked to her, but did so Ago and Lamont is
Speaker 7: staying in Las Vegas, and we talked to him not
Speaker 7: too long ago, so we are still were still very close.
Speaker 3: We're very close.
Speaker 2: I have one fifth Dimension question that actually has to
Speaker 2: do with when you guys left left the group, Okay,
Speaker 2: but I'm hoping you can answer this for me because
Speaker 2: it's been killing me. Okay, So this came out when
Speaker 2: I was five years old, so I really even though
Speaker 2: I kind of had an adult's knowledge of music.
Speaker 1: At the age of five, this always killed me. Am I?
Speaker 1: Am I dreaming?
Speaker 2: Or did the Fifth Dimension actually have a version of
Speaker 2: Love Hangover before Dinah Ross did? Because I could have
Speaker 2: sworn I've seen them on American Bandstand doing Love Hangover?
Speaker 2: And I was just confused at the time, and it's
Speaker 2: almost like I didn't hear of it. Am I dreaming
Speaker 2: of that?
Speaker 3: Or this was after Billy and I had left the girl.
Speaker 2: After you left. I was just hoping you might know
Speaker 2: the answer to that. You're going to give you the answer,
Speaker 2: So I wasn't dreaming, Okay.
Speaker 3: Did have a version of Love hang Over?
Speaker 5: And Florence sang the lead on it right, and they
Speaker 5: released it as a single right around the same time
Speaker 5: Motown decided to release Diana Ross's version of Love Right.
Speaker 5: And that's why you were confused as a child, because
Speaker 5: you said.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, now, I wasn't crazy.
Speaker 4: It doesn't sound so different.
Speaker 1: You listen to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, why did I just bothered to Yeah, all right,
Speaker 2: I'm asking that question. And I was like, number one
Speaker 2: that occur.
Speaker 7: To me to.
Speaker 1: Number ones that I did occur to me. Why don't
Speaker 1: you just YouTuber.
Speaker 2: You're learning of mirror one day you go into the
Speaker 2: stores where not what I was saying, like, I remember
Speaker 2: them doing it on American Bandstand. I remember my mom
Speaker 2: really loving that song when they did it, and I
Speaker 2: remember them doing a few times on like variety shows,
Speaker 2: and then like yeah, when I was in first grade,
Speaker 2: like a year when I was six, and suddenly like, oh,
Speaker 2: it was Dona Ross's song. And then in my mind,
Speaker 2: I was like, wait, was I watching Dona Ross do
Speaker 2: it the whole time? And maybe not, but I knew
Speaker 2: in my mind I always associated love Hangover with the
Speaker 2: Fifth Dimension.
Speaker 4: I just thought I was and although this is the
Speaker 4: Fifth Dimension version with the mones y'all cold, y'all put
Speaker 4: the mones in there too. No, I mean, okay, okay,
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, inappropriate and inappropriate excuse me?
Speaker 3: Sorry?
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So in going solo, well, first of all, let it
Speaker 2: let it be known that the very first time that
Speaker 2: I ever saw Jay Leno.
Speaker 1: Was on the Billy Davis Junior Marilyn mccous show. Could
Speaker 1: you all right?
Speaker 2: So for our listeners out there that are that are listening,
Speaker 2: can you explain the the value or the importance of
Speaker 2: the variety show in the seventies? Like, I know that
Speaker 2: now we live in a reality show kind of environment,
Speaker 2: But when I was growing up, I remember like Last
Speaker 2: Night and the Pips having a variety show. I remember
Speaker 2: Flip Wilson, Tony Orlando and Dawn like Shields and Yard Nell,
Speaker 2: like everyone had the Jackson's. Everyone had a variety show.
Speaker 2: What was the like, was that a desire for you
Speaker 2: guys or was it like this is going to take
Speaker 2: you guys to the next level?
Speaker 1: What was the big deal with variety shows?
Speaker 5: I think that, yeah, I think that that was that
Speaker 5: was the thing to do at that time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: We would basically the first black couple to really have
Speaker 3: a variety show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the industry, you know.
