WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: George Brown Of Kool & The Gang Part 2 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.640 We are back with part two of our conversation with 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:05.720 Funky George Brown of Cool in the Gang. I love 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:09.119 this conversation for several reasons. Get down on It is 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:13.000 my absolute favorite song of all time and Celebration was 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:15.960 played by a bar Metz Focus. If you haven't yet, 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:18.760 please listen to part one with George, where he speaks 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.720 about growing up in Jersey City and how that toughened him, 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.080 the band's early success, and his skills as a drummer. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.040 George just penned a memoir, Cool and the Gang and Me, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.120 which is available right now. George Cool and the rest 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:33.640 of the band also just released a new album, People 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:34.600 Just Want to Have Fun. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:36.040 Make sure you check that out. 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.560 But first Part two of QLs with Funky George Brown. 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.519 I'm assuming during this period that you guys don't have 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.839 day jobs as well, Like we did an episode with 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:56.040 Milly Jackson only to find out as he was basically 0:00:56.120 --> 0:01:00.800 Millie Jackson on the weekends and then Monday she go 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:06.839 back to her day job where she was working in Manhattan. Well, yeah, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:11.360 she was working in the garment district of Manhattan while 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.960 she was you know, doing live and bitching, like at 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.959 the peak of it is one able to make a 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.959 comfortable living, especially in an eight man group, which I 0:01:22.000 --> 0:01:25.959 assume is different than the setup with Earth Wind and 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.640 Fire and which you know, which is basically the Marie 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:34.600 White group. And he's paying them as yeah, you know, 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.480 work for hire, you know, our contracted work for higher 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.480 but like in okay, so say it's seventy six, like 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.720 right before you guys do after Jungle Boogem, right before 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.360 open Sesame comes into play. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.120 We were very lucky there were no Jay jobs in 0:01:54.160 --> 0:02:00.360 the initial period. You say nineteen sixty nine, then I 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:07.880 think at that point Kladas Smith had a job delivering. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:15.560 But after we signed a contract with Delight, we worked. 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:18.280 We've always worked. We've always had a gig. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.119 You never had a regular job on George the regular. 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:26.079 Jobs or when we were doing and still doing the nightclubs. 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:31.840 But still no one was hitting the punching the time 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.480 clock like that. It wasn't like that. It just changed 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.920 because the first record cooling the game by cooling the Gang, 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.120 number thirty eight with a bullet on top one hundred, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:50.400 that's the record changed the whole atmosphere. Most black artists 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.440 got to go over the black charts or this chart, 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.760 that record went pop with a bullet. 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:57.960 So you guys had a fair deal. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:03.040 Then, yeah, got a fair deal. Then h and we 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.000 got a blessing because not many black acts just popped 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.000 up number thirty with a bullet or the top of hundred. 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.000 So we were working. So there was work. It might 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:15.240 have been slow here and there, but we we did work. 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.720 So if I want to ask you about publishing, because 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.520 I'm curious where you got your publishing education, because we 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.360 talk about hip hop. But if your publishing wasn't right 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:26.520 from the start, it wouldn't even matter because you wouldn't 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:28.600 have been receiving, you know, the propers of it. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.799 The b A Maas s Gaps, she said, and all 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:37.080 of us from Warner Chapel and Bmgene or that well 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.080 early on, like with Jean Read again, this guy he 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:46.440 told us all about that, you know, and so therefore 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:49.960 we were receiving. I mean I signed with being Mine 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:55.360 when I was nineteen, right, and that's because of Gene Read. 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:01.040 All of all of us had, you know, and earning 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:06.080 from first delight. But then when PolyGram brought the light, 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:13.760 then the royalties for writing and publishing came from PolyGram 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.640 and won a chapel and BMI sorry, and the artist 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.720 royalties also came out of PolyGram. 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:27.479 So we knew one of the most pivotal crucial moves 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.000 that you guys did was adding JT. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:30.520 Taylor. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.559 But there's actually a second factor that not many people 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:39.599 talk about. You guys went with a very unorthodox direction 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:45.480 associating with the legendary Brazilian producer Emir Diadata. 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:50.599 Right before we started. He called me twice right before 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:56.240 we started. It really, look, it's a deal, because you 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:57.599 know when you talk to do you we got to 0:04:57.600 --> 0:04:58.280 bring a lunch? 