WEBVTT - QLS Classic: Ray Parker Jr. 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.240 Couest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:09.600 episode was produced by the team at Pandora. What's up, y'all, 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:12.520 This is Quest Love and this is QLs classic in 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:14.680 which we hear at Quest Love Supreme tack into our 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.919 archives to bring you some amazing stories from past episodes. 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.160 This was a really great episode with Ray Parker Jr. 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:25.120 Talking about his life as a musician, working with Barry White, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.600 with Stevie Wonder, with sha Ka Khan, hanging with Prince, 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.280 giving Quincy Jones stories, even and even Huey Lewis h 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.479 This is one for the music fans. We really hope 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.920 you enjoyed this Quest Love Supreme episode with Ray Parker Jr. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:54.720 So Supremo, Sun sup Supremo, roll call, Suprema su Supremo, 0:00:54.880 --> 0:01:02.440 roll call, Suprema s S Supremo, roll call, Suprema Something Supremo, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:03.200 roll call. 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.400 My name is Questo. Yeah that understood. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:07.480 Yeah. 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:10.039 Let me tell you something, yeah, must it makes me 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:11.320 feel good? 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:18.319 Suprema something something Supremo, role called Suprema Son Son Supremo, 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:19.119 roll call. 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:20.480 My name is Fante. 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:20.920 Yeah. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:25.119 My favorite album is Voodoo. Yeah, because that woman needs love. Yeah, 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.080 just like you Doro Suprema. 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:34.280 Son Son Suprema. Roll called Suprema something Suprema. 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:35.080 Roll call. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.480 My name is Sugar, Yeah, I love to ball. 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:44.440 Yeah, you know my number? Yeah, so who You're gonna call. 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:51.000 Something something Suprema. Roll call Suprema so something Supremo. Roll call. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:52.120 I'm un pay bill. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.200 Yeah, there's something strange. Yeah, you stole my ship. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:58.720 Yeah, Braves. 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:06.600 Suprema, roll call Supreme Supremo role. 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.000 Yeah yeah. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:16.639 Yeah, roll call Supreme. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:20.079 Roll Supreme. 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:26.120 So my name yeah, No, I'm not jail. 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:29.200 Yeah, but if I would, mister Parker, Yeah, I'll go 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:30.040 up any hill. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:38.120 Roll call Supremo. Roll call Suprema so so Supremo. 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:38.919 Role call. 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.800 My name is Ray, Yeah, Taurus born in me. Yeah, 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.840 I'm my love is strong. Yeah, brab My gets I 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:46.400 play with it. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:58.120 Supreme Supreme, roll call Supremo, Supremo. Role called Supreme Supremo, 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.359 Role called Supreme. 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:06.359 Role. We have an amazing show for you today. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:08.400 Our guest is someone I really wanted to get it 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.280 on the show since we launched it. He's an incredible 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.400 talented singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He's worked with some 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.080 true legends of soul, including mister Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gabe, 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:23.440 Barry White, so many more, ladies, gentlemen. Mister Ray Parker Jr. 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.840 Is on the show today. Now before we bring him on, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.200 let's check it in quickly with Team Supreme. How you doing, ma'am. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:33.880 I'm doing okay. I'm kind of tired. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.960 I think I have decision for you, Like I'm tired 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.080 of making that damn decisions. 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:38.680 I'm mentally exhausted. 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.200 So now me and me and my lady are finally 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.720 moving into our house. And so now you've been moving 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.360 in this house for the longest, dude, it's like because 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:48.960 it's just been a lot, man, It's been like, well, hell, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:49.600 I ain't been home. 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:51.040 I've been running around with y'all all day. 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:53.520 But no, man, but no, it's just that. 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.600 And then it's like changing bills, like getting stuff from 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.960 your old place to your new place, and like I'm working, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:02.680 my ladies working, the kids is working, and it's just 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:03.120 it's just. 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:05.760 A fucking lot, man. The kids are working house well, 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.080 I mean in school, and you know what I'm saying, 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.360 And like, well, this is a question from a person 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.600 that's not a father. Okay, okay, So how what's the 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.359 report card system. Like now, do they just email you 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:16.839 the report? 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:17.080 Oh? 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.440 Man, yo, the report causes? Do they bring it home 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:19.880 to you? 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:20.279 Nah? 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.200 Nah? They come straight to your hands? So no more. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:25.679 I can't. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.320 I can't. Uh Ferris beauting my way out of the 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:29.640 nah bro like. 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.200 This, everything is electronic. You can log on, you can 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.719 see they skipping class. You can see like absences Tony's Day. Guys, 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.280 do you live in a police state? I think we 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:40.640 all right? 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:40.719 Now? 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.880 Okay, yeah, so serious helicopter parenting right there? 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:45.680 All right? I just want to play one Ray Parker 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.920 Junior song and Radio before he comes in because we 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.599 need to relax so he's gonna have all these crazy 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.640 stories to tell us. I want to play one of 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.640 my favorite joints off of the two places at the 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.840 same time. Record It's uh Tonight's to Night by Ray 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:04.839 Parker Jr. And Radio This question Love Supreme only on Pandora. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:09.840 Come on. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.360 The mood, that's right, m M. 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.280 If we want to get down to night to night, 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:25.520 tell Thomas at us something we don't need his life, 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.680 that's right, And remind doctor Bell. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.799 Not the ring, this phone nothing singing. 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:40.480 We got live moves right here. Ray Parker Jr. This 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:45.039 quest love Supreme want to lay down right, calm down 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:49.239 like you? That was to nice to night. Ray Parker Jr. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.640 And Radio air Conditioning here on request lore. 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.000 Uh yo, this is there's some story behind that song 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:59.600 this You should not let that just drip. 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.719 I'm I'm never We want to ask all the stories. 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.839 Every episode is a blessing, but this one in particular 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.680 is like I mean, this man is the consummate musician, 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:18.280 session player, producer, uh songwriter personality. I mean, he's one 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:23.960 of the coolest people alive. You don't understand. It's real. Seriously, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:29.240 it's cool. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome the greatest. Ray Parkerjr. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:35.480 Thank you good to be here. Thank you man. This 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.520 is this is a dream, a dream. Thank you, Thank 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:41.560 you for coming to do our show. We are going 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:46.240 to ask every question ever I want to ask you 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:51.440 right now. The kid is a nice thing. Okay, tell 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.640 me usually a start at the beginning, but tell what 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:55.160 was the story behind tonight and night Tonight? 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.800 It's an interesting song because I don't know if you recall, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:06:59.800 but I used to play on all the Herbie Hancock 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.400 and I wrote a lot of songs with Herbie So 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.400 I was over his house one day and we were 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.400 kicking it. And if you know anything about Herbie, he 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.640 never plays the same thing twice. He just doesn't, you know. 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.440 And his chords changed like every half a beat, it's 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.280 a different chord, and it's like going off forever. And 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:18.920 he ran across these three chords and I was like, WHOA, 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:21.360 that works, but you just got to slow it down. 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:23.119 He's like, what are you talking about? I said, slow 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.320 that down? He said, that ain't working on my song. 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:27.080 I said, I ain't talk about your song no more 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.240 with that already, slow it down. And I had to 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:33.640 get him to play the chords in segments where it 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:35.640 would just hold for two bars. He says, what do 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.160 you mean? He says, what am I doing for two 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:39.600 I says, you're not doing anything. Just hit the sustained pedble, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.960 just hold it, let it drift. And I ended up talking. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:44.800 I said, you know, I could write a whole song 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.680 off of that. So what I did is I took 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.960 his synthesizer and his mood, unplugged it from right where 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.480 we were at his house, which was off of Doheny, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.080 put it in my car, put him in the. 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:56.840 Car in front seat. 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.840 That stuff in the back, drove him to my house 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.720 in my studio, right plugged it back up, and I said, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:04.440 now I want you to do exactly what you're doing 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.280 at your house. I just want you to do it 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.840 like him one twelfth the time. So everything lasts two bars, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:11.760 and he had one hell of a time done. We 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:14.280 spent a long time because he just couldn't hold those 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:15.920 cords that long. He says, man, this is stupid. I said, 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.160 don't worry about the stupidity of it, just do it 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.520 and let that hang. And then he played the bass 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:24.560 on it. Then to put the bass on second. He 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:26.360 was playing way too many notes for it. Slowed that 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.200 down to just do do do do? 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:28.840 Do you know? 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.200 Which still is a lot for me. Right, he's that's 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:33.920 his version that slowed down. Then we took the synthesizes 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:38.800 back to his house and finished his song. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:39.240 What was it? 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.480 I don't know. I just remember tonight to night I 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.400 was so and thrown with my song. I forgot what 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.120 we were doing for him? Is that hard for you 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:47.760 to do it like? 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:52.800 I'm often frustrated because obviously jazz cats have a bigger, wider, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.440 expansive vocabulary, yeah, than the average musician. So to get 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.079 them to just simplify, I think it's a pride thing. 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:00.480 Like they feel like every I think it has to 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:04.840 be this elaborate, big product, traumatic thing, and they don't 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.240 understand the beauty of simplicity. Do you think that's because 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.079 like they just think they're above pop music or. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.560 Yeah, in a sense, they're like in more notes is 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.280 more something? You know, I've learned that the less notes 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.240 you play, the more money you get a lot of money. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:22.839 For the space, you know. 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.160 But you know it's like, you know, most of my 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.720 friends and I start off like this too. I used 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.480 to play jazz and the old stuff when I was younger. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.800 You want to play something that the musicians sitting next 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.520 to you cannot play. So it's that kind of a 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.400 thing like watch me do this run and you can't 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.800 do this run when actually, when you're making music, you 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:45.120 want to play something that the person that everybody, even 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:46.640 if they play it bad, they want to you make 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:48.240 them try to play it, so they think I got it, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:50.480 I got it, you know. So it's it's actually the 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.520 opposite thing. So what you feel is that resistance from 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:55.320 people when they locked into jazz and they say I 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:55.679 got it. 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:56.240 This is it. 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:58.360 They're locked into their world and they just can't see 0:09:58.360 --> 0:09:59.880 anything else, so they just over there. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:00.199 You know. 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:02.400 I don't even know if they think they're better than anybody. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.400 I don't think it's better. I just think they think 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.640 they're different and they think that the difference is correct. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:12.080 I also think it's easier for jazz guys to do 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:18.160 the more difficult composition stuff, but it's literally impossible for 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:23.520 them to play something simple. Yeah, so I want to 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.480 go back to the beginning. You were You're from the 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.160 d right yere? Are you from Detroit? Yeah? What part 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.640 of Detroit? Are you on? The west side? 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:35.040 West side Grand Boulevard, Dexter, Actually Virginia Park and Dexter. 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.920 But I was born halfway between the Grandy Ballroom and Motown, 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:41.560 really right in the middle. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:42.600 I could walk either way. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.640 If I walked northwest, I was going to the Grandy Ballroom, 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:47.520 in which I was a kid not old enough. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:47.640 To go in. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.160 You could hear Jimmy Hendricks playing upstairs, you know, coming 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.640 out the window. And for those of y'all who don't know, 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.520 the Grandy Ballroom was like a white rock club in 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.280 the harder the ghetto. Black people everywhere, and it was 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:04.840 almost like off demilitarized zone. They could go to from 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.240 their cars to the club and back without being harmed. 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.280 If they went another block either way, that was it, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.280 you know, or half a block either way, and it 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.960 was like holly sacred ground. But it was right in 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.280 the middle of the ghetto, and all of the rock 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.439 bands would played, the Ted nug and the m Boy Dukes. 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.199 That's when he had a group called the m Boy Dukes, 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.880 and all the rock bands were famous for playing here. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.920 And then if I went the other way, it was 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.640 Northwestern High School, which I ended up graduating from, and 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:30.400 then there was Motown down the street, so I could 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:31.360 walk to Motown too. 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.120 First of all, it was guitar, your first instrum no no, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.880 I played clarinet. Six years old, I assume that was school. 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.120 That was elementary school. I had a teacher named Alfred T. Kirby, 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.080 and he's probably the most important person in my life 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.280 because at five years old, I was in kindergarten and 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.400 I hated kindergarten because the gym class didn't have you 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:51.720 dance these Russian dances with the girls where you got 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.200 to change, you know, partners and all that stuff. I 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.800 wasn't into no girls, you know, that's another story. Took 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:58.840 me a long time to find girls. 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.000 When I found a little but you know, so I 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.200 didn't want to do this. So at the type of 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.280 person I was out going at, you know, tame time 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.680 for the first grade. Now I'm six years old, I said, 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.679 I ain't doing it. I'm not gonna do it. So 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.040 I want to go talk to my parents about it. 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:15.360 Because they didn't really know what I was talking about. So 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.640 I decided to find out who's running this school, and 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.240 so they told me the principal. I said, well, where 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.079 is the principal? And so I marched out of class, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.320 went to the principal's office and said, look, I ain't 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.720 digging the gym thing with the dancing with the girls. 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.600 Is there something else I can do? So the principal 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.480 looked at me, I'll never forget to look. First of all, 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.280 the principal said absolutely nothing. For maybe a it seemed 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.480 like sixty seconds like this, the little kid come in 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:40.560 here talking it's cramp like you know, So it was 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:42.840 like that more of that. Then the principal said, okay, 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:44.200 I got something for you and took me to the 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.240 music class. He said, if you don't want to be 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.719 in this gym class doing these dances, you can take 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.440 a music class. I said, what's a music class? Said, 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.240 you pick an instrument and you go play. Now, well, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.520 it's nice about the music class that I just this 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.440 is a god given just a gift. Is my only 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.760 had two best friends in the world. That was Nathan 0:13:00.840 --> 0:13:02.719 and Olie, and both of them were already in the 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:10.760 music class. Oli Brown and Nathan wantthan elem them absolutely 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:17.760 wow Jesus yeah, so the band. So, so I go 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.720 to the class. I walk into the room. There's Nathan 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:24.200 playing his trumpet. Nathan played the trumpet. Ollie was playing 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:25.840 the drums, but at that time he had a snare 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.400 drum and we hung a symbol from the ceiling, you know. 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.079 And uh so the teacher asked me what I want 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:32.800 to play? Well, I was a young kid. I wasn't 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:35.160 going to say the tuba, right, take tuba? So I 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.520 wanted to play the flute. And all the girls had 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:39.640 taken the flute, so was I said, what's the next 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.600 smallest instrument? And the next small censure was the clarinet, 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.679 you know. And so mister Kirby, who was a genius guy. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.600 I wish I could talk to him now, mister Kirby. 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:50.000 Uh. 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.400 He looked at me, he says, young man. Just about 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:54.920 a week into it, he could see that I was 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:59.000 less than enthuseda as Oli and Nathan were. He says, 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.480 we're going to start a band, and this band is 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.320 to be called the Sting Rays, which was named after me. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:06.920 I didn't figure that out for twenty years. But the 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:09.240 band was named after me. And you know who else 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.040 didn't figure it out? Allie and Nathan. They were too 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:14.000 stupid to figure out. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.880 Its just been radio was named after you until later. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.240 That's a story. 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.240 So and I think he named it after me because 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:23.840 I needed the most. I needed more encouragement than Nathan 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.600 and Olie did, you know. And so it was interesting. 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.720 We we did parent teacher conference stuff, orphanages and a 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.760 whole bunch of stuff. And our hit song which was 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:37.360 hitting the neighborhood, local local hit. It's called Airplane du 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:44.560 Do Do Do Do Do Do Doom d crash, you know, 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:49.520 And that was it. And man, we were we were popular. 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.640 And we select for somebody this is under ten years old, six. 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.120 Years old, can't it's we were six years old, six 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.040 were rocking. That's the show, ladies. 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.920 And yeah, I was dancing to one of your songs. 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:04.280 Yeah. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.080 Yeah, So that's how it all began is on the clarinet, 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.000 Nathan played the trumpet, Allie played the drums. 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:15.720 Any any other notable Session Monster musicians also go to 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:17.920 the school with you during this time period that Oh yeah, 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.760 when you know Diana Ross went to that school, not 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.520 when I went toations went to that school, I think. 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:24.560 Yeah, there was a lot. No, this was a famous 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:27.600 now what you got a picture. I'm sure you've noticed 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.320 that a lot of famous people have come out of Detroit. 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.400 It was just a small area. So everybody was going 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.400 to either that school or the school next to it, 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:37.800 or Cast Tech or you know. We were all in 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.240 the same genre, so to speak. Kevin Tony went to 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:42.800 high school with me. He still plays with me now. 