Speaker 7: And it was a summer replacement show, and we had
Speaker 7: six shows to do and we and we and we
Speaker 7: completed that and uh, but but doing television was was
Speaker 7: was good. The only thing that that that was a
Speaker 7: little a bit confusing for us was having to learn
Speaker 7: songs so quick, you know, because for the television you
Speaker 7: have to learn the song almost like that week and
Speaker 7: then performing that way that week, you know. And uh,
Speaker 7: we used to spend a little bit more time on
Speaker 7: songs to kind of make those songs us you know,
Speaker 7: make it, make it, we can get some meat out
Speaker 7: of it, you know, right.
Speaker 3: But that that was the only thing outside of that.
Speaker 7: We were ready for it because we love We enjoyed
Speaker 7: doing the skits and you know, all of the funny
Speaker 7: stuff and the love songs.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it was good. It was good. But that
Speaker 3: us being the first one. Then after that a lot
Speaker 3: of these other shows started coming on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but like you were saying about Jay Meno, so
Speaker 5: so what we did with our skits, because you always
Speaker 5: had to have a little humor in the show, right,
Speaker 5: And so the idea was, since we had spent so
Speaker 5: much time on the road. Why not make the road
Speaker 5: experience be part of your your humor in the show.
Speaker 5: And uh, Jay Leno came along. He was a young
Speaker 5: unknown comic at the time, and we ended up he
Speaker 5: ended up being our playing our tour managed.
Speaker 1: And he would always give you guys like weird assignments.
Speaker 3: That was like remember that we get lost somewhere, you know,
Speaker 3: on the road.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally remember that.
Speaker 2: And you guys were in the show the same way, right,
Speaker 2: Like you guys would say good night like was it
Speaker 2: in like in bed?
Speaker 10: Like yeah, that was like it would be like at
Speaker 10: the end of the day, like right, you know, and
Speaker 10: getting ready to say good night to one another, you know,
Speaker 10: singing a song, singing the love and then turning off
Speaker 10: the light.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: Right. Wait, you said that was only six episodes in
Speaker 1: the summer.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, so weird.
Speaker 2: Like am I again like in my mind I'm thinking like,
Speaker 2: oh that that was on for like four or five years.
Speaker 2: I I well, I mean we watched it religiously in
Speaker 2: the crit in the house.
Speaker 1: So okay. I see.
Speaker 7: That's the power of television because you know, you can
Speaker 7: show them over and over and over every run.
Speaker 3: Yeah, people think that they happened. There's something there's more
Speaker 3: than just six you know.
Speaker 2: Are you guys aware of the kind of the status
Speaker 2: I'll say that in in like dancehall reggae culture, I
Speaker 2: Hope we get to Love and Time kind of has
Speaker 2: a different meaning in the Islands, Like that song it's
Speaker 2: been covered so many times by like various singers in
Speaker 2: Jamaica that were you guys even aware of how big
Speaker 2: that song is over there or at least the mountain covers,
Speaker 2: Like there's.
Speaker 1: A least.
Speaker 3: We've never heard it. I'd love to hear it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's almost it's kind of like a
Speaker 2: staple like that's that's that's one of the ballots you
Speaker 2: have to sing, if you you know, if you're kind
Speaker 2: of in the at least around like the early eighties,
Speaker 2: suddenly there was like just a onslought of I Hope
Speaker 2: we get to Love and Time.
Speaker 3: No idea, No, we didn't know it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh okay, yeah, I was going to say that
Speaker 2: with with your Love and You Don't have to be started?
Speaker 2: Was it was it different or did you guys at
Speaker 2: least have more creative control in the songs that you
Speaker 2: wanted to do outside of the Bell label where they
Speaker 2: mostly made the decisions for you. What was the difference
Speaker 2: in coming to ABC than it was for Bell.
Speaker 11: Well, basically, you know what we were with ABC. The
Speaker 11: smith was the it was what do you call it
Speaker 11: his position?
Speaker 3: Ye man?
Speaker 7: And when he when he picked Don Davis to be
Speaker 7: our producer. But yeah, well yeah, Don Davis he producer.