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:06.920 Okay, yeah, I want to know what was the meeting 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.680 or the decision process. One to bring in a lead singer, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:16.560 and two to work with not only an outside producer, 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:22.160 but a Brazilian producer, which I mean I would imagine 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.880 in nineteen seventy nine, one would figure that, you know, 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:28.640 I got to go to the top of the pile, 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:33.000 like either get with Gamble and Huff or you know 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.400 Norman of Noran Harris. 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.000 I knew he was a normal Yeah. 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.279 Yeah, So what made you guys go with a mere 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.720 Dia Dado of all things, not really known for a 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:51.120 pop sence or I mean, you know, he dabbled in disco, 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:53.560 but not enough for me to be like, Okay, this 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:54.640 is our do or die moment. 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:55.719 Let's get with him. 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.400 Well, the deal at seventeen years old is like the 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:04.720 number one on arranger and producer in all of Brazil. Uh. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:09.320 And he had written strings for Collins Joe Bean. You 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.839 know most of our heads were in that. You know 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:17.120 that thing he wrote for Colin Joe Bean. Wooh, so 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.880 our heads were still in that. Jazz Irene Conrad over 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:25.480 the House of Music. She introduced, I think I got 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.200 this story right. There might be some loose ends, Calice 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.240 to James J. T. Taylor. I think Ron Sweeney had 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:39.680 said it it's time to bring in a lead singer. 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.559 You guys can do it. We looked at Stevie because 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:45.560 we did a lot of work with Steven Well. Stevie 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.960 helped us out so many times when the bus would 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:53.680 break down, really called Stevie and he'd help us. Really. Yeah. 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:58.200 So Steve would help us out numerous times, and we 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:01.279 wanted him to come in and produce. He said, sorry 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.200 for I got to get my own album happening at 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:08.040 that time. So we had a manager, oft Val Hackett. 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:13.240 Val shopped and I called it shopping. But he got 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:18.120 your mere Diadelo, which was a great blessing. It missed 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:25.680 just like dovetail, like man, the beauty is just connected. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.200 He was the right guy for cooling the gang because 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:33.360 all the music the guys knew, you know, you know, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:39.040 we were all musician musicians, guys who knew all the 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.840 chord changes and you know what, have you all all 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.040 the scales and sit down and actually write it out 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.520 with him. It was easy if we if we must up, 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:58.000 he would write that down. And weeks later when the 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.800 horns would come in, he said, but which a simple. 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:03.640 Lot, right? 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.280 And uh, but guys would write those parts down as well. 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.800 You know, e Clifford Adams, who played trombone with a 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:17.080 trump moont case full of music. Deal was the right choice. Uh, 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:23.160 and not only the right choice for the music, but 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:27.440 the right choice and really organizing the band and how 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.480 we did things. He brought it to a whole other level, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:37.520 making sure that everything was notated, everything was written down. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.240 As a drummer, I always wanted to know how hard 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:46.320 was it to sort of adjust your sound for the times, 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.560 because even I noticed me as a drummer, I've pretty 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.360 much stayed kind of consistent for my thirty years of 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:58.120 drumming in the roots and on record, like I'm not 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.040 I mean, I if I change my sounds for experimental purposes, 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.360 but not like, hey, let me, let me adjust to 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.280 the sound and the climate of where it is today. 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:09.760 But like the groove that you're planning on, let the 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.800 music take your mind, is not the same tone or 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:20.600 the same sound as Jones versus Jones or a celebration 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.840 or whatnot. So at the time, how aware you as 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.360 the heartbeat of the band that like the most radical 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.160 sound change of the band has to be with the drums. 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.599 It might sound stories because you hear all this. For me, 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.160 it didn't bother me. It was like, let's go with 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.880 the flow. This is what it is. This is going 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.240 to help us move forward. Oh, this is what's going 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:51.800 to bring a wide, wide range of audience. So I 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:57.160 was totally totally amenable to it and and actually didn't 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.720 think about it too much. But quest you're right because 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:06.040 later on, because I played piano as well, and I 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.080 got to a point where okay, enough of this and 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:10.840 I just switched over the keyboards. 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.640 Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you about too. 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.280 That's like a major move that I don't hear. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:22.720 From drumps to keyboards. Yes, oh well I always played piano. Okay, okay, yeah, 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.559 it goes back to we talk about church. It goes back. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.200 I've always played, but in your group you always played 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.760 drums until you decide I'm going. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.440 And in writing, we had our writing session. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:38.720 I you know, how does the songwriting process start? Do 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.320 you guys just say, hey, you got the idea? Guys, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:43.480 what do y'all think about this? Or do you bring it? 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:43.640 Like? 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:45.360 Do you bring it to DT? Do you bring it 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:46.240 to Ronald first? 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:46.480 Like? 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:48.680 How does the songwriting process start? 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.960 It was us. We just bring it to us, you know, 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.000 guys say whether they like it or not, and if 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:02.000 they like it, then we got down on it. That's 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.600 the truth. You know. With Theodado a little more different 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.360 because every morning he would pick me up. I lived 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.760 in Manhattan than in Gramercy Park, and he said, oh, 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.240 senor let me see your homework. So you popping the cassette, 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:19.880 you get your illegal pad, you start singing, and he'll 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.920 he'll either bust your ego then by saying that's not 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:28.680 happening and or it actually if he feels like he said, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:34.600 that's very cute, but it's not written. Oh he'll say, 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:39.160 signor you've done it again. Love the lines, and so 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.959 we would apply, you know, people have different lines to 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:45.920 put it in the song and they would work you perfectly, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:46.400 you know. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.680 So we we shared the story of how Celebration got written, 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:57.880 at least Ronald's version of how Celebration got written? But 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.640 are there any other universe like unusual stories of that? 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:07.760 For listeners who didn't hear that particular episode, Ronald Bell 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.640 said that he was backstage at a Rick James and 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.600 Prince show and Prince had just did I Want to 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:19.000 Be Your Lover? And in between the set changeover for 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.400 Prince to Rick James, Ronald runs backstage and finds a 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.200 piano and figures out the courts that I want to 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.320 be a lover, and he writes it and notates it 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:33.880 down and then he plays it backwards, and that rhythm 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:43.840 of winds up being da da And But I mean, 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.040 for the songwriting process, especially in the period in which 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.200 you guys are having unstoppable you know, pop classics one 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:55.400 after the other, are there any other unusual stories of 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:56.960 how songs got written? 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:02.320 No? Not really you know, sometimes guys would pass on 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:07.000 a song. I would take it and write a first 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.800 verse of lyric and give it the JT. He said, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:14.440 this is happening. And the next thing, you know, we 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:18.480 have a complete song because you got two members working 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:25.839 on it. We've got the chord structure figured out and 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:33.560 writing the melody and lyric and bingo say you got something. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.360 And it's the funny thing about it. They weren't the 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.079 number five pop, you know, but the band itself didn't 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:45.240 like it. That was take my Heart. You know, it's 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:47.160 very very poppy all that. 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:49.520 But you didn't like that song. 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:52.160 I helped write it. 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:54.320 I said, that was my aunt's song. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:55.800 Man, that was the one I took. 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:58.960 I took it because the band didn't like it. Clayton 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.040 Smith wrote it the guitar player right, But the band 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:07.880 didn't like that twelve eight. So I said, no, give 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.280 it to me. Took it home. Write no time for wishing, baby. 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.360 We've gone all through those moves. I'm all and satisfied. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.080 So the next day, of course, get to the studio. Jay, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.760 were you like j T? What do you think? He said, Man, 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:20.320 I like this. 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.520 I've been going through a Luther phase in the last 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.000 month and a half reading his book and listening to 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.280 his music, and I realized that the world is going 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:35.920 through a drought of a good shuffle song. Oh my God, 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.920 like and Take My Heart is like kind of I 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:53.920 remember shuffle, Yeah exactly. Do you talk about the phenomenon 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:59.200 that is celebration, Like, what were the band's general reaction to, 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:05.280 Like celebration winds up being way past an anthem, it's 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:11.000 it's it's pretty much music DNA like, it's it's with celebration. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:16.240 We're on the two of us and leaving l A. 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.800 The night before we won two American Music Awards, so 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.320 the song was germanying then, but that's what you got 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:29.080 from Earl Smith, you know. So so let's let's put 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:35.440 that in there because that's very celebrated, celebratory, you know, 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.800 So just just to put that in the soul and 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:43.160 gives it that boost, you know. But in regards to 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:44.520 it becoming. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.920 Only to the point where it's like stadiums and weddings and. 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:54.320 Anderson miss miss back Ship, backyard, Bobby Cue, it's it's 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:58.200 it's an amazing, it's a blessing and it is, uh 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.920 one of those songs that I'm gonna say you can't 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.920 deny and you must play it every evening. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:08.880 Did it ever become burdensome? Because I know a lot 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:13.360 of acts when they get a mammoth hit of that caliber, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:18.080 then it's like selling becomes a it becomes a burden. 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:23.440 No, you know what happens. And you know when you're 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.840 playing sometimes you're playing the piece and you played it 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:31.960 a thousand times, but it becomes organic, like and guys 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.160 are playing the right chords. But it just got this 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:39.720 just tonight. I mean, well, you're playing quest or the 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.000 piano he's playing it has another little liltal, another little 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.680 thing to it. You're playing it, but it has another 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.240 feel that night, not you know, it's not the record feel. 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.640 The people feel it. So that's what happens. It turns 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.840 into this piece of music that each that you play it, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.880 it has a different feeling. And when you're singing it 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.840 as well, it's coming out different. But it's to say 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.560 that there's a party going on right here, but it's 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.720 coming out different for some reason, and you feel different 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.160 about it. And when you get off, everybody great nice 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:18.280 show man, great show. Nobody feels that man is burning 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.159 a hole in all shoes. 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.680 Right, Well, no one's complaining. 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.240 Can I ask about another anthem? Real quick? 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.359 I just I'm curious to how so many fellas come 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.720 up with another anthem, but this one about the ladies. 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:34.200 I although we asked around that question. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.680 But I was like, how did you know to embody 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:39.160 what a lady's night was? 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.040 How does Well, I'll tell you. I get to who 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.840 likes to go out and have fun? Okay, so he said, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.280 you know the new thing in clubs now on a Friday, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:56.119 Saturday whatever, it's the lady's night, you know. And me 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:01.880 walking from fifty seventh Street back down to Gramarcy, I'm 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:07.680 watching how people the gape of people's walk, just how 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:12.000 people walk. And I said, yeah, I said, man, people 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:19.280 are walking like a jazz working Baseline had that game. 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:22.760 So I went home side at the piano and started 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.240 harmonizing it and the different key changes as you know, 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.840 showed it the diadalo. Hey, this is what we need. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:34.919 So we got together the right road on it. We 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.879 had we had the track already, you know, you know, 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.479 the horns are we're playing with the girls were singing, 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.520 and JT and myself and Calice got on the lyrics 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.400 and done done? 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:52.560 What was it about JT that appealed to the band 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.760 as far as his voice. I once heard somebody describe 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.600 that if Nat king Cole had them born thirty years later, 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.880 like basically would have been the voice of JT. 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:03.320 Taylor. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:08.720 Like that's how smooth JT's voice was. Basically he was 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:10.840 like nacking cold like But for you, like, what was 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.720 the appeal to that sort of voice? And were there 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:18.000 other acts that or other singers that you guys auditioned 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.040 before you decided on James j T. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:20.320 Taylor. 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.199 I don't want to mention people's names like that, but 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.040 there was a cut that are well known, but JT 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:32.879 did have it still does that golden tone in his 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:37.600 voice great lyricists, by the way too. And what we 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.879 did in the studio is go in and roll a 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.480 little bit of that on to his voice. Who enhanced 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.680 his voice even Also, you know in your studio say 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:52.160 what sounds a little weak? They're all little mid rangey, 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:54.600 let's work on that. So we did some work on 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.760 his voice as well, you know, like everybody does. But 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:01.159 he started off with it. You had it, okay. We 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.439 felt that his voice was pop, pure pop, and it 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.719 worked at that time. You know, I had a certain 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:15.000 innocence in it, non intimidating, all of that, and uh, 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.119 just just a pop artist. I mean, you know, we 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:21.520 could have went for the Teddy Pendergrad, the Luther and Andros. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:23.600 We could have went for it to be part of it, 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.040 but we felt that it wouldn't it wouldn't work. 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.439 And the other singers that you were considering for that 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:35.480 spot was it? Was there anyone notable that we would 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.720 have known that almost had a chance to be in 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:38.080 the group. 