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:46.200 The guy from the Blackbirds Rock Creek Park doing it, Yeah, 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:47.840 he was, and we all went to school together. That's 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:49.800 what we're gonna get to. His story for sure, that's 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.800 another story. He's a jazz guy, okay, and you know, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.920 so that's the whole story. But uh, and just to 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.680 show you the progression. Later we met up with Sylvester Rivers, 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:01.880 who was one of our good friends too, who ended 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.400 up doing all of the piano working Invictus and hot 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:07.120 wax and the other stuff. And Sylvester had a band. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.800 For the first time, we thought we were smoking everybody. 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.680 I mean, we were jamming. So now let's fast forward. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.160 It seemed like twenty years but eight years old, eight 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.000 and a half years old, we're going to fast forward 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.320 to eight and a half years old. The biggest thing 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.720 to happen at eight and a half years old is 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.120 we heard Sylvester's band. And Sylvester's band had a bass 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.880 guitar and he was playing a keyboard. We never really 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:31.880 thought about chords, right, We didn't even have a bass 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.040 drum yet. So all of a sudden, now we're hearing 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.360 chords for the first time, and we're hearing the bass 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.760 note on the bottom. Man, that stuff seemed this big 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.360 compared to just the trumpet, the clarinet and the snare drum. 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.960 You know, so Ollie immediately, you know, I guess his 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.320 parents borrow some money. He got a bass drum so 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.120 he could get some bottom on at least the drums, 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:51.600 so you could get a kick going, you know, foot 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:58.680 going and our neverget Sylvester wanted Olie to join his band, 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.320 which was a more phisticated band, because their drummer wasn't happening. 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.600 And Ali was on the floor crying, you know, because 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:05.440 he didn't want to leave his. 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.360 Homies, you know, just so he's tried. I can't. 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.040 I'll never leave. I said, man, you need to leave. 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.560 I ain't gonna do this anyway, knowing something else. I 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:15.280 still wasn't committed at that age, and by that time 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.840 I was playing a little bit of saxophone. But the 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.240 big thing, the big life change, was my dad bought 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.000 a Magnavox tape recorder about this big, with real to reel, 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.520 and I had the only tape recorder in the neighborhood 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:27.840 that was real to real. 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:29.080 So you were the studio. 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.600 I was a studio, believe it. And I still like 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.960 that today. But I was the studio. I had the 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:40.000 tape recorder and my brother had a cheap box guitar, 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.240 and I remember I had a busher saxophone. I took 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.359 my brother's guitar and I put the microphone in the 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.359 guitar and it amplified it. 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:48.639 Right. 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:50.600 It was an acoustic guitar, but I put the mic 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:53.280 in the thing, passed the strings, stuck it up in there, 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.119 turned the tape recorder up, and I was like, whoa, 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.360 that's cool sound. Plus I got more than one show. 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.159 I can't plain things that you hit the strings, but 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.119 it was more than one old at the time, and 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.320 I was tired of breathing and stuff. Anyway, So Ollie 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.560 left the band. Yeah, I didn't like this. And by 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:07.760 the time, you know, I was starting to get a 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.359 little taller, a little more ten years old, starting to 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.360 get a little more handsome, you know, growing little head. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.000 I ain't found the girls yet, but I'm just saying 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.080 I was just starting going into your own. Yeah, I'm 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:19.120 getting taller. 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:19.040 You know. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.359 In the little clarinet's getting smaller, I'm getting taller. You 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:25.480 know what happened. So Ollie quit the band and went 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.119 with Sylvester and the bigger band. So I just decided 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.360 I'm gonna play the guitar and you know, and we 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:32.520 were still playing together sometimes, but they didn't want me 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:34.960 to play the guitar. They wanted me to play the clarinet, 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:36.639 you know. And I said, if you don't let me 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:38.600 to play the guitar, I ain't gonna record y'all. That's 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:40.360 just the way it is, you know. So that's how 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:42.360 that went. Okay, So now I'm gonna let y'all take 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:43.959 it back over. 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:45.000 I know this is. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.840 Going campfire stories, so we just tell them who Ali 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:50.879 or he keeps? 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.639 Well. Now, now everything's coming to me now, because I 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.679 was trying to Ollie and Jerry hooked up, and of 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.480 course Jerry was also in radio, so. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:02.120 That oh yeah, I holked them up years later. That's 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.040 way I see it. 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.800 I don't want to jump that far. I don't jump 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.679 that far. So okay, So were you self taught or 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.159 did you have formal instruction self taught on the guitar? 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.320 And is this normal for everyone in Detroit? Like am 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.040 I to think that everyone's a wonder kind prodigy at 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.120 their instrument? You know what? 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.080 Yeah, it does seem like it. But let me tell 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.760 you this. The level of musicianship was so high that 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.320 before you could even tell anybody you played the instrument, 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:30.120 you had to be good. 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:30.920 Right. 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:33.480 It's just like I'll never get Norm Nixon told me 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:35.720 one time. He said all his guys he went to 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:37.399 school with, all six or eight of them went to 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.160 the NBA because the level of practice that they all 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.000 commanded from each other. It was so much higher that 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.080 when they showed up with everybody else, the whole group 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.840 was higher. And I think that's how Detroit was. You know, 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.280 when I was a young kid, like fourteen, I'm playing 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.080 in at twenty Grand. Well, you know, James Jamison was 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.560 sitting next to me, right, So that's just the way 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.320 you played. James Jamison was sitting here. You know, Jack 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.359 atri over there, Robert wis sitting here. I mean, you 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.720 gotta play, well, you gotta play. You know, there's no 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.880 way around it. And if you're not cutting it, everybody's 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.520 pointing at you. And I gotta tell the street when 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:11.520 the notes, when the bad notes get played. It wasn't 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.080 me because I was perfect, right, I had to be perfect. 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:15.720 I'd be out, but they'd all point to me. 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:16.119 Anyway. 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.520 I get hit with the drum stick anyway, because it's 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:21.600 the youngest. So did you play with the Funk Brothers 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.000 or were you a I didn't play with the Funk 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:26.080 Brothers on the original. 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.119 Well no, no, I don't mean that, But did you 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:29.320 ever play with those guys? Oh? 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:30.719 Every day? 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:33.800 So the twenty Grand was just the epicenter of musicians. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:35.480 I was in the house band at the twenty Grand, 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.720 so it was like fourteen fifteen. It was Michael Henderson 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.520 would play sometime. Bohannon was the band leader. He's the 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.480 guy that brought Melton Hamilton. Bohannon brought me in the band. 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.040 Michael Henderson would play when he's not on tour with 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.359 Miles or Stevie or somebody. But Jamison was there just 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.639 about every night. Eddie Willis would play sometime. Wow, I 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:54.480 was there all the time. 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:57.800 Right. Why I watch him was from the joy as well? 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.480 Yeah, you know, to get tired. Why wat Yeah, the 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.479 thick L five that he puts the phone in and 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:07.040 get the Winwaie pedal. Yeah, that's my guitar. That ain't 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.120 wi Wis guitar. He still owed me three hundred dollars. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.600 I was going at that when I was playing jazz. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:16.600 I put the phone in there because Melvin Spiks and 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.280 George Benson had done it, and I bought an L five, 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.600 you know, to play some jazz. I was playing jazz wy. 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.040 I was living with this white chick and she stole 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:25.920 all everything he had. 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:26.280 So he. 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:29.960 Came home the carbet was gone. She took all the money, 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:31.520 he would have killed her, but he didn't have enough 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.120 money to go get fired her. To kill it took 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:38.560 and while I had a thin body guitar that he 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:40.840 was playing all the time, and so I said, look, 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:42.680 I ain't gonna play jazz much no more. You could 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.040 buy my l five and he didn't have much a choice. 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:47.280 He gave me one hundred two hundred bucks and said 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.320 he paid me the rest, which I never ever, never did. 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:51.720 But that's how he got that guitar. And then once 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:54.040 he started playing with it, the wa wai pedal and 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:56.800 the boxy tire feeding back gave him his new sound. 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:58.760 He was like, oh, I like this. So he's been 0:21:58.800 --> 0:21:59.520 playing the ever since. 0:21:59.640 --> 0:21:59.800 Now. 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:01.920 We had a deal because he smokes a lot of cigarettes, 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:03.680 and so I say, if you croak early and when 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:09.040 my guitar back, that's prit of the deal. That's probably 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:09.280 the deal. 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:13.159 Even though so I guess uh some previous episodes before 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.679 we learned the idea of the house Span, which was 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.720 various acts will come to town learn the records. Whoever 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.320 you know, was how much warning did you have, Like, 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:26.400 give us an example of you being in the house 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.080 Span and someone coming to the town is this. 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:30.520 Okay, we're in the house span and let's say Gladys 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.760 Night and the Pips come to town. Chuck Jackson was 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:37.320 the big guy that will come, Spinners will come. They're 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.879 in the warning you show up there this week, they 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:41.719 say the Spinner's showing. They put the charts up there, 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:43.280 and it's time that you know you've rehearsed a little 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.199 bit with the charts, these core charts or or actual 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:50.720 like their cored charts with some notes. So the guitar 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.200 is going d D D D ding or duram dirrtr 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.760 that'll be written. Then you go back to chords. 0:22:57.200 --> 0:22:59.000 Was that the same you mentioned Chuck Jackson? Was that 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:01.320 the same Chuck Jackson the work when Nellie. 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.160 Cole was No, no, no, there was a guy singer. 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:06.320 Chuck Jackson had a big horn section and everything. I 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.160 know Chuck Jacks Marvin Yanson too. Yeah, yeah, I did 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:10.960 some of Natalie's records. 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:14.320 Yeah, you're on sophisticated lady, right, I believe I know. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:16.600 I'm on our love. I remember that, okay, because she 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.280 was pregnant at the time, right, Okay. 0:23:19.080 --> 0:23:22.360 So okay, so you're saying that without warning, someone puts 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:23.200 paper in front of you. 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.840 And you go get yeah, you gotta go. Okay, And 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:30.520 I got my first gig at Motown, even before Hamilton Bohanna, 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.760 even before the twenty Grand is with the Spinners. Okay, 0:23:34.160 --> 0:23:37.280 and Billy Henderson had a truck called Fascinating Rhythm. He says, 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:39.040 I don't care how old you. You could read that chart, 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:41.320 you got the gig. So I pulled up my guitar, 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:42.760 I read that chart, and now I got the gig. 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:44.440 And so he came to my mom and they take 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:46.600 us down on weekends, you know, and we go play 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:48.560 with the Spinners. They were nobody at the time they had. 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:51.560 Felipe Win hadn't even gotten the band yet. So this 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:55.119 is the Detroit Spinners, Detroit Spinish. Yeah, but at the twenty grand, 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.480 which is interesting, Felipe Win got in the band at 0:23:57.480 --> 0:23:58.840 the twenty grand. They didn't have no hits and they 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:02.640 weren't signed to Philadelphia. But I do remember Felipe Win 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:06.719 turning out the audience two shows a night with no hits. 0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:08.280 He just started doing that. 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:10.280 Half half yeah, I heard it, and he was just 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:13.080 the most energetic guy you ever seen, and we nobody 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:16.679 knew what he was singing, right it was like exciting anyway, 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.440 I've heard the level of performing was unbelievable. 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:23.399 Yeah, sol bay Wind was off the Chaine and I 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:25.359 heard he was like the greatest, like ad Liver. He 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:27.440 would just come up with stuff off the cuff. 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:29.840 But they said they wore tom Bell would shortened all 0:24:29.880 --> 0:24:32.280 the songs to leave a long faith because they just 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:34.520 would let him have the fade. So if you look 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:36.840 at the Spinner songs, they you know, two minutes it 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:37.480 starts to. 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:41.000 Just go to the fath he there's a formula one 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.720 Spinner songs because when you're the same with Slim and 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:46.400 family Stone, like I used to think that Fleebe sang everything, 0:24:47.280 --> 0:24:51.080 whereas you know, I noticed that uh, one of the 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:54.400 other singers would sing the main lyrics and then when 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:58.680 it was time for the end straight he rarely would 0:24:58.680 --> 0:25:01.080 get a song by him, stuff like rubber a band 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:03.199 man or maybe one of a kind. But it's kind 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:05.880 of like a formula at the twenty grand, So could 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:09.159 you describe what what a typical night there was like, Like, 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:11.440 first of all, I was at the nightclub. Is it 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:11.639 it was. 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:14.080 A night theater or we need another nightclub like that? 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:16.560 It was an all black nightclub in the center of 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:20.800 the ghetto. Capacity probably four or five hundred people, but 0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:23.080 it would be packed. I mean this place would be 0:25:23.160 --> 0:25:25.560 packed seats everywhere. Gladys night would have a line going 0:25:25.640 --> 0:25:27.800 outside in the wintertime all the way around the block. 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:30.320 So if it's in the center of the hood, was 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:34.520 there any concern where once you became of a certain stature, Say, 0:25:34.520 --> 0:25:37.120 if you're like Diynald Ross, right, are you still going 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:37.920 to the twenty Grands? 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:38.199 Ye? 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:40.720 See, Norman Wifield's there every night. I mean he used 0:25:40.720 --> 0:25:42.280 to pick on me as a kid, saying what's he 0:25:42.400 --> 0:25:45.640 doing here? And I said, shit, you the drink? 0:25:45.680 --> 0:25:46.119 Shut up? 0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:48.520 Call me out routinely. 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:50.840 You know you're coming underage? Like yeah, yeah, I was 0:25:50.880 --> 0:25:51.480 way under age. 0:25:51.480 --> 0:25:53.480 I mean me and Norman Widfield we couldn't be friends 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:55.280 for like another four years because he was called he 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:57.480 was just calling me out just you know, it. 0:25:57.480 --> 0:25:58.840 Took a while. I used to check. 0:25:59.480 --> 0:26:01.600 I don't know, he was just picking on me, and 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:03.520 then he talked to me like third party too. He'd 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:06.800 be like, why is he here? He's obviously too young. 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:07.600 He was just picking you know. 0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:11.600 I was like really like initiation, Yeah, like I guess, you. 0:26:11.600 --> 0:26:14.719 Know, he didn't know through you he might have someone 0:26:14.760 --> 0:26:16.320 that was sort of on level. 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:18.879 With Dennis or no, he didn't feel none of that. 0:26:18.920 --> 0:26:20.919 He wasn't feeling. So it was all about Dennis and 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:22.800 no one else. That was thet kid pumped out on 0:26:22.840 --> 0:26:24.640 the stage. I mean, just what that was. It wasn't 0:26:24.680 --> 0:26:26.800 headed that way. But the typical day is, you know, 0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:29.520 we go in rehearse the songs, or like I say it, showtime, 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:33.240 we do the first show almost like clockwork. Every night 0:26:33.440 --> 0:26:36.360 in the middle between the two shows, me and Jamison 0:26:36.359 --> 0:26:39.160 would hang out. James had a black fleet with bro him. 0:26:39.520 --> 0:26:41.199 We go to his car, you know, and I was 0:26:41.320 --> 0:26:44.040 a really nice kid. Jamison would go in his glove 0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:46.200 box and that's winter time, so we got the windows 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:47.600 rolled up, we got a little bit of heat on 0:26:47.840 --> 0:26:50.600 co and and then he have a bag of weed. 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:53.000 Then the bag of weed was sitting on his gun. 0:26:53.320 --> 0:26:55.080 You know, the gun. I'm sorry, the gun was sitting 0:26:55.119 --> 0:26:58.080 on the bag. First of all, everybody just by everybody 0:26:58.080 --> 0:27:00.320 in the gun got get used to that. You don't 0:27:00.320 --> 0:27:02.159 go nowhere without your gun in the glovebox, you know. 0:27:02.440 --> 0:27:04.680 But he had a weed undergun, so he would get 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:06.919 the weed put in the primary starts smoking weed. So 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:13.000 I told my mother on James Jameson what I said, 0:27:13.000 --> 0:27:15.280 you know, because it was making me feel weird. You know, 0:27:15.320 --> 0:27:18.040 it's you know, contact, It just wasn't happening, you know. 0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:20.439 So you know, I had to talk with my parents 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:22.280 and they told me what to say because they didn't 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:23.679 want me to get I'll get him in trouble. So 0:27:23.680 --> 0:27:26.000 I went back and I said, you know, mister Jamison, 0:27:26.200 --> 0:27:28.600 mister Jameson, how old was he at the time. I 0:27:28.600 --> 0:27:31.560 don't know, he probably is in his late thirties. I'm guessing, 0:27:31.600 --> 0:27:35.000 you know. And yeah, I think I was fourteen fifteen. 0:27:35.040 --> 0:27:37.200 I said, you know, I can't sit in the car 0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:40.399 with you no more because you know, you're smoking these 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:42.960 things and I can't, you know, I feel weird. 0:27:43.920 --> 0:27:45.760 Yeah. Yeah. 0:27:45.800 --> 0:27:47.840 He promised me he'd never do it again, you know, 0:27:47.880 --> 0:27:49.640 he said, you know, this is a week lady said, 0:27:49.680 --> 0:27:52.400 he missed our hangout in the car, you know, because 0:27:52.440 --> 0:27:54.000 nobody else is hanging out with because he liked to 0:27:54.040 --> 0:27:56.560 drink a little bit. People gone. So he told me 0:27:56.600 --> 0:27:58.440 he never do it again. So I said, okay, cool, 0:27:58.440 --> 0:28:00.280 and then we got back together and we go to 0:28:00.320 --> 0:28:03.040 his car listen to some music kick it. You know, 0:28:03.200 --> 0:28:04.800 I didn't know he's going to be famous or anything. 0:28:04.880 --> 0:28:06.320 I just just the bass player. 0:28:06.400 --> 0:28:08.800 What I was going to say was he I've never 0:28:08.880 --> 0:28:12.760 heard any James Jamison stories whatsoever. For those that know, 0:28:12.840 --> 0:28:17.480 James Jamerson is like the standard for which I personally 0:28:17.600 --> 0:28:21.359 judge every bass player I ever played with. For those 0:28:21.400 --> 0:28:25.679 of you that are fans of of d'angelo's Voodoo and 0:28:25.760 --> 0:28:30.560 you praise Pinal Palladino, Pino Palladino's basically the second coming 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:34.440 to James Jamerson. Like his his finger game is far none. 0:28:34.480 --> 0:28:37.120 I mean, he's emulating James Jamerson. 0:28:37.840 --> 0:28:40.720 In the Shadows of Bowtown documentary is a good one 0:28:40.760 --> 0:28:44.800 day Jamison everybody. 0:28:44.840 --> 0:28:46.320 And they talked about the twenty grand as well. 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:49.360 So was it a generation separation? That's what I want 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:51.760 to know, Like it was sort of a generation separation, 0:28:51.920 --> 0:28:55.640 you know, but they were they were good guys, the 0:28:55.920 --> 0:28:58.480 Funk Brothers. You know, my mouth was probably a little 0:28:58.480 --> 0:29:00.640 too big. I remember the first song learned to play 0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:04.240 was I'm Losing You, and I had I had it down. 0:29:04.280 --> 0:29:06.240 I mean, I had my Red three thirty five back 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:10.280 picker jink Lean in the bottom note. I had the 0:29:10.280 --> 0:29:13.680 whole thing put together. And so I was showing Robert White. 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:14.920 You know, we were sitting in the studio and I'm 0:29:14.960 --> 0:29:18.280 showing Robert White sort of not just playing for him, 0:29:18.280 --> 0:29:20.120 but sort of like, look at me, watch this. You know, 0:29:20.120 --> 0:29:22.240 I'm the man, you know. And Robert White looked at 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:24.200 me and says, he says, he says, that's really nice, 0:29:24.240 --> 0:29:26.640 young man. I played on the original record. 0:29:26.440 --> 0:29:31.600 You know, master. 0:29:31.880 --> 0:29:33.880 I mean, you know, I'm like, really you playing on that? 0:29:34.000 --> 0:29:38.320 I says, well, then he I found he played mocked on. 0:29:38.640 --> 0:29:40.520 That's him on my girl. I mean, I was like, 0:29:40.960 --> 0:29:43.600 I got quiet, you know, I got shut up. But 0:29:43.680 --> 0:29:45.760 those guys were teaching us. So you know, Robert White 0:29:45.840 --> 0:29:48.160 taught me a lot of rhythm stuff and and tricks 0:29:48.160 --> 0:29:50.400 and how to phrase it and how to use the thing. 0:29:50.480 --> 0:29:52.400 So they were real helpful. They were real good guys, 0:29:52.440 --> 0:29:52.960 all of them. 0:29:53.120 --> 0:29:55.360 So am I just assuming that there is what I 0:29:55.400 --> 0:29:59.560 think are three classes, because obviously when Norman Woodfield really started, 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:02.719 UH kind of taken over where Holland DOJ or Holland 0:30:02.800 --> 0:30:05.960 left off. If Holland DOJ Holland really utilized the Funk 0:30:06.000 --> 0:30:09.440 Brothers to their full ability, I feel like Norman Woodfield 0:30:09.760 --> 0:30:11.320 took Dennis Coffee's band. 0:30:11.480 --> 0:30:14.480 And wait wasns Coffee's band or but he just took 0:30:14.480 --> 0:30:18.800 Dennis Coffee and wah wah basically. But the even the 0:30:18.840 --> 0:30:21.360 rhythm section was was different than he was some of 0:30:21.400 --> 0:30:23.920 the same guys sometimes. Yeah, Jamison was on some of 0:30:23.920 --> 0:30:25.960 his stuff before they could not get along. 