Speaker 7: I hope we get to Love and Time album, but
Speaker 7: he would. He came to us with a bunch of songs,
Speaker 7: and you don't have to be a star was was
Speaker 7: one of them. And right naturally when we heard that.
Speaker 3: We thought, boy, this is this is clever, you know,
Speaker 3: what a great saying. You don't have to be a
Speaker 3: star to be in my show, you know, And it
Speaker 3: just it just seemed a bit you know.
Speaker 7: And but we always thought that I hope we get
Speaker 7: to Love and Time would be the statement that we
Speaker 7: wanted to make because Maryland and me and knowing from
Speaker 7: the love songs, you know, and uh, come to find
Speaker 7: out that you don't have to be a star was
Speaker 7: was the major hit offs that Yeah you did behind
Speaker 7: that became another hit was your.
Speaker 2: Love, Yeah, your Love and your little gospel uh riffs
Speaker 2: at the end of it. I've seen that a lot
Speaker 2: in the second grade. Sorry, do you remember it all?
Speaker 2: I'm I'm a big fan also of Frank Wilson. Uh,
Speaker 2: his production work, especially what you know he worked on
Speaker 2: like a lot of Eddie Kendrick's solo stuff.
Speaker 1: Yes, he's the prime producer. What was it like working
Speaker 1: with Frank Wilson?
Speaker 3: Frank was a good friend. Yes, yes, Frank was not
Speaker 3: only a good friend. You know, Frank ended up becoming
Speaker 3: a preacher, a pastor.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was. He was very instrumental in Maryland and
Speaker 3: me becoming Christians, you know. Okay, that was his assignment,
Speaker 3: I guess in his life to bring as many entertained
Speaker 3: as christ as he could.
Speaker 7: And uh, and that was a good thing for us,
Speaker 7: you know, because it's one of the things that really
Speaker 7: kept us even closer than than we really are.
Speaker 3: Wow, love for our faith, you know.
Speaker 7: And but Frank was the producer of the two of
Speaker 7: Us album that we did, and we found out later
Speaker 7: on that there was a song on on that album
Speaker 7: called Wonderful right, and it was more of an R
Speaker 7: and B flavor, you know, kind of kind of song.
Speaker 7: And we found out that that song was.
Speaker 3: A major hit in Germany. We never we never even
Speaker 3: knew it.
Speaker 1: Oh really no, we never knew it.
Speaker 12: We were on a ship doing a doing a cruise
Speaker 12: and this German guy was on on the hit come
Speaker 12: and he asked us, He said, you guys want to
Speaker 12: sing wonderful.
Speaker 1: We looked at and you had no idea show.
Speaker 3: We hadn't even thought about it, you know, he said, Yes,
Speaker 3: a big hit in Germany, big hit.
Speaker 5: One of the fun things about working with Frank was
Speaker 5: that we love.
Speaker 3: We all love.
Speaker 5: We all loved picking unusual songs and uh, Frank would.
Speaker 5: Frank brought some unusual songs to us and things that
Speaker 5: we found fun, fun to do and kind of wacky,
Speaker 5: kind of different.
Speaker 3: We didn't end up with a hit with a good
Speaker 3: time singing those songs because they were different, Yes, you know,
Speaker 3: they were different. But the one love song that we
Speaker 3: did love was.
Speaker 7: For you.
Speaker 3: What what is it?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Now, I was going to ask about saving all my
Speaker 2: love for you? I know that you guys had that
Speaker 2: first before Whitney Houston did.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we did, yeah.
Speaker 1: And yeah, like, how how did you guys come across
Speaker 1: that song?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 3: My gosh.
Speaker 5: Michael Master wrote the song and oh gosh, now now
Speaker 5: you got me, You got me on that one. I
Speaker 5: don't remember how that's song was brought to us, do
Speaker 5: you remember?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I think I think we ran into Michael Mass somewhere
Speaker 7: and he wanted to produce us and he and he
Speaker 7: wanted us to do that that song and another song
Speaker 7: that I did. I forgot the name of it. The
Speaker 7: song was my reason to be iss.