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.680 Yeah, and you can't name who they are? 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:47.960 No, No, I don't want any letters coming to my mailbox. 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:50.960 I mean we can pontificate, though. 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.440 If we pontificate, can you just not like, you know, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.000 how are you not just joking the one out? 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:01.320 Damn, just like when you mentioned the big Garritos and 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.000 you know you leave that alone. 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:09.639 Yeah, okay, I got you. How easy was it for 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.560 him to adjust to being in the group. It was 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:14.880 the same age as you guys. 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.040 Was he younger a few years younger? 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.399 Just a few So we're all in the same genre 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.399 basically age wise? Uh, not too far. I think he 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.480 I think I'm four years older than James. Okay, you know, 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.000 but no, We were the guys who would go to 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:36.639 respeech in Brooklyn and throw the frisbee around, have the 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:41.320 girlfriends that that type of stuff. We were the guy 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.960 we hang out, you know, like where the song comes 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:50.880 from that. Uh So we were always together in some capacity, 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:52.399 even going to the movies. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:57.320 How are you guys able to maintain any level of 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.600 not like a domestic lifestyle, but like how are you 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.879 able to balance that, especially like during that time period 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.040 and which you guys are working class musicians. 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.600 That was very hard during that time period because when 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:17.080 we go out, we go out for two months at 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.760 a time. You know, we were out with Van Hale 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:23.120 in US four months. But the thing is that there's 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.360 a big tour break. You know, same thing with kids, 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.119 all you have a tour break. But with us, we 0:22:29.240 --> 0:22:32.120 go out for two months and you're out there. You're 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:32.960 not coming back. 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.920 Wow, Okay, Especially in the first half of the eighties 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.560 and which you know those unstoppable hits are coming in. 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:46.080 How are you balancing out the shows in terms of 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:51.200 which audience to please? Like in your eighties show does 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:56.520 does open Sesame? Still have a Home? Is Jungle boogieing 0:22:56.600 --> 0:23:00.320 and funky stuff? Still getting the same response is JT 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:04.119 singing funky stuff and that in jungle boogie. Also like 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:05.080 with the band, like. 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:10.080 With jungle boogie. Uh, it was almost like we would 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:14.640 all take a spot going, oh okay, alls, we kept 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:17.439 that going. You know, somebody you know, get down with 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:20.960 the boogie, that type of stuff. The same thing with 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:26.399 funky stuff, you know. So that was singalong so the 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:30.719 whole band. So everybody saying, you know, with funky stuff 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:37.200 jungle boogie, just just drop in. You know, it's very 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:40.920 easy that way as well. You know, it didn't make 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:46.800 it like hard for anyone, you know, you just sang it. 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:52.160 I know that there was a JT's exit in eighty eight. 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:56.600 He was just going without really like without any warning whatsoever. 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:00.280 I still don't understand that all these years. 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:03.600 So what happened in nineteen eighty eight, because you guys 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:09.680 had this unbelievable streak and then that's it. So what 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:11.439 was the story of his exit? 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:15.840 And how I believe me quest I was speaking about 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:22.240 that last week, okay with I think it was my 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.560 engineer Wolfgang, no rhyme, no reason. It was just that 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:29.120 he got a bunch of money from I think it 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:32.960 was a and M. Or MCA, and he went on 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:36.040 to do his went on to do his thing. And 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:40.320 because when he first came out, I mean he and 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:45.880 I we were roommates, you know those hotels at the beginning, 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:49.919 and not only roommates. We'd go out and hang out 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:52.960 in the clubs together, come back and all the good stuff. 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:57.479 So to this very day, I don't know. I really 0:24:57.560 --> 0:25:00.440 really don't know that was searched. There was a I'm 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:04.800 where I was saying, Uh so let's call Ron Sweeney. Ron, 0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:09.760 we'll call JT's manager and talk over things, and let's 0:25:09.840 --> 0:25:11.720 let's get JT back out on the road. 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:12.600 You know. 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:18.040 Uh, it would never move forward for some odd reason. 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:22.080 When do you remember the last time you had the conversation. 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:23.480 Or the last time we worked at jay? 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:25.919 Well, he came back in the mid nineties. 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:27.760 I believe I came back in the mid nineties, and 0:25:27.800 --> 0:25:28.680 then he left again. 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:31.080 Okay, whatever that was about. 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:34.879 But when we got the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:38.080 came out. We straightened out the course as the band 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:42.680 had the rown changes. Uh right, what he did he 0:25:42.760 --> 0:25:45.840