0:30:26.000 --> 0:30:29.040 They had some fights, you know, right, So I mean 0:30:29.040 --> 0:30:32.520 by the time that they had made in their exodus 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:34.680 to Hollywood, what were you facing? 0:30:34.720 --> 0:30:38.160 Then? That was a godsend that Holland dojoh Honald left 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:42.880 Motown really because yeah, because Jack Ashford, Dennis Coffee, Robert White, 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:45.640 they had Motown sold up. I did some Marvin Gay 0:30:45.680 --> 0:30:48.800 albums when Marvin wanted to be different. I did one 0:30:48.880 --> 0:30:51.440 thing with Smokey and the Snake Pit, but most of 0:30:51.480 --> 0:30:53.720 the sessions were done by the Funk Brothers. So when 0:30:53.760 --> 0:30:56.000 Holland Doja Holland left, the Funk Brothers weren't supposed to 0:30:56.040 --> 0:30:57.920 be there. So that left me and my boys, me 0:30:57.960 --> 0:31:02.240 and selvester step By, Oh yeah us one at the 0:31:02.680 --> 0:31:04.680 young Man single in Free so we hit all that. 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:06.800 Of course, it is, yeah, all that. 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:07.200 Kind of stuff. 0:31:07.240 --> 0:31:10.360 Chairman of the board, Laura Lee Free to pay I mean, 0:31:10.360 --> 0:31:12.440 that's us doing all that those records. So that led 0:31:12.520 --> 0:31:13.720 us in on the thing, you. 0:31:13.680 --> 0:31:15.800 Know, job so you were the house band for it. 0:31:17.240 --> 0:31:21.560 Yeah, I'm I'm on money. Yeah, that's all that's me. Yeah, 0:31:21.800 --> 0:31:24.040 so we're having a good time. Marvin get cut a record. 0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:26.880 I remember the first release was You're the Man, which 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:29.040 I'm playing two or three guitars on. That's me at 0:31:29.280 --> 0:31:33.959 fifteen sixteen, and I'll never forget I made like twenty 0:31:34.040 --> 0:31:36.800 grand in a month. My father worked at Ford. He 0:31:36.880 --> 0:31:39.880 only made sixteen grand all year. So this posed a 0:31:40.080 --> 0:31:46.600 real interesting problem. More money than fox, right, my dad? 0:31:47.000 --> 0:31:47.400 My dad? 0:31:47.440 --> 0:31:49.200 No. I had already told my dad I don't need 0:31:49.200 --> 0:31:51.080 no money. I told him that at thirteen years I 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:51.720 got the money. 0:31:51.800 --> 0:31:52.320 Damn good. 0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:54.200 You don't have to pay nothing for me no more. 0:31:54.400 --> 0:31:56.160 But what was interesting is now I'm starting to make 0:31:56.160 --> 0:31:57.960 so much money. My dad thought for sure I was 0:31:58.000 --> 0:32:01.120 selling drugs. He was one hundred percent sure, so he 0:32:01.320 --> 0:32:06.880 hired my older cousin to follow me around. Now this 0:32:07.000 --> 0:32:09.880 may have been prompted by if you ever saw the 0:32:09.920 --> 0:32:13.320 movie Superfly, the blue Cadillac with all the stuff on it, 0:32:13.960 --> 0:32:16.720 Marvin Gay had one just like it, but it was 0:32:16.760 --> 0:32:19.720 burgundy with a burgundy top. It was cold bloody bug eyes. 0:32:19.880 --> 0:32:22.280 I mean, you know this thing was that. So Marvin's 0:32:22.280 --> 0:32:26.840 at the studio one day and he's smoking a joint 0:32:27.040 --> 0:32:29.160 and I'd already kind of said, you know, I think 0:32:29.160 --> 0:32:31.120 Bohanna or somebody told him, you know, Ray what to 0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:34.320 join him. So Marvin felt bad, but he wasn't gonna 0:32:34.320 --> 0:32:36.800 stop smoking his joint. He just felt bad about it. 0:32:36.800 --> 0:32:38.520 So I'll never forget what he did. Man, I don't 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:40.120 know if I had a driver's license or not at 0:32:40.120 --> 0:32:42.480 the time, but he looked over at me and says, man, Ray, 0:32:42.680 --> 0:32:44.320 why don't you take the car for spend, go out 0:32:44.360 --> 0:32:45.880 for a couple of hours to have a good time. 0:32:46.200 --> 0:32:48.720 And I'm like, really, man, let me tell you. Let 0:32:48.760 --> 0:32:53.680 me drive the pitmobile in Detroit. It was leaning so hard. 0:32:53.720 --> 0:32:55.120 I think me and the mirror were like. 0:32:57.320 --> 0:32:57.880 Sent it up. 0:32:57.920 --> 0:33:00.280 You know, I'm driving through the neighborhood, so I know 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:02.680 because so I'm just trying to protect my dad. Now, 0:33:02.680 --> 0:33:04.440 you know, he saw that too, so he at least 0:33:04.440 --> 0:33:06.760 heard about it. He said, Man, we saw your son 0:33:07.240 --> 0:33:10.600 driving a fifty thousand dollars cap. Now you said he 0:33:10.640 --> 0:33:12.680 made how much money last night? You need to check 0:33:13.120 --> 0:33:16.200 your own home, talk about us. So I'm pulling up 0:33:16.240 --> 0:33:18.480 to the high school. I'm leaning hard, right, I can't 0:33:18.480 --> 0:33:20.400 get not no girls in the car because I can't stop, 0:33:20.440 --> 0:33:22.800 because I'm scared to stop. I'm just leaning. And if 0:33:22.800 --> 0:33:24.560 the police come, I don't care. I'll take it. I 0:33:24.680 --> 0:33:26.600 shot at it. But I drove around for a couple hours, 0:33:26.800 --> 0:33:28.560 went back to study your best time in my life, 0:33:28.560 --> 0:33:28.800 you know. 0:33:30.600 --> 0:33:33.520 So your father just had no clue that you were 0:33:34.880 --> 0:33:37.920 pretty much a genius at your craft at this point. 0:33:38.000 --> 0:33:39.800 He thought that, first of all, if you weren't playing 0:33:39.800 --> 0:33:42.480 the saxophone while you playing any music, he says, nobody 0:33:42.520 --> 0:33:45.280 wants to hear anything about the saxophone. And my father 0:33:45.360 --> 0:33:46.800 was much older than me, by the way, I should 0:33:46.840 --> 0:33:48.800 say that he had me at forty six forty seven. 0:33:49.200 --> 0:33:50.680 So in his mind all he knew was the jazz 0:33:50.760 --> 0:33:52.640 musicians of the old days. They live out the suitcase, 0:33:52.680 --> 0:33:54.840 they make five dollars, and they broke right. 0:33:54.920 --> 0:33:55.360 So that's all. 0:33:55.440 --> 0:33:58.120 He didn't understand what recording was or any of his stuff. 0:33:58.400 --> 0:34:02.880 Okay, so what would a session musician in Detroit make 0:34:02.960 --> 0:34:05.080 on a typical session? First of all, are you your 0:34:05.120 --> 0:34:05.719 own agent? 0:34:06.280 --> 0:34:08.799 Yes, okay, we had no agents. They just call you 0:34:08.800 --> 0:34:12.120 on the phone. McKenley Jackson for Invictus would call up 0:34:12.120 --> 0:34:14.439 and say, hey, we're cutting at such and such a time. 0:34:14.520 --> 0:34:16.879 Can you make at ten o'clock ninety dollars for three 0:34:16.920 --> 0:34:17.480 hour session? 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:19.479 How long do you have to learn the song? 0:34:20.160 --> 0:34:22.400 You don't have long. They spend half an hour on 0:34:22.440 --> 0:34:23.800 the drum sound. 0:34:24.560 --> 0:34:25.120 You go in. 0:34:25.160 --> 0:34:28.840 There wasn't no amplifiers. Everybody had a little ortone speaker 0:34:28.880 --> 0:34:31.360 next to them, and in the main room at Motown, 0:34:31.520 --> 0:34:35.120 everybody plugged in the same speaker, clapping that bass guitar, 0:34:35.160 --> 0:34:37.040 everybody plugging the same thing. Then they had a drum 0:34:37.120 --> 0:34:39.759 booth for the drums, so they you run the song 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:42.040 down a few times. But you gotta get three songs 0:34:42.080 --> 0:34:44.560 in three hours, or don't nobody want to see you 0:34:44.560 --> 0:34:49.160 no more. You gotta get three songs whatever. So you 0:34:49.239 --> 0:34:51.000 got a half an hour setting up the thing. You 0:34:51.040 --> 0:34:52.719 got to change the string, whatever, y'all got to tune 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:53.160 up whatever. 0:34:53.280 --> 0:34:53.560 That's it. 0:34:53.880 --> 0:34:55.719 Now, let's play and they come in and change the 0:34:55.760 --> 0:34:57.640 parts and they run it down and you had to 0:34:57.680 --> 0:34:59.600 get it. But what was exciting is you could hear 0:35:00.080 --> 0:35:03.120 your song on the radio. Within ten days. They get 0:35:03.120 --> 0:35:04.920 it out really quick back then, you know, and it 0:35:05.000 --> 0:35:06.680 was a singles world. Back then, it wasn't a lot 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:08.840 of albums, so everything we cut was supposed to be 0:35:08.840 --> 0:35:09.440 a hit single. 0:35:09.520 --> 0:35:12.920 All right. So during this period, what is your proudest 0:35:12.920 --> 0:35:16.359 moment of like, ah, that's my guitar? Like, what's what's 0:35:16.360 --> 0:35:16.919 your man? 0:35:17.080 --> 0:35:19.600 When I heard everything Good is Bad and Everything Bad 0:35:19.719 --> 0:35:22.440 is Good come back? It had four of my guitars 0:35:22.440 --> 0:35:24.480 on that overtop and I was up loud. 0:35:24.600 --> 0:35:26.239 How many wait? How many tracks? Were? 0:35:26.280 --> 0:35:27.160 Sixteen tracks? 0:35:27.440 --> 0:35:28.879 Okay? So what year is this now? 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:32.840 This is nineteen seventy, I guess sixty nine seventy. 0:35:33.480 --> 0:35:37.479 Okay. So the studio used is this god it sound? 0:35:37.560 --> 0:35:38.279 Or is it no? No? 0:35:38.320 --> 0:35:41.000 This was Holland Doja. Holland had their own studio and 0:35:41.040 --> 0:35:43.680 it was in a burned down movie theater on Grand 0:35:43.719 --> 0:35:45.920 River and Joy Road, which was happening to be two 0:35:45.920 --> 0:35:48.720 blocks over from the Grandy ball Room, which was interesting 0:35:48.719 --> 0:35:52.640 because I always wondered why they had a burnt down 0:35:52.680 --> 0:35:56.319 movie studio and why they put all this sand under 0:35:56.360 --> 0:35:58.960 the control room floor. And when I first built my 0:35:59.000 --> 0:36:02.120 studio in Hollywood American studios, I didn't want to burn 0:36:02.160 --> 0:36:04.720 down movie theater. But I did put sand under the floor, 0:36:04.920 --> 0:36:08.120 which made it work right. And now that I'm older, 0:36:08.120 --> 0:36:10.640 I traced it back to Memphis. The old Royal Studio 0:36:11.200 --> 0:36:13.759 was in a burned down movie theater and they got 0:36:13.800 --> 0:36:16.160 saying under the control room, and so it all really 0:36:16.200 --> 0:36:19.520 started in Memphis. They were trying to imitate you know, 0:36:19.680 --> 0:36:24.720 Sack exactly and Willie Mitchell during the Hollandojoh Holland period 0:36:24.760 --> 0:36:27.239 and the Marvigay period. And I was just graduating out 0:36:27.280 --> 0:36:28.839 of high school. You know, I got out of high 0:36:28.840 --> 0:36:31.360 school at seventeen, so I'm now doing a year of college, 0:36:31.360 --> 0:36:32.880 as I say, at the first In the middle of 0:36:32.920 --> 0:36:35.200 the first year, which I hated, now, I was drafting 0:36:35.239 --> 0:36:37.640 car parts for Ford Motor Company. I mean, if you 0:36:37.640 --> 0:36:39.319 can imagine me with a suit and town, you know, 0:36:39.400 --> 0:36:42.319 drawing car doors and trying to make it fit. You know, 0:36:42.840 --> 0:36:44.919 that didn't work out for me, and Stevie Wonder called 0:36:44.920 --> 0:36:47.479 me on the telephone and I had never met Stevie Wonder, 0:36:47.520 --> 0:36:50.000 but Music from My Mind was my favorite album, you know, 0:36:50.040 --> 0:36:51.960 of all time, which they recorded in this building. 0:36:51.960 --> 0:36:56.759 By the way, What effected what effected music on my mind? 0:36:56.800 --> 0:36:59.120 Have on you like, I never heard those sounds just 0:36:59.520 --> 0:37:03.440 to hear, like, I never heard someone that was in 0:37:03.480 --> 0:37:05.279 that era describe it. I mean, I know what it 0:37:05.320 --> 0:37:06.800 is in hindsight and as an adult. 0:37:06.840 --> 0:37:08.960 But by the way, that's my favorite album that he's 0:37:08.960 --> 0:37:12.120 ever recorded, and it's him playing all the instruments, but 0:37:12.120 --> 0:37:15.719 it's all these experimental sounds, and it's a breakaway from 0:37:15.719 --> 0:37:19.520 the traditional motown sound. It's just him experimenting one hundred 0:37:19.520 --> 0:37:22.719 percent free and experiment and just trying something totally new. 0:37:23.719 --> 0:37:25.400 And so I had pretty much, you know, when I 0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:27.160 first heard it, I'm not sure I liked it that 0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:29.279 much because it was so new then as I then 0:37:29.480 --> 0:37:31.839 a month later, I had thrown away every other record. 0:37:31.880 --> 0:37:33.640 I had just had the eight track of that in 0:37:33.680 --> 0:37:35.520 my car play along which. 0:37:35.360 --> 0:37:37.240 One which one grabbed you the most? On the album, 0:37:37.320 --> 0:37:38.640 like the first you know what? 0:37:38.680 --> 0:37:40.680 I can't Marry wants to be super I can't. I 0:37:40.719 --> 0:37:42.400 can't even say. I just would play the whole a 0:37:42.600 --> 0:37:44.440 track and just let it play. And I used to 0:37:44.520 --> 0:37:47.960 drive from Detroit to Cincinnati and back in eight hours 0:37:48.000 --> 0:37:49.880 just so I could just nobody could talk to me. 0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:52.160 I just turned up loud and just drive and just 0:37:52.200 --> 0:37:54.680 listen to it was that, you know. So what happened 0:37:54.719 --> 0:37:58.040 to me is right around my birthday in seventy two, 0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:01.120 right before my eighteenth birthday, I got a phone call 0:38:01.160 --> 0:38:03.480 from Stevie Wonder. And this is a true Strive told 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:06.600 before I hung up on him, you know, because. 0:38:06.360 --> 0:38:09.960 I that's a common thing before ever. Yeah, no one 0:38:10.040 --> 0:38:10.600 not believing. 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:14.600 I mean, I'm playing the song the album in my 0:38:14.680 --> 0:38:16.160 car every day. I ain't got nothing but that, So 0:38:16.200 --> 0:38:18.200 it's got to be one of my boys messing around 0:38:18.200 --> 0:38:20.200 with me, got it, but you know, And he called 0:38:20.200 --> 0:38:22.000 two or three times. I hung up two or three times. 0:38:22.040 --> 0:38:24.000 Four times he called back. I said some not some 0:38:24.080 --> 0:38:28.160 nice things, and then still hunt good thing. He had 0:38:28.160 --> 0:38:29.759 a sense of humor, so he called back and fifth 0:38:29.760 --> 0:38:33.120 times says, look, he says, we ain't we ain't communicating this, 0:38:33.280 --> 0:38:36.440 Steve Wonder, he says, listening to this. And he played 0:38:36.480 --> 0:38:39.400 me the rhythm track he had just started with Superstition, 0:38:39.440 --> 0:38:41.480 and I almost hung up again because the rhythm track, 0:38:41.480 --> 0:38:45.880 the Superstition starts off with marching drums, and I was like, oh, 0:38:45.920 --> 0:38:48.560 that's bulls, you know. Then before I could hang up, 0:38:48.560 --> 0:38:53.799 I heard thought I heard that, and I went, oh, 0:38:53.840 --> 0:38:59.319 my god, I'm hanging up the phone, and there was 0:38:59.360 --> 0:39:02.760 still this shoe of the college with the door parts 0:39:02.760 --> 0:39:06.720 and learning that thing, you know, And there's major problem 0:39:06.760 --> 0:39:09.040 there because my dad wanted me to finish college and 0:39:09.160 --> 0:39:11.759 get a real job and have a pension plan. 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:14.759 This still wasn't a real jobs. 0:39:14.920 --> 0:39:18.920 Dollars No twenty in one month right now. I remember, 0:39:18.960 --> 0:39:21.040 I'm doing the twenty grand, making three fifty a week 0:39:21.040 --> 0:39:23.560 at the twenty grand and cash no taxes. We didn't 0:39:23.600 --> 0:39:30.600 pay taxes in Detroit three fifty weeks. He's right here, lazy. 0:39:31.680 --> 0:39:34.279 Let's shoot ten years ago to mayridaon and paid tax 0:39:37.239 --> 0:39:39.960 don't go back to hip hop. Make so we make 0:39:40.000 --> 0:39:43.280 three fifty, So three fifty a week at twenty grand, 0:39:44.680 --> 0:39:47.400 ninety dollars every three hour session at Hollands in Holland, 0:39:47.680 --> 0:39:50.120 and then that one month with Marvin Gay and Jewish 0:39:50.200 --> 0:39:53.040 bar misisfais and weddings on the weekends pay like thirty 0:39:53.040 --> 0:39:54.759 five forty bucks and we could do three, four to 0:39:54.840 --> 0:39:57.960 five of those easy. So we're making money in Detroit. 0:39:58.640 --> 0:40:01.320 Want your dad a house for some of this money? 0:40:01.400 --> 0:40:04.239 Likes pretty much? Yeah, But instead I bought myself a 0:40:04.280 --> 0:40:05.160 really nice con. 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:08.280 It's crazy. 0:40:09.040 --> 0:40:10.799 In the first house I bought, I bought my dad house. 0:40:10.800 --> 0:40:13.279 I did do that, so just so you'll know, when 0:40:13.320 --> 0:40:15.240 I made some real money, I bought my dad house. 0:40:15.320 --> 0:40:17.960 Mom took care of everybody, paid all the bills. They 0:40:17.960 --> 0:40:20.160 never paid a pen anymore for the rest of their life. 0:40:20.880 --> 0:40:22.440 And he still didn't he didn't say you should still 0:40:22.480 --> 0:40:23.080 finish college. 0:40:23.239 --> 0:40:25.160 By that time I was twenty two, he was done talking. 0:40:25.200 --> 0:40:30.359 Okay, parent gave all that parents do that like just 0:40:30.400 --> 0:40:33.160 siding deep deep into Hiladelph half life. My dad was 0:40:33.200 --> 0:40:35.400 still getting it. You gotta get a real job exactly 0:40:35.760 --> 0:40:37.600 like it's my third record. 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:39.839 He's like, you gotta get a real job, your son 0:40:39.880 --> 0:40:41.719 and I love you. Gotta come on straighten up. 0:40:42.960 --> 0:40:44.239 Yeah I got that. I didn't get it. 0:40:44.239 --> 0:40:46.239 It didn't get real to my mom until she saw 0:40:46.280 --> 0:40:49.600 me on the cover of Double XL, Like when she 0:40:49.760 --> 0:40:51.680 like when she saw us on double x L and 0:40:51.719 --> 0:40:54.120 then like the sowreds like see me in magazines. 0:40:54.160 --> 0:40:55.680 That was when somebody your second album. 0:40:55.719 --> 0:40:57.799 It was like it was like, okay, it's it's real. 0:41:02.760 --> 0:41:05.200 So with Stevie, did you. 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.200 You finally moved? When did you move to Los Angeles? 0:41:07.640 --> 0:41:10.640 I moved to Los Angeles soon as I quit Stevie's band, 0:41:11.280 --> 0:41:13.360 and I stayed in the band a good eight months. 0:41:13.440 --> 0:41:15.879 I guess something like that. You know, I always wanted 0:41:15.880 --> 0:41:17.600 to go to l A. I just I felt like, 0:41:17.840 --> 0:41:20.440 you know, even in Detroit it's good. It was always 0:41:20.440 --> 0:41:22.640 felt like the stork made a mistake and like dropped 0:41:22.680 --> 0:41:26.000 me in the wrong neighbor. It just felt like that 0:41:26.040 --> 0:41:27.920 for some reason. You know, Like I saw the Beverly 0:41:27.960 --> 0:41:29.919 Hills Billies on TV and I was like, wow, that's 0:41:30.200 --> 0:41:33.000 I like that restaurant rod, you know, swimming pools, movie 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.200 stars in the sunlight, and you know, I remember seeing 0:41:36.239 --> 0:41:38.440 Leave It to Beaver. Nobody ever stole Beaver's bike and 0:41:38.480 --> 0:41:41.680 he rode it to school. You know, I was getting 0:41:41.760 --> 0:41:44.560 nice for my jacket. I'm getting knife stuff for my jacket, 0:41:44.600 --> 0:41:46.879 and everybody got guns and we're going to pick each 0:41:46.920 --> 0:41:48.400 other up in the alley and go to school and 0:41:48.480 --> 0:41:50.319 the group and all that kind of stuff. Beaver didn't 0:41:50.320 --> 0:41:51.920 have to do none of that stuff, you know, So 0:41:52.000 --> 0:41:53.839 I just I didn't know the difference. I just would 0:41:53.840 --> 0:41:56.759 ask my parents where's that at, and they'd all stay California. 0:41:56.800 --> 0:41:59.160 I mean, everything was movies were done in Califoria. I 0:41:59.200 --> 0:42:01.480 just thought, well, they don't rob you in California, so 0:42:01.600 --> 0:42:04.600 I mean it should be cool. Yeah, they sure do. 0:42:04.760 --> 0:42:07.239 And I learned that when I got there too. They 0:42:07.280 --> 0:42:08.759 steal your money and it takes your year or two 0:42:08.800 --> 0:42:12.280 to figure out that you lost, like what happened. 0:42:13.200 --> 0:42:15.600 So when you're touring with Stevie, I mean you're with 0:42:16.120 --> 0:42:19.359 the heavy I mean again, in hindsight, I don't think 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:21.759 you saw it as man, these are the heavyweights. But 0:42:22.160 --> 0:42:23.520 I mean it's like, you. 0:42:23.480 --> 0:42:27.360 Know Williams, Denise Williams, and was Raymond Pounds with you 0:42:27.480 --> 0:42:30.239 or was like he wasn't was somebody before Ali? 0:42:30.320 --> 0:42:32.880 I got Ali in the band. After Stevie and the 0:42:32.960 --> 0:42:34.960 drummer things name is Chris, they had a fight and 0:42:34.960 --> 0:42:36.839 the drummer said, blind for me, I'm gonna kick Steve. 0:42:40.800 --> 0:42:42.920 How about this, Stevie want is used to being blind. 0:42:43.520 --> 0:42:45.400 The drummer thought he could put a thing around his 0:42:45.400 --> 0:42:47.680 eye and make it even, and so he went for 0:42:47.760 --> 0:42:50.560 blows and Stevie every time he wait a minute, they 0:42:50.840 --> 0:42:52.359 he fist fought. They got into a. 0:42:52.280 --> 0:42:56.520 Fist exclusive. 0:42:57.960 --> 0:42:59.640 So I didn't think that was even in let. But 0:42:59.680 --> 0:43:02.520 they ended up and of course, you know Stevie. Every 0:43:02.560 --> 0:43:05.160 time the guy even turned his head, Bawn Stevie was. 0:43:07.840 --> 0:43:10.200 Left. It was it was baby. 0:43:10.000 --> 0:43:12.520 Was like bang and so we all had accepted to 0:43:12.560 --> 0:43:16.480 the darkness. 0:43:16.920 --> 0:43:19.120 Wait a minute. It didn't take long before we had 0:43:19.120 --> 0:43:22.040 to stop the fight. And then this guy still got fired, 0:43:23.000 --> 0:43:26.120 so he lost this game. That's what they got in 0:43:26.160 --> 0:43:29.560 the band. But we did have Randy Brecker, David Sanborn, 0:43:29.719 --> 0:43:31.480 Denise Williams, you know. So it was it was a 0:43:32.320 --> 0:43:35.440 lot of people in this band, Heavywey, Scotti, Edwards, you know. 0:43:35.920 --> 0:43:36.879 It was a great band. 0:43:36.960 --> 0:43:40.160 So were you part of the infamous uh Rolling Stones tour? 0:43:40.360 --> 0:43:43.400 Absolutely his first tour. I've been on the big tour, coy, 0:43:43.600 --> 0:43:47.440 why not? Just was the reception like the reception, yes, no, no, no, 0:43:48.400 --> 0:43:49.120 Well this is the thing. 0:43:49.320 --> 0:43:54.000 So we we interviewed the Revolution, uh some episodes back 0:43:54.200 --> 0:43:57.239 and of course, and I've heard mixed side of the 0:43:57.239 --> 0:43:58.759 story as well, and he was like, well, you know, 0:43:59.239 --> 0:44:01.279 he's on stage in his underwear, so of course they're 0:44:01.280 --> 0:44:04.280 going to throw stuff at him. The Revolution was basically 0:44:04.280 --> 0:44:08.879 saying that, you know, Rolling Stones audience wasn't receiving them well, 0:44:08.920 --> 0:44:11.080 and they got booed and pelted with Jack Daniel bottom. 0:44:11.120 --> 0:44:13.040 I was there when when Prince got hit with the jack. 0:44:13.120 --> 0:44:22.120 Daniels got hit in the head with the bottle. He 0:44:22.200 --> 0:44:25.160 got that head somewhere in l A. He got hit 0:44:25.200 --> 0:44:26.879 in the head with the jack. I had to get 0:44:26.920 --> 0:44:30.600 off the stage. He got hit in the head. They 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:32.759 said play them and roll. I mean it was like bad, 0:44:32.880 --> 0:44:33.040 you know. 0:44:33.200 --> 0:44:35.760 I mean he came out the gates smoking with the guitar. 0:44:35.840 --> 0:44:36.719 Solo was still. 0:44:36.480 --> 0:44:39.480 And there's theories behind that. 0:44:39.600 --> 0:44:43.239 But like with you, was there fear like we might not. 0:44:43.600 --> 0:44:45.240 First of all, I was too young to know anything. 0:44:45.280 --> 0:44:47.600 I thought that Rolling Stones had already come on. I 0:44:47.600 --> 0:44:52.960 thought Stevie was the headlined okay, So it took me 0:44:53.000 --> 0:44:54.919 a minute or two. By the time the tear gas 0:44:54.960 --> 0:44:57.120 got in the limousine, I figured out, okay, something else 0:44:57.200 --> 0:44:59.040 is happening here, and the. 0:44:59.080 --> 0:44:59.600 Whole thing, you know. 0:44:59.760 --> 0:45:01.440 So the whole thing, now, you gotta remember, this was 0:45:01.880 --> 0:45:04.359 I haven't really discovered girls yet, but I was about 0:45:04.440 --> 0:45:08.680 to discover lots of girls. So this is the first 0:45:08.760 --> 0:45:10.680 really big tour, like go away from home and state 0:45:10.719 --> 0:45:12.560 for more than a week that I'd ever been on. 0:45:12.920 --> 0:45:14.960 Was the Rolling Stones tour in nineteen seventy two, and 0:45:14.960 --> 0:45:16.879 they were wonderful guys. We all had a great time. 0:45:17.520 --> 0:45:19.960 No one bowed Stevie Wonder off the stage, that told 0:45:20.040 --> 0:45:21.800 him to get off. We didn't have that same experience 0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:24.400 as some of the other groups had, you know, maybe 0:45:24.400 --> 0:45:26.239 because he got the respect. And then we'd always go 0:45:26.280 --> 0:45:28.600 play a few songs with the Stones, and you know, 0:45:28.680 --> 0:45:30.799 we got to go to Playboy Mansion, which I had 0:45:30.840 --> 0:45:32.560 never been before. 0:45:33.560 --> 0:45:37.000 Eighteen eighteen. Yeah, there's a documentary of it called the 0:45:37.320 --> 0:45:39.120 You ever see the Cocksucker's Blues? 0:45:39.520 --> 0:45:40.840 The Rolling Stones documentary? 0:45:41.200 --> 0:45:44.040 Yeah, they show I guess you guys playing satisfaction with. 0:45:44.360 --> 0:45:47.680 Yeah, the little skinny kid with a rig good time. 0:45:47.719 --> 0:45:51.239 He really skinny baffro that be me? So were you 0:45:51.280 --> 0:45:54.080 ever like on their airplane? And that's supposed to be 0:45:54.080 --> 0:46:00.680 the penultimate standard of just rock excess? Yeah, yeah, that's 0:46:00.680 --> 0:46:04.200 supposed to be the beginning. It was pretty bad. There 0:46:04.239 --> 0:46:06.480 was a lot of going on. There was a lot 0:46:06.520 --> 0:46:06.799 of things. 0:46:06.840 --> 0:46:08.719 Because if you don't like to smell of weed like. 0:46:09.200 --> 0:46:11.880 That, you know, I didn't do that. I didn't partake 0:46:12.040 --> 0:46:17.120 in that type activity. Let you do it, and I 0:46:17.160 --> 0:46:21.160 do remember that, you know, last I had checked cocaine 0:46:21.200 --> 0:46:25.200 was white. Their cocaine was crystal clear, and it was 0:46:25.239 --> 0:46:27.560 clear and it went up in a cone like that 0:46:27.719 --> 0:46:29.640 high and people could just go back and just get 0:46:29.680 --> 0:46:32.520 all they want. So this was only for eight months. 0:46:33.600 --> 0:46:36.160 The Roalinstones tours for about four months, but I mean 0:46:36.200 --> 0:46:39.319 your college tour with Stevie after that. 0:46:39.840 --> 0:46:44.320 So this is also I mean his morphing into something 0:46:44.360 --> 0:46:47.080 other than little Stevie Wonder or just a big time Yeah. 0:46:47.160 --> 0:46:49.600 Yeah, he had changed and he became a he's an 0:46:49.640 --> 0:46:52.040 interesting guy, but he really was. We used to hang 0:46:52.080 --> 0:46:54.520 out all the time, like we raced cars, you know, 0:46:54.600 --> 0:46:56.320 and we crashed. 0:46:57.280 --> 0:46:57.600 Drive. 0:46:58.880 --> 0:47:01.000 Oh if you didn't let him drive your fifty dollars fine? 0:47:01.719 --> 0:47:03.320 Wait what yeah? 0:47:04.080 --> 0:47:10.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is like this episode is gonna 0:47:10.040 --> 0:47:11.800 fuel all the STEVIEE ain't blind. 0:47:14.200 --> 0:47:17.799 Con don't believe the STEVIEE is blind. It's not gonna 0:47:17.920 --> 0:47:18.279 If you're. 0:47:18.160 --> 0:47:20.680 Sitting next to STEVEE, you know he's blind and he's 0:47:20.760 --> 0:47:23.279 driving the car. Now he insists on driving. 0:47:23.320 --> 0:47:27.880 Because he insisted when you being in the passenger instructions. 0:47:27.960 --> 0:47:30.719 Yeah, and what's worse than that is he insisted on 0:47:30.840 --> 0:47:33.560 me driving and then we'd have to race the car 0:47:33.640 --> 0:47:36.359 next to us, and he didn't care about hitting the car. 0:47:36.440 --> 0:47:37.080 He said, we'll hit him. 0:47:37.120 --> 0:47:38.600 Then I was about to say he's been and he's 0:47:38.640 --> 0:47:41.200 been in car accidents and he still drives. 0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:42.880 Let me tell you something. He hadn't been in the 0:47:42.920 --> 0:47:46.759 car incident yet. This was I still got some reservations 0:47:46.760 --> 0:47:50.319 about what happened. I'm gonna leave that alone because I 0:47:50.400 --> 0:47:53.120 wasn't there. Now that was a couple of years later. 0:47:53.920 --> 0:47:58.080 I wasn't there. But you know how you hear something 0:47:58.080 --> 0:48:00.480 on the radio like all that car dashus, You're like, well, 0:48:00.480 --> 0:48:01.240 what really happened? 0:48:01.320 --> 0:48:06.759 What happened? How does a limousine crash into a log thing? 0:48:06.880 --> 0:48:06.920 And? 0:48:08.239 --> 0:48:11.080 Oh boy, so I mean you just you know, come. 0:48:10.960 --> 0:48:12.800 On on the cost. 0:48:12.680 --> 0:48:18.640 Show you getting the side now that we're in the seventies. 0:48:18.800 --> 0:48:20.000 Was Barry White next? 0:48:20.840 --> 0:48:24.480 When first I left, See, I left Stevie's band because 0:48:24.520 --> 0:48:26.040 he was teaching me how to write songs. I had 0:48:26.040 --> 0:48:28.680 Buddy Miles playing the guitar upside down on some of 0:48:28.719 --> 0:48:30.200 my songs, and me and Stevie cut a bunch of 0:48:30.239 --> 0:48:33.360 stuff with us singing. But somehow he wasn't gonna release it. 0:48:33.400 --> 0:48:35.720 I figured it took me a minute, but I figured 0:48:35.719 --> 0:48:37.359 out he really wasn't gonna let me put it out, 0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:39.800 and so that sort of broke my heart because he 0:48:39.800 --> 0:48:41.600 didn't want me to lead a band, you know, so 0:48:41.840 --> 0:48:44.120 I wanted to lead a band again. Ray Parker Junior, man, 0:48:44.160 --> 0:48:46.360 you're too valuable. Well, at the time I was his 0:48:46.480 --> 0:48:48.640 guitar player. You know, he wasn't feeling it, you know, 0:48:49.040 --> 0:48:50.840 was supposed to be his boy. So he took it 0:48:50.960 --> 0:48:53.279 kind of personal that I left the band. But we 0:48:53.360 --> 0:48:55.359 were still really good friends because after that, I got 0:48:55.440 --> 0:48:58.200 Nathan in the band, which is our story into itself. 0:48:58.640 --> 0:49:01.440 Let's talk about it. Still in the band, right, Yeah, 0:49:01.520 --> 0:49:03.560 what's interest. Nathan's the band leader. He's been there forty 0:49:03.600 --> 0:49:04.040 three years. 0:49:04.520 --> 0:49:07.359 But the great Nathan Wats by the way, yes, master 0:49:07.440 --> 0:49:10.640 bass player. I had got this is a year and 0:49:10.680 --> 0:49:12.880 a half after I left the band. Me and Stevie 0:49:12.920 --> 0:49:15.240 would still drive around LA and we parted in hangout 0:49:15.480 --> 0:49:17.800 and I got Reggie McBride in the band because me 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:19.719 and Reggie used to play together at twelve years old. 0:49:19.800 --> 0:49:22.279 Wow, the time this got tom Gary used to play 0:49:22.280 --> 0:49:24.920 at twenty grand in the other room. And so Reggie 0:49:25.040 --> 0:49:27.400 left the band and went to Rare Earth. And then 0:49:27.440 --> 0:49:29.640 Stevie said, well, I want somebody else from Detroit in 0:49:29.719 --> 0:49:32.000 the same neighborhood. He wants that type of human being, 0:49:32.160 --> 0:49:34.600 that type of vibe. The only person left was Nathan, 0:49:34.640 --> 0:49:37.239 who played the trumpet, right, And I said, well, I 0:49:37.280 --> 0:49:39.279 got my buddy Nathan who plays the trumpet. He wants 0:49:39.280 --> 0:49:39.799 to play the bass. 0:49:39.920 --> 0:49:40.200 Head. 0:49:40.239 --> 0:49:42.440 I said, he can't play the bass yet. You just started, 0:49:42.520 --> 0:49:45.040 you know, And Stevie said, we have him come out there. 