Speaker 3: That's Frank songs on the two of Us album.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 7: We always thought that that would be one of the
Speaker 7: greatest love songs that we had recorded.
Speaker 5: You know, but saving all my love for you, well, yeah,
Speaker 5: we went into the studio with Michael and and uh Whitney.
Speaker 1: Whitney turned that song out, Yes, yes, to say the least,
Speaker 1: to save the least.
Speaker 3: He did a beautiful job on that. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, of course, you know, of course we've ever missed.
Speaker 2: If we didn't mention that, Carlam and Coup I guess
Speaker 2: around eighty two eighty three replaced Dion Warik as the
Speaker 2: host of Solid Gold.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: I knew he was going salad go.
Speaker 3: Yes, could you.
Speaker 2: Talk about the experience of how that came to be?
Speaker 2: And I mean, you know that was such a legendary show.
Speaker 2: And at the time when you were hosting practically any
Speaker 2: artist worth their weight in gold. I mean even Prince,
Speaker 2: who was notorious for snubbing shows like had to do
Speaker 2: Solid Gold twice.
Speaker 1: So what's that whole experience?
Speaker 3: Like, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 5: Of course, Dion did it for the first year and
Speaker 5: she and well, actually, let's see Dion and I'm going
Speaker 5: to Gibb, Dion and Glenny Campbell. That did I think
Speaker 5: they did the first year? The first I don't even
Speaker 5: think they did the first year. I think they did
Speaker 5: the I think they they introduced the show. But then
Speaker 5: I don't know what happened with with Dion and Glenn.
Speaker 5: But but Dion ended up hosting the first year, right,
Speaker 5: and then after that, I don't I don't know the
Speaker 5: inner workings because I came in after all that was
Speaker 5: going on, and uh, the producers had decided that they
Speaker 5: wanted to and they wanted Andy Gibb to be the
Speaker 5: to be the host, and then they thought about combining.
Speaker 5: They liked the idea of Dion and Glenn.
Speaker 3: They liked the the the male and female right male
Speaker 3: female and.
Speaker 5: Anyway, so they auditioned me with with with Andy and
Speaker 5: they liked the combination, and so I ended up doing
Speaker 5: that first year with with Andy and and they liked it.
Speaker 3: But at the end of the first year, Andy.
Speaker 5: Moved on he was had having some issues, right, and
Speaker 5: so then I ended up doing this I don't need
Speaker 5: to take you through.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's we're here for it.
Speaker 3: The Rick Smith and I co hosted the show the next.
Speaker 1: Year Rick Smith or Rick d No, right, Rex Smith,
Speaker 1: I toally forgot about that, okay later later right.
Speaker 3: So then Rex and I did it the second year
Speaker 3: and then the third year.
Speaker 5: They were trying to decide who who I should work
Speaker 5: with on the third year, and then they decided that
Speaker 5: that they would just go with me, and so then
Speaker 5: I was I was with a solid goal for those
Speaker 5: next three years.
Speaker 4: That's the only years I remember.
Speaker 2: The years I was Yeah, well, because y'all were children,
Speaker 2: What was this? What was the scheduling uh into? Because
Speaker 2: I mean, because they were celebrating the charts. Was it
Speaker 2: all year round or was it like seasonal?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was it was seasonal.
Speaker 5: We would we would do the shows we would do
Speaker 5: we would tape every other week and we would go
Speaker 5: with the charts and what was big at that time,
Speaker 5: and uh, we would we would tape Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,
Speaker 5: and then uh, then the following week would be off.
Speaker 5: I'd go out and work. Billy and I would go
Speaker 5: out and work, and then I'd come back and we
Speaker 5: feature the next songs that were popular then and that
Speaker 5: I see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so but it was basically just it was a
Speaker 1: good experience in doing that.
Speaker 5: I enjoy that a lot because, uh, like you said,
Speaker 5: everybody came on and did the shows and you know
Speaker 5: your your your. I remember when Madonna came on, and
Speaker 5: of course I remember Prince being there, and that was
Speaker 5: that was I don't I didn't get a chance to
Speaker 5: really spend any time with Prince because he's kind of
Speaker 5: it was kind of shy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but still it was. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: And the dancers, of course, were just amazing.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, how nice was Darcel Wayne.
Speaker 2: She was sort of like a unicorn in that, you know,
Speaker 2: probably next to Cheryl's song on Soul Train. Darcel Wayne
Speaker 2: was probably the most popular dancer on Solid Goal. But
Speaker 2: you never heard of anything I've earned in the press
Speaker 2: or anything. So it's just like this woman with this
Speaker 2: beautiful long hair on the show, and then I didn't
Speaker 2: hear much from her afterwards, like was she.
Speaker 5: You know, what was she like still out there she's
Speaker 5: dancing and she I don't. I haven't seen Darcela in
Speaker 5: quite a while.
Speaker 1: But she was.
Speaker 5: She was a pleasure to work with and she was
Speaker 5: just beautiful, just awesome to watch. I mean, her dancing
Speaker 5: was just amazing, and uh it was I enjoyed the experience.
Speaker 7: I enjoyed it too because I got a chance to
Speaker 7: be on the show quite a few times myself.
Speaker 3: Right, those are the advantages. We would Billy would come
Speaker 3: on and we would sing our duets.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I love that.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It should also be noted that Casper the even even
Speaker 2: though Jeffrey Daniels sort of gets the glory for teaching
Speaker 2: Michael Jackson how to do the womb Wark moon walk,
Speaker 2: it was it was actually, uh Casper, who was a
Speaker 2: dancer on Solid Gold that really, you know, taught Michael
Speaker 2: the aesthetics on how to do the moon walk.
Speaker 3: He was also okay, I didn't even know that.
Speaker 4: Dancers.
Speaker 13: This is my wealth of useless knowledge right right now,
Speaker 13: like this moment, right now, only for this specific moment.
Speaker 1: So also wanted to know. I know that you guys.
Speaker 2: Went through to your gospel phase shortly thereafter, in the
Speaker 2: mid to late eighties and in the nineties, I recall
Speaker 2: I believe you guys as the Fifth Dimension reunited.
Speaker 1: What was like, What was that process like in reuniting
Speaker 1: the group, and how was it?
Speaker 5: There was a special moment moment I think that would
Speaker 5: that says it all. The first time we got back
Speaker 5: together and we started talking about we were going to
Speaker 5: do this reunion tour, and we said, well, first of all,
Speaker 5: let's see where we are. And so you know, we
Speaker 5: hadn't sung any harmonies together in many years, and of
Speaker 5: course you know, we had gotten away from that, so
Speaker 5: we weren't remembering the harmonies so so well. And so
Speaker 5: we got around the piano and they said, let's start
Speaker 5: out with up Up and the way, which is unison
Speaker 5: and everybody remembers that, and we started to sing would
Speaker 5: you like to ride in My beautiful and our voices
Speaker 5: are the blend. We all started looking at one another
Speaker 5: and saying.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, that's right.
Speaker 7: Still there, still got it, like we never walked away
Speaker 7: from each other, you know, it was it was the
Speaker 7: same sound.
Speaker 3: It was wow, this is amazing. You know, it was
Speaker 3: very it was very emotional.
Speaker 7: And then the democracy started again, you know, you know,
Speaker 7: we started getting together and doing doing jobs. But it
Speaker 7: was set up the way we had it set up
Speaker 7: with the with the Fifth Dimension before we left.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, So how how long did the reunion tour last?
Speaker 5: For? Yeah, a couple of years we did. We did
Speaker 5: some performances together and then and Billy and I still
Speaker 5: had some some of our duet shows that we had
Speaker 5: to do, and Florence and Lamont and Ronald. UH had
Speaker 5: two other members in the group and they had their
Speaker 5: performances so that, you know, they had bookings, We had bookings.
Speaker 5: But then we would come together and UH do some
Speaker 5: original we would call it the original Fifth Dimension and
Speaker 5: work for different companies and they were it was considered
Speaker 5: like a very special occasion to have.
Speaker 3: The Original Fifth Dimension during that time. They called them
Speaker 3: corporate jobs. You know, we played a lot of job.