0:49:45.080 --> 0:49:46.839 He says, he you a fast learner. I said, well, 0:49:46.840 --> 0:49:49.520 he's a fast learner, but he he ain't got the 0:49:49.600 --> 0:49:51.960 bass yet, right, So he had some kind of cheap 0:49:51.960 --> 0:49:55.000 harmony bass, and I remember Stevie heard him at audition 0:49:55.080 --> 0:49:58.160 Saivent sounds really weird, you know. So then Nathan took 0:49:58.239 --> 0:50:01.200 my bass and went on this stevee on my base. 0:50:01.680 --> 0:50:03.600 And the way the story goes, Nathan told me he's 0:50:03.680 --> 0:50:06.200 eighteen other bass players there and everybody could outplay him 0:50:06.360 --> 0:50:08.200 ten to one, but he still got the gig. 0:50:08.320 --> 0:50:09.440 You know, what do you think? 0:50:10.000 --> 0:50:12.240 So he learned how to because Stevie just wants somebody 0:50:12.280 --> 0:50:15.000 from Detroit in the club down the street from me, 0:50:15.600 --> 0:50:18.279 the whole bit, and so he basically taught Nathan how 0:50:18.280 --> 0:50:20.160 to play, but not how to play the bass. It's 0:50:20.200 --> 0:50:22.040 his first gig, his first gig. 0:50:21.880 --> 0:50:28.560 Ever in life. So how does he because he can't see. 0:50:29.600 --> 0:50:34.560 Is it a lot of or can he cannot see? 0:50:35.800 --> 0:50:38.640 So how are you guys learning? First of all, how 0:50:38.760 --> 0:50:40.840 is he writing these songs? 0:50:41.200 --> 0:50:42.880 I've heard he writes him in his head and he 0:50:43.080 --> 0:50:45.279 just play. He remembers every part, every everything, and he 0:50:45.280 --> 0:50:46.800 could play all part like I was in the studio 0:50:46.840 --> 0:50:48.719 with him one hundred percent the whole time when he 0:50:48.760 --> 0:50:50.800 did Living for the City, and he started with the 0:50:50.960 --> 0:50:53.000 Fender Rose no click track, with no click tracks at 0:50:53.000 --> 0:50:55.000 those times, so he just played it like this and 0:50:55.080 --> 0:51:00.560 it really got weird when it done. And then you know, 0:51:00.600 --> 0:51:03.600 those chords going off beasts, you know. I was like, oh, homeboys, 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:08.520 you know, might be smoking. But I mean, you know, 0:51:08.640 --> 0:51:10.920 then he would layer it and then we'll come together. 0:51:12.480 --> 0:51:15.560 Put the drums on last. Always put the drums on last. Really, yeah, 0:51:16.120 --> 0:51:18.879 you always put your drums on last, usually the drums 0:51:18.920 --> 0:51:19.280 and drums. 0:51:20.760 --> 0:51:21.440 But that's interesting. 0:51:21.560 --> 0:51:23.600 Yeah, see me, I put a couple of parts down, 0:51:23.600 --> 0:51:25.080 but I need to put the drums down then locked, 0:51:25.160 --> 0:51:27.759 relock the base and everything back to whatever it is. 0:51:27.880 --> 0:51:29.879 But he just puts down putsing drums on last. 0:51:30.520 --> 0:51:34.280 I always wanted to know how does he not tape ideas, 0:51:34.560 --> 0:51:37.800 especially when he can't. Well, I'm sure that he writes, 0:51:37.920 --> 0:51:41.279 but I mean for you guys to know what he's thinking. 0:51:41.320 --> 0:51:43.040 He hears it in his head and he'll give it 0:51:43.120 --> 0:51:45.640 to you, but mostly on his records. That's him playing 0:51:45.680 --> 0:51:47.440 most of the stuff a lot of the time. Then 0:51:47.480 --> 0:51:49.400 he'll overdub what he needs. 0:51:49.520 --> 0:51:51.080 So you're only getting the finished product. Then. 0:51:51.160 --> 0:51:53.400 Yeah, yeah, he plays the drums and stuff. Like when 0:51:53.440 --> 0:51:55.319 we did Maybe a Baby, the track was pretty much 0:51:55.400 --> 0:51:59.480 done okay, and more trivia. It's funny the second engineer 0:51:59.520 --> 0:52:02.960 we did that crystal sound in La turns out years 0:52:03.040 --> 0:52:07.040 later second engineer with Steve Perry from Journey Second. Yeah, 0:52:07.080 --> 0:52:08.520 he was the second engineer on the date. 0:52:08.600 --> 0:52:09.080 That's crazy. 0:52:13.480 --> 0:52:15.160 Wow. So you know old Sherry thing. 0:52:15.880 --> 0:52:16.440 There's a lot of. 0:52:16.440 --> 0:52:18.239 Stuff going on at that time. You know, it's an 0:52:18.320 --> 0:52:20.520 interesting time period in life, you know. I mean, I 0:52:20.600 --> 0:52:21.879 look back on it as a whole bunch of gread, 0:52:21.960 --> 0:52:24.120 but at the time, just what was happening that was it? 0:52:25.080 --> 0:52:25.239 Well? 0:52:25.280 --> 0:52:27.680 I wanted to ask about that. When you did Barry White, 0:52:27.840 --> 0:52:31.719 was it just studio sessions or was it also touring 0:52:31.800 --> 0:52:32.080 with him. 0:52:32.200 --> 0:52:35.480 Yeah, I did both. Okay, how did y'all get paid? 0:52:35.600 --> 0:52:40.920 Because Money had like seventy people on the band like 0:52:41.920 --> 0:52:44.000 every show. I don't know about the other guys, but 0:52:44.080 --> 0:52:46.600 I was getting triple scale playing with Barry White in 0:52:46.680 --> 0:52:49.480 the studio. But it was I came a little late, 0:52:49.600 --> 0:52:52.320 like I missed a dude, because I was playing with 0:52:52.360 --> 0:52:57.080 Stevie one tour and I met Barry White the next year, 0:52:57.440 --> 0:53:01.000 the following year, and he was my first, my last one, 0:53:01.040 --> 0:53:03.160 everything even before that. But he was like a rough 0:53:03.239 --> 0:53:05.839 neck kind of guy. I was going to gangster from 0:53:05.880 --> 0:53:08.480 the hood and you know, and I was a Detroit boy. 0:53:08.520 --> 0:53:10.320 I wasn't you know that clean, you know. So I 0:53:10.400 --> 0:53:13.080 had my afro, had my Lincoln content and gene Page 0:53:13.200 --> 0:53:15.840 famous ring. He needs we need to get him an 0:53:15.880 --> 0:53:19.320 award on he needs a pro here. Yeah, he's unbelievable, 0:53:19.520 --> 0:53:23.480 all Lionel Richard. He even did the the Righteous Brothers song. Yeah, 0:53:24.200 --> 0:53:26.120 so he's a he's He was a good friend of 0:53:26.120 --> 0:53:28.600 mine from Detroit. I mean he lived out here, but 0:53:28.800 --> 0:53:30.800 I worked with him in Detroit and he brought me 0:53:30.880 --> 0:53:32.880 to the session. You know, Barry Waite wasn't paying me 0:53:32.920 --> 0:53:35.640 no attention. I wasn't on the session. And Barry White 0:53:35.719 --> 0:53:38.760 like to play his music back loud, neve console speakers 0:53:38.800 --> 0:53:42.040 all the way up. You know, stuff's whacking orkster jam 0:53:42.120 --> 0:53:44.000 and that stuff is going. And I had an idea 0:53:44.080 --> 0:53:46.279 for a tune, and you know, what did I have 0:53:46.360 --> 0:53:47.800 to lose? I was off coming from the truck. What 0:53:47.840 --> 0:53:48.440 do I care? You know? 0:53:48.480 --> 0:53:50.200 So I push stop on the tape recorder, you know, 0:53:50.200 --> 0:53:52.359 and all the music stop, you know, and he got 0:53:52.480 --> 0:53:53.880 rid of yourself. I did it? 0:53:54.480 --> 0:53:57.680 Oh lord, Barry session? And Barry White looked over, he says, 0:53:58.840 --> 0:54:01.839 he says, oh, yeah, it was nightment big. First of all, 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:06.399 he says, what Frank, what happened? And then he looked 0:54:06.440 --> 0:54:08.279 around there to me in the corner. I said, excuse me, 0:54:08.440 --> 0:54:11.400 mister White, and it was got real quiet, and and 0:54:11.480 --> 0:54:13.840 he said he looked at somebody. He says, who? Then 0:54:14.040 --> 0:54:16.360 is that right? And then he looked at Gene Page, 0:54:16.440 --> 0:54:19.719 like you brought him here? And I said, excuse me, 0:54:19.840 --> 0:54:22.480 mister White, and that's a really nice song, but it's 0:54:22.560 --> 0:54:25.600 missing this guitar part. And he looked at me and 0:54:26.000 --> 0:54:28.359 before he could punch me or kick me out, he said, well, 0:54:28.360 --> 0:54:30.200 didn't get the funk in there and play it, you know. 0:54:30.760 --> 0:54:31.360 So I went in. 0:54:33.120 --> 0:54:36.959 Joe Jackson jack with you ask first, and I'm gonna 0:54:36.960 --> 0:54:37.520 start an empire. 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:45.360 So the tensions rise, original tensions rise, right. So I 0:54:45.480 --> 0:54:48.200 go out there and uh, you know, I'm starting to 0:54:48.239 --> 0:54:50.560 play the part, and I think, like anybody else, you know, 0:54:51.080 --> 0:54:53.160 I hope he likes it, because I like, I know 0:54:53.200 --> 0:54:54.800 what I gotta do. So I hit this line. The 0:54:54.880 --> 0:54:57.800 line was dude, dude new that kind of thing, you know, 0:54:58.360 --> 0:55:01.040 And he loved it, and and so I said, okay, 0:55:01.080 --> 0:55:02.920 we'll roll the tape back. He says, fuck you keep 0:55:02.960 --> 0:55:07.520 playing it now. So the only thing that's missing on 0:55:07.560 --> 0:55:09.200 the record is fuck you keep playing now. But you 0:55:09.320 --> 0:55:12.080 hear me out for a bar, and I have two bars, right, 0:55:12.200 --> 0:55:13.800 and then he's liked keep playing. So I just started 0:55:13.800 --> 0:55:15.560 back up playing it. And he just left it like 0:55:15.640 --> 0:55:17.279 that because he didn't believe in fixing it. He just 0:55:17.400 --> 0:55:20.120 left it really yeah. On the record, it drops out 0:55:20.160 --> 0:55:21.239 for bar half way. 0:55:21.280 --> 0:55:21.680 He told me. 0:55:23.280 --> 0:55:26.960 The son is White Gold album, they mean Berry White. 0:55:26.960 --> 0:55:28.839 I'm not gonna say we were boys, but I thought 0:55:28.880 --> 0:55:31.279 we were boys, right, And you know, so his thing 0:55:31.480 --> 0:55:33.400 was he got all these riders down he said, nobody 0:55:33.480 --> 0:55:35.239 gets a song on bar White. No way, know how 0:55:35.600 --> 0:55:37.400 y'all right for these guys, right, for these guys, right 0:55:37.440 --> 0:55:39.440 for all that time, And so mine was determined to 0:55:39.440 --> 0:55:41.920 get a song on Berry White. So I got Gene 0:55:41.960 --> 0:55:43.600 Page to write out the charts, and I had the 0:55:43.719 --> 0:55:46.160 music demo tape cutting all the stuff. So I put 0:55:46.239 --> 0:55:48.719 Barry while I had a little Mercedes convertible by this time. 0:55:48.800 --> 0:55:51.520 This is later in seventy four, and Barry came out 0:55:51.560 --> 0:55:53.080 the street. I said, Barry, listen to this, and I 0:55:53.120 --> 0:55:55.600 pushed him in my car on by accident. I had 0:55:55.600 --> 0:55:57.000 the door open, you know, push him in, but I 0:55:57.000 --> 0:56:00.440 didn't know he's gonna cut himself, so damn the window. 0:56:00.520 --> 0:56:02.360 Because he was too big to get in. The Mercedes 0:56:02.760 --> 0:56:04.520 comes too big, you know. But he got in there, 0:56:04.600 --> 0:56:06.000 but he didn't want to acknowledge that he was too 0:56:06.040 --> 0:56:07.800 big to get in, so that worked in my favorite 0:56:08.000 --> 0:56:09.680 But anyway, I got to play on the track, you know. 0:56:10.160 --> 0:56:12.120 He said, yeah, right, that's nice. So what about it? 0:56:12.360 --> 0:56:14.480 I said, well, you need to cut the track. He said, 0:56:14.520 --> 0:56:16.640 he said, man, we do it. So we went back 0:56:16.960 --> 0:56:18.960 cut the rest of his stuff, you know, Da da 0:56:19.040 --> 0:56:22.000 Da and Barry White had a specific and he says, 0:56:22.000 --> 0:56:25.120 everybody's getting triple scale. I'm cutting eight songs today. I 0:56:25.120 --> 0:56:27.080 ain't paying y'all pen anymore. You can cut it in 0:56:27.200 --> 0:56:28.520 one hour, you can cut it in ten hours. I 0:56:28.520 --> 0:56:30.560 don't care what you do. But once we get these songs, 0:56:30.760 --> 0:56:33.200 sessions over. So this is one of those days. We 0:56:33.320 --> 0:56:35.640 were done already, right, we got like two or three 0:56:35.680 --> 0:56:38.200 hours left. Everybody want to go home, but they all 0:56:38.280 --> 0:56:41.360 my boys, David T. Walker, you know, Lee Ridding, Jay Graydon, 0:56:41.600 --> 0:56:42.560 Dean Parks. 0:56:54.680 --> 0:56:56.480 And Mary over in the corner. 0:56:57.360 --> 0:56:59.840 And to show you what kind of guy Jean Page was, 0:57:00.040 --> 0:57:02.960 I owe him way too much. He had already the 0:57:03.040 --> 0:57:05.480 night before written all the charts out for me for 0:57:05.600 --> 0:57:08.560 the whole band. Right, And so when we got done, 0:57:08.719 --> 0:57:11.200 I said, Barry Man, you remember a song. Please let 0:57:11.239 --> 0:57:11.879 me cut the song. 0:57:11.960 --> 0:57:12.080 Man. 0:57:12.080 --> 0:57:14.239 He says, Ray, we're done here, man going home. I said, 0:57:14.360 --> 0:57:16.000 why don't you do this? Why don't you go home? 0:57:16.320 --> 0:57:19.160 And I cut the track. He looked at me like 0:57:19.360 --> 0:57:21.960 that little snotty nosed kid. I mean, he's really pushing hisself, 0:57:22.000 --> 0:57:24.120 you know. And so he went home and I got 0:57:24.240 --> 0:57:26.520 Joe Sample and Wildon Felder, all the guys. You know, 0:57:29.920 --> 0:57:33.600 stay there to stay back with me and cut the track. 0:57:33.680 --> 0:57:35.840 So we cut the track in like twenty minutes, and 0:57:35.920 --> 0:57:37.800 I drove it up to Barry's house and he listened 0:57:37.800 --> 0:57:41.240 to what he says that's on the album. Wow, that's 0:57:41.280 --> 0:57:43.120 how I got to cut on the White Gold album, 0:57:43.160 --> 0:57:45.480 which did really well. Wait, what's the title of the 0:57:45.600 --> 0:57:48.080 song Always thinking of You? All right, let's go into 0:57:48.160 --> 0:57:50.800 always thinking of You? Written by Ray Parker Jr. For 0:57:50.880 --> 0:57:54.640 Barry White, White Gold, to Love and Limited Work, Sports 0:57:54.720 --> 0:57:56.760 Left Supreme Candor. 0:57:58.200 --> 0:58:06.960 That's Amazian reasons. Why why not always? Always? Flanker? Bill 0:58:19.160 --> 0:58:24.560 Hm who engineered this? Who? Frank Keshmar? Frank Keshmar? Who 0:58:24.680 --> 0:58:26.640 else was on the sessions? Well? 0:58:26.680 --> 0:58:28.800 On the Barry White sessions was Ed Green played the 0:58:28.840 --> 0:58:31.320 drums all right, all the time. Wilton Felder, who was 0:58:31.360 --> 0:58:34.200 a saxophone player for the jacks SAIDs played the bass, 0:58:34.840 --> 0:58:36.520 and for those who don't know, he also played on 0:58:36.560 --> 0:58:38.280 all the Jackson five hits too, and a whole bunch 0:58:38.280 --> 0:58:40.440 of other stuff. So when you hear ABC, that's Wilton 0:58:40.440 --> 0:58:41.919 Felder the sax player playing the bass. 0:58:42.400 --> 0:58:43.520 Really yeah, okay. 0:58:43.760 --> 0:58:49.520 Joe Sample played the keyboards. Gary Filman played the vibes, 0:58:50.160 --> 0:58:53.200 had the vibes and on guitar would would be myself. 0:58:53.960 --> 0:58:59.280 Wah wah, David T. Walker right, Dean Parks sometimes either 0:58:59.360 --> 0:59:04.040 Jay graydon or Lee written now time out Dean Parks. Yeah, 0:59:04.320 --> 0:59:06.360 the great theme Parks was my boy, Dean Parks. We 0:59:06.440 --> 0:59:08.439 played together many years on whole bunch of stuff. Yeah, 0:59:09.040 --> 0:59:11.240 what is Dean Parks doing in the Barry White session? 0:59:11.440 --> 0:59:14.240 It was on all the rare White sessions. No, just 0:59:14.680 --> 0:59:17.400 that's just I can't imagine Parks. 0:59:17.560 --> 0:59:23.960 Just when you the song you mentioned du Yeah, that's 0:59:24.080 --> 0:59:26.680 that's Jane Parks. I'm playing on there too, But but 0:59:26.840 --> 0:59:29.560 that's I think that's me, Dean and Lee and but 0:59:29.640 --> 0:59:31.680 we're playing one note to piece, but they're all sunk 0:59:31.760 --> 0:59:34.040 together because Barry wouldn't let you play the whole part. 0:59:34.080 --> 0:59:37.840 So we're playing one note to d and we're sliding 0:59:37.880 --> 0:59:40.560 it up and that's all three of us. That's overdubbing. No, 0:59:41.160 --> 0:59:42.160 he didn't like to overdub. 0:59:42.600 --> 0:59:45.880 So it's just normal to have four guitarists playing five. 0:59:47.840 --> 0:59:48.000 Four. 0:59:48.080 --> 0:59:50.800 Don't stop it for He just didn't want to overdub 0:59:50.880 --> 0:59:51.960 for monetary reasons. 0:59:52.040 --> 0:59:53.800 No, he just didn't like it. He mixed on the 0:59:54.880 --> 0:59:56.760 need console where all the faders are here in the 0:59:56.840 --> 0:59:59.520 monitor section here. Yeah, and he just he believed that 0:59:59.560 --> 1:00:01.880 he should to mix up here and if he didn't 1:00:01.920 --> 1:00:04.080 hear the echo on the drums, take the whole takeover. 1:00:05.280 --> 1:00:07.360 So he wanted everything to sound like a record right here. 1:00:07.360 --> 1:00:08.960 He says, forget all that, do it later. I want 1:00:09.280 --> 1:00:11.120 If I can't get it here, I ain't got no record, 1:00:12.160 --> 1:00:14.040 So it's up to the band, the engineered everybody else 1:00:14.040 --> 1:00:16.760 to give him his record on those fades. And all 1:00:16.840 --> 1:00:18.160 he wanted to do is play with the volumes on 1:00:18.200 --> 1:00:19.680 those fades. But if he couldn't get the snare, he 1:00:19.720 --> 1:00:20.880 couldn't get it cut over. 1:00:21.200 --> 1:00:23.600 So even mixing like, there's no like, okay, let's take 1:00:23.600 --> 1:00:24.600 a day out to mix and stuff. 1:00:25.080 --> 1:00:27.000 You already mixed it. It's already over there, so you're 1:00:27.000 --> 1:00:28.560 hearing it the way he wants to hear it. What 1:00:28.720 --> 1:00:30.800 happened afterwards? By this time I would have figured you 1:00:30.880 --> 1:00:33.320 guys had figured out my ego. Of course I want more. 1:00:35.840 --> 1:00:38.480 I want a song that Barry White sings and me 1:00:38.520 --> 1:00:41.360 and him do together. I went through something very similar 1:00:42.200 --> 1:00:45.320 at my apartment where I lived upstairs. Barry White's one 1:00:45.360 --> 1:00:48.080 of his manager. Guys lived there, so I figured out 1:00:48.400 --> 1:00:50.360 from the manager when Barry was just going to show 1:00:50.440 --> 1:00:52.360 up right, and I was going to pull the car 1:00:52.520 --> 1:00:55.600 real fast and play him this new cut ahead right. 1:00:57.560 --> 1:01:02.520 I know most people said you should quit while feeling. 1:01:02.840 --> 1:01:05.560 So here it comes. I see Barry White pulling up. 1:01:05.680 --> 1:01:07.920 I can't wait now I know where he's going. But 1:01:08.000 --> 1:01:09.520 I don't want him to get out of his car 1:01:10.040 --> 1:01:11.760 and go ring the buzz and go upstairs. I want 1:01:11.800 --> 1:01:13.720 to catch him while he's downstairs. So I see him 1:01:13.760 --> 1:01:15.320 come up the street because I've been waiting all this time. 1:01:15.440 --> 1:01:16.760 So as soon as I see him come to the street, 1:01:16.760 --> 1:01:18.760 I leave my parate, go downstairs, get in the car, 1:01:19.040 --> 1:01:21.760 and I pulled to the front. But when I pulled 1:01:21.800 --> 1:01:24.000 to the front out of the parking lot, it opens 1:01:24.040 --> 1:01:27.000 the gate. Barry White had parked his White Mark seven 1:01:27.320 --> 1:01:29.360 and the front of the gate illegally, but it was 1:01:29.400 --> 1:01:31.560 too close and I had already triggered it. When I 1:01:31.600 --> 1:01:36.240 saw it was too late, it lifted. The gate was rising. 1:01:36.960 --> 1:01:38.880 He had parked and was getting out. The gate lifted 1:01:38.960 --> 1:01:42.160 up the front of his car. The car was too 1:01:42.280 --> 1:01:44.520 heavy car went back on the gate. It ripped the 1:01:44.560 --> 1:01:46.640 gate off the thing and it fell on top of 1:01:46.720 --> 1:01:51.040 his Mark selling. So I wrecked his Mark seven. 1:01:51.400 --> 1:01:51.680 Wow. 1:01:52.440 --> 1:01:56.000 But I did get to play him the song. I 1:01:56.160 --> 1:02:00.000 saw that Reid it Miller, He says. 1:01:59.840 --> 1:02:00.240 Thanks three. 1:02:00.280 --> 1:02:02.080 I needed that, but it was his fault, he parking 1:02:02.120 --> 1:02:05.280 wrong space. But anyway, I did get him to listen 1:02:05.320 --> 1:02:07.600 to the song, and he did cut the song. And 1:02:07.720 --> 1:02:09.240 so I was one of the first people to ever 1:02:09.280 --> 1:02:11.960 get a song that I wrote with Barry White, maybe 1:02:12.040 --> 1:02:14.280 the only, and it's called you See the Trouble with Me, 1:02:14.360 --> 1:02:17.040 And we sold like seven or eight million records. And 1:02:17.160 --> 1:02:19.760 then a group called Black Legend redid it in two 1:02:19.800 --> 1:02:21.920 thousand and two or something and it went number one 1:02:21.960 --> 1:02:24.440 around the world again, so it's on all his greatest 1:02:24.520 --> 1:02:27.000 hits records. And I think he was just very kind 1:02:27.080 --> 1:02:28.040 to me to do it. First of all, he did 1:02:28.160 --> 1:02:29.720 was kind enough not to beat me up after I 1:02:29.840 --> 1:02:31.880 trashed his White Mark seven. 1:02:32.000 --> 1:02:37.479 You know. So he's a good dude. That's crazy, so okay, 1:02:37.560 --> 1:02:40.320 So eventually you quit while you're head, But we skipped 1:02:40.560 --> 1:02:43.560 Rufus and Shaka, How did you get tell Me something good? 1:02:44.680 --> 1:02:45.520 That's Stevie's song. 1:02:45.680 --> 1:02:49.040 He was Let's go, let's get some more drama now 1:02:49.400 --> 1:02:53.080 because you guys, I know you guys liked Okay, So 1:02:53.600 --> 1:02:56.120 I wrote the song for Barry White and Stevie. None 1:02:56.160 --> 1:02:58.520 of them will cut it. So next door to me 1:02:58.640 --> 1:03:01.720 is this girl Shaka Khan and Andre Fisher who I'm 1:03:01.760 --> 1:03:04.360 working with, And so me and Andre Fisher and David 1:03:04.400 --> 1:03:08.000 Foster doing sessions for thirty five bucks for Flat Top 1:03:08.080 --> 1:03:11.520 and Cookie at Ion Tina Turn Studio. That's how it's 1:03:11.560 --> 1:03:14.120 just starting out in seventy four. We're doing budget day, 1:03:14.200 --> 1:03:16.720 you know, we trying to make some money. David Foster, Yeah, 1:03:16.720 --> 1:03:19.520 well he won't then. He was like sixteen, No, she was, 1:03:19.560 --> 1:03:22.000 he was. He's older than me. He's about twenty three, 1:03:22.120 --> 1:03:23.840 twenty four. But I don't know if you know he 1:03:23.920 --> 1:03:28.920 wrote that song don't Cry, She's a lady sweet trying. 1:03:29.920 --> 1:03:30.080 Yeah. 1:03:30.440 --> 1:03:32.680 Watch that's how you got my respect you. David Foster 1:03:32.760 --> 1:03:34.360 wrote that. I was like, man, we used to play 1:03:34.400 --> 1:03:35.760 that when I was a kid in the band. Were 1:03:35.800 --> 1:03:41.560 talking about you wrote that, David Foster. Yeah, he wrote 1:03:42.040 --> 1:03:42.439 don't Crash. 1:03:42.480 --> 1:03:42.880 He's lated. 1:03:42.960 --> 1:03:44.640 Everybody used to play in their band, all the rest 1:03:44.640 --> 1:03:47.080 of stuff. Yeah, And so it was one of those 1:03:47.160 --> 1:03:49.320 things where nobody would cut the song so me and 1:03:49.400 --> 1:03:51.240 Andre we go in the studio and we lay it down. 1:03:51.280 --> 1:03:52.760 I played the guitars and the rest up. He says, 1:03:52.800 --> 1:03:55.560 his band of Roof is gonna cut. I'm like, unknown, 1:03:55.600 --> 1:03:58.720 whatever cutting my unknown band? So we cut the songs 1:03:59.080 --> 1:04:01.360 and sings on it and she's sing's really really I'm like, 1:04:01.520 --> 1:04:02.240 who's that singing? 1:04:02.920 --> 1:04:02.960 Is? 1:04:03.240 --> 1:04:05.640 This is gonna be something. I'm thinking, Oh man, it's 1:04:05.640 --> 1:04:07.840 gonna be hot. And then she tells me the story. 1:04:07.880 --> 1:04:10.160 She says, you don't even remember me. Huh, I said, 1:04:10.200 --> 1:04:10.880 what are you talking about? 1:04:10.880 --> 1:04:11.360 I remembered you. 1:04:11.480 --> 1:04:13.880 She says, well, you know when you back last year 1:04:13.920 --> 1:04:15.920 when you were playing with Stevie Wonder, me and my 1:04:16.000 --> 1:04:18.680 sister I gave you the tape to listen to. You 1:04:18.800 --> 1:04:20.600 gave me an address to your house to mail it 1:04:20.640 --> 1:04:23.440 to in San Francisco, she says, And you don't even 1:04:23.480 --> 1:04:25.959 live in San Francisco, and you were trying to bang 1:04:26.080 --> 1:04:27.080 me and you would you. 1:04:29.000 --> 1:04:30.240 So by then you discover women. 1:04:30.480 --> 1:04:34.920 And I was like, guilty, yil tea, yell tea. But 1:04:35.040 --> 1:04:36.680 you know, I said, you really sang it. But she 1:04:36.760 --> 1:04:39.479 was pregnant with the time. To make a long story short, 1:04:40.040 --> 1:04:41.840 the record was gonna be the first single called You 1:04:41.960 --> 1:04:43.960 Got the Love. I mean we were jamming and her 1:04:44.040 --> 1:04:46.440 sister be in Ta taka boom, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, 1:04:46.520 --> 1:04:48.480 so here comes Sha Khan. She sang the heck out 1:04:48.520 --> 1:04:51.120 the song. I'm liking the song, but nobody knows who 1:04:51.200 --> 1:04:54.160 know rufus Is. They're invisible band. Nobody ever heard of it. Now, 1:04:55.080 --> 1:04:58.200 I just quit Stevie's band. So you know, Stevie's gotta 1:04:58.240 --> 1:05:01.000 teach me a lesson, right, I mean, because he's upset. 1:05:01.200 --> 1:05:04.040 Now I'm gonna ask you this question. How in the 1:05:04.120 --> 1:05:06.600 world does Stevie Wonder, who just won eight Grammys find 1:05:06.880 --> 1:05:08.320 if he's going to cut a song, why does he 1:05:08.400 --> 1:05:10.640 cut it on the most unknown singer on the planet 1:05:11.120 --> 1:05:11.520 because he. 1:05:11.560 --> 1:05:12.400 Found out that you were. 1:05:12.960 --> 1:05:18.840 I'm not saying that, I'm just saying, well, I'm just fine. 1:05:19.520 --> 1:05:21.720 I'm just telling you that, out of all the records 1:05:21.760 --> 1:05:23.760 on the planet Earth, somehow he ended up with a 1:05:23.800 --> 1:05:25.000 single in front of mine. 1:05:25.280 --> 1:05:28.000 Y'all must have had this conversation you got to. 1:05:28.040 --> 1:05:30.440 Love first, yes, and then where he got to Stevie. 1:05:30.720 --> 1:05:32.919 I'm just saying, out all the records in the world, 1:05:33.000 --> 1:05:34.600 he can have his choice of doing anybody on the 1:05:34.640 --> 1:05:38.120 planet hey, somehow he migrated all the way to mine, 1:05:38.280 --> 1:05:40.680 which was wonderful because tell me something good, open up. 1:05:40.720 --> 1:05:42.560 The album made it, and then my single came out 1:05:42.560 --> 1:05:43.040 and blew up. 1:05:43.080 --> 1:05:46.000 And did y'all ever have a conversation you Stevie? 1:05:46.160 --> 1:05:48.439 Well, whenever we have those conversations, it's like the Queen 1:05:48.480 --> 1:05:48.920 of England. 1:05:49.040 --> 1:05:49.160 You know. 1:05:49.440 --> 1:05:50.280 Did you see the movie? 1:05:50.360 --> 1:05:55.200 No? Okay, well I didn't see it either. I mean, 1:05:55.960 --> 1:05:58.800 it was an amicable parting. I assume it wasn't so 1:05:58.960 --> 1:06:00.280 bitter to the fact that, you know. 1:06:00.640 --> 1:06:04.440 We love each other, but we've had some interesting, you're 1:06:04.480 --> 1:06:05.960 not going to speak to each other for a long 1:06:06.040 --> 1:06:08.920 time sessions. Then he apologized, then we hugged and kiss it, 1:06:09.160 --> 1:06:10.960 and then you know, then I was nominated for an 1:06:10.960 --> 1:06:14.680 Oscar with him. He wouldn't speak to me again until 1:06:15.000 --> 1:06:19.840 until he won, kissed me and we were good again. 1:06:19.920 --> 1:06:23.320 You know what we nominated for with the Oscar because 1:06:23.400 --> 1:06:28.200 he was woman yeah and woman in red yeah. 1:06:28.320 --> 1:06:28.760 I just called. 1:06:30.240 --> 1:06:33.480 So I won the British Oscar and the fifty seven 1:06:33.520 --> 1:06:35.720 Oscars opened up with me performing what they spent like 1:06:35.720 --> 1:06:37.360 a half a minute, but they didn't ask him to perform, 1:06:37.600 --> 1:06:39.800 and I sat they sat me in back of him. 1:06:39.800 --> 1:06:41.600 I mean, I had my hands on Ned Prince was 1:06:41.640 --> 1:06:44.160 over here, had my hands on Stevie here, and you know, 1:06:44.360 --> 1:06:48.640 I mean he wasn't saying anything. Yeah, I had a 1:06:48.760 --> 1:06:51.200 funny suspicion that if I had won that Oscar, I 1:06:51.240 --> 1:06:52.920 think that would have been the end of the relationship. 1:06:52.960 --> 1:06:54.880 I think that was forgiving. 1:06:55.040 --> 1:07:00.360 Well, I think we'd be done, be done by this point. 1:07:00.680 --> 1:07:04.280 Do you have like personal aspirations of you're own the 1:07:04.400 --> 1:07:06.880 BV artists or you're just no, Like, what do you 1:07:06.920 --> 1:07:09.800 want to be? Do you want to be the consummate sidemen? 1:07:09.960 --> 1:07:11.960 Do you just want to songwrite and publishing is that 1:07:12.080 --> 1:07:14.080 where it is? Or do you want to be the star? Well, 1:07:14.120 --> 1:07:17.760 first I wanted to be the guitar player. Then I 1:07:17.880 --> 1:07:20.120 figured I might not make enough money doing that. And 1:07:20.320 --> 1:07:23.200 I really like nice things, so I thought, wow, And 1:07:23.280 --> 1:07:25.160 when I work with Stevie, I liked the songwriting and 1:07:25.200 --> 1:07:25.840 all that kind of thing. 1:07:25.880 --> 1:07:28.640 I said, why you write the song? That works us 1:07:28.640 --> 1:07:31.760 to write the songs. But it really wasn't until I 1:07:31.920 --> 1:07:34.760 took that Shaka Khan record home in the Very White, 1:07:35.120 --> 1:07:37.880 White Gold album to my mom and dad because they 1:07:37.960 --> 1:07:39.480 thought I was failing in California. 1:07:39.560 --> 1:07:40.680 I should move back home. You know. 1:07:40.720 --> 1:07:43.400 I lost my Lincolcondmal for this little small Mercedes that 1:07:43.680 --> 1:07:45.400 didn't have electric seats and stuff, you know. 1:07:46.160 --> 1:07:46.880 Barry then put it. 1:07:47.240 --> 1:07:49.240 They came out to my house, which I thought was cool. 1:07:49.280 --> 1:07:52.080 But my house was on top of a hill, swimming 1:07:52.120 --> 1:07:53.640 pool view of the city, and my dad looked at 1:07:53.680 --> 1:07:55.440 it said he couldn't afford the house on the bottom. 1:07:55.480 --> 1:07:57.000 With everybody else, they stuck their way up in the 1:07:57.040 --> 1:07:58.840 middle of nowhere. We had to go down this windy 1:07:58.960 --> 1:08:01.439 road and his house wasn't even made out of bricks. 1:08:01.480 --> 1:08:04.520 He's had some stuck old you know, bluod built house 1:08:04.560 --> 1:08:07.920 they put together. So they were really they were depressed, 1:08:08.040 --> 1:08:10.880 and they thought I wasn't doing so well. Then I 1:08:10.960 --> 1:08:13.200 brought the record home to my mom, and it was 1:08:13.240 --> 1:08:15.120 really my mom that gave me the rude awakening. 1:08:15.160 --> 1:08:15.320 You know. 1:08:15.400 --> 1:08:17.639 My mom said, uh, you know, I said, hey, Mom, 1:08:18.040 --> 1:08:20.120 I got this big hit on Shaka Con I mean 1:08:20.160 --> 1:08:20.880 on Rufous. 1:08:20.960 --> 1:08:21.080 You know. 1:08:21.439 --> 1:08:23.519 She was what's a Rufous? I said, that's the name 1:08:23.600 --> 1:08:25.559 of the band. I guess she thought it was my band. 1:08:25.600 --> 1:08:27.760 I don't know what she thought, but so I gave 1:08:27.800 --> 1:08:29.560 my mom the record, and she took the record and 1:08:29.680 --> 1:08:32.679 she looked at it, look at the front, she saw people. 1:08:32.800 --> 1:08:36.120 She said, I don't see you right now. You gotta understand, 1:08:36.120 --> 1:08:38.320 I'm going home with an ego I like making I'm Hollywood. 1:08:38.320 --> 1:08:40.400 I thought the Bear song, ary white song. 1:08:40.840 --> 1:08:40.960 You know. 1:08:41.040 --> 1:08:43.720 She says, I don't see you. Then she took the 1:08:43.840 --> 1:08:45.400 very white wricks. She looked at it. I don't see you. 1:08:45.600 --> 1:08:47.760 I said, that's because ma I wrote the song. Now 1:08:47.760 --> 1:08:50.800 I'm still feeling high and mighty and justified. So she 1:08:50.880 --> 1:08:53.439 pulled out the record and I'll never forget ABC Dunhill 1:08:53.439 --> 1:08:55.920 at the time had a black label and they write, 1:08:55.920 --> 1:08:58.519 your name is silver and I said, see. Mom says 1:08:58.600 --> 1:09:01.360 right there, Ray Parkage, you know me. And she looked 1:09:01.400 --> 1:09:03.760 at it. Now, my mother's in her late sixty a time, 1:09:04.000 --> 1:09:08.719 and she was like, boy, go get my magnifying glass. 1:09:11.439 --> 1:09:12.200 I know she wasn't. 1:09:12.800 --> 1:09:15.160 So she gets her magnifying glass and she holds it 1:09:15.240 --> 1:09:18.360 back and she's doing like that and it says our 1:09:18.640 --> 1:09:21.120 period Parker, and I'll never forget these words. 1:09:21.160 --> 1:09:21.920 This is where I got it. 1:09:22.240 --> 1:09:22.400 You know. 1:09:22.520 --> 1:09:26.120 Sometimes simplicity, like you said, simplicity of a song, simplicit 1:09:26.160 --> 1:09:28.960 simplicity is better. She said to me, She says, is 1:09:29.040 --> 1:09:32.400 that you are Period Parker. I said, yeah, that's me, mister. 