Speaker 1: Trust me that that still exists.
Speaker 4: It's also kind of dope that y'all didn't agree on
Speaker 4: that whole original dimension versus the other dimension and let
Speaker 4: them do their own thing.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, it was it weird for
Speaker 2: you to see because even way into the eighties, I
Speaker 2: kept seeing, you know, like Florence would have another lineup
Speaker 2: long after ron And and Lamont left the group. Was
Speaker 2: it kind of weird sort of seeing at least the
Speaker 2: name uh still carrying on without the four original members
Speaker 2: in the group.
Speaker 5: For you guys, it was, Yeah, it sounded different, you
Speaker 5: know to us, I mean to the audiences, to us too.
Speaker 1: I'll say it for you it sounded weird to us too.
Speaker 7: But you know, not only that, we would when we
Speaker 7: were could, we would go and see them and support
Speaker 7: them and be there form.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, okay, I see.
Speaker 2: Also we should mention what was it like playing I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of the original Jamie Fox Show.
Speaker 1: Yes, I know that. Yeah, you guys, Fancy's parents parents.
Speaker 5: We enjoyed that so much. That was a that was
Speaker 5: a great group of people to be working with. Producers.
Speaker 5: Jamie was delightful and.
Speaker 3: We got to kick out of that. Yes, yes, you
Speaker 3: know what.
Speaker 7: Jamie is so talented, my god, I mean, just to
Speaker 7: see him work and the stuff that comes off the
Speaker 7: top of his head, I mean, he's just he's a creative,
Speaker 7: you know, it just comes out of him, you know.
Speaker 5: Uh, they might need a song for a special moment
Speaker 5: in the show, and uh so then they would say, oh,
Speaker 5: we need a song here, and Jamie would go off
Speaker 5: somewhere and he'd come back and it's a brilliant song.
Speaker 1: Yes, wow, yeah, that's good. So I'll say that. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, we got we got to mention Blackbird. What
Speaker 1: what was the what was the.
Speaker 2: Sort of the idea and in covering Lennon McCartney songs
Speaker 2: for the Blackbird project, especially in light of when, when
Speaker 2: it was and why it was released last year or
Speaker 2: this year? We came out, well, it's just earlier, earlier
Speaker 2: this year. You recorded last year, though, What was the
Speaker 2: significance behind or at least the process and in recording
Speaker 2: that that album.
Speaker 5: Well, our our producer, our management company, we had been
Speaker 5: talking about a project. A young man by the name
Speaker 5: of Nick Mendosa, uh had been introduced to us and
Speaker 5: and our management company thought that he would be a
Speaker 5: wonderful producer to work with. And now Nick is a
Speaker 5: millennial producer, yes, a very young but very you know,
Speaker 5: interesting knowledge of the two of them who we were,
Speaker 5: our voices, our sounds, and and you know, we started
Speaker 5: talking about ideas and we were very concerned and troubled
Speaker 5: by what's what's been going on in our country, and
Speaker 5: we felt like, if we're going to do something, we
Speaker 5: want to do something that speaks to what is going
Speaker 5: on right now. As we told Nick how we felt
Speaker 5: and what we would love to do, Nick was very
Speaker 5: very much interested because he said, well, you know, you
Speaker 5: guys are talking about the things that that people my
Speaker 5: age are worried about, you know, about what's happening to
Speaker 5: our country and why are you know, why are we
Speaker 5: so at odds and what's the what is.
Speaker 7: The division about it? You know, it's not young people
Speaker 7: don't know. They haven't lived what we have lived, but
Speaker 7: they still want to know what it's all about. And
Speaker 7: we had been doing Blackbird and having Beatles Medley in
Speaker 7: our live show, and so we were familiar with with
Speaker 7: Blackbird and what it meant because uh, Lennon and McCartney
Speaker 7: wrote it as a as A as A as A
Speaker 7: as an anthem, the civil rights anthem, you know, and
Speaker 7: so we just, hey, that's that's.
Speaker 3: This is really ah uh a movement, you know.
Speaker 7: Uh, it's a civil rights movement, is the way we
Speaker 7: looked at it, you know, because everybody everybody needs to
Speaker 7: know what's going on out here, you know. So we
Speaker 7: decided to go ahead and start doing putting Blackbird in,
Speaker 7: and we started listening to more of the Beatles songs
Speaker 7: and started putting stories kind of like behind these these songs,
Speaker 7: like uh uh ticket to Ride with Rose of parks
Speaker 7: Man when she wouldn't give give up a seat on
Speaker 7: the bus and she she she just you know, and
Speaker 7: and and and her being uh going to jail and her.
Speaker 14: Husband waiting for her, you know, and you don't know
Speaker 14: the story about her husband. That was another story, you know.
Speaker 14: So Blackbird is and and in the front of the
Speaker 14: album portrays.
Speaker 3: All of the.
Speaker 7: The the people who were killed and and and and
Speaker 7: and and just for no reason at all, you know,
Speaker 7: just because of the color. And it's created a lot
Speaker 7: of division in our society, and that we just prayed
Speaker 7: at this album will be a healing project.
Speaker 5: We're so we were so inspired and encouraged by the
Speaker 5: young people and how they were coming together and protesting together,
Speaker 5: you know, across racial lines, across across cultural lines, and
Speaker 5: we're saying that this.
Speaker 3: Is what our country needs. We've got to come together,
Speaker 3: We've got to draw together and make the.
Speaker 5: Statement understood and heard, and we just felt like we
Speaker 5: want like you said, we wanted to make it.
Speaker 3: Like a movement, and that's human rights, human rights movement.
Speaker 4: Congratulations for another number one album on the R and
Speaker 4: B charts. That's pretty pretty great.
Speaker 5: Excited about the response that we've been seeing because I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, at this age for us to be doing
Speaker 5: this now, it's just amazing.
Speaker 3: It's your time. You had a lot to do with that,
Speaker 3: with with uh we're finding this this uh footage of love. Yeah,
Speaker 3: just like you created a renaissance for us, Yes you have,
Speaker 3: but thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it on our show, your show, absolutely No,
Speaker 2: I will say that probably you know, one of the
Speaker 2: key scenes that that's in the movie that really touch people,
Speaker 2: like when they when they tell me how much they
Speaker 2: loved it, especially for like fellow fellow black artists that
Speaker 2: I show it to. First of all, just watching you
Speaker 2: to watch it. I couldn't have I couldn't have scripted
Speaker 2: it better, you know, it couldn't have. It couldn't have
Speaker 2: happened more pitch perfect, note perfect than your interview portion,
Speaker 2: especially you know, letting the sentiments be known. How important
Speaker 2: playing that festival was and connecting with black audiences that
Speaker 2: otherwise might have been familiar with you guys at the time,
Speaker 2: and how it really really touched them. And I will
Speaker 2: say that, you know, I should be thinking you because
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's it's the footage itself is
Speaker 2: magic on its own. But you guys, really human eye
Speaker 2: did and really touch people's hearts with with with your
Speaker 2: portion of of that movie. And you know, I think
Speaker 2: you both.
Speaker 1: Wow for doing that.
Speaker 10: It was just you know, we were just doing it
Speaker 10: was such a special special what you put together was
Speaker 10: was was beautiful.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's that's the only way we can react
Speaker 7: to it. I mean, it's just what comes from the
Speaker 7: hot ghost to the heart, you know.
Speaker 5: And we were so happy for you to win that
Speaker 5: grand Jury from Sundance at the festival. Yes, we were
Speaker 5: just so excited that that happened, you know, because and
Speaker 5: and your premier, this is your first directory experience come
Speaker 5: up with such a powerful, a powerful success like this,
Speaker 5: and we're just so excited for you.
Speaker 3: But for over fifteen years, all the stars I will
Speaker 3: own that footage. It's just.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I asked myself that all the time. But you know, now,
Speaker 1: now's the time, like I feel like.
Speaker 4: You know, it's the whole compliment.
Speaker 3: I am sitting here floor.
Speaker 5: You did not interrupt them.