1:09:32.760 --> 1:09:34.640 She said the Period took one space. Couldn't they just 1:09:34.680 --> 1:09:42.519 give you another space? And uh, you know, so when 1:09:42.560 --> 1:09:45.200 I left home with a lot smaller head than when 1:09:45.240 --> 1:09:47.640 I got there, you know, I figured, I said, you know, 1:09:47.760 --> 1:09:50.240 I'm not coming back till I get a record. I 1:09:50.280 --> 1:09:51.679 gotta get my face on the record. 1:09:51.800 --> 1:09:52.200 That's just it. 1:09:52.360 --> 1:09:54.720 My mama does not understand what it is I'm doing. 1:09:54.920 --> 1:09:57.000 I couldn't even explain to my mom what I did, 1:09:57.720 --> 1:09:59.880 and my mom couldn't even see me. My name was 1:10:00.000 --> 1:10:01.840 so small. I didn't like the way it felt. 1:10:02.120 --> 1:10:05.360 By this point, you were also on the silver screen 1:10:05.439 --> 1:10:08.600 correct a little bit and Saturday Night. 1:10:09.600 --> 1:10:13.200 Yeah that's too brief. Well, I mean it was still like, 1:10:13.280 --> 1:10:15.559 you know, yeah, that's too brief, mama blink. 1:10:15.960 --> 1:10:16.120 Yeah. 1:10:18.240 --> 1:10:20.120 Did you explain to your mama that the little name 1:10:20.160 --> 1:10:21.560 on the back of the album makes a lot of 1:10:21.600 --> 1:10:23.280 time more money than the big face on. 1:10:23.320 --> 1:10:28.400 The cover, You know what. I could have explained it, 1:10:28.520 --> 1:10:31.880 but money wasn't the issue. The issue is my mam 1:10:32.000 --> 1:10:33.360 was sitting there like she didn't even know what I 1:10:33.479 --> 1:10:35.720 was doing. She's sitting there like you know, I'm coming 1:10:35.760 --> 1:10:36.240 home tomorrow. 1:10:36.240 --> 1:10:36.680 I got it. 1:10:36.800 --> 1:10:39.479 I want, I want you like what you know? It's 1:10:39.560 --> 1:10:41.600 like what I don't see nothing, you know? So that 1:10:41.800 --> 1:10:43.560 that struck a quarter message. I'm going to cut. I 1:10:43.640 --> 1:10:45.760 gotta cut something that my mama can see me on 1:10:45.880 --> 1:10:47.519 the cover. That's just the way it's got to be. 1:10:47.640 --> 1:10:49.839 You know, this is a question Love Supreme wor and Pandora. 1:10:50.320 --> 1:10:52.599 If you're just joining us, we're almost through hour two 1:10:52.640 --> 1:10:55.519 of our conversation with our guest, Ray Parker Jr. We 1:10:55.720 --> 1:10:58.559 learned about his work with Stevie Wonder, Barry White, Chaka Khan, 1:10:58.680 --> 1:11:01.840 and we're digging deeper and to his attempts after years 1:11:01.880 --> 1:11:04.000 of working in the music business to prove to his 1:11:04.160 --> 1:11:07.400 parents that he was a success. I guess my question 1:11:07.640 --> 1:11:12.040 is who did you fish for to get a record deal? 1:11:13.120 --> 1:11:15.360 I want nobody. Okay, well, okay, this is what I 1:11:15.400 --> 1:11:18.639 want to know. I want you to describe Clive Davis. 1:11:18.920 --> 1:11:21.160 Now, we got to lead in the class. Okay, gotta 1:11:21.240 --> 1:11:22.559 let me lead in the client days and I'm going 1:11:22.600 --> 1:11:24.840 to try and make it as brief as possible as 1:11:24.880 --> 1:11:30.080 long as Okay, after that, you got to love very 1:11:30.160 --> 1:11:33.040 white all that kind of segment. I got a singles 1:11:33.120 --> 1:11:36.680 deal with A and M Records to do this girl 1:11:36.720 --> 1:11:40.400 Anita Sherman, which she sang one song and the secretary 1:11:40.479 --> 1:11:42.240 at the studio said a few words to me. She 1:11:42.360 --> 1:11:44.360 burst out in tears. I had four hours of studio 1:11:44.439 --> 1:11:45.960 time left, and I had to sing the song myself 1:11:46.000 --> 1:11:49.840 because she was crying. She blew my entire record deal. 1:11:50.040 --> 1:11:52.599 And when I went to the A and M lot, 1:11:53.400 --> 1:11:56.360 at the corner of my eye looked like in the 1:11:56.400 --> 1:11:58.880 next building over there was Quincy Jones standing there, and 1:11:58.960 --> 1:11:59.320 I was like. 1:11:59.400 --> 1:11:59.960 Quincy Jones. 1:12:00.080 --> 1:12:02.880 Oh my godness, Quincy Jones standing over there. I mean 1:12:02.960 --> 1:12:04.920 Quincy Jones. I didn't know what to do with myself 1:12:04.920 --> 1:12:06.439 because we played Killer Joe in the band when I 1:12:06.520 --> 1:12:09.200 was a kid with Bohannan and all the stuff. So 1:12:09.320 --> 1:12:11.200 I gotta I gotta go meet Quincy. I gotta go 1:12:11.240 --> 1:12:13.080 say something to Quincy Jones. So I just got this 1:12:13.200 --> 1:12:15.760 record on A and M. My egos. I had plenty 1:12:15.760 --> 1:12:17.640 of ego at the time, maybe a bit much. So 1:12:17.680 --> 1:12:19.519 I went over to Quincy Jones and I said, Hi, 1:12:19.680 --> 1:12:21.160 you don't know me, but I'm the guy who's gonna 1:12:21.160 --> 1:12:30.960 teach you how to produce hit records. I'm the guy 1:12:30.960 --> 1:12:32.720 who's gonna teach you how to produce hit records. Well, 1:12:33.040 --> 1:12:35.280 to make a long story short, a couple of months later, 1:12:35.320 --> 1:12:37.360 the Brothers Johnson came out. He was number one on 1:12:37.439 --> 1:12:40.000 the pop charts and IRV charts, and they had sent 1:12:40.040 --> 1:12:41.800 me to Bernie Grummings, which happened to be in the 1:12:41.880 --> 1:12:43.559 back of the an M lot to get the box 1:12:43.640 --> 1:12:47.080 of records, the only ones in existence besides the radio 1:12:47.200 --> 1:12:49.840 and the swamp radio in Florida that played my record. 1:12:50.680 --> 1:12:54.680 And as I was being escorted off the lot, the 1:12:54.840 --> 1:12:56.880 one thing that that was good for when I said 1:12:56.920 --> 1:12:59.880 that's Quincy Jones saw me like this with my records 1:13:00.120 --> 1:13:01.400 going off to the lot. And now, by the way, 1:13:02.120 --> 1:13:05.160 by the time I got to Bernie Grumman's thing, and 1:13:05.520 --> 1:13:09.000 they had already told me I was fired. Okay, so 1:13:09.520 --> 1:13:11.280 I'm doing a really good job at this. I'm trying 1:13:11.320 --> 1:13:14.120 to get to Bernie Grummans, get the records and get 1:13:14.160 --> 1:13:17.000 to my car, and my Adams Apples all choked up. 1:13:17.040 --> 1:13:19.080 I mean, I'm about to cry. I mean, I'm holding 1:13:19.200 --> 1:13:23.400 all this in, but my Adam Appers is hurting right here, 1:13:23.560 --> 1:13:26.280 choked up. So much, you know, a little kid. So 1:13:26.400 --> 1:13:28.080 I mean, so I'm just trying all I want to 1:13:28.120 --> 1:13:30.280 do to get my records and make it. And I 1:13:30.400 --> 1:13:32.120 was almost to the gate where they let you in 1:13:32.200 --> 1:13:33.800 and out, and I was getting ready because my cars 1:13:33.840 --> 1:13:35.439 parked out, so I can't get on a lot no more. 1:13:35.560 --> 1:13:38.200 So I was about to leave, and then somebody said, hey, 1:13:38.280 --> 1:13:47.479 young man, I'm waiting on my production lessons. Hey, all 1:13:47.520 --> 1:13:49.960 I can say is I look like Linus with the towel. 1:13:50.040 --> 1:13:55.240 And he felt so bad he immediately stopped whoever he 1:13:55.360 --> 1:13:57.639 may have been talking to her about before, but he left. 1:13:57.680 --> 1:14:00.840 Those guys immediately came over to me, put his arms 1:14:00.840 --> 1:14:03.360 around me and says, now, now, son, I didn't mean that. 1:14:07.000 --> 1:14:09.000 He said, it ain't that bad. And he says, he says, 1:14:09.040 --> 1:14:11.240 I don't know who you are. He was just joking 1:14:11.280 --> 1:14:13.160 with me because he had a hit and me getting 1:14:13.200 --> 1:14:14.720 kicked off late. But he did not take it that bad. 1:14:14.920 --> 1:14:18.200 He says, I don't know who you are, but you 1:14:18.280 --> 1:14:20.880 know you're obviously doing something right, or else you wouldn't 1:14:20.880 --> 1:14:23.559 be on this lot. That's what he said. And he says, 1:14:23.600 --> 1:14:25.280 what you need to do now is just pick yourself 1:14:25.360 --> 1:14:27.800 back up and get back in the game and do 1:14:27.920 --> 1:14:30.080 it fast. He says, don't take all day. He says, 1:14:30.160 --> 1:14:32.200 get back in it and do it quickly. 1:14:31.960 --> 1:14:32.120 You know. 1:14:32.720 --> 1:14:35.160 And then I left that lot, went to HB. Barnham 1:14:35.240 --> 1:14:37.519 and Wildwa at the studio where they gave me another 1:14:37.680 --> 1:14:39.160 ragging on and made me cry again. 1:14:39.240 --> 1:14:39.400 You know. 1:14:39.520 --> 1:14:41.680 So it's a bad day for it. So at the time, 1:14:41.840 --> 1:14:45.200 was herb Albert and Jerry Marsh were they name only 1:14:45.600 --> 1:14:49.479 executives in those days they were running it. So what 1:14:49.600 --> 1:14:52.120 do you think it was like? They just didn't see 1:14:52.560 --> 1:14:53.320 I didn't have a hit. 1:14:53.520 --> 1:14:54.760 Yeah, I was get off the lot, you don't have 1:14:54.800 --> 1:14:57.760 a hit, Get out here, get fired. Hey, And the 1:14:57.840 --> 1:15:00.320 guy A and M told me, he said, mister Parker. 1:15:00.439 --> 1:15:02.439 And I only sang because the girls started crying. She 1:15:02.520 --> 1:15:05.200 messed up my record deal. I'm like everybody else, I'm 1:15:05.200 --> 1:15:06.240 blaming on somebody else. 1:15:07.120 --> 1:15:07.640 It wasn't me. 1:15:08.560 --> 1:15:10.920 But she didn't sing the song. She started crying when 1:15:10.920 --> 1:15:12.519 the other girl was hitting on me, you know. And 1:15:12.600 --> 1:15:15.160 I was like, oh no, no, she didn't even sing anything. 1:15:15.240 --> 1:15:17.120 Come on, you know, in those days you only had 1:15:17.240 --> 1:15:18.880 X amount of hours for studio time. They let you 1:15:18.920 --> 1:15:20.920 in the studio for six hours, six hours you've done. 1:15:21.160 --> 1:15:22.320 So I had to sing the song and the guy 1:15:22.360 --> 1:15:24.000 looked at me. Kipt Comb was his name. I'll never 1:15:24.000 --> 1:15:25.880 forget his name. He says, mister Parker, you do a 1:15:25.920 --> 1:15:28.240 lot of things, right, guitar. We like what you write, 1:15:28.439 --> 1:15:29.640 they said, he said, but you got to let this 1:15:29.760 --> 1:15:31.840 singing thing go. This. You ain't gonna be no star. This, 1:15:31.920 --> 1:15:33.679 ain't you. He says, that ain't gonna happen. 1:15:33.760 --> 1:15:33.880 You know. 1:15:34.600 --> 1:15:38.120 He says, that ain't gonna happen, and the famous last words. 1:15:38.520 --> 1:15:40.639 So now we're going to get we're leading into Clive 1:15:40.720 --> 1:15:43.439 and all that stuff. So hold on, here we go. No, 1:15:43.560 --> 1:15:45.519 that's between it. That's what leads me to climb. So 1:15:46.160 --> 1:15:48.200 then I'm working with Richard Perry all the time, doing 1:15:49.040 --> 1:15:51.639 a bunch of sessions. He's paying me triple scale. He's 1:15:51.680 --> 1:15:55.160 got a studio at the Paramount Lot with Paramount Universal Lot, 1:15:55.600 --> 1:15:58.320 and so he had my name on the concrete, says 1:15:58.400 --> 1:16:01.519 Ray Parker Junior. Whereever I I pull on Paaramount Lot 1:16:01.600 --> 1:16:03.280 park right there in the Rape Parker Junior space. 1:16:03.320 --> 1:16:03.920 We were boys. 1:16:04.000 --> 1:16:07.360 Man, we're cutting Barbara Streis saying, Karl Simon Lil say, 1:16:07.360 --> 1:16:08.360 I mean everybody whatever. 1:16:08.439 --> 1:16:09.680 He did, I was. I was just got. 1:16:10.320 --> 1:16:12.760 He had Dave the juice man come every day. They 1:16:12.840 --> 1:16:16.200 bring him cocaine and weed, and they bring me watermelon juice. 1:16:15.960 --> 1:16:16.320 You know what I mean. 1:16:17.320 --> 1:16:21.120 Just I was like, eventually he's juice, right, like watermelon 1:16:21.240 --> 1:16:24.160 juice for Rekular. And so in those days, we didn't 1:16:24.200 --> 1:16:26.640 have like tape recorders and stuff like you have now 1:16:26.680 --> 1:16:28.599 with your iPhone. So I had a song that I'd 1:16:28.600 --> 1:16:31.080 written at home with the little click drum machine, and 1:16:31.080 --> 1:16:33.960 I'm beating on the thing on my Maestro rhythmace and 1:16:34.080 --> 1:16:35.479 I just wanted to see what it sounds like. So 1:16:35.520 --> 1:16:37.519 I told y Green, you play this, John Barnes, you 1:16:37.600 --> 1:16:39.840 play this. And so we all played our parts and 1:16:39.880 --> 1:16:42.120 then Richard comes in to lunch break and says, man, 1:16:42.160 --> 1:16:42.679 that's jamming. 1:16:42.720 --> 1:16:43.040 What is that? 1:16:43.320 --> 1:16:44.920 I said, well, that's the song. I wrote it home, 1:16:45.280 --> 1:16:47.400 you know. But we're just on lunch break. He says, well, 1:16:47.439 --> 1:16:49.519 can we cut that on leos heir And I said, well, 1:16:49.560 --> 1:16:51.640 I don't know. Yeah, he says, but but I mean 1:16:51.640 --> 1:16:53.360 I got to get my party song. So he promises 1:16:53.439 --> 1:16:54.960 me my part of the song. It's not like it's 1:16:55.120 --> 1:16:57.720 a mystery issue. I didn't know that I wasn't get 1:16:57.800 --> 1:16:59.360 my part of the song til the record came out. 1:17:00.120 --> 1:17:02.479 So the record comes out, it's jamming, and I don't 1:17:02.520 --> 1:17:04.799 see my name on anywhere. I stand in Tower Records 1:17:04.840 --> 1:17:07.240 for two hours trying to find my name on a 1:17:07.320 --> 1:17:09.360 forty five. If you can imagine that. I just knew 1:17:09.400 --> 1:17:10.880 it was going to appear. But I'm there for two 1:17:10.920 --> 1:17:14.000 hours and the lady there was a security guard comes 1:17:14.040 --> 1:17:16.680 down to me who ended up being burned at the 1:17:17.200 --> 1:17:18.080 meeting in the lady's room. 1:17:18.120 --> 1:17:21.160 Girl, you know climax. 1:17:21.360 --> 1:17:23.280 Yeah, Bernie at Cooper was the security guy. 1:17:23.360 --> 1:17:27.400 Because I'm not in the move, she was a security guard. 1:17:27.479 --> 1:17:29.120 She's about to rest me. She said, you're gonna buy 1:17:29.200 --> 1:17:29.840 this record or what? 1:17:30.000 --> 1:17:30.160 You know? 1:17:31.000 --> 1:17:33.400 I'm telling her, I'm about to start crying again. There 1:17:33.479 --> 1:17:36.680 was a lot of crying for a big dude, So 1:17:36.720 --> 1:17:38.200 I'm about to start crying again. She said, you know, 1:17:38.320 --> 1:17:38.880 buy this record. 1:17:39.000 --> 1:17:39.040 What? 1:17:39.160 --> 1:17:40.400 Then she finds, are you rape Parker? 1:17:40.600 --> 1:17:40.960 What you're doing? 1:17:41.240 --> 1:17:43.320 She knew me from being a guitar player. She says, well, 1:17:43.320 --> 1:17:44.960 you got to listen to my music. I'm like, I'm 1:17:45.000 --> 1:17:46.639 not listening to anything right now. I'm trying to figure 1:17:46.680 --> 1:17:48.960 out what happened to my song, you know. And so 1:17:50.080 --> 1:17:51.920 I had given him two songs. I given him that 1:17:52.040 --> 1:17:56.840 one and Jack and Jail right. And so Carol Childs, 1:17:56.840 --> 1:17:59.680 who is his head of his publishing company, felt so 1:17:59.800 --> 1:18:01.840 bad because she kept saying with Rickard, that's a mistake. 1:18:01.880 --> 1:18:04.680 Richard's gonna make it right. And Richard also told me 1:18:04.760 --> 1:18:07.160 that he's gonna do a whole album on you. I like, 1:18:07.400 --> 1:18:09.680 you know, I like that, feed them, feed them, feed him, 1:18:09.720 --> 1:18:12.960 just postpone, postpone promise from the world. He says, you're 1:18:13.000 --> 1:18:14.960 gonna be Barbra Streis. He's gonna cut a whole album 1:18:15.000 --> 1:18:16.800 on you, and I'll be by Richard Pierre and you'll 1:18:16.800 --> 1:18:19.120 be on Warner Brothers. And that's be the end of that, Okay. Well, 1:18:19.160 --> 1:18:21.320 then the contract came. It was like everything for him, 1:18:21.400 --> 1:18:23.599 nothing for me, you know. And I was broken hearted 1:18:23.600 --> 1:18:24.160 because I'm. 1:18:24.040 --> 1:18:24.960 Like, how could you do this? 1:18:25.040 --> 1:18:26.920 I thought we've been working together on records. I've been 1:18:26.960 --> 1:18:29.439 helping you out give him more ideas than maybe I should. 1:18:29.840 --> 1:18:31.559 And he promised me a piece of the song. Wasn't 1:18:31.560 --> 1:18:32.760 like he had to give me all the song, just 1:18:32.880 --> 1:18:34.759 give me my share of the song. So he didn't 1:18:34.800 --> 1:18:37.880 do that, and Carol felt so bad. Carol chiunds is. 1:18:37.920 --> 1:18:40.360 Her name at the time was Carol Pinkins. She felt 1:18:40.439 --> 1:18:43.960 so bad about it that she took the song to 1:18:44.160 --> 1:18:46.840 Roger Burnbaum, who when I was at a and m 1:18:47.000 --> 1:18:49.320 used to go get the hot dogs. Right now, he 1:18:49.400 --> 1:18:51.599 owns the whole planet, you know, But at the time 1:18:51.720 --> 1:18:53.679 Roger Burnbaum was the guy who got and got pizzas 1:18:53.680 --> 1:18:55.920 and stuff for us when we had to meet and Rody, yeah, 1:18:56.080 --> 1:18:58.400 but I always treated him nice. Now he's the vice 1:18:58.479 --> 1:19:00.880 president of the Arista. So he played If clivee Clyde 1:19:00.880 --> 1:19:03.160 falls in love with Jack and Jill, Clive calls up, 1:19:03.160 --> 1:19:04.840 I don't want to talk to any more white people 1:19:04.920 --> 1:19:07.519 in a suit and time just don't you know what 1:19:07.520 --> 1:19:09.920 I mean? So I won't even meet with Clive. So 1:19:10.080 --> 1:19:12.040 this goes on for a month or so. Then Clive 1:19:12.160 --> 1:19:14.439 is very clever guy. He calls back and he says, 1:19:15.280 --> 1:19:17.280 you're a respectable guy in the music business. I'm a 1:19:17.320 --> 1:19:19.559 respectable guy in the music business. Let's say we don't 1:19:19.600 --> 1:19:22.040 talk about any of this stuff and we just have lunch. 1:19:22.439 --> 1:19:24.519 He says, that makes sense. He says, how could you 1:19:24.600 --> 1:19:28.000 refuse just having lunch. I was like, okay, He's gonna 1:19:28.000 --> 1:19:30.160 come correct, Okay, we just go go have lunch. So 1:19:30.640 --> 1:19:33.080 Carol comes with me. We go to lunch and one 1:19:33.120 --> 1:19:35.080 thing leads to another. Clide says, so what are you 1:19:35.120 --> 1:19:36.760 planning on doing with all the time. Before he gets 1:19:36.760 --> 1:19:40.280 finished talk, Carroll says, Rahul, make a record. They starting 1:19:40.280 --> 1:19:44.559 to negotiate ninety I thought like, yeah, like this has 1:19:44.600 --> 1:19:46.559 been prepped and ain't I'm part of it. I'm out 1:19:46.640 --> 1:19:49.360 the loop again once again. And so that's how we 1:19:49.439 --> 1:19:52.639 started talking about that stuff. And you know, he said, 1:19:52.640 --> 1:19:53.800 I'll get you the best. 1:19:54.439 --> 1:19:54.599 Yeah. 1:19:54.640 --> 1:19:56.880 We were talking about what to do, and to me, 1:19:56.960 --> 1:19:58.200 I said, I don't want to have an album like 1:19:58.240 --> 1:19:59.920 David T. Marker where they just kind of played on 1:20:00.040 --> 1:20:01.560 the jazz stations on that. I said, I want to 1:20:01.560 --> 1:20:04.120 be on Kiss FM, Top forty radio d DA da DA. 1:20:04.720 --> 1:20:06.639 And so he told me what had to happen if 1:20:06.680 --> 1:20:08.120 I want to be on top for the race. He said, well, 1:20:08.120 --> 1:20:09.600 if you make you don't make a record like all 1:20:09.600 --> 1:20:11.320 of them with all them notes and chords da da. 1:20:11.479 --> 1:20:13.120 If you cut it like Jack and Jill, I get 1:20:13.160 --> 1:20:15.400 the three chords, boom, we got it. So we made 1:20:15.400 --> 1:20:16.920 a deal. I told him I'll never write a song 1:20:17.040 --> 1:20:21.000 have more th three chords. Okay, it's gonna be intro 1:20:21.280 --> 1:20:23.639 verse card, it's gonna be very predictable, intro verse course 1:20:23.760 --> 1:20:26.320 verse chors bridge, and you know, I said, I'm gonna 1:20:26.320 --> 1:20:28.840 do that. It'll be three minutes and forty five seconds long, 1:20:29.080 --> 1:20:30.720 and it'll be some chords, and we have some great 1:20:30.800 --> 1:20:32.720 lyrics and story and that's the end that we see 1:20:32.760 --> 1:20:34.560 the melody being gonna cover up the melody with a 1:20:34.600 --> 1:20:37.400 bunch of playing and that. He was like, okay, I said, 1:20:37.439 --> 1:20:38.840 but can you get I want to be on Kiss 1:20:39.000 --> 1:20:40.760 FM and Da Da Da d they told him. So 1:20:40.880 --> 1:20:44.719 we had that conversation and then we had an interesting conversation. 1:20:44.840 --> 1:20:47.479 He said to me, I'll get you the best producers, 1:20:47.520 --> 1:20:49.439 I'll get you the best studio of record plan, I'll 1:20:49.439 --> 1:20:50.920 get you the best ring, I'll get you the best 1:20:50.960 --> 1:20:52.960 of everything. And I just told him, you know, I 1:20:53.040 --> 1:20:54.680 really don't want none of that. What I like to 1:20:54.720 --> 1:20:56.800 do is just go home and cut it home. Because 1:20:56.800 --> 1:20:59.400 by this time I put a little sixteen track and 1:21:00.040 --> 1:21:02.360 board and all that stuff, and me and Reggie Doser 1:21:02.840 --> 1:21:05.000 with my Dosie brother, we wired the whole thing ourselves. 1:21:05.000 --> 1:21:07.280 Took us two months. I mean when I say wired, 1:21:07.520 --> 1:21:09.160 I don't mean plugged in. I'm talking about all the 1:21:09.240 --> 1:21:12.960 solder and George wired everything did the whole. I had 1:21:13.000 --> 1:21:15.439 to give him my TV set to keep going. At 1:21:15.479 --> 1:21:19.240 one point I wish I had a video crack deal, 1:21:21.240 --> 1:21:23.080 pretty much like a crack deal, you know. And for 1:21:23.200 --> 1:21:26.320 those who think I wasn't dedicated, I recorded my brother's 1:21:26.400 --> 1:21:30.400 band in ABC in early seventy four, wiped out twenty 1:21:30.560 --> 1:21:32.960 seven thousand dollars, which was a lot of money in 1:21:33.080 --> 1:21:36.639 nineteen seventy five cent. And then I had spent eighty 1:21:36.720 --> 1:21:40.200 seven thousand dollars on studio equipment and putting the studio 1:21:40.240 --> 1:21:42.040 in the house, at which everybody then was one hundred 1:21:42.040 --> 1:21:44.280 percent sure I had lost my mind. At the same 1:21:44.360 --> 1:21:46.639 time I lost the song with litls hair and getting 1:21:46.680 --> 1:21:49.240 kicked out of A and M just a whole bunch 1:21:49.280 --> 1:21:51.800 of things going wrong. So at that point, everywhere I went, 1:21:51.840 --> 1:21:53.960 they would say, there he is, there is I can't 1:21:54.040 --> 1:21:56.200 believe that's the idiot, right They spent all his money, 1:21:56.880 --> 1:21:59.120 plays the hell of a guitar, but he's letting all 1:21:59.160 --> 1:22:00.400 his money doing other stuff, you know. 1:22:00.800 --> 1:22:02.639 And just to clarify, what was the song with wil said, 1:22:03.320 --> 1:22:05.280 you make me feel like I feel like dancing. You 1:22:05.400 --> 1:22:07.880 make me feel like dancing. Yeah. Yeah. 1:22:08.000 --> 1:22:11.679 So things are going like really south in a fast sense. 1:22:12.080 --> 1:22:14.240 So we wired a studio and I just told Climb, 1:22:14.240 --> 1:22:16.479 I like to cut it home if you don't mind, right, 1:22:17.120 --> 1:22:19.080 and his words to me. He thought about it and 1:22:19.120 --> 1:22:21.800 he said, okay, he says, but if you screw it up, 1:22:22.280 --> 1:22:23.680 you know we'll listen to it. If you screw it up, 1:22:23.720 --> 1:22:25.519 then let's do it the other way. I thought that 1:22:25.640 --> 1:22:27.280 was fair. That was fair, right, So give me a 1:22:27.320 --> 1:22:29.200 good shot at and I thought I could deliver it. 1:22:29.360 --> 1:22:32.040 The next thing that happened. I had done Boss gags 1:22:32.080 --> 1:22:33.960 and a bunch of other stuff with Bill Shane, who 1:22:34.040 --> 1:22:36.680 was the really prominent engineer there. I think he did 1:22:36.680 --> 1:22:40.040 the Asia album for Steely Dan Need won Grammys, and 1:22:40.439 --> 1:22:43.479 at the time he was probably the most prominent engineer 1:22:43.520 --> 1:22:46.720 in the business. All of a sudden, Bill Shane, who 1:22:46.760 --> 1:22:48.479 I've been working with for years, he shows up at 1:22:48.520 --> 1:22:50.439 my house right now, I know this is the work 1:22:50.479 --> 1:22:54.000 of Kavala Ruffalo and Carrol Childs and everybody else. They're like, Bill, 1:22:58.000 --> 1:23:01.200 you management, yeah, everything. 1:23:01.439 --> 1:23:01.920 Wait a minute. 1:23:02.920 --> 1:23:05.280 They were with Earth when a fire and Earth Fire okay. 1:23:05.360 --> 1:23:07.679 So so they come over to my house to listen 1:23:07.760 --> 1:23:10.960 to the music, and so they had no chair from 1:23:11.000 --> 1:23:13.000 the city, and so they'll stand up and they're thinking, 1:23:13.240 --> 1:23:15.080 what kind of place is this? I got cables on 1:23:15.160 --> 1:23:17.640 the roof, the stuff, the drums in the bedroom, and 1:23:17.760 --> 1:23:19.280 Mike's hanging in front of the things. We don't have 1:23:19.400 --> 1:23:21.800 enough money for Mike's stands, you know. So things are 1:23:21.840 --> 1:23:24.519 looking pretty raw and rough, and so they send Bill 1:23:24.600 --> 1:23:27.120 Schnee over in my house to talk me out of it, basically, 1:23:27.640 --> 1:23:29.680 and Bill listens to the song where I cut it, 1:23:29.720 --> 1:23:32.479 and he goes back. He says, well, besides, the eight 1:23:32.520 --> 1:23:35.760 of the tracks are out of phase, and you don't 1:23:35.760 --> 1:23:37.320 sound that bad, he says, not what I would do, 1:23:37.360 --> 1:23:38.760 he says, But if it's a hit, it's a hit. 1:23:38.840 --> 1:23:39.000 You know. 1:23:39.200 --> 1:23:42.280 I'm mentioning this because the turning point at that stage 1:23:42.960 --> 1:23:47.839 is when before then everything I did was stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, 1:23:47.840 --> 1:23:50.320 stupid except write some good songs to play the guitar. 1:23:50.840 --> 1:23:54.320 Once Bill Schnee said that that record was gonna be okay, 1:23:54.640 --> 1:23:57.160 nobody ever questioned about any of my studio stuff again 1:23:57.280 --> 1:23:59.960 ever in life. That was the end of it. Blessing 1:24:00.120 --> 1:24:02.080 I had the big boy come over and he's put 1:24:02.120 --> 1:24:03.200 he put his hand on me. 1:24:03.520 --> 1:24:05.240 That was it. Right. 1:24:05.960 --> 1:24:09.320 Next thing I know after that, Prince was coming over 1:24:09.439 --> 1:24:11.880 right because he came over and he was like what 1:24:12.160 --> 1:24:15.040 is He came to Caballo Ruffalo and they were trying 1:24:15.080 --> 1:24:17.840 to sign Prince and he wasn't signing. He says, what 1:24:18.000 --> 1:24:19.360 y'all can do for me is take me over a 1:24:19.439 --> 1:24:23.599 race house because I hear he's got a studio. That's 1:24:23.640 --> 1:24:25.960 all he wanted to do. So they called me up. 1:24:25.960 --> 1:24:27.920 They said, man, Prince wants to come over your house. 1:24:28.240 --> 1:24:29.720 We're talking to him about that. He says, but he 1:24:30.000 --> 1:24:31.280 just wants to see the studio. 1:24:31.000 --> 1:24:31.360 In the house. 1:24:31.400 --> 1:24:35.000 He ain't saying nothing else but that, right, And they said, well, 1:24:35.000 --> 1:24:36.479 you know he's gonna come over and he ain't gonna 1:24:36.479 --> 1:24:38.760 talk much. You know, he's gonna say much. It wasn't 1:24:38.840 --> 1:24:41.479 like that all. When I got done and I said, 1:24:41.640 --> 1:24:44.640 he didn't want to talk to you guys, we went hang. 1:24:45.120 --> 1:24:46.439 I was take him for a ride in the Rose 1:24:46.520 --> 1:24:49.400 Royce and we were cruising the Sunset Boulevard and you know, 1:24:49.479 --> 1:24:51.439 and he just wanted to get the studio equipment his house. 1:24:51.479 --> 1:24:54.160 So we he didn't have quite as much money. So 1:24:54.240 --> 1:24:56.120 we didn't get him a Jage twenty four like I 1:24:56.200 --> 1:24:59.080 had the MCI stuff. So we got him a Soundcraft board. 1:24:59.400 --> 1:25:02.200 Then I got my I got Yeah Soundcraft, and I 1:25:02.240 --> 1:25:04.240 got Steve flew back to Minneapolis and we put it 1:25:04.320 --> 1:25:04.599 in there. 1:25:05.000 --> 1:25:06.800 And I remember he had a BMW. 1:25:06.600 --> 1:25:10.320 Six thirty six, and so I got a stereo system 1:25:10.360 --> 1:25:12.240 done in the car like my stereo system was done 1:25:12.240 --> 1:25:13.600 in the car. And we were hanging out, you know. 1:25:14.200 --> 1:25:16.679 And so Warner Brothers wanted me to produce the next album. 1:25:16.680 --> 1:25:18.720 I think it was sexy dance on all that stuff, right, 1:25:19.120 --> 1:25:20.880 So he comes back to my house the next trip 1:25:20.920 --> 1:25:23.240 to LA and he plays me what he got. You know, 1:25:23.280 --> 1:25:25.200 we're supposed to be working on it. And you know, 1:25:25.439 --> 1:25:27.360 I mean, I probably talked myself out of a lot 1:25:27.400 --> 1:25:29.519 of money, but I just told the truth. I was young. 1:25:29.840 --> 1:25:31.760 I heard the album. I said, I don't know see 1:25:31.800 --> 1:25:34.000 what to do with this. This sounds great like it is, 1:25:34.720 --> 1:25:36.840 you know. So I told Warner brother y'all should leave 1:25:36.880 --> 1:25:39.600 him alone. This sounds great just like it is. And 1:25:39.800 --> 1:25:41.680 so they put it out like it wasn't. The rest 1:25:41.760 --> 1:25:44.599 is History is a hit. The rest is history. Yeah, 1:25:44.680 --> 1:25:46.800 In fact, I'm finishing a studio now, and what's so 1:25:46.960 --> 1:25:49.679 sad about it is every studio I've ever built, Prince 1:25:49.800 --> 1:25:52.120 was one of the first guys there. Well, he is 1:25:52.240 --> 1:25:54.479 not coming to this one, unfortunately. I was planning on 1:25:54.600 --> 1:25:56.479 you know, when I started working on this one was 1:25:56.520 --> 1:25:58.200 like a year, so going like, oh yeah, we'll get 1:25:58.240 --> 1:25:59.720 hing my boy over here. Blessed, you know, we go 1:25:59.800 --> 1:26:01.639 back to the right the way, with the old days, 1:26:01.680 --> 1:26:02.960 the way we used to do it, you know, and 1:26:03.080 --> 1:26:04.800 this will be the first one. He ain't making it too. 1:26:05.920 --> 1:26:09.080 That was important to me because here's another guy that 1:26:09.320 --> 1:26:11.400 was that had one head record at the time. But 1:26:11.479 --> 1:26:13.960 at least what it made me think is I wasn't 1:26:13.960 --> 1:26:16.200 a complete idiot, because remember, everybody's making me feel like 1:26:16.240 --> 1:26:18.800 an idiot. So now here comes Prince coming over, and 1:26:18.840 --> 1:26:21.200 the only thing he cares about is what's he doing 1:26:21.280 --> 1:26:23.800 over there? I want to do that. Then Larry Graham 1:26:23.880 --> 1:26:26.160 came over and he got the same stuff I got 1:26:26.200 --> 1:26:27.720 and cut one of the one in a million on 1:26:27.800 --> 1:26:29.440 the same same system. 1:26:29.240 --> 1:26:31.240 Same way. Wow, And it's like in his home. 1:26:31.840 --> 1:26:33.240 Oh yeah, he put the same he said he did. 1:26:33.560 --> 1:26:35.240 Larry told me he did exactly what I did. Put 1:26:35.280 --> 1:26:37.280 in the bedrooms. Boom, cut it and that was it. 1:26:38.439 --> 1:26:40.640 But what's the sound that radical back then too? 1:26:41.640 --> 1:26:45.479 To what was what was wrong in the studio is 1:26:46.240 --> 1:26:49.599 unlike it is today. You guys have applefires. Everybody brings 1:26:49.640 --> 1:26:52.439 in their own gears bringing there. Each studio there had 1:26:52.479 --> 1:26:55.479 its own sound sort of and each the engineers all 1:26:55.600 --> 1:26:58.400 stayed with sort of one studio, and so you would 1:26:58.439 --> 1:27:00.120 be with their sound. And it's not that the your 1:27:00.200 --> 1:27:02.479 sound was bad, but if you wanted to do something 1:27:02.520 --> 1:27:05.200 different or you had something different in your head, if 1:27:05.240 --> 1:27:07.599 you're paying two hundred dollars an hour, you can't think 1:27:07.640 --> 1:27:07.960 about it. 1:27:08.720 --> 1:27:09.559 You know, you got to move. 1:27:10.000 --> 1:27:12.479 So yeah, yeah, So what Prince want to do is 1:27:12.560 --> 1:27:14.320 just play with the guitar sound. Let me play with 1:27:14.400 --> 1:27:16.439 a different sound, Let me play with a different drum 1:27:16.520 --> 1:27:17.920 sound for men. Let me see what that would do. 1:27:18.439 --> 1:27:20.080 And so when you had the equipment at your house, 1:27:20.120 --> 1:27:22.680 they would allow you to do that, fucking out the system. Yeah, 1:27:22.760 --> 1:27:24.839 and it was just the beginning of it. So everybody 1:27:24.920 --> 1:27:26.800 kept saying, you can't do it. The walls don't work, 1:27:26.840 --> 1:27:29.599 this don't work, and it just wasn't true. Everybody said 1:27:29.600 --> 1:27:31.640 the equipment would break. You need a tech person. Now 1:27:31.680 --> 1:27:34.560 I never had a tech person. Nothing broke, and so 1:27:34.720 --> 1:27:37.040 it was you know, it turned into a different scene. 1:27:37.160 --> 1:27:39.400 You know, if you read Clive's book, was nice about 1:27:39.400 --> 1:27:41.160 his book. First thing he says is, yeah, we did 1:27:41.200 --> 1:27:43.799 this a year before Prince and the year before anybody 1:27:43.880 --> 1:27:45.840 did it. We'd experimented with that and did it, you know, 1:27:46.760 --> 1:27:49.640 and it made me feel better by myself, just to 1:27:49.680 --> 1:27:52.040 see some other people that I respected thought that I 1:27:52.200 --> 1:27:55.200 wasn't crazy because I had been hearing you're crazy, you're 1:27:55.240 --> 1:27:58.000 crazy for so long. To hear two other guys say yeah, 1:27:58.000 --> 1:27:59.639 I don't think it's that crazy, that's all that good 1:27:59.680 --> 1:28:01.639 idea and then they go do it and have success 1:28:01.680 --> 1:28:03.800 with it too, was really rejuvenating. 1:28:03.880 --> 1:28:08.200 Well, I would figure, especially this is the error in 1:28:08.280 --> 1:28:12.800 which Stevie, who's constantly reinvented himself and doing the one 1:28:12.880 --> 1:28:15.720 man thing by himself. I would figure that all the 1:28:15.800 --> 1:28:18.640 labels would have been salivating for, like, you know, we 1:28:18.760 --> 1:28:19.320 want to armor. 1:28:19.439 --> 1:28:22.000 You know, yeah, you would think so. But they just 1:28:22.080 --> 1:28:25.080 wanted somebody, and they didn't understand that. They just want 1:28:25.200 --> 1:28:27.200 somebody in their box and you know, send them to 1:28:27.240 --> 1:28:29.240 the record plant. You know, they think was get this engineer, 1:28:29.320 --> 1:28:31.120 get this arrange and send them to the plan. Let's 1:28:31.120 --> 1:28:33.559 see what happened. Get this producer, get your you know someone, 1:28:33.640 --> 1:28:34.519 so the producer, let's go. 1:28:34.640 --> 1:28:41.080 You know, I got I gotta tell a funny story 1:28:41.080 --> 1:28:45.360 about this. I don't. I don't even think Ray knew this. 1:28:45.960 --> 1:28:48.280 When Ray's sitting with us at the Tonight show and 1:28:48.360 --> 1:28:50.920 we're going over this right now. This is about like 1:28:51.120 --> 1:28:53.400 four months after like my dad's passing. 1:28:53.960 --> 1:28:54.519 It was weird. 1:28:54.720 --> 1:28:58.360 I knew one of these days someone's gonna trigger the 1:28:58.640 --> 1:29:02.680 floodgate of tears, but I think it's going to be 1:29:02.800 --> 1:29:03.840 the sound of rape party. 1:29:07.160 --> 1:29:08.800 You said that at the time, he said, Man, it 1:29:08.960 --> 1:29:09.600 just broke me up. 1:29:10.520 --> 1:29:13.880 My whole goal was just like you wanted to escape 1:29:14.280 --> 1:29:17.880 A and M Records without like people saying you freaking 1:29:18.080 --> 1:29:21.120 down and cry. I was like, all right, I gotta 1:29:21.160 --> 1:29:23.000 get out this moon and I gotta make it to 1:29:23.120 --> 1:29:26.200 my office. You know, none of the Roots series, so 1:29:26.360 --> 1:29:27.120 they don't clown me. 1:29:27.200 --> 1:29:29.360 I try to get glad. I didn't, no glasses nothing. 1:29:29.800 --> 1:29:33.920 I'm like balling like a mother. So I think I 1:29:34.120 --> 1:29:35.519 just ran out the room like I. 1:29:35.560 --> 1:29:36.320 Was dabbing, like. 1:29:40.200 --> 1:29:42.920 And it was this song Jack and Jail particularly that's yeah, 1:29:42.960 --> 1:29:44.360 it's like just. 1:29:44.360 --> 1:29:46.360 To hit him, just hit it. Just it just well 1:29:46.560 --> 1:29:50.400 because that was the first song I sang. I sang 1:29:50.479 --> 1:29:54.200 in the second grade pageant. Like at performing arts you 1:29:54.840 --> 1:29:57.200 have to display some sort of talent or whatever. And 1:29:57.400 --> 1:30:00.120 so I remember I sang. 1:30:00.720 --> 1:30:04.680 Jack and Jail the second grade and I see my 1:30:04.840 --> 1:30:07.840 parents and right, yeah, right, and so it was just 1:30:07.920 --> 1:30:08.360 a memory. 1:30:08.400 --> 1:30:10.519 But I mean there's nothing like the song like make 1:30:10.600 --> 1:30:12.920 me sad whatever. It was less grief though, man, Like 1:30:13.280 --> 1:30:15.080 remember I expected like that, it just put you in 1:30:15.160 --> 1:30:18.120 that place. Yeah, but it was just such an unexpected thing. 1:30:18.200 --> 1:30:21.640 And like I was like, man, I cannot see the 1:30:21.800 --> 1:30:25.200 roots and Steve and Ray Parker Jr. Seeing me crying. 1:30:27.200 --> 1:30:28.320 But don't you think it's interesting? 1:30:28.360 --> 1:30:30.280 Because I was thinking about about your music, and I 1:30:30.360 --> 1:30:33.439 feel like Ray Parker Junior's music, especially for seventy late 1:30:33.520 --> 1:30:36.479 seventies eighties babies, it gives them their members of an era, 1:30:36.680 --> 1:30:39.000 like it's kind of like a joyful time when you were. 1:30:40.479 --> 1:30:42.360 No worries and you was my mama's first crush. 1:30:42.400 --> 1:30:43.599 That was when my aunt had money. 1:30:43.720 --> 1:30:46.880 My aunt like she loves you, I mean she was 1:30:47.160 --> 1:30:49.680 how I first got introduced to your music and she 1:30:49.760 --> 1:30:51.960 would always buy, you know, the records and stuff, and 1:30:52.120 --> 1:30:54.400 like she had all the radio albums and everything. And 1:30:55.320 --> 1:30:57.720 it was interesting to me hearing you talk about your 1:30:57.760 --> 1:31:01.200 journey to becoming a singer. How you know that was 1:31:01.280 --> 1:31:03.160 something that I guess maybe you were a little reluctant 1:31:03.200 --> 1:31:05.680 to do, but I always thought you were like the 1:31:05.720 --> 1:31:06.599 coolest one for ever. 1:31:06.760 --> 1:31:12.200 Right, here's the trick I was. I was a musician first, 1:31:12.600 --> 1:31:14.640 and I knew it was supposed to sound like So 1:31:14.760 --> 1:31:16.800 when I first started singing, it was out of two. 1:31:17.200 --> 1:31:18.880 I mean, I don't need nobody to tell me. I 1:31:19.000 --> 1:31:22.720 heard myself. So I surrounded myself with people who could sing, 1:31:23.120 --> 1:31:25.360 and then I started working on it. It's just like 1:31:25.479 --> 1:31:27.760 lifting weights. If you do it long enough, you get 1:31:27.800 --> 1:31:29.720 your voice and you get to go. But it wasn't 1:31:29.800 --> 1:31:31.920 until I think the third album when I did, and 1:31:31.960 --> 1:31:34.040 Woman These Love is the first real commercial record I 1:31:34.120 --> 1:31:36.800 sang all the way through by myself, you know, like 1:31:36.920 --> 1:31:39.519 Jack and Jail is me, but it's also Jerry, and 1:31:39.640 --> 1:31:41.760 it's also R and M and Jerry sitting up behind 1:31:41.800 --> 1:31:42.599 notes by the way. 1:31:44.200 --> 1:31:46.360 Woman Need Love album, that's the one with the white 1:31:46.400 --> 1:31:47.439 pants and the peach back and. 1:31:48.800 --> 1:31:49.840 The other woman was the one. 1:31:49.960 --> 1:31:53.559 That's why I said somebody was doing that was that. 1:31:53.720 --> 1:31:57.760 Was like I just can't get over loving you. 1:31:57.880 --> 1:31:58.120 That's like. 1:32:00.479 --> 1:32:04.360 We gotta We're still in recreation cocaine period. 1:32:04.439 --> 1:32:07.160 Right, Why are we always associated with drugs? 1:32:08.120 --> 1:32:10.360 But I don't do any drugs, just saying no, no, 1:32:10.520 --> 1:32:12.599 I know that I didn't do it, but but you're 1:32:12.600 --> 1:32:18.320 absolutely the worst tragedy to black people, just like this 1:32:18.439 --> 1:32:19.559 recreational drug period. 1:32:19.640 --> 1:32:21.000 But yeah, that was the thing, like my an would 1:32:21.000 --> 1:32:23.320 always pay your records. And the thing that later on, 1:32:23.600 --> 1:32:24.960 I mean, I'm listening to this stuff as a kid, 1:32:25.040 --> 1:32:27.080 but listen to it later on. The thing that I 1:32:27.120 --> 1:32:29.000 always thought was jenius about what you did is that 1:32:29.160 --> 1:32:32.880 your presentation was very like smooth and like very sophisticated. 1:32:33.280 --> 1:32:35.479 But the lyrics like you'll be saying by somebody. 1:32:37.960 --> 1:32:40.519 Yeah, I was like, damn, Like the I don't want 1:32:40.560 --> 1:32:42.519 to know about yours, you don't know about mine. 1:32:43.160 --> 1:32:45.559 It don't make sense to look too hard for what your. 1:32:45.479 --> 1:32:52.760 Heart don't want to love. He made affairs sound like, yeah, 1:32:52.800 --> 1:32:54.840 a woman needs loves, it makes sense. 1:32:54.960 --> 1:32:57.760 It's like she yet, yeah, your woman should get you'll 1:32:57.800 --> 1:32:58.640 get your heart broke out. 1:32:58.680 --> 1:33:00.040 The homie yeah, don't get. 1:33:01.960 --> 1:33:04.360 So how did you how did you organize radio? I mean, 1:33:04.400 --> 1:33:07.840 at what point did you bring? Uh was Arnel Carmichael 1:33:07.880 --> 1:33:08.160 and now. 1:33:08.160 --> 1:33:10.800 He was in my brother's band, Rnel and Vincent What 1:33:11.000 --> 1:33:12.040 was your brother's band's name? 1:33:12.760 --> 1:33:16.040 Energy? Perry Coomu had had a really good quote and 1:33:16.760 --> 1:33:19.400 they said like, what's the secret to your success? And 1:33:19.520 --> 1:33:22.679 he says, well, I never reach I mean I don't 1:33:22.720 --> 1:33:26.400 try too hard. But again it's it's that where it's 1:33:26.439 --> 1:33:29.200 where did our love go? Theory? You you had it, 1:33:29.360 --> 1:33:33.320 especially with with with Jerry Knight, someone that can sing, 1:33:33.800 --> 1:33:36.600 s a and g you know, to provide that. But 1:33:37.200 --> 1:33:39.679 what gave you the wisdom especially on your first album? 1:33:39.720 --> 1:33:42.240 Because I'll be honest with you, I didn't learn this 1:33:42.439 --> 1:33:46.240 lesson until twenty years into my career. Like I've yet. 1:33:46.720 --> 1:33:48.680 Now that I have a wisdom, I'm gonna try and 1:33:48.760 --> 1:33:51.639 apply it to the next album. But it took seventeen 1:33:51.680 --> 1:33:53.920 records from me to figure out, Like, no, all this 1:33:54.040 --> 1:33:57.320 complex stuff you're doing, like you gotta do something simple, 1:33:58.080 --> 1:34:00.479 But there's an art too simplicity, Like I like, people 1:34:00.720 --> 1:34:02.720 tend to look down on it. But what gave you 1:34:02.800 --> 1:34:07.600 the wisdom to keep it at a digestible level that 1:34:08.240 --> 1:34:11.320 wasn't so complex that it wasn't alienating. I mean, but 1:34:11.479 --> 1:34:12.400 it was still appealing. 1:34:12.680 --> 1:34:15.760 But yet here's what took me down a path, let's say, 1:34:16.080 --> 1:34:17.559 and I think it was a small tunnel. 1:34:18.000 --> 1:34:19.800 And this is why I asked your opinion on Clive 1:34:20.120 --> 1:34:23.120 because I know that he has a very narrow tunnel 1:34:24.000 --> 1:34:26.120 of this is a hit, this is not a hit exactly. 1:34:26.360 --> 1:34:28.240 He just you stayed with him for the longest, so 1:34:28.320 --> 1:34:30.960 obviously you had out. Yeah. 1:34:31.040 --> 1:34:34.720 Yeah, well it's a narrow tunnel. Especially when you think 1:34:34.760 --> 1:34:37.760 about music. You have to think about what is your 1:34:37.840 --> 1:34:39.680 gift to music? What are you talented at doing? 1:34:40.000 --> 1:34:40.640 What can you do? 1:34:40.800 --> 1:34:43.559 What can you not do? I can't dance like Michael Jackson, 1:34:43.920 --> 1:34:46.200 still can't. You can put me on Dancing with the Stars. 1:34:46.439 --> 1:34:47.960 I'm good for the first week, but you know I 1:34:48.040 --> 1:34:49.600 can't do the spin. I can't just can't do it. 1:34:49.640 --> 1:34:52.240 I don't have my bones, don't beat with the drums 1:34:52.280 --> 1:34:54.280 like they ain't gonna happen. I ain't gonna go So 1:34:55.000 --> 1:34:57.720 I figured out a long time ago. I don't think 1:34:57.720 --> 1:35:00.720 I'm ever gonna sing like Luther van Drus I'm not 1:35:00.840 --> 1:35:03.320 gonna sing it like Gladys Night. I'm not gonna so therefore, 1:35:04.000 --> 1:35:05.840 take that away from the plan. I ain't gonna get 1:35:05.840 --> 1:35:08.960 like Marvi. Take that out the puzzle. The people who 1:35:09.000 --> 1:35:10.920 played way too many notes and way too much jazz 1:35:10.960 --> 1:35:13.479 at which I could have done, they never got on 1:35:13.560 --> 1:35:15.760 top forty radio, So take that out the mix, right, 1:35:16.000 --> 1:35:18.679 can't do that. Now you got the musical genius guys, 1:35:18.720 --> 1:35:20.400 the Stevie Wonders and all that kind of stuff. They 1:35:20.400 --> 1:35:23.320 can figure out complex chords Maurice White Earth and find 1:35:23.360 --> 1:35:26.360 it somehow get back to another chord eighty chords later 1:35:26.439 --> 1:35:28.519 and it still works on the radio. Steely Dan, I 1:35:28.600 --> 1:35:30.559 don't know what they're doing. I don't understand that. Take 1:35:30.600 --> 1:35:33.240 that out the mix. So now you left with my 1:35:33.439 --> 1:35:36.880 hero that I try to patter myself off of on 1:35:36.960 --> 1:35:40.800 the first record, Casey in the Sunshine Man. Wow, this 1:35:40.960 --> 1:35:44.559 came out of wow. But you are right. I don't 1:35:44.560 --> 1:35:46.240 want you all to go to sleep. I'm trying to 1:35:46.320 --> 1:35:50.960 keep you awake. I heard k C sing get Down Tonight, right, 1:35:51.280 --> 1:35:53.720 it was a number one record. It was jamming the 1:35:54.000 --> 1:35:56.880 people up dancing, and I said, he's singing two notes. 1:35:57.320 --> 1:36:02.160 Do a little dance, meg, a little love, get down today, 1:36:02.240 --> 1:36:04.880 even the verse honey, honey, me and you and every 1:36:04.960 --> 1:36:08.800 now and then woo woo woo woo woo. That was 1:36:08.840 --> 1:36:11.519 the big one, but everything else fade out there to do, 1:36:13.080 --> 1:36:13.240 you know? 1:36:13.320 --> 1:36:14.000 And I thought about it. 1:36:14.000 --> 1:36:16.479 I said, well, you know what, he ain't singing all 1:36:16.520 --> 1:36:18.080 the notes like everybody else. 1:36:18.120 --> 1:36:19.960 He's got to hit. I could do that. 1:36:20.680 --> 1:36:22.280 I may not be able to do that gladys Night, 1:36:22.320 --> 1:36:24.880 but I can do that. And so I said, you know, 1:36:24.920 --> 1:36:26.800 there's gotta be a where you just gotta channel it 1:36:26.920 --> 1:36:29.560 right to get those simple chords and to get it 1:36:29.640 --> 1:36:32.800 to move in such a way that it's comfortable for you, 1:36:33.320 --> 1:36:35.120 which I think Mick Jagger and a whole bunch of 1:36:35.120 --> 1:36:37.559 other people have really done, really really well. They figured 1:36:37.600 --> 1:36:40.519 out their style, their sound, and just play those chords 1:36:40.600 --> 1:36:41.080 that work for you. 1:36:41.400 --> 1:36:45.920 Man, the things you learned on question only on I 1:36:46.000 --> 1:36:47.920 never I wouldn't have put that one together as well, 1:36:48.000 --> 1:36:48.559 two notes. 1:36:48.720 --> 1:36:56.240 But you're making absolute sense both off. My career is 1:36:56.320 --> 1:37:00.719 not ship, man, I got add. 1:37:00.880 --> 1:37:03.360 Life to it, that's right. And the lyric thing for me, 1:37:03.479 --> 1:37:05.840 which we were talking about, I'll never forget. If a 1:37:05.880 --> 1:37:07.960 couple of companies I went to early on they kept 1:37:08.000 --> 1:37:10.240 saying your lyrics suck. I got tired of hearing your 1:37:10.280 --> 1:37:13.320 lyrics suck. So I started period when I was like 1:37:13.800 --> 1:37:16.240 eighteen nineteen years old. They kept saying your lyrics suck. 1:37:16.280 --> 1:37:18.439 Your lyrics suck, you know, And I said, you know what, 1:37:18.720 --> 1:37:21.479 I already got the music thing. I'm gonna work on 1:37:21.520 --> 1:37:24.120 this lyric thing, listener. So I started listening to Like 1:37:24.240 --> 1:37:26.680 Me and Missus Jones from a whole new standpoint. When 1:37:26.680 --> 1:37:28.559 I heard it was a kid, I heard the orchestra 1:37:28.640 --> 1:37:32.560 bump bub bu bu. But but but I said, this 1:37:32.600 --> 1:37:35.400 sounds like Lawrence welk, what are they doing in Philadelphia? 1:37:35.439 --> 1:37:35.519 You know? 1:37:35.960 --> 1:37:39.920 Then I never heard we needed the same cafe every day. 1:37:39.920 --> 1:37:41.800 I mean, I was just too young to get it, 1:37:41.920 --> 1:37:43.840 you know. Then I started listening to the songs like 1:37:44.120 --> 1:37:46.320 I saw the hell of the story, No Mo Didy like. 1:37:46.400 --> 1:37:46.640 That, you know. 1:37:46.880 --> 1:37:48.600 I re listened to Let's Get It On. I was 1:37:48.720 --> 1:37:50.600 listening to a different way that was going, and it 1:37:50.680 --> 1:37:52.880 seemed like all the songs had deeper meaning to me, 1:37:53.640 --> 1:37:57.960 especially the hollandoja holland songs okay, which they always had 1:37:58.040 --> 1:38:00.559 nursery rhymes and they tongue in cheek. If you could 1:38:00.560 --> 1:38:02.880 beat me rocking. You can have my chair feed five 1:38:02.960 --> 1:38:05.400 four fun. I can smell the presence of somebody, you know, 1:38:05.479 --> 1:38:08.599 somebody else's been sleeping in exposure. What was their secret 1:38:08.680 --> 1:38:12.120 to did they tell you our formula is? Well, they 1:38:12.120 --> 1:38:14.000 ain't had no for hi. First of all, Lamont and 1:38:14.120 --> 1:38:15.960 Brian and they get in the week. They said, they 1:38:16.080 --> 1:38:18.040 just go, you know, sit in the house for two 1:38:18.120 --> 1:38:19.720 or three hours and write four or five hits and 1:38:19.800 --> 1:38:20.560 be done with it. You know. 1:38:23.560 --> 1:38:25.160 That's what I said. That's what I said. 1:38:25.280 --> 1:38:27.640 I said, it ain't a lot of encouragement. Lama I down. 1:38:28.560 --> 1:38:30.720 They sitting down. Brian had the classical stuff, so that's 1:38:30.760 --> 1:38:33.240 him putting on them classical chords. Lama would come up 1:38:33.240 --> 1:38:35.799 with ridiculous lyrics, and Eddie did a little bit of everything, 1:38:35.920 --> 1:38:37.840 you know, so he had stuff. But they do really 1:38:37.920 --> 1:38:39.360 just sit down and say, well, you know, Barry called 1:38:39.400 --> 1:38:41.240 us up, said we need one on the four times 1:38:41.240 --> 1:38:43.040 with on dyn Ross. You know, we know it's a 1:38:43.080 --> 1:38:45.439 big meeting with smoking everybody there. So we just write 1:38:45.479 --> 1:38:47.920 four five up, you know, not that, and then we 1:38:48.040 --> 1:38:49.320 go back to the rest of what we're doing. 1:38:49.560 --> 1:38:49.840 He said. 1:38:49.880 --> 1:38:51.560 The records were coming in so fast, they were just 1:38:51.600 --> 1:38:54.160 giving them out to their friends, you know, said Gold Records. 1:38:54.160 --> 1:38:56.080 They would come every weekend. We just get rid of them, 1:38:56.640 --> 1:38:59.760 get out of the house. So there's and again that's 1:38:59.800 --> 1:39:02.640 a different group. Now Prince was in that group. You know, 1:39:02.800 --> 1:39:04.160 we have a men and him would have a lot 1:39:04.200 --> 1:39:06.280 of dead space on the phone because I call him 1:39:06.320 --> 1:39:08.680 up and I'm cutting a woman. He's loft and I know, 1:39:08.760 --> 1:39:10.559 I got a smash. I'm working on this album. I'm 1:39:10.560 --> 1:39:12.360 polishing and I'm getting it right. And then he'd be 1:39:12.479 --> 1:39:14.240 talking about, you know, I cut twelve So he's talking 1:39:14.240 --> 1:39:17.519 about he cut eighty songs. So we sitting on the 1:39:17.560 --> 1:39:20.320 phone and I'm like thinking myself, hell you do that 1:39:20.439 --> 1:39:22.479 for why don't you just cut ten good ones? You know, 1:39:23.160 --> 1:39:25.639 when controversy was out, he sent me all the nineteen 1:39:25.720 --> 1:39:28.479 ninety nine, all the Purple Rain and all of the time, 1:39:28.880 --> 1:39:32.120 all of the girls. I got all this music. I'm like, 1:39:32.600 --> 1:39:35.519 what the heck is this right? He says, He says, 1:39:35.600 --> 1:39:37.560 he says, well, a nineteen ninety nine album is a 1:39:37.640 --> 1:39:40.439 double pack album. I said, why you that double pack album? 1:39:40.439 --> 1:39:42.320 Nobody's buying that from no black folks at the time. 1:39:42.360 --> 1:39:44.040 You can't tell it. He says, and I'm gonna sell 1:39:44.080 --> 1:39:46.880 it at this regular price. He says, I just Warner 1:39:46.920 --> 1:39:48.960 Brothers taking them too long to put the records out. 1:39:49.080 --> 1:39:50.439 I don't want the stuff to get old, so I 1:39:50.479 --> 1:39:52.639 got to just put them in the record. He say, said, 1:39:52.680 --> 1:39:54.599 I got the second record. So he's trying to work, 1:39:54.600 --> 1:39:56.360 and he says, this is the movie. So he's trying 1:39:56.400 --> 1:40:00.320 to do the movie when controversy just came out. It 1:40:00.320 --> 1:40:02.360 ain't nobody even heard in nineteen ninety nine. Yea, And 1:40:02.400 --> 1:40:04.320 I'm like, I like that little red Corvette song, But 1:40:04.520 --> 1:40:05.040 but what's this? 1:40:05.360 --> 1:40:05.519 You know? 1:40:05.880 --> 1:40:07.960 Down here? Do Doo do do do doo doo dooo. Dude, 1:40:08.000 --> 1:40:09.080 I'm like, what the heck is that? 1:40:09.280 --> 1:40:09.439 You know? 1:40:09.800 --> 1:40:13.200 So he would just write that many songs, you know, 1:40:13.320 --> 1:40:16.439 then it became apparent to me later. You know, I 1:40:16.560 --> 1:40:20.080 think I was Soliarity and he was Mozart. 1:40:21.600 --> 1:40:23.840 You know, you get that. I watched the movie. 1:40:23.880 --> 1:40:27.160 I was like, ah, feels familiar there, and you know, 1:40:27.479 --> 1:40:30.639 I forget. You know, there was one time, like Hollando Johanna, 1:40:30.680 --> 1:40:33.559 the same thing. There's one time he went to Rio 1:40:34.640 --> 1:40:36.640 and he wont the piano at the top floor, so 1:40:37.000 --> 1:40:39.120 they took a helicopter flew the piano and knocked the 1:40:39.160 --> 1:40:43.080 windows out. We heard, yeah the windows up. 1:40:43.160 --> 1:40:43.519 Yeah yeah. 1:40:44.120 --> 1:40:46.160 So he's supposed to be there week doing whatever. He 1:40:46.240 --> 1:40:48.519 stays a week and they knocked, They tear the knock 1:40:48.560 --> 1:40:50.240 it out, take the piano. He comes back and say, 1:40:50.320 --> 1:40:51.720 I wrote a couple of albums. 1:40:52.479 --> 1:40:52.880 So you know what? 1:40:53.479 --> 1:40:55.720 And how about this? It sounds crazy, but if that 1:40:55.880 --> 1:40:58.040 motivated you to write a couple of albums, I wish 1:40:58.080 --> 1:40:59.640 I could. I knocked the windows out if you can 1:40:59.680 --> 1:41:01.920 get me two smash albums. You know, even a good 1:41:01.920 --> 1:41:04.720 friend of mine who just died, Rod Temperton, always said 1:41:04.840 --> 1:41:07.120 he don't write nothing unless he's at his apartment on 1:41:07.200 --> 1:41:08.519 the freeway in worms, Germany. 1:41:08.720 --> 1:41:10.599 This is Quest Love, Supreme Ware and Pandora. And if 1:41:10.640 --> 1:41:13.640 you're just tuning in, we're into hour three with our 1:41:13.640 --> 1:41:16.479 special guest Ray Parker Jr. And we're talking about the 1:41:16.600 --> 1:41:19.240 process for finding the right lyrics for a hit song. 1:41:19.680 --> 1:41:21.080 So where's your sweet spot? 1:41:21.200 --> 1:41:21.240 Like? 1:41:21.280 --> 1:41:22.880 Where did these hits come from? Where do you have 1:41:23.040 --> 1:41:23.160 to be? 1:41:23.360 --> 1:41:24.360 I started with the lyrics. 1:41:24.920 --> 1:41:25.880 I like a good story. 1:41:26.120 --> 1:41:28.040 You could be telling me about you and your old lady, 1:41:28.280 --> 1:41:30.320 and you could let something slip out and I go, oh. 1:41:32.320 --> 1:41:34.360 So you're sourcing information from your friends. Ye. 1:41:34.439 --> 1:41:35.839 I don't like to be singing about myself. 1:41:35.920 --> 1:41:36.439 That ain't good. 1:41:37.720 --> 1:41:39.200 It's like taking your underwear down in. 1:41:39.200 --> 1:41:39.760 Public, you know. 1:41:40.160 --> 1:41:42.960 I like to expose, you know, especially if you put 1:41:42.960 --> 1:41:44.920 two or three relationships together, you can see a path 1:41:44.960 --> 1:41:47.280 in the pocket. Then I take that. Oh yeah, we're 1:41:47.280 --> 1:41:49.840 going with this because like a woman needs love. I 1:41:49.920 --> 1:41:51.680 don't even know how much of that I wrote. I mean, 1:41:51.680 --> 1:41:55.600 I had five girls in the studio, and while I 1:41:55.680 --> 1:41:58.320 went out to start how about this, I came back. 1:41:58.360 --> 1:42:01.400 I'm sitting at the board and they're just gossip. Yeah, honey, 1:42:01.640 --> 1:42:03.960 he got things coming. If you can think that, that's 1:42:03.960 --> 1:42:05.840 the way things used to be. You know, you can 1:42:05.880 --> 1:42:07.360 hear him talking about you know, back in the day. 1:42:07.640 --> 1:42:10.200 Back in the day, you know got to me. I 1:42:10.320 --> 1:42:12.200 used to tell people, don't tell nobody, don't tell noybody. 1:42:12.280 --> 1:42:13.960 Now I don't care if you're tell or nothing. If 1:42:14.000 --> 1:42:16.320 he could do it, I can get me some too. Now, 1:42:16.360 --> 1:42:17.840 you know, he getting I'm getting it. I was like, 1:42:18.280 --> 1:42:20.479 look at this, And then Gloria already was on the 1:42:20.560 --> 1:42:22.840 news at the time. All this stuff is going. She 1:42:22.920 --> 1:42:28.439 was a studio but the girls were writing the song. 1:42:28.520 --> 1:42:31.000 They were talking about tigns of change, things ain't the same. 1:42:31.080 --> 1:42:35.040 I'm like, oh, no longer will we be taking Oh 1:42:35.120 --> 1:42:37.760 I like that? Yeah, And one girl's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, 1:42:37.800 --> 1:42:39.360 he could do that if you want to come and 1:42:39.760 --> 1:42:41.960 leave me, come home and get his feelings her. 1:42:42.000 --> 1:42:42.960 I said, oh, I like that. 1:42:43.840 --> 1:42:48.519 One day you come from work, you're feeling her. I 1:42:48.640 --> 1:42:51.479 just imagining the thing together. No longer will the women 1:42:51.560 --> 1:42:53.720 are today be accepted that All of a sudden, I said, 1:42:53.760 --> 1:42:56.160 this is it. It's a song. This is it, you know, 1:42:56.800 --> 1:42:58.400 And I tell you the biggest thing in the song, 1:42:58.520 --> 1:43:01.280 And this is why women are so sensitive to the lyrics. 1:43:01.960 --> 1:43:04.560 I said, she will fool around just like you do. 1:43:05.160 --> 1:43:08.479 Was not a hit, didn't work. She will fool around 1:43:08.560 --> 1:43:10.599 meant that she was. She will fool around. That's wrong. 1:43:10.920 --> 1:43:13.200 She can fool around. She has the option to. 1:43:13.560 --> 1:43:15.400 She has the option to. Let me tell you when 1:43:15.439 --> 1:43:17.800 I changed this, she will so she can. 1:43:18.439 --> 1:43:20.160 All the girls smiled in the studio. 1:43:20.840 --> 1:43:21.719 You gave us the option. 1:43:22.160 --> 1:43:24.560 If I had said she will on the radio, I 1:43:24.600 --> 1:43:26.200 don't even know if that would have worked. But when 1:43:26.240 --> 1:43:28.639 I went to she can, it was a crowd pleaser. 1:43:29.560 --> 1:43:30.680 All the girls are like, what do you mean she 1:43:30.800 --> 1:43:33.080 will fool around? I was like, well, you know, I'm 1:43:33.080 --> 1:43:35.800 trying to say that she can't to his can over 1:43:35.840 --> 1:43:38.080 that work all the girls whatever, so that she can. 1:43:38.360 --> 1:43:40.800 And I was like, really, y'all, just over one word, 1:43:40.880 --> 1:43:47.240 I either got to she can, mean you did it. 1:43:47.800 --> 1:43:48.840 It puts it back on you. 1:43:49.400 --> 1:43:49.800 You did it. 1:43:50.240 --> 1:43:52.479 If she will, she's already doing it. And you know what, 1:43:52.600 --> 1:43:55.400 I at that point in my life, all my songs 1:43:55.439 --> 1:43:59.160 were so beautiful and romantic, and the girls and everybody 1:43:59.320 --> 1:44:00.960 loved me. You know, I wanted to be the bad 1:44:01.040 --> 1:44:01.599 boy a little bit. 1:44:01.720 --> 1:44:03.720 Now, I just you know, it helps them. 1:44:04.160 --> 1:44:06.560 I just you told I wanted to show just a 1:44:06.600 --> 1:44:08.840 little other side. I mean it's like, you know, yeah, 1:44:08.840 --> 1:44:09.240 I got it. 1:44:09.640 --> 1:44:13.120 Did you feel a little pressure that, like, okay, it's 1:44:13.200 --> 1:44:16.920 nineteen eighty two. Times are changing, Like I better come 1:44:17.000 --> 1:44:21.040 out with some I mean, because you didn't even really 1:44:21.120 --> 1:44:24.680 feature your your your guitar mastery, let alone your rock 1:44:24.720 --> 1:44:25.960 guitar mastery. 1:44:26.120 --> 1:44:28.920 All that much on these records. You really contained but 1:44:29.040 --> 1:44:31.320 that song, yeah, it was because I want to make 1:44:31.360 --> 1:44:34.400 sure I wasn't a guitar on the record first. But 1:44:34.520 --> 1:44:37.000 I started saying, yeah, I could play a little more guitar. 1:44:37.240 --> 1:44:39.640 But I heard I tell you what inspired that song was. 1:44:39.760 --> 1:44:43.880 Rick Springfield had a tone called jess Girl, right, just 1:44:44.080 --> 1:44:45.840 I wish I had a girl like Jessic's girl, you know, 1:44:46.040 --> 1:44:48.240 And I thought that what a punk attitude that is. 1:44:48.360 --> 1:44:50.280 You know, I wish I had go take the bitch. 1:44:58.680 --> 1:45:01.360 I just thought that, ain't no, ain't the attitude. 1:45:02.600 --> 1:45:03.040 I wish. 1:45:03.160 --> 1:45:05.240 And he's sitting back dreaming about wishing when he hit 1:45:05.280 --> 1:45:06.519 what he had go get up it. 1:45:06.680 --> 1:45:09.559 But you kind of had that attitude as well. On Jamie, 1:45:09.640 --> 1:45:12.679 Well you you met it up saying she always minds. 1:45:13.880 --> 1:45:16.400 But he also said, like, you know, keep it to yourself, 1:45:16.520 --> 1:45:21.120 like I don't hear, like when you had to bust 1:45:21.120 --> 1:45:21.640 somebody up. 1:45:22.640 --> 1:45:24.920 I saw your lady the other day, but you know 1:45:25.000 --> 1:45:27.519 the other woman. I'm just the average guy, fool around 1:45:27.520 --> 1:45:29.840 a little on the side. Never thought it would him 1:45:29.840 --> 1:45:33.280 ount too much, never met a girl who was so tough. Now, 1:45:33.360 --> 1:45:36.080 who would have thought of one night stand could turn 1:45:36.160 --> 1:45:39.680 into such a hot romance. But when she did it 1:45:39.760 --> 1:45:41.280 to me, I slept and fell in love. I mean, 1:45:41.320 --> 1:45:46.680 it was just a true statement. You know that, And 1:45:46.720 --> 1:45:49.000 then you know the reason I knew the rules of 1:45:49.040 --> 1:45:52.599 the game. You hit it once, breakaway clean. I should 1:45:52.640 --> 1:45:55.439 have never gone back, I know, but I had to 1:45:55.640 --> 1:45:57.160 have just a little bit. 1:45:59.760 --> 1:46:01.360 My friend. 1:46:01.720 --> 1:46:04.840 My friends laugh, and that's all right. I may be 1:46:04.960 --> 1:46:08.160 a fool, but I know what I like. I hate 1:46:08.240 --> 1:46:11.439 to have to cheat, but it feels better when that's sneak. 1:46:15.320 --> 1:46:15.639 Okay. 1:46:16.360 --> 1:46:19.679 Then the dender line Clive Davis likes, Oh, this affair 1:46:19.760 --> 1:46:22.639 is unique. All my life, I never met such a freak. 1:46:23.080 --> 1:46:25.680 And she keeps me going strong for so long that 1:46:25.760 --> 1:46:27.240 by the time I get home. 1:46:27.560 --> 1:46:28.519 It's all gone. 1:46:29.280 --> 1:46:32.280 Makes me want to grab my guitar and play with it. 1:46:32.400 --> 1:46:37.519 All okay, So when you're taking this to clad, he 1:46:37.680 --> 1:46:39.120 heard that, it just went, oh that's it. 1:46:40.280 --> 1:46:42.880 I love that he heard that. He said, Oh, that's it, 1:46:43.000 --> 1:46:44.320 he says about it. By the time we got to 1:46:44.360 --> 1:46:45.960 make me want to grab my get he says, play 1:46:45.960 --> 1:46:48.080 it out again and want to play with it all 1:46:48.160 --> 1:46:49.679 night long. He says, oh, that's smash. 1:46:49.840 --> 1:46:50.479 But do you know what a. 1:46:50.600 --> 1:46:51.680 Unique position that is? 1:46:52.160 --> 1:46:55.439 Because the legend of Clive Davison being so hard to please, 1:46:55.479 --> 1:46:58.360 as far as I know him, knowing instantly when there's 1:46:58.400 --> 1:47:03.120 a hit like that's some rare rare ship to make 1:47:03.240 --> 1:47:05.240 him that enthused about anything. 1:47:05.760 --> 1:47:08.879 He loved Jack and Jill. It was his most enthusiast. 1:47:08.960 --> 1:47:11.639 He said, smash. He loved the woman these love, loved 1:47:11.640 --> 1:47:14.439 the other woman. He was not so into. Can't change 1:47:14.479 --> 1:47:15.479 that m hm. 1:47:16.280 --> 1:47:17.160 That was what he didn't like. 1:47:17.240 --> 1:47:19.679 He didn't liked that. He wasn't into that. In fact, 1:47:19.720 --> 1:47:21.760 that they were canning the whole album. He said, okay, 1:47:21.840 --> 1:47:23.320 pick one, we put it out. If it's a hit, 1:47:23.360 --> 1:47:25.400 we put the albount If not, go back and record. 1:47:25.560 --> 1:47:27.160 That was that kind of year, so you. 1:47:27.240 --> 1:47:27.920 Just turn change that. 1:47:28.040 --> 1:47:29.240 That's what got that album released. 1:47:29.360 --> 1:47:29.519 Yeah. 1:47:29.920 --> 1:47:34.000 But what was interesting, and and it's me bragging on Clive, 1:47:34.439 --> 1:47:37.200 is that he really did do the right thing. He said, okay, 1:47:37.520 --> 1:47:39.360 you you picked one, you think that's it, let's put 1:47:39.400 --> 1:47:41.920 it out. And he didn't like, let's teach him and 1:47:42.000 --> 1:47:43.800 not put no money behind all. He actually went and 1:47:43.880 --> 1:47:45.920 promoted and gave it it's all and the song blew 1:47:46.000 --> 1:47:47.720 up and he said, okay, was it? That's any of that? 1:47:47.800 --> 1:47:49.720 Put the album out. Another one he didn't really like 1:47:49.800 --> 1:47:51.240 that much was Ghostbusters. 1:47:52.920 --> 1:47:53.200 Wow. 1:47:53.760 --> 1:47:55.240 He said, you can take that to Giff and when 1:47:55.280 --> 1:47:55.479 you go. 1:47:58.720 --> 1:48:02.120 The shade rock corn album at all. 1:48:02.960 --> 1:48:04.639 No, he didn't like that. He wanted to start over. 1:48:05.320 --> 1:48:08.160 Really yeah, what didn't you like about it? Hen't like 1:48:08.240 --> 1:48:12.360 nothing about it. He didn't hear no hit like anything, nothing, 1:48:12.400 --> 1:48:14.560 And you know, there was everybody was because Jack and 1:48:14.640 --> 1:48:16.960 Jill was a novelty song. They thought it was, you know, 1:48:17.720 --> 1:48:19.880 and which I thought was Here's what I thought was funny. 1:48:20.560 --> 1:48:24.080 Lamon Dojan and McKinley Jackson were teasing me about writing 1:48:24.120 --> 1:48:26.360 a nursery right myself. But I learned it from you guys, 1:48:29.160 --> 1:48:31.360 you know, y'all the guys taught me how to wanted 1:48:31.439 --> 1:48:33.599 young man singling free of me. Y'all taught me this stuff. 1:48:33.800 --> 1:48:36.519 So I was writing imitating them, you know. So can 1:48:36.560 --> 1:48:37.680 I ask you when did you. 1:48:38.600 --> 1:48:42.080 Dissolve radio like and what was the range rem where 1:48:42.080 --> 1:48:43.960 you guys like, Okay, are we really a band. 1:48:43.840 --> 1:48:45.640 Or is it just like let's let's talk about that 1:48:45.720 --> 1:48:47.600 because that's fun. First of all, I love all the 1:48:47.680 --> 1:48:49.920 guys in the radio and we're best of friends today 1:48:50.120 --> 1:48:52.479 the ones that are left. And when I first put 1:48:52.520 --> 1:48:55.080 the band together, I was a young kid and I 1:48:55.160 --> 1:48:57.160 just wanted to split everything. Now even though it was 1:48:57.240 --> 1:49:00.799 my record deal, they were signing me. I had the studio, 1:49:01.040 --> 1:49:02.400 I paid all the money, I wrote a song. It 1:49:02.400 --> 1:49:03.920 didn't matter at me. I was like this, let's let's 1:49:03.960 --> 1:49:05.880 get five guy, let's split everything. That was my thing, 1:49:06.240 --> 1:49:09.960 good thing. God made sure that didn't happen. The band 1:49:10.600 --> 1:49:13.120 led by Jerry. The funny thing about Jerry Night he's 1:49:13.120 --> 1:49:15.840 the biggest trouble maker, but he was my best buddy 1:49:16.400 --> 1:49:18.760 and he would apologize for it later. He didn't hold back. 1:49:18.800 --> 1:49:19.960 He would say, man, I don't know why I did 1:49:20.040 --> 1:49:21.920 something that stupid. You know, he broke up with Jerry 1:49:21.960 --> 1:49:24.240 and Olive. But so the whole thing was Jerry was 1:49:24.240 --> 1:49:25.920 the first guy to put the pool the band again 1:49:25.920 --> 1:49:27.600 and say, look, we don't want to be signed to 1:49:27.680 --> 1:49:31.000 that white label Arista that has the Bay City Rollers 1:49:31.040 --> 1:49:32.599 and Barry Man. We don't want to be signed. Why 1:49:32.600 --> 1:49:34.799 don't you sign? We just want to get paid a salary. 1:49:35.680 --> 1:49:39.280 So that took me off of to split the money thing. Wait, 1:49:40.120 --> 1:49:42.960 that was his words, that was their words. They all 1:49:43.000 --> 1:49:44.160 collectively got together. 1:49:44.680 --> 1:49:47.040 Well, what was another option for them? 1:49:47.439 --> 1:49:50.240 The option for them was to sign the record they 1:49:50.280 --> 1:49:52.639 only take one fifth and one piece of the band. 1:49:52.960 --> 1:49:55.160 They didn't want to do that. They didn't want no 1:49:55.200 --> 1:49:58.840 piece of the band. They want cash, and I'm sure 1:49:58.880 --> 1:50:02.880 either the big picture the final was spearhead by Jerry. 1:50:02.880 --> 1:50:04.320 I tried to talk him out of it. They weren't 1:50:04.320 --> 1:50:07.040 hearing it. They all wanted money, and they wanted money 1:50:07.080 --> 1:50:08.960 I didn't have. I think they wanted five hundred dollars 1:50:09.000 --> 1:50:10.600 a week on tour or something like that, and me 1:50:10.720 --> 1:50:13.760 by the instrument. So I went and borrowed like two 1:50:13.840 --> 1:50:16.760 hundred grand from tour support from Ariston to pay these 1:50:16.800 --> 1:50:19.000 guys ahead of time. Because the record has just came out. 1:50:19.040 --> 1:50:22.160 I had no money. And what was interesting is when 1:50:22.240 --> 1:50:25.600 the record hit, the single went goal, album went go 1:50:26.439 --> 1:50:28.760 Jack and Jail album went gold in London. Now we're 1:50:28.760 --> 1:50:31.760 playing Hammersmith Ody in London and I go out with 1:50:31.920 --> 1:50:34.519 the head of the British company, right, and then we 1:50:34.640 --> 1:50:37.240 go out to some club and he's saying, yeah, man, 1:50:37.320 --> 1:50:39.120 things are gonna grasp the man. Life couldn't be better. 1:50:39.240 --> 1:50:41.560 It's just like a dream come true. He says, well, so, 1:50:41.640 --> 1:50:43.040 I don't know how to tell this, but your band 1:50:43.120 --> 1:50:47.000 wants a separate deal without you because they had met 1:50:47.160 --> 1:50:49.599 some British producers. I forgot who he was inspiring them 1:50:49.640 --> 1:50:51.680 to leave some of your guys, he said, some of 1:50:51.760 --> 1:50:55.479 your guys are leaving. And I'm like, I'm looking, this 1:50:55.560 --> 1:50:58.799 is what is the president? The President of England, not Clyde, 1:50:58.840 --> 1:51:00.639 but the President of England. British up and he's speaking 1:51:00.680 --> 1:51:03.240 of British accent. I'm like, he thinks something. He thinks 1:51:03.280 --> 1:51:05.400 black people all look the same. He thinks somebody else? 1:51:05.600 --> 1:51:08.680 What's he talking about? Right then he names the names. Man, 1:51:08.720 --> 1:51:10.439 I was about to cry so hired again. I had 1:51:10.479 --> 1:51:13.320 to get up and go to bathroom. I had to 1:51:13.360 --> 1:51:15.960 get him go to the bathroom. I'm choking. I had 1:51:15.960 --> 1:51:18.320 to go recompose myself and come back tell me what 1:51:18.479 --> 1:51:20.720 you just said again. I couldn't wait to get back 1:51:20.720 --> 1:51:22.760 to the hotel. So then we have our blowout meeting 1:51:22.800 --> 1:51:25.000 at the hotel and I'm sitting with the guys. I'm 1:51:25.000 --> 1:51:27.120 saying what I said, what is this that you want 1:51:27.160 --> 1:51:29.000 to deal by yourself? What is the what are you doing? 1:51:29.320 --> 1:51:31.560 Then it all came out, well, you're getting all the 1:51:31.640 --> 1:51:34.160 royalties and we get nothing. I said, you're getting the 1:51:34.240 --> 1:51:36.519 money you asked for that I borrowed and I'm still 1:51:36.600 --> 1:51:39.360 paying off on the last tour all the money that 1:51:39.439 --> 1:51:41.200 you took, and you took the keyboard, threw it off 1:51:41.240 --> 1:51:43.360 the stage. That was three grand of my money, you know. 1:51:43.479 --> 1:51:44.960 And I bought all the instruments. 1:51:44.840 --> 1:51:46.320 Off the stage, threw it off the stage. 1:51:46.880 --> 1:51:50.360 All who they must have saw the movie or something, 1:51:51.000 --> 1:51:53.200 you know, So it was interesting. And then you know, 1:51:53.360 --> 1:51:56.280 Jerry looked at him and said, no, he's made five 1:51:56.360 --> 1:52:00.280 million on NET on the tour, five million on the 1:52:00.320 --> 1:52:02.360 first two. They were eating popcorn when we were playing, 1:52:02.400 --> 1:52:04.680 you know. But he thought I made five million net 1:52:04.720 --> 1:52:06.400 on the tour and another five men on the album. 1:52:06.400 --> 1:52:09.280 I was like, really, because I'm in the whole right 1:52:09.800 --> 1:52:13.920 surface above and it wasn't so immediately three guys in 1:52:14.000 --> 1:52:16.760 the band quit right after the first album. And think 1:52:16.760 --> 1:52:21.360 it was Charles, Jerry, and one Vincent and Vincent wasn't 1:52:21.360 --> 1:52:23.320 even studio guy. I said, please don't leave, Vincent, you know, 1:52:23.720 --> 1:52:25.240 they can't use in the studio. Not gonna do anything. 1:52:25.360 --> 1:52:27.240 Don't worry. We going with Jerry. Jerry's gonna sign in 1:52:27.320 --> 1:52:28.800 to a deal. Well, Jerry got a deal and didn't 1:52:28.800 --> 1:52:29.639 sign none of the guys. 1:52:30.439 --> 1:52:33.920 So they're on Overnight Sensation, none of the Jerry Jointed. 1:52:34.200 --> 1:52:36.600 They're not on none of that stuff, none of that 1:52:36.800 --> 1:52:42.960 and so Jerry, Jerry got in with Don curshion Bum. 1:52:44.000 --> 1:52:44.759 Yeah, the producer. 1:52:44.960 --> 1:52:47.040 Was it brainstorm? Was he I'm messing him. I'm messing 1:52:47.120 --> 1:52:50.360 up to name. But that's the Don not Curshionbaum. Yeah, 1:52:50.520 --> 1:52:51.360 David Kirshenbaum. 1:52:51.400 --> 1:52:51.760 I'm sorry. 1:52:52.320 --> 1:52:54.000 And he had cut a rock and roll record, so 1:52:54.320 --> 1:52:56.040 you know then, but Jerry came out here. Man, I'm 1:52:56.080 --> 1:52:57.720 sorry to this. So I looked at Jerry. I said, 1:52:57.720 --> 1:53:01.320 you know, Jerry, this is nineteen seventy whatever. I said, 1:53:01.680 --> 1:53:03.560 you heard a crossover. You got get on R and 1:53:03.640 --> 1:53:05.920 B radio first figure top for the radio, sayce thing, 1:53:06.000 --> 1:53:07.000 he'll play none of this stuff. 1:53:07.280 --> 1:53:07.519 Okay. 1:53:07.800 --> 1:53:09.080 So I talked to him in the cutting over a 1:53:09.160 --> 1:53:11.280 nice sensation because he didn't have that on the album. 1:53:11.640 --> 1:53:13.160 I always thought that was a radio record. 1:53:13.439 --> 1:53:14.960 Of course, it sounds like a radio record. 1:53:16.640 --> 1:53:17.040 How about this. 1:53:17.120 --> 1:53:18.840 Even though he broke up the band, I'm still trying 1:53:18.880 --> 1:53:20.960 to save his but right, I said, man, look the 1:53:21.080 --> 1:53:23.080 record you played me. Ain't nobody playing that? It was 1:53:23.120 --> 1:53:24.519 all rock and roll. I said, you need to cut. 1:53:24.720 --> 1:53:26.720 Why don't you cut one and stick it on the 1:53:26.760 --> 1:53:28.599 back and see what you know? And the one record 1:53:28.680 --> 1:53:30.719 was over nice sensation. That saved him. Then we started 1:53:30.800 --> 1:53:33.679 Ray Parker Junion Radio. And then when I think another 1:53:33.760 --> 1:53:35.640 guy left and Clive just said, that's enough, all this 1:53:35.720 --> 1:53:37.519 personnel change. We're going to rape Parker Jr. 1:53:37.600 --> 1:53:40.000 That's it. So he switched it like that. 1:53:40.560 --> 1:53:44.200 But in the meantime, after Jerry messed up his album, 1:53:44.280 --> 1:53:45.760 then he got out and he didn't hire none of 1:53:45.800 --> 1:53:47.160 the guys in the band, so they were left in 1:53:47.200 --> 1:53:49.240 the cold. Man so they didn't have my gig, and. 1:53:49.280 --> 1:53:49.759 They didn't. 1:53:51.200 --> 1:53:54.080 The leader is like for them, it was terrible. They 1:53:54.160 --> 1:53:56.600 never recovered, you know. So the leader left them in 1:53:56.680 --> 1:53:59.880 the coal and the next thing was was hooking g 1:54:00.040 --> 1:54:02.439 Area up with Oli, you know. So I got those 1:54:02.479 --> 1:54:04.320 two together and they looked out for him again with 1:54:04.560 --> 1:54:07.280 with and so him and Ali they cut a big 1:54:07.400 --> 1:54:10.000 smash record with you know, there's no stuff, and then 1:54:10.080 --> 1:54:12.439 Jerry would go on stage without Ali, but Ali being 1:54:12.439 --> 1:54:14.479 in the dressing room with Jerry's already out there performing 1:54:14.479 --> 1:54:16.240 and he would just do crazy stuff, you know, he 1:54:16.479 --> 1:54:18.599 was he'd come up front, he was clean with he says, man, 1:54:18.640 --> 1:54:20.360 I did it, you know, even before he died. I'm 1:54:20.400 --> 1:54:22.360 the one that got him out the hospital. A few 1:54:22.439 --> 1:54:24.680 days before he died. He passed away cancer. He don 1:54:24.680 --> 1:54:27.200 in nineteen ninety seven, and we spent most of that 1:54:27.320 --> 1:54:29.680 year together. He probably knew he was sick, and I 1:54:29.760 --> 1:54:32.080 didn't know he was sick, you know. And he told 1:54:32.160 --> 1:54:35.360 me some things that I never never dreamed of because 1:54:35.400 --> 1:54:37.400 in my mind I was always trying to help everybody, 1:54:37.400 --> 1:54:39.520 because there's plenty of money for everybody, y'all go do it. 1:54:39.920 --> 1:54:41.640 But he always wanted me to sign him and take 1:54:41.680 --> 1:54:44.320 his publishing, and he always wanted me to do it 1:54:44.440 --> 1:54:44.960 nice sent men. 1:54:45.200 --> 1:54:45.800 I can't do that. 1:54:45.960 --> 1:54:47.720 I'll show you how to do it. You can take 1:54:47.760 --> 1:54:49.400 the money. Like he did a bunch of songs with 1:54:49.480 --> 1:54:52.360 the Jets. I was gonna say he broke Curiosity, Oh 1:54:53.000 --> 1:54:57.720 met those jets, Jet Jet Hero, Curiosity and a two 1:54:57.800 --> 1:54:59.640 or three other big hits for the Jets, On You, 1:55:00.040 --> 1:55:02.960 Rush On You. And when he played me those songs, 1:55:03.560 --> 1:55:06.080 they sound like Jerry Night records, right. And then all 1:55:06.120 --> 1:55:08.440 of a sudden he was fifty to fifty writer with 1:55:08.560 --> 1:55:11.240 Aaron zigg I said, who's Aaron Zigmund? The song sound 1:55:11.280 --> 1:55:13.080 the same as it did last week that you played 1:55:13.080 --> 1:55:13.320 for me. 1:55:13.640 --> 1:55:15.680 Well he got the deal. He can get it. 1:55:15.760 --> 1:55:19.880 Places what you're talking about, what you're talking about it's 1:55:19.920 --> 1:55:22.960 the same song amateur hour. Yeah, And so he ended 1:55:23.040 --> 1:55:25.520 up splitting it and giving him all the production and 1:55:25.840 --> 1:55:29.320 the rest. And in the end it was an interesting conversation. 1:55:29.800 --> 1:55:31.400 Jerry looked at me. He says, he says, you know what, 1:55:31.640 --> 1:55:33.720 I'm a genius number two guy. 1:55:33.920 --> 1:55:34.400 And he was. 1:55:34.960 --> 1:55:36.680 Even after he left the band, we would always talk. 1:55:36.720 --> 1:55:38.520 He'd coached me on lyrics on the Other Woman, and 1:55:38.600 --> 1:55:40.000 he said, no, you can write a better verse, so 1:55:40.040 --> 1:55:40.480 you can write. 1:55:40.560 --> 1:55:41.160 He was just guy. 1:55:41.200 --> 1:55:43.400 He says, I'm a genius, number two guy. He says, 1:55:43.440 --> 1:55:45.680 but you're the number one guy. You should have signed 1:55:45.720 --> 1:55:49.280 my publishing. I would have been better off. And in hindsight, 1:55:49.360 --> 1:55:53.640 you know what, He's right. I didn't see it. Maybe 1:55:53.720 --> 1:55:56.760 he saw it. My thing was where everybody can do this, 1:55:56.880 --> 1:55:57.960 let me just show you how to do it. But 1:55:58.040 --> 1:56:01.240 everybody can't do everything. You know, everybody. It would have 1:56:01.280 --> 1:56:03.360 been better off because I would have paid him on time, 1:56:03.720 --> 1:56:06.640 represented songs. He would have been cool. But he said, 1:56:06.720 --> 1:56:09.720 he says, I'm a number two guy. He says, he said, 1:56:09.840 --> 1:56:14.200 leaving by myself. He says, I'll destruct everything destruct. He says, 1:56:14.240 --> 1:56:17.160 how I am, It's that sabotage. I told you, I 1:56:17.240 --> 1:56:20.640 can't help what happened. He was conscious of it, and 1:56:20.720 --> 1:56:22.560 he said, that's what it is, he said, an change, 1:56:22.760 --> 1:56:24.480 that's it, he said. But if you had led it 1:56:24.520 --> 1:56:26.120 and you had taken it, we would have got through this. 1:56:26.240 --> 1:56:33.120 You know, for those just joined us, we're still talking 1:56:33.160 --> 1:56:37.240 to the Great Ray Parker Jr. Uh going down, uh, 1:56:37.560 --> 1:56:42.640 not even going down, getting life lessons this quest Love 1:56:42.720 --> 1:56:45.600 Supreme on Pandora getting life lessons. And we haven't even 1:56:45.600 --> 1:56:50.600 gotten the Ghostbuster. I know, let's jump in the pool. 1:56:51.680 --> 1:56:53.520 Let us jump in the pool. Are you allowed to 1:56:53.560 --> 1:56:59.400 tell the Ghostbuster story? What Ghostbuster story? Exactly? I won't 1:56:59.480 --> 1:56:59.680 tell you. 1:57:00.240 --> 1:57:02.680 I will tell you everything you want to know, oh 1:57:02.760 --> 1:57:04.960 the best of my ability. Okay. 1:57:05.160 --> 1:57:09.600 So, as as a guy who he's done a little 1:57:09.600 --> 1:57:14.240 bit of scoring work and whatnot, you know, often have 1:57:14.400 --> 1:57:19.960 clients that will say, you know, let's take a song like, 1:57:20.120 --> 1:57:23.360 let's take Drake's hotline blink like you know for my show, 1:57:23.520 --> 1:57:25.760 cut us something like that, yeah, cut us something exactly. 1:57:27.600 --> 1:57:34.920 So to lease here Hughey's side of the story, who's that? 1:57:36.240 --> 1:57:36.640 Who's that? 1:57:37.400 --> 1:57:37.520 All? 1:57:37.600 --> 1:57:41.880 Right? To hear Huey Lewis's version, Am I to believe 1:57:41.960 --> 1:57:46.920 that they pitched him the Ghostbusters movie. He thought it 1:57:46.960 --> 1:57:51.280 was rather silly and didn't want to license I Want 1:57:51.320 --> 1:57:53.200 a New Drug to them because he thought the movie 1:57:53.320 --> 1:57:57.840 was silly and kind of dismissed it, and you know, 1:57:58.520 --> 1:58:02.640 just took his ball and went home. And then is 1:58:02.720 --> 1:58:06.240 this where they come to you, like, well, first of all, 1:58:06.320 --> 1:58:08.160 well give me the let me give you my my 1:58:08.360 --> 1:58:09.240 take on it. Yes, give me. 1:58:09.360 --> 1:58:10.840 I didn't even know. I never heard what you heard 1:58:11.920 --> 1:58:14.960 that song ever ever thought that Ghostbusters sounded like I 1:58:15.000 --> 1:58:16.920 want to still think it, so I don't either. I 1:58:17.040 --> 1:58:19.960 never thought it did. But yeah, but just here's what 1:58:20.080 --> 1:58:22.600 I found out later. And this was only after I 1:58:22.720 --> 1:58:24.480 heard that they were doing a lawsuit something like that. 1:58:24.560 --> 1:58:27.480 I guess they approached him first to write the song, 1:58:27.880 --> 1:58:29.520 to write a theme song. I don't think they wanted 1:58:29.560 --> 1:58:31.120 his song, but I think they want him to write 1:58:31.400 --> 1:58:33.840 a theme song. And then they put his song in 1:58:33.880 --> 1:58:36.920 the temp track along with three other songs that sound 1:58:37.080 --> 1:58:40.120 just like that song. They also have one, four or 1:58:40.200 --> 1:58:43.760 five chords bar band cords. Right, So if you were 1:58:44.520 --> 1:58:47.720 if you were in the room as a musician, you 1:58:47.760 --> 1:58:50.600 would know not to write neither one of us a ballad, 1:58:50.680 --> 1:58:53.360 because you know, that the guy wants up tempo barbers song, 1:58:53.520 --> 1:58:55.200 so hit the heade in that direction. I had no 1:58:55.320 --> 1:58:57.280 idea to approach him. I had no idea about any 1:58:57.320 --> 1:58:59.840 of that kind of stuff. I think it was unfortunate 1:59:00.400 --> 1:59:03.520 that he named me in a lawsuit and named you 1:59:03.600 --> 1:59:05.720 know and all that stuff. I tried to take him 1:59:05.720 --> 1:59:07.880 to dinner in Germany, but I guess this guy said, 1:59:07.920 --> 1:59:10.560 don't talk to that reg guy. You know we're about 1:59:10.560 --> 1:59:12.840 to get mad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't talk to that 1:59:12.920 --> 1:59:14.720 reg guy. I had no idea what they were talking about. 1:59:14.720 --> 1:59:17.200 When I go you, I ain't free, No got none 1:59:17.200 --> 1:59:19.280 of that sounds like the same song to me. But 1:59:19.440 --> 1:59:22.920 I think that maybe he had a case because they 1:59:23.080 --> 1:59:25.200 called him first and they put his song in the 1:59:25.280 --> 1:59:28.800 temp track. I think that's a thing for him in 1:59:28.840 --> 1:59:33.880 the movie company to discuss now on that on the 1:59:34.040 --> 1:59:36.400 settlement or whatever you call the settlement or whatever they 1:59:36.480 --> 1:59:39.120 got for it. And I can't talk about the case. 1:59:39.160 --> 1:59:41.680 And I'll tell you what because I have a genius 1:59:41.800 --> 1:59:48.480 lawyer named Don Passman and wrote the book. I was like, 1:59:49.000 --> 1:59:50.720 what book? Donald Passman is lawyer? 1:59:50.760 --> 1:59:52.520 You wrote a book called Everything You Need to Know 1:59:52.560 --> 1:59:54.680 about the Music Business and the music business class I. 1:59:54.720 --> 1:59:57.320 Took in college. That was our textbook. It was that 1:59:57.480 --> 2:00:00.640 and the Kashif book. Those were two, but that was 2:00:00.760 --> 2:00:04.040 like the bible for well. 2:00:04.480 --> 2:00:07.560 Donald Passman's oldest client is me. I've been with him 2:00:07.600 --> 2:00:09.520 since the beginning. And that's a whole nother story that 2:00:09.640 --> 2:00:12.200 goes through Bill Cosby back to Bill Cosby begin because 2:00:12.240 --> 2:00:15.240 Bill Cosby was represented by this firm that's not in 2:00:15.360 --> 2:00:20.560 the Yellow Pages or anything like, you know, and the 2:00:20.640 --> 2:00:22.320 only way you get into the firm is somebody brings 2:00:22.480 --> 2:00:24.240 Bill Cosby brought me into the firm, and that's how 2:00:24.240 --> 2:00:29.720 I met Don Passman. It's at the beginning. It's very 2:00:29.800 --> 2:00:31.640 much like Tom Cruise. The frame is very much like 2:00:31.720 --> 2:00:33.200 that because there was a couple of people I told 2:00:33.240 --> 2:00:34.880 hibout it says, I can't find a phone umber. I 2:00:34.920 --> 2:00:37.720 don't see any advertising. They don't you know, they don't advertise. 2:00:37.800 --> 2:00:42.520 They handle very elite group of people. And so min 2:00:42.600 --> 2:00:47.280 lawyer came to me. He says, okay, things have worked 2:00:47.280 --> 2:00:49.680 out or whatever. He said to me, do you want 2:00:49.720 --> 2:00:50.440 to know what happened? 2:00:51.400 --> 2:00:51.560 Right? 2:00:52.440 --> 2:00:54.440 Ray Parker answered to do you want to know what happened? 2:00:54.480 --> 2:00:57.720 Is guy anything to do with me? I mean, what 2:00:57.720 --> 2:00:59.840 we're talking about it, right, he says, nothing to do. 2:01:01.480 --> 2:01:04.520 I said, oh, that's interesting. So and then he says, 2:01:04.800 --> 2:01:06.680 I just prefer not to tell you. He says, because 2:01:06.800 --> 2:01:08.360 at the end of the day, we have a gag 2:01:08.480 --> 2:01:11.440 rule on this finding for whatever they're going to do. 2:01:11.920 --> 2:01:15.000 He says, doesn't affect you. And if I don't tell 2:01:15.000 --> 2:01:16.680 your daughter, you can't talk. 2:01:17.640 --> 2:01:17.920 Okay. 2:01:18.160 --> 2:01:20.520 So I've never broken the rule because I don't know 2:01:20.560 --> 2:01:23.280 anything about through. I don't know what anything of it was. 2:01:24.040 --> 2:01:25.920 It has nothing to do with me. My name's on 2:01:25.960 --> 2:01:26.680 the song, I get paid. 2:01:26.720 --> 2:01:27.919 I don't know what are your pockets? 2:01:28.400 --> 2:01:30.000 Nothing to do with me. I don't have So I 2:01:30.120 --> 2:01:32.160 never talked about it because I don't know anything about it. 2:01:32.400 --> 2:01:33.520 But he talked about it. 2:01:34.040 --> 2:01:36.880 Why the gaggro, like, who's it protect? I don't know. 2:01:37.600 --> 2:01:40.720 I don't know anything about it. My lawyer said, you 2:01:40.880 --> 2:01:43.240 can't talk about it because you don't know. That's a 2:01:43.280 --> 2:01:45.400 smart lawyer. He says, I know you ain't gonna talk 2:01:45.400 --> 2:01:47.080 about it because you don't know nothing about it, which 2:01:47.080 --> 2:01:50.560 he's correct. So now, in two thousand and three, I 2:01:50.640 --> 2:01:55.640 think it was VH one was coming calling me several 2:01:55.720 --> 2:01:58.360 times a week, which I thought, Wow, I ain't that popular. 2:01:58.400 --> 2:01:58.800 Why am I. 2:01:58.800 --> 2:02:01.320 Getting some any phone calls to be on TV? And 2:02:01.720 --> 2:02:04.920 come to find out they had his version where they're now? 2:02:05.000 --> 2:02:06.600 They want to have me on Wordy now and play 2:02:06.640 --> 2:02:07.360 them back to back. 2:02:07.560 --> 2:02:07.680 Right. 2:02:08.440 --> 2:02:10.560 So he said a bunch of stuff in which I 2:02:10.680 --> 2:02:15.440 sued him and I won. He broke the gagri. It 2:02:15.560 --> 2:02:18.120 was on TV. And how about this, I like Huey 2:02:18.200 --> 2:02:20.120 Lewis in the news. I don't have anything bad to 2:02:20.160 --> 2:02:21.520 say about him. I never met him. 2:02:21.560 --> 2:02:23.320 You guys seen each other in last years. 2:02:23.360 --> 2:02:26.240 We've never seen each other ever. And I think the 2:02:26.760 --> 2:02:29.760 sad part, in the irony part of I think he 2:02:29.960 --> 2:02:34.000 takes it more personal because of however it happened. It's 2:02:34.040 --> 2:02:36.600 one of those things. Just the bomb built it self. 2:02:36.920 --> 2:02:39.080 But I really had nothing to try to do that. 2:02:39.600 --> 2:02:41.320 And I think if he had any right, maybe he 2:02:41.360 --> 2:02:43.040 should have had it with the other guys that did it. 2:02:43.360 --> 2:02:46.520 But for some reason it seemed to be directed in 2:02:46.640 --> 2:02:48.680 my direction more than I think it should have been. 2:02:49.920 --> 2:02:51.680 Like I hear people talk about him, they say he's 2:02:51.680 --> 2:02:53.760 a nice guy. Other people say I'm a nice guy. 2:02:54.560 --> 2:02:58.560 Now when they're approaching you to do this, yeah, and 2:02:58.880 --> 2:02:59.600 I okay. 2:02:59.720 --> 2:03:03.880 So the result is. I mean, it's it's it's really 2:03:04.200 --> 2:03:08.960 a dead and it's it's a dead heat tie between 2:03:09.320 --> 2:03:14.960 who owns the national Halloween anthem. I mean, it's either 2:03:15.080 --> 2:03:18.920 you or Michael Jackson, neck and neck. But I prefer 2:03:19.040 --> 2:03:19.920 to think I'm the winner. 2:03:21.840 --> 2:03:24.720 I mean Rod temper then just passed. I love Rod, 2:03:25.160 --> 2:03:26.720 you know, like I took a picture. 2:03:26.720 --> 2:03:30.920 I'm just saying, around this time is when your check 2:03:31.000 --> 2:03:32.040 start looking real nice. 2:03:32.120 --> 2:03:34.360 Around this so you're thinking like that, I'm starting to 2:03:34.400 --> 2:03:37.560 get concerned because I'm the only living songwriter from Halloween left. 2:03:38.840 --> 2:03:40.880 My Bobby bors pick I did some shows. What he's 2:03:40.960 --> 2:03:43.080 gone now? Rod Templeton is gone. 2:03:43.880 --> 2:03:45.960 I mean, you're kind of lonely here. 2:03:46.680 --> 2:03:48.600 I mean, but I guess if who you're gonna call 2:03:48.680 --> 2:03:51.400 for Halloween? I mean Ray Park, you run out of 2:03:51.720 --> 2:03:52.200 still here. 2:03:53.040 --> 2:03:56.360 So I mean, at the time, were you thinking like, yo, 2:03:58.120 --> 2:04:01.800 if I write the right song, this will be played. 2:04:01.920 --> 2:04:06.720 This will be the happy birthday to you Halloween. No, no, no, 2:04:07.440 --> 2:04:11.520 but you got admit that it's never died. You're talking 2:04:11.520 --> 2:04:13.120 about that, and is it a burden? Is it a 2:04:13.160 --> 2:04:16.800 burden that no is the winning lotto ticket of bird? 2:04:17.120 --> 2:04:18.400 Does it ever get too heavy? 2:04:18.480 --> 2:04:19.480 The whole I love you. 2:04:19.520 --> 2:04:21.240 What do you say? You know I love you? 2:04:21.600 --> 2:04:29.240 Because dude, my ring tone, I mean, tell the people 2:04:29.320 --> 2:04:32.840 what they want. Oh my god, you know, give the 2:04:32.920 --> 2:04:34.880 people what the people call me they tell me. Don't 2:04:34.960 --> 2:04:37.320 answer the phone. Let it ring through, you know, And 2:04:37.440 --> 2:04:40.600 so it's just you know, the screen logo for those 2:04:41.400 --> 2:04:42.000 you can't see that. 2:04:43.280 --> 2:04:44.000 And if you ring the. 2:04:44.000 --> 2:04:46.440 Phone, it plays not who you're gonna call, but who 2:04:46.480 --> 2:04:49.880 you're trying to call. Leave your name and number after 2:04:49.960 --> 2:04:51.800 the tone. Who you're trying to call. I mean, you 2:04:51.880 --> 2:04:55.400 know by calling right now, I was call me, call 2:04:55.480 --> 2:04:56.720 me Nick, call me. 2:04:58.120 --> 2:05:03.760 You're gonna like this? Of course another question Ray Parker 2:05:03.840 --> 2:05:17.840 Junior's ring tone. Yes, leave your name and number after 2:05:17.960 --> 2:05:18.400 the tone. 2:05:27.920 --> 2:05:31.960 That's that available on. 2:05:34.080 --> 2:05:38.040 We should make that available. But as with all Ray 2:05:38.120 --> 2:05:41.960 Parker stories, you do want the juice right always, you 2:05:42.040 --> 2:05:43.920 guys are leaking for but you're way over there and 2:05:44.000 --> 2:05:48.600 it starts over there, all right. In the Berry White days, 2:05:49.680 --> 2:05:52.280 there was a guy named Gary Lamel who ran Berry 2:05:52.320 --> 2:05:55.880 White's publishing company Aaron Schroeder at the time. Right, okay, 2:05:56.600 --> 2:06:00.160 the other woman got a temp job working for Mary 2:06:00.240 --> 2:06:04.120 Lemel the Columbus Pictures. Who I just happened to be 2:06:04.280 --> 2:06:06.720 me and her were doing whatever we were doing. And 2:06:06.840 --> 2:06:09.000 so that hooked me back up with Gary Lynmel, who 2:06:09.040 --> 2:06:11.920 wanted me to save him by writing a song. 2:06:12.120 --> 2:06:12.760 Oh my old friend. 2:06:13.120 --> 2:06:16.680 That's how we made the connection. Wow, Okay. So he 2:06:17.120 --> 2:06:20.720 brought the project to you. Yeah, and so he figured 2:06:20.760 --> 2:06:22.480 that I could. He says, you got the right humor, 2:06:22.520 --> 2:06:23.760 you got the right thing, he says, I think you're 2:06:23.840 --> 2:06:25.920 right for the job. I'll give you fifty grand. Just 2:06:26.040 --> 2:06:27.840 go write the song whether we if we don't use it, 2:06:27.920 --> 2:06:28.600 you keep the money. 2:06:28.920 --> 2:06:29.400 What the heck? 2:06:30.240 --> 2:06:32.960 They had it like that, you know. And it wasn't 2:06:32.960 --> 2:06:34.720 gonna be no record. It wasn't gonna be into this. 2:06:34.880 --> 2:06:38.120 It was twenty seconds of music at the library scene. 2:06:38.480 --> 2:06:41.480 So I wrote a minute and fifteen seconds of it, 2:06:41.560 --> 2:06:43.320 just because I don't know how to do twenty seconds 2:06:43.360 --> 2:06:45.160 of music. You know, by the time I do one 2:06:45.200 --> 2:06:46.800 group and go to the other group, I got a 2:06:46.880 --> 2:06:49.440 minute and a half, you know, men in fifteen seconds 2:06:49.440 --> 2:06:51.400 of men and ten seconds something like that. And so 2:06:51.480 --> 2:06:53.600 I played the guy a little snippet I had, and 2:06:53.760 --> 2:06:56.840 that's what he loved and write. He just loved it right, 2:06:57.000 --> 2:06:59.080 and went to the meeting he loved it, called me 2:06:59.080 --> 2:07:01.400 at three in the morning. I was sleepy getting the stuff. 2:07:01.440 --> 2:07:01.680 Girl. 2:07:02.000 --> 2:07:05.960 Now there's some magic to those girls yelling go but 2:07:06.160 --> 2:07:07.000 there it's really hot. 2:07:07.240 --> 2:07:07.480 Okay. 2:07:07.600 --> 2:07:10.480 So now I was dating little valley girl. 2:07:12.560 --> 2:07:13.440 In the valley. 2:07:13.800 --> 2:07:16.560 I woke her up at five in the morning, told 2:07:16.600 --> 2:07:19.440 her to get her high school friends together because the 2:07:19.520 --> 2:07:21.840 messengers coming at eight thirty nine o'clock and I need 2:07:21.920 --> 2:07:24.000 to get these voices on. And it was their first 2:07:24.040 --> 2:07:25.760 time there being a studio, so they were excited as 2:07:25.800 --> 2:07:27.200 they could be, like six to seven of them. This 2:07:27.280 --> 2:07:29.000 is your recording at your house is no, this is 2:07:29.040 --> 2:07:31.560 recording at the American studio for them, So they're screaming 2:07:31.600 --> 2:07:33.960 and yelling ghostbusters, which I think made the magic in 2:07:34.000 --> 2:07:34.400 the record. 2:07:34.480 --> 2:07:34.600 You know. 2:07:34.960 --> 2:07:37.880 That's how the song came about. And then we took 2:07:38.000 --> 2:07:42.040 two tape recorders and started linking the tracks together to 2:07:42.120 --> 2:07:44.480 make the song four minute song because I only had 2:07:44.560 --> 2:07:46.640 a minute and fifteen seconds of it. And then the 2:07:46.680 --> 2:07:49.040 breakdown section that's just me playing some stuff over the 2:07:49.080 --> 2:07:52.960 same groove without the guitars and the bass and over 2:07:53.040 --> 2:07:55.160 dubbing and just making sections out of it. But it's 2:07:55.240 --> 2:07:59.920 really only a minute and ten seconds of music, see Kent. 2:08:00.280 --> 2:08:02.600 You can't. But not that I think that when you 2:08:03.160 --> 2:08:08.520 tend to overthink it or try to like concoct like 2:08:10.200 --> 2:08:13.040 I'm gonna make an anthem for hollowing, it never happened. 2:08:13.080 --> 2:08:14.080 No, you just gotta do it. 2:08:14.240 --> 2:08:16.160 But he just wasn't even overthinking it was just like 2:08:16.280 --> 2:08:19.080 to you, was this just some arbitrary he grabs his 2:08:19.160 --> 2:08:20.320 fifty grand and see. 2:08:20.440 --> 2:08:22.080 Exactly, I take the money. I told my account you 2:08:22.080 --> 2:08:24.200 ain't gonna see it. I'm spending this because my bonus. 2:08:23.960 --> 2:08:24.560 My magave. 2:08:25.400 --> 2:08:28.520 So at what point did you? At what point was 2:08:28.600 --> 2:08:33.960 the oh god, like the holy shit, the this is 2:08:34.040 --> 2:08:37.080 my he's going too fast. Let me tell you how 2:08:37.120 --> 2:08:40.480 the best idea of my life came. Okay, okay. The 2:08:40.600 --> 2:08:42.760 first thing is I got the music really quick. I 2:08:42.840 --> 2:08:45.280 had all this stuff I was jamming. I could not 2:08:45.840 --> 2:08:50.040 The guy wanted the words ghostbusters in the song, or 2:08:50.080 --> 2:08:52.240 I don't get my fifty grand. Well we're front Detroit. 2:08:52.280 --> 2:08:54.400 You don't get your fifty grand, just don't get it back. 2:08:54.480 --> 2:08:56.000 We ain't get it back. I'm gonna put it in there. 2:08:56.280 --> 2:08:59.440 But it was impossible to sing ghostbusters, right, I mean, 2:08:59.480 --> 2:09:02.760 it was just it wasn't even Ghostbusters. I created that 2:09:02.840 --> 2:09:05.160 it was Ghostbusters. That's what they kept saying, Ghostbusters. We 2:09:05.160 --> 2:09:08.080 want Ghostbusters in the song. You heard it now, So 2:09:08.160 --> 2:09:09.920 it's not fair. But at the time, they hired plenty 2:09:09.960 --> 2:09:11.920 of writers over the time span of a year, and 2:09:12.040 --> 2:09:13.800 nobody could get that word in the song. It was 2:09:13.840 --> 2:09:17.400 a stupid word to sing. You can't sing Ghostbusters. It 2:09:17.560 --> 2:09:20.120 just doesn't sing. So you're saying other people were trying 2:09:20.160 --> 2:09:23.560 to demo and yeah, the guy said they had been 2:09:23.600 --> 2:09:24.080 doing this a year. 2:09:24.120 --> 2:09:24.480 They don't like. 2:09:24.520 --> 2:09:27.560 None of the song. Directed don't like none of who tried. 2:09:27.760 --> 2:09:29.720 I don't know some famous people tried. 2:09:29.800 --> 2:09:31.880 But it's interesting he says that because that's the same 2:09:31.960 --> 2:09:34.640 thing like Bobby Brown did on the second Ghostbusters. 2:09:34.800 --> 2:09:37.240 He didn't sing it either on our own joint. Well, 2:09:38.360 --> 2:09:39.240 he didn't sing it either. 2:09:39.280 --> 2:09:40.680 See he was off Yeah, but he. 2:09:40.800 --> 2:09:43.720 Was off the hook. They wanted Ghostbusters in the song. 2:09:43.720 --> 2:09:46.160 Right, because he didn't have to say Ghostbuster got a 2:09:46.240 --> 2:09:46.640 theme song. 2:09:46.840 --> 2:09:49.240 So here's what. So here's where we're at and I'm 2:09:49.240 --> 2:09:52.080 sitting there. So I got the song done and I 2:09:52.160 --> 2:09:54.480 haven't called the girls yet because I don't have anything myself. 2:09:54.520 --> 2:09:56.840 So it's like now it's three thirty four o'clock in 2:09:56.880 --> 2:09:59.360 the morning, my fifty grand starting to float out the window, 2:10:00.080 --> 2:10:03.920 you know. And then this commercial comes on TV, of 2:10:04.000 --> 2:10:05.880 which I wasn't really trying to write a commercial, but 2:10:05.920 --> 2:10:08.360 I remember the part of the film they had the 2:10:08.400 --> 2:10:11.760 Ghostbusters with the backpacks and they had the phone number 2:10:11.840 --> 2:10:14.760 under it. And when I was half asleep trying to 2:10:14.800 --> 2:10:17.440 stay awake but trying to write this lyric, I was 2:10:17.560 --> 2:10:20.080 dozing off, half asleep, and on comes this commercial on 2:10:20.200 --> 2:10:24.000 TV with like some insect repelling guys or the you know, 2:10:24.120 --> 2:10:26.600 the exterminator guys, and they got their backpacks. 2:10:26.760 --> 2:10:28.560 They look just like the Ghostbuster guys. 2:10:28.400 --> 2:10:30.960 To me, or to wash this troubles down the drain 2:10:31.080 --> 2:10:33.200 or whatever that you know, roller router guy something, some 2:10:33.360 --> 2:10:35.040 kind of guys like that. And so I'm looking at 2:10:35.080 --> 2:10:37.600 it when they got the phone number, who do you call? 2:10:38.560 --> 2:10:41.400 And I went, that looks just like the Ghostbuster guys. 2:10:41.680 --> 2:10:42.960 We're gonna make it who you gonna call? 2:10:44.160 --> 2:10:44.280 Right? 2:10:44.400 --> 2:10:48.760 So that's Detroit, I said, yea. I said, well, I'm 2:10:48.880 --> 2:10:52.280 just gonna like not seeing the words Ghostbusters. I'm gonna 2:10:52.320 --> 2:10:54.680 let the crowd go go Busters, and I just go 2:10:54.920 --> 2:10:57.480 who you're gonna call? So my song is who you 2:10:57.600 --> 2:10:59.880 Gonna call? I had no idea what it was gonna 2:10:59.880 --> 2:11:02.600 be commercials and rested, I mean didn't take it, but 2:11:02.760 --> 2:11:05.040 that call on like wildfire. As soon as I sung that, 2:11:05.480 --> 2:11:07.720 the director loved it. He says, oh, man that I 2:11:07.840 --> 2:11:10.080 like the way you're going. And he was a Jewish guy. 2:11:10.120 --> 2:11:12.640 So he says, I'm not afraid of any ghosts. He said, 2:11:12.680 --> 2:11:14.200 but you going, what are you saying? I said no, 2:11:14.400 --> 2:11:16.000 it's like, I ain't afraid no ghosts. 2:11:16.080 --> 2:11:16.240 Man. 2:11:16.760 --> 2:11:19.080 He says, I like how you phrasing that. He says, 2:11:19.120 --> 2:11:21.880 I like, I like the phrase. He says, I said, 2:11:21.920 --> 2:11:23.560 y'all had a background. He says, no, I like how 2:11:23.640 --> 2:11:25.960 you're saying it. I like, you go out, I'm not 2:11:26.080 --> 2:11:28.840 afraid of any ghosts. I'm like, and I'm looking at 2:11:28.880 --> 2:11:31.600 him like I'm looking at where we at, Dude, where 2:11:31.720 --> 2:11:34.440 we at? And I'm saying, no, I ain't afraid no ghosts. 2:11:34.920 --> 2:11:37.480 He says, say it again slow, I said, I ain't. 2:11:37.280 --> 2:11:38.640 Afraid no ghost. 2:11:40.200 --> 2:11:41.880 And I hadn't really thought about what I was saying. 2:11:41.880 --> 2:11:43.960 I said, no, I ain't afraid no ghost. He said, 2:11:43.960 --> 2:11:46.920 I like that, man. So we did re redid that 2:11:47.120 --> 2:11:50.760 and that's what changed the whole world because when they 2:11:50.880 --> 2:11:54.040 when they licensed the song for commercials, it has nothing 2:11:54.040 --> 2:11:56.360 to do with the movie because they don't license Ghostbusters. 2:11:56.400 --> 2:11:58.440 They license who You're Gonna Call, and they put their 2:11:58.480 --> 2:11:59.440 own name in the back of it. 2:11:59.720 --> 2:12:06.080 Ah that's real. Okay. My question is are you is 2:12:06.200 --> 2:12:09.800 this your song? Or is this like whenever someone wants 2:12:09.840 --> 2:12:13.480 to utilize Ghostbusters, do you have to go through a 2:12:13.560 --> 2:12:16.320 whole protocol of getting the movie company? 2:12:16.360 --> 2:12:23.720 And I know it, he was on it. 2:12:24.000 --> 2:12:27.200 It's pretty much myself now. 2:12:27.520 --> 2:12:30.840 Now there are protocols. Okay, if the movie was released 2:12:30.920 --> 2:12:33.720 like this film, there's a three month moratorium on each side. 2:12:34.880 --> 2:12:37.760 Dude, I totally forgot. Ghostbusters got released again this year. 2:12:39.080 --> 2:12:41.600 There's a three month moratorium on the front where they 2:12:41.640 --> 2:12:43.520 didn't want people to do it. But I have such 2:12:43.520 --> 2:12:45.560 a wonderful deal that if you offered me a million 2:12:45.600 --> 2:12:48.480 dollars to do it within that three month period, they 2:12:48.680 --> 2:12:50.240 can say no, you can't do it, but then they 2:12:50.360 --> 2:12:53.600 give me a million dollars. Oh so I still don't 2:12:53.640 --> 2:12:57.120 lose the money. Oh, but I mean doing it as in, 2:12:57.280 --> 2:13:00.240 you can't perform it anywhere or are you for me? 2:13:00.320 --> 2:13:01.520 I'm just talking about that if they want to use 2:13:01.520 --> 2:13:02.640 the commercials and other stuff. 2:13:03.040 --> 2:13:03.200 You know. 2:13:03.640 --> 2:13:04.960 You know, when you do a film thing, they don't 2:13:04.960 --> 2:13:08.200 want you in conflict with the film, right, so you. 2:13:08.200 --> 2:13:10.640 Can't do any commercials for the first three months after 2:13:10.760 --> 2:13:14.400 it comes out. Now, but you on the words too, 2:13:15.360 --> 2:13:18.200 like the merchandising. The merchandising. 2:13:18.680 --> 2:13:20.840 So we're coming out with a clothing line of Ray 2:13:20.880 --> 2:13:24.360 Parker Junior Collections clothing line because I think they figured 2:13:24.400 --> 2:13:25.880 out that on the words. So they want to put 2:13:25.880 --> 2:13:28.040 the words with the characters. So we have a t 2:13:28.160 --> 2:13:30.520 shirt line and clothing line coming out. 2:13:30.720 --> 2:13:33.200 Did they use the yours in the two I haven't 2:13:33.200 --> 2:13:34.280 seen part the new one. 2:13:34.360 --> 2:13:36.680 This is probably three by the way, Oh part they 2:13:36.760 --> 2:13:39.000 used a snippet of it. In my opinion, they should 2:13:39.040 --> 2:13:42.720 have played the themes every time. No, but they put 2:13:42.720 --> 2:13:44.600 it in there some parts. But you know every time. 2:13:44.800 --> 2:13:47.560 To me, Indiana Jones, that's how you know, the good 2:13:47.560 --> 2:13:49.440 guys a client just play the same thing, some of it. 2:13:50.080 --> 2:13:51.800 I think, I hope next time they do that, you know, 2:13:52.000 --> 2:13:53.440 But they played a little bit of mine. Then they 2:13:53.520 --> 2:13:55.360 have twenty other versions where they mixed it up and 2:13:55.400 --> 2:13:58.440 did it different ways, you know, and then they cut 2:13:58.440 --> 2:14:00.280 a whole album with these guys. I mean I got 2:14:00.720 --> 2:14:03.080 writs probably ten songs on the album, but nobody had 2:14:03.080 --> 2:14:03.440 a hit. 2:14:03.360 --> 2:14:03.840 On the album. 2:14:05.040 --> 2:14:06.920 The movie did well, you know, they tried it. 2:14:07.480 --> 2:14:07.920 They tried it. 2:14:09.680 --> 2:14:16.000 Maybe next time they'll just go. So when you're turning 2:14:16.120 --> 2:14:18.600 in this master, at what point do you realize. 2:14:19.760 --> 2:14:23.680 I have the national anthem for Halloween two weeks after 2:14:23.680 --> 2:14:25.160 it comes, and it will never die. 2:14:25.360 --> 2:14:28.640 It will never Halloween. We didn't know till later. I 2:14:28.720 --> 2:14:31.480 didn't even think about Halloween. But so you're not seeing 2:14:31.520 --> 2:14:35.480 a grand level Halloween. The only thing I knew is 2:14:35.760 --> 2:14:38.320 the record came out. Well, I had already been told 2:14:38.360 --> 2:14:40.760 what's going to happen. You know, the movie in those 2:14:40.880 --> 2:14:44.480 days will come out almost nine months later overseas in 2:14:44.680 --> 2:14:47.760 different places. So Clive had already said, okay, we released 2:14:47.800 --> 2:14:51.320 a single in front of the film, and then when 2:14:51.360 --> 2:14:54.200 the film comes out, we'll wait and release it overseas da. 2:14:54.240 --> 2:14:54.720 Da da dah. 2:14:55.120 --> 2:14:57.280 And they in those days they want to stop as 2:14:57.360 --> 2:14:59.400 many imports as possible, so they just let it lo 2:14:59.560 --> 2:15:03.200 lo And within the first two weeks we had sold 2:15:03.320 --> 2:15:05.840 so many records, and clients says, what do you think 2:15:05.960 --> 2:15:07.800 is happened to their export and the records. We gotta 2:15:08.320 --> 2:15:10.480 ship it out overseas, he said, But the movie's not 2:15:10.560 --> 2:15:12.480 coming out for eight nine months. We're going to be 2:15:12.560 --> 2:15:15.200 way ahead of the film, he says. I'm torn between 2:15:15.480 --> 2:15:17.680 putting it out, he said, but my distributors are making 2:15:17.720 --> 2:15:19.840 me put it out because they're selling so many of them. 2:15:20.520 --> 2:15:22.440 And I think within the first few weeks we had 2:15:22.480 --> 2:15:25.520 sold three and a half million records overseas. There were exports, 2:15:26.280 --> 2:15:28.120 so they forced him into release in it, he says, 2:15:28.160 --> 2:15:29.880 why do you think they're buying it? They don't understand 2:15:29.920 --> 2:15:32.480 what you're saying in Italy or other places. I said, 2:15:32.560 --> 2:15:33.920 if I knew that, I would have cut. 2:15:33.800 --> 2:15:34.280 A bunch of them. 2:15:34.280 --> 2:15:36.040 We were talking about, I don't know why they buy 2:15:36.120 --> 2:15:38.280 the record. Put the record out, you know so and 2:15:38.560 --> 2:15:42.960 by meet Them. When Meet Them came that February, were 2:15:43.000 --> 2:15:45.080 repped to like I think they gave me a record 2:15:45.160 --> 2:15:47.680 with fifteen million sound albums or something like that. 2:15:47.880 --> 2:15:48.440 Was just crazy. 2:15:48.600 --> 2:15:50.520 It's one of those songs that took off every everybody. 2:15:50.760 --> 2:15:54.240 There was something in the song that so infectious, are 2:15:54.320 --> 2:15:56.800 so happy that you didn't need to know what language 2:15:56.840 --> 2:15:58.520 it was, You didn't need to understand everything. It just 2:15:58.560 --> 2:16:02.240 went number one and fifty two con trees. It just 2:16:02.480 --> 2:16:04.800 just went everybody, and it wasn't a burden on you, like, 2:16:05.760 --> 2:16:07.600 oh no, all that money to me to the. 2:16:12.480 --> 2:16:15.280 Weigh in my pocket, down my pants. What's your family saying? 2:16:15.360 --> 2:16:15.480 Now? 2:16:16.400 --> 2:16:22.360 Oh then, oh yeah, yeah, he's all right, he's gonna 2:16:22.360 --> 2:16:25.640 be alright. Aside from the Ghostbusters. Uh, we read that 2:16:25.800 --> 2:16:30.000 like you're I think the highest paid guitar, Like the highest. 2:16:29.760 --> 2:16:32.960 Oh that's nonsense. I read that thing. Yeah, well, you 2:16:33.040 --> 2:16:35.280 know what what I like about it is, you know 2:16:35.400 --> 2:16:38.000 you read. You can't believe everything you read. First of all, 2:16:38.400 --> 2:16:40.840 my kids they come up to me said, Dad, we 2:16:41.000 --> 2:16:44.120 read your net worth two million dollars, right, all these 2:16:44.160 --> 2:16:45.640 different things. Two million dollars. I thinking, where do you 2:16:45.680 --> 2:16:47.600 get that number from? We just spent a million dollars 2:16:47.640 --> 2:16:49.920 just on the studio in the backyard. Okay, what about 2:16:49.920 --> 2:16:52.040 the rest of the place or whatever they do? And 2:16:52.120 --> 2:16:54.440 then that article comes out, he's the highest thing he made, 2:16:54.440 --> 2:16:56.320 He's worth four hundred million dollars. He just made an 2:16:56.360 --> 2:16:58.600 eighty nine million last year. I'm like, I did know. 2:17:00.720 --> 2:17:03.199 Somewhere in the middle, I don't even know if it's. 2:17:03.120 --> 2:17:06.480 The middle somewhere between this. It's kind of crazy, this thing. 2:17:06.560 --> 2:17:08.280 I mean, who comes up with this stuff? Who writes 2:17:08.320 --> 2:17:10.520 this stuff on the matter? And then my neighbor he's 2:17:10.560 --> 2:17:12.920 worth like eighty million, I mean, all these different and 2:17:12.959 --> 2:17:16.720 Denise Wims was worth almost a billion dollars. Yeah, she's 2:17:16.760 --> 2:17:19.400 worth like nine hundred and fifty billion dollars on the 2:17:19.440 --> 2:17:21.240 same website, the same website. 2:17:24.840 --> 2:17:26.120 Silly, get it. 2:17:26.560 --> 2:17:29.000 So I'm just singing there's all these numbers and telling 2:17:29.040 --> 2:17:30.879 my kids, I said, you can't believe everything you read. 2:17:30.920 --> 2:17:31.680 Look at this right here. 2:17:31.920 --> 2:17:34.480 You know what other stuff were you able to put 2:17:34.640 --> 2:17:37.000 your money in and like investing and stuff just to 2:17:37.080 --> 2:17:38.360 stay you know. 2:17:38.560 --> 2:17:39.080 Stay well. 2:17:39.160 --> 2:17:41.720 You know, I lost lots of money years ago, especially 2:17:41.760 --> 2:17:44.199 in stock market when I got too greedy. But recently 2:17:44.240 --> 2:17:46.000 I had a really a good landfall. I bought a 2:17:46.040 --> 2:17:48.640 boat bunch of a Tesla stock when it was that 2:17:48.720 --> 2:17:51.600 twenty seven dollars, I mean a meaningful a lot enough 2:17:51.640 --> 2:17:54.640 where I made in five months few million dollars. 2:17:55.280 --> 2:17:55.920 I got to leave. 2:17:58.440 --> 2:18:00.840 And you know what's even better, because I'm older and 2:18:00.879 --> 2:18:03.920 wives are actually cashed me. I still got a lot 2:18:03.959 --> 2:18:06.199 of it, but I cashed in and took most eighty 2:18:06.240 --> 2:18:08.840 percent off the table. I was smart enough to finally, 2:18:08.879 --> 2:18:10.880 you know, so I look for little things like that. 2:18:11.640 --> 2:18:13.640 I mean, I do the safe stuff now, real estate, 2:18:13.680 --> 2:18:16.040 a little bit, bonds, you know that kind of stuff. 2:18:16.720 --> 2:18:18.720 Stay out of trouble, pay your taxes, get done. You 2:18:18.800 --> 2:18:20.320 want to be going to jail like the other guys, 2:18:20.640 --> 2:18:22.720 you know, keep the country rolling, and just just do 2:18:22.840 --> 2:18:24.680 normal stuff. If you, if you, if you pay attention. 2:18:25.200 --> 2:18:27.039 The key thing with money is just not to buy 2:18:27.160 --> 2:18:29.760 more stuff than you got money for. Everybody wants to 2:18:29.800 --> 2:18:31.840 look like this. If you like this, it's okay, look 2:18:31.920 --> 2:18:33.760 like that. Don't go up there, you know, just don't 2:18:33.760 --> 2:18:35.840 get out of hand with it and get stupid, you know, 2:18:36.240 --> 2:18:37.520 life lessons life. 2:18:37.640 --> 2:18:43.560 Yeah, so okay, I guess during the tornado of the 2:18:43.800 --> 2:18:47.200 success the single, I noticed that in eighty four you 2:18:47.280 --> 2:18:51.680 didn't put a record out though, no Ghostbusters, and they 2:18:51.720 --> 2:18:54.480 had me all over the place and did I section 2:18:54.640 --> 2:18:57.039 single man Matt. Year or later we did. 2:18:57.000 --> 2:19:00.400 Put a record out Chartbusters, right, And that was Clive 2:19:00.480 --> 2:19:01.000 Davis's thing. 2:19:01.120 --> 2:19:01.720 I never get. 2:19:01.959 --> 2:19:04.200 Yeah, it was the Greatest Hits, which we'd already had 2:19:04.200 --> 2:19:07.600 the Greatest Hits album the year before. I said another 2:19:07.720 --> 2:19:10.160 Greatest Hits. Let me tell you something. We packaged the 2:19:10.160 --> 2:19:12.360 greatest hits. I had a cold on one of the songs. 2:19:12.400 --> 2:19:14.040 He said, just put the thing out of cut The 2:19:14.040 --> 2:19:16.199 stuff sold a million plus albums. 2:19:16.480 --> 2:19:17.800 Wow. 2:19:18.520 --> 2:19:20.520 Right, So Clive was right again. I mean, it was 2:19:20.560 --> 2:19:23.600 an unbelievable payday for not a lot of work. So 2:19:23.720 --> 2:19:24.800 that really happened great. 2:19:24.879 --> 2:19:27.760 You know. Was I don't think that man should sleep alone? 2:19:27.879 --> 2:19:33.320 Was that on sex album? Second? What was the end 2:19:33.360 --> 2:19:35.520 of Arister? The next record? 2:19:35.800 --> 2:19:38.440 Second? And that was the end of Arister. Yeah, that's 2:19:38.480 --> 2:19:40.320 why they didn't promote anything. They just kind of let 2:19:40.400 --> 2:19:41.240 it go bye bye. 2:19:42.280 --> 2:19:46.520 But okay, that was just one slight blimish and you 2:19:47.400 --> 2:19:49.320 wanted it off or was it? Oh no, No, I 2:19:49.480 --> 2:19:55.880 was off for Arista in eighty three before Ghostbusters. Oh yeah, 2:19:56.040 --> 2:19:56.440 and it was. 2:19:56.480 --> 2:19:59.360 It was one of those things where I think it 2:19:59.480 --> 2:20:01.240 was a missing standing. I never wanted to leave there, 2:20:01.760 --> 2:20:04.160 but Clive wanted me to do a Dion Warwick album 2:20:04.400 --> 2:20:06.879 and he called my manager and somehow they were arguing 2:20:06.920 --> 2:20:08.280 about the price, and he says, well, if it's gonna 2:20:08.280 --> 2:20:09.440 cost down, I want to know what did it take 2:20:09.480 --> 2:20:12.320 to renegotiate Ray? And we think, what do you Ray for? 2:20:12.400 --> 2:20:14.840 I got four more years left to the contract, and 2:20:15.000 --> 2:20:16.520 somewhere in there he wanted me to do an album, 2:20:16.640 --> 2:20:19.119 and to me, it was a total misunderstanding and things 2:20:19.160 --> 2:20:21.360 got out of hand and he'd offered some really low 2:20:21.400 --> 2:20:24.560 amount of money and everybody got nervous, and David Geffen 2:20:24.640 --> 2:20:28.680 offered like an enormous amount of money and it was 2:20:28.760 --> 2:20:29.760 too late to turn back. 2:20:29.879 --> 2:20:30.480 Sort of a deal. 2:20:31.200 --> 2:20:34.959 Yeah, So I ended up signing with He hate losing 2:20:35.040 --> 2:20:38.320 your yeah, but we remained friends. I actually went back 2:20:38.320 --> 2:20:41.640 to him a little bit later. And uh so when 2:20:41.680 --> 2:20:45.280 I cut Ghostbusters, I was really already sort of leaving, 2:20:45.560 --> 2:20:47.320 so it could go either way. But I gave it 2:20:47.360 --> 2:20:48.640 to client because I said, well, you could put it 2:20:48.680 --> 2:20:50.440 out fast, and he didn't like it. I said, well, 2:20:50.440 --> 2:20:51.640 you don't have to like it. They're gonna pay you 2:20:51.640 --> 2:20:53.840 all the money to promote it. Just take it and pressing, 2:20:54.600 --> 2:20:56.520 fill it full of your album, fell down, full of 2:20:56.560 --> 2:20:59.320 your artists, and go in, which he was wonderfully happy about. 2:20:59.400 --> 2:21:05.200 You know, Okay, I'm the greatest part of the gift ever. 2:21:07.720 --> 2:21:09.720 Let me tell you something. I'm a very fortunate guy. 2:21:09.800 --> 2:21:12.240 Because after that I went to Geffing and we had 2:21:12.240 --> 2:21:13.880 that I don't think man should sleeping on that in 2:21:13.959 --> 2:21:16.160 the Dark album, which did well went gold in England. 2:21:16.720 --> 2:21:19.400 They kind of dismissed the ball here, crossing it over 2:21:19.520 --> 2:21:21.720 pop the usually the way that we do all my records, 2:21:21.760 --> 2:21:23.840 because David Geffen was selling the company at the time, 2:21:25.000 --> 2:21:26.960 and I remember the numbers. I think he gave me 2:21:27.000 --> 2:21:29.279 a million dollars up front and another million do the record, 2:21:29.720 --> 2:21:32.360 and he said, I'm getting out the music business. I'm 2:21:32.400 --> 2:21:36.400 selling the whole company. And if you go to MCA, 2:21:36.800 --> 2:21:38.200 you can keep all the money. You have to pay 2:21:38.240 --> 2:21:41.200 it back. I was like, I'm down for that. Just 2:21:41.280 --> 2:21:42.720 keet the money off to pay it back, you know. 2:21:43.200 --> 2:21:44.920 So that meant I went through MCA, but I kept 2:21:44.959 --> 2:21:47.400 my contract, but they owe me all the money and 2:21:47.480 --> 2:21:49.039 I'm free and clear, and I'm starting a zero. 2:21:50.200 --> 2:21:52.200 Oh it's all the same. 2:21:53.840 --> 2:21:56.280 I'm starting at zero. So I said, that works. The 2:21:56.360 --> 2:21:59.040 only problem is I got to m c A and 2:21:59.280 --> 2:22:01.040 even though I had to it on Bobby Brown and 2:22:01.080 --> 2:22:07.520 those guys, you know, I had another I was but yeah, 2:22:07.560 --> 2:22:10.040 I had another artist, and I had an artist Randy 2:22:10.080 --> 2:22:14.280 Hall signed there too, your artist or yeah, yeah, he 2:22:14.320 --> 2:22:16.880 was signing me and I signed him the MC and 2:22:17.080 --> 2:22:19.400 so now I'm going to MC after all of this 2:22:19.520 --> 2:22:22.160 a while that's going on, and they were like they 2:22:22.240 --> 2:22:24.920 wanted to have an A and R meeting and listen 2:22:25.000 --> 2:22:26.480 to what I was going to record and all that, 2:22:26.520 --> 2:22:28.320 and that just one't feeling that. It's like kind of 2:22:28.360 --> 2:22:32.600 like making an actor audition. After my contract said I 2:22:32.640 --> 2:22:35.280 could do whatever I want to do and you give me. 2:22:35.520 --> 2:22:37.120 I think it was a million bucks up front, Just 2:22:37.160 --> 2:22:39.480 give me a million bucks when I start. So I 2:22:39.560 --> 2:22:42.240 hadn't got my money right, and they were talking about, well, 2:22:42.280 --> 2:22:43.720 you can come on in. I said, come in where 2:22:43.959 --> 2:22:48.400 come into word? It is my million dollars. And I 2:22:48.480 --> 2:22:50.480 had a bunch of more albums that they had to take, 2:22:50.640 --> 2:22:55.200 like several more albums, and so the conversation came up 2:22:55.760 --> 2:22:58.119 as too. And my parents were sick at the time. 2:22:58.200 --> 2:23:00.160 So I really want to spend more time Detroit. It's 2:23:00.160 --> 2:23:02.720 hard for me to record. And so that's why I 2:23:02.760 --> 2:23:06.920 say this worked out perfect time. They decided to get 2:23:07.000 --> 2:23:10.240 rid of me, right, but they was this under Joe 2:23:10.320 --> 2:23:14.000 Busby or no he had just left Ernie Singleton and 2:23:19.200 --> 2:23:21.240 love both of those guys. But they were gonna do 2:23:21.280 --> 2:23:24.600 it this way, which was fine. So that the idea came, 2:23:24.680 --> 2:23:27.280 let's buy ral so believe it. I thought my Lord 2:23:27.520 --> 2:23:29.560 thought he was crazy. I said, they'll never do that. 2:23:30.320 --> 2:23:32.240 You know, they'll just make me cut all the records 2:23:32.240 --> 2:23:33.840 and they'll go sell them and do whatever. Well, you 2:23:33.920 --> 2:23:35.760 know what, they wrote me a big fat check for 2:23:35.879 --> 2:23:38.879 all the next several albums. They don't have to do anything. 2:23:40.720 --> 2:23:45.840 That is unheard of. I mean, how do you deal 2:23:45.920 --> 2:23:49.600 with the changing times and when the advent of hip 2:23:49.640 --> 2:23:52.480 hop coming in? And like, how are you dealing with this? 2:23:52.600 --> 2:23:57.640 I've heard various Uh if you heard the infamous Michael 2:23:57.680 --> 2:24:03.680 Henderson rant, and there's a there's a famous Michael Henderson 2:24:03.800 --> 2:24:09.680 and wreking it down. Yeah, a Japan rant where motherfucker 2:24:09.800 --> 2:24:16.920 down twelve we wreck it down where he's just, you know, 2:24:17.160 --> 2:24:20.040 kind of ranting over the changing times of music and 2:24:20.200 --> 2:24:23.039 how it's it might be leaving him behind, Like how 2:24:23.080 --> 2:24:23.320 are you. 2:24:24.800 --> 2:24:27.280 Taking it at that moment? You know what, It's an 2:24:27.320 --> 2:24:29.879 interesting thing. I never really thought about getting left behind, 2:24:30.040 --> 2:24:35.000 and I never really thought about changing. I think I 2:24:35.120 --> 2:24:36.960 do so many things in the music business. There was 2:24:37.000 --> 2:24:39.120 a time I took the life along vacation, which is 2:24:39.160 --> 2:24:42.240 probably after that my check. I just felt like you know, 2:24:42.280 --> 2:24:44.120 I moved to the mountains, I bought an airplane. I 2:24:44.200 --> 2:24:47.960 started flying around the country. You know, water so you 2:24:48.160 --> 2:24:51.600 just wanted to take it easy and chill. I bought 2:24:51.600 --> 2:24:54.240 a really nice airplane that I could fly like twenty five. 2:24:54.280 --> 2:24:55.720 I could fly to New York and back. You know, 2:24:55.840 --> 2:24:59.840 some people take vacations of me. I know, it's amazing, right, 2:25:00.000 --> 2:25:05.960 all right, you know Stevie Wonder. Yeah, airplane, so I 2:25:06.040 --> 2:25:08.120 got a little yeah, making flames, so I got a 2:25:08.160 --> 2:25:09.920 little lot of not a lot of control. But you know, 2:25:09.959 --> 2:25:12.600 I was like water ski everything that I dreamed about that. 2:25:12.640 --> 2:25:14.320 I bought a house in the mountains and lived up 2:25:14.360 --> 2:25:17.080 eight thousand feet overlooking the lake and the fresh air, 2:25:17.120 --> 2:25:18.800 and ride with snowmobile ski. 2:25:19.040 --> 2:25:19.920 Eighty days a year. 2:25:20.160 --> 2:25:22.360 Just had a wonderful time of it. You know, girls 2:25:22.400 --> 2:25:23.879 couldn't even find me because the didn't know where I lived. 2:25:23.879 --> 2:25:26.200 I fly my airplane to the girl's house, have a date, 2:25:26.240 --> 2:25:27.400 and I split and go back home. 2:25:27.879 --> 2:25:28.760 Nobody find life. 2:25:29.080 --> 2:25:31.840 I was having a great time, and I did that 2:25:31.920 --> 2:25:35.680 for several years. That's a whole Yeah. If you got 2:25:35.760 --> 2:25:39.680 a plane, I had motorcycles, dirt bikes. I mean, I 2:25:39.840 --> 2:25:41.640 just was having a great time. This went on for 2:25:41.640 --> 2:25:44.240 a while, you know, until I met my future. 2:25:43.920 --> 2:25:48.000 Wife finally made you decide to get married. I don't know. 2:25:48.280 --> 2:25:51.039 I met a girl like none other that I would 2:25:51.160 --> 2:25:53.360 rather watch TV with than go bang a couple of 2:25:53.400 --> 2:25:53.760 other ones. 2:25:54.520 --> 2:25:54.959 That's real. 2:25:55.120 --> 2:25:58.520 Yeah, it was just just a true man. Yeah, it's 2:25:58.560 --> 2:26:00.360 real romance, I think, you know, and I feel that 2:26:00.440 --> 2:26:00.920 way today. 2:26:01.760 --> 2:26:03.039 I want to say that wedding. 2:26:06.680 --> 2:26:09.720 You have a record a song on the Mexico talk 2:26:09.760 --> 2:26:11.680 about that. Was that inspired by her? 2:26:11.879 --> 2:26:14.480 Or No, I was just in Mexico rights some songs, 2:26:14.520 --> 2:26:16.720 just food around you. Wait you hear the next record. 2:26:16.760 --> 2:26:18.800 I mean, I'm almost halfway done with it. It's funky. 2:26:19.000 --> 2:26:20.080 It's nineteen eighty three. 2:26:20.400 --> 2:26:20.560 You know. 2:26:21.200 --> 2:26:22.720 He said he don't write about his life. 2:26:22.760 --> 2:26:23.680 He do people. 2:26:23.920 --> 2:26:26.720 And then what I'm doing now this is I'm cutting me. 2:26:27.520 --> 2:26:29.200 What am I cut? This new record sounds like me 2:26:29.440 --> 2:26:31.840 Funkadelic Rick Jamee. I mean, it's it's that era. You know, 2:26:31.920 --> 2:26:34.879 it's back to my ear. If the instruments were created 2:26:34.959 --> 2:26:36.080 much after that, I ain't gonna. 2:26:35.879 --> 2:26:37.160 Have it on there. I mean, it's our. 2:26:38.840 --> 2:26:40.960 And you know what's interesting, I don't feel the least 2:26:41.080 --> 2:26:45.520 bit because I'm not really money motivated to make the record, 2:26:46.120 --> 2:26:48.440 so I don't feel the least bit. I gotta listen 2:26:48.480 --> 2:26:50.160 to what's on the radio, try to go boo bah 2:26:50.160 --> 2:26:50.640 boo boo boo. 2:26:50.680 --> 2:26:51.600 But if they go boo bah. 2:26:51.440 --> 2:26:53.040 Boo boo boo ba, I just want to do it 2:26:53.160 --> 2:26:55.760 my way, you know, and just keep it true to 2:26:55.840 --> 2:26:57.959 what it is, you know, and people if somebody says, 2:26:58.640 --> 2:26:59.600 I don't know, maybe we sell it. 2:26:59.640 --> 2:26:59.800 Maybe. 2:27:00.560 --> 2:27:03.400 But I never really made music to try to make money. 2:27:03.440 --> 2:27:04.960 I was always trying to make music because I love 2:27:05.040 --> 2:27:05.400 the music. 2:27:06.080 --> 2:27:08.120 How do your kids feel about your career? Like, do 2:27:08.240 --> 2:27:10.600 they know that you're the coolest dude walking the planet? 2:27:10.720 --> 2:27:10.880 Or no? 2:27:11.080 --> 2:27:11.240 Was it? 2:27:11.520 --> 2:27:13.880 My kids thought nothing until they saw me get a 2:27:13.920 --> 2:27:17.240 star on Hollywood Boulevard, and really that got let me 2:27:17.320 --> 2:27:20.280 tell you something. I never they don't move over anything, right. 2:27:20.600 --> 2:27:22.840 But we came home from the star ceremony and my 2:27:23.280 --> 2:27:25.600 youngest son took the picture of somebody down and hung 2:27:25.680 --> 2:27:27.560 hist star up that I gave, you know, and I 2:27:27.680 --> 2:27:30.000 was like, really, I mean, y'all, really we got to y'all. 2:27:30.000 --> 2:27:31.760 I mean we finally tapped you just a little bit. 2:27:32.760 --> 2:27:32.920 Now. 2:27:33.520 --> 2:27:36.480 I got a thirty year old twenty eight sixteen and eighteen. 2:27:37.120 --> 2:27:39.200 So the younger ones, you know, the older ones, you know, 2:27:39.280 --> 2:27:40.840 they grew up with all this nonsense. 2:27:40.840 --> 2:27:41.440 They ain't getting it. 2:27:41.840 --> 2:27:44.680 But for some reason. Yeah, but for some reason, even 2:27:44.720 --> 2:27:48.440 the older kids, the star on Hollywood Boulevard was a 2:27:48.520 --> 2:27:51.400 life changer. That was the game changer. Forget all the money, 2:27:51.400 --> 2:27:52.920 forget all that stuff. They know they live in the 2:27:52.959 --> 2:27:55.000 house that the money bought. They got that, but that's 2:27:55.120 --> 2:27:57.240 just their thing. But for some reason, the star thing 2:27:57.320 --> 2:27:59.840 everybody got. You know, even my wife. We were driving home. 2:28:00.000 --> 2:28:01.600 I said, I don't know about your other boyfriends, but 2:28:01.640 --> 2:28:07.480 I bet you they want to know Hollywood. Let me 2:28:07.520 --> 2:28:09.560 tell you something. I thought we were gonna have something going. 2:28:09.920 --> 2:28:11.560 And she looked at me, she says, I'll let you 2:28:11.640 --> 2:28:17.480 slide with that one that put the blind you know, 2:28:17.760 --> 2:28:18.160 she let me. 2:28:18.320 --> 2:28:18.760 She let it go. 2:28:18.879 --> 2:28:22.039 She even let that one go. So that was an interesting. 2:28:21.720 --> 2:28:23.800 Thing with your kids, Like how do you because they 2:28:23.879 --> 2:28:26.360 grew up, you know, particularly the old ones, growing up 2:28:26.400 --> 2:28:29.000 growing up in that kind of goal, how do you 2:28:29.080 --> 2:28:31.200 teach them like the importance of work ethic and like 2:28:31.280 --> 2:28:31.960 what are