Speaker 4: You let them tell you all, tell you all.
Speaker 1: You looked famous for avoiding compliments. I hate compliments. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: You're good. I just gotta take it or I'll still
Speaker 1: tease me about it.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you.
Speaker 2: Wos Wait before I wrap up, there's there is one
Speaker 2: question I got to ask, only because the sample is
Speaker 2: so famous.
Speaker 1: I know that, uh Billy.
Speaker 2: You started your own independent label sometime in the mid
Speaker 2: seventies and one of your clients, one of the late
Speaker 2: acts on the label was Jimmy Caster Bunch, Yes, what
Speaker 2: was that? What was that experience like, only because on
Speaker 2: that particular album, just because a famous it's uh well no, no, no,
Speaker 2: not just begun on the but no uh Kanye's uh
Speaker 2: so the first song on Graduation.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, It's It's yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 2: It's Jimmy Caster's cover of I Just Want to Start
Speaker 2: by uh Gino Vanelli.
Speaker 1: Right, it's but yeah, it's it's on the label that
Speaker 1: really headed what is yeah?
Speaker 2: What was working with Jimmy Caster like during that period
Speaker 2: and what made you want to start your own label
Speaker 2: during that period.
Speaker 3: Well, it was I've.
Speaker 7: Always wanted to produce and and and and and create
Speaker 7: my whole kind of way in life. And and uh
Speaker 7: at the particular time, Uh, Jimmy's sister Linda was working
Speaker 7: working for our company, you know, telling us about Jimmy
Speaker 7: and uh, and when we met him, it was like
Speaker 7: it was like family.
Speaker 3: I mean, he was just a regular guy loving his music.
Speaker 3: And you know, so we just we just got into
Speaker 3: it and say, let's get visit with some music. You know,
Speaker 3: I see everything that you hear on that album, that's
Speaker 3: all Jimmy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: Well, you know you guys, I mean it goes without
Speaker 2: saying that you guys are are a class act. And
Speaker 2: I really really, really really thank you for giving us
Speaker 2: your time and coming on the show. And I just
Speaker 2: love you guys to death. I'm a genuine fan of
Speaker 2: the group.
Speaker 1: I thank you.
Speaker 2: Guys are an inspiration also, especially in a time period
Speaker 2: which how you're such.
Speaker 5: A serious historian. Yes, that is your heart. And you
Speaker 5: know when you meet somebody like that, you want to
Speaker 5: share with them all the knowledge that you have.
Speaker 3: To to you know, to contribute to.
Speaker 5: To your.
Speaker 2: Now you know, I'm not a historian. I'm just really
Speaker 2: really really big Billy Jacobs and I thank you guys
Speaker 2: for it, and you know, much continued success. Okay, maybe
Speaker 2: my last question is what do you want the legacy
Speaker 2: of Billy Davis and Marlin mccood to be?
Speaker 3: Wow? Well, you know, for me, I know, it's just that.
Speaker 7: People coming together and just being who we are to
Speaker 7: one another, not not being putting on trying to be
Speaker 7: more than what we are, just just just be who
Speaker 7: you are and just people coming together on one accord.
Speaker 7: You know, if we can just do that and and
Speaker 7: and and have our human rights, that would be a
Speaker 7: legacy for me before I leave here.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's hey, that's a night drop, right, that's a
Speaker 2: mic drop right there. Well, thank you very much for
Speaker 2: doing the show. I love and appreciate you guys on
Speaker 2: behalf of Layah and Unpaid, Bill and Shukar, Steve and
Speaker 2: fon Tigelo this Quest Love. I cannot believe I got
Speaker 2: to talk to Billy Davis and Marion Cool.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. This is Quest Love Supreme. Will
Speaker 1: see you on the next program. Yo, what's up?
Speaker 6: It's is Fonte. Make sure you keep up with us
Speaker 6: on Instagram. At QLs and let us know what you
Speaker 6: think if we should be next to sit down with us.
Speaker 6: Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast, all right, Peace.
Speaker 1: Courts Love Supreme is a production of Ihearted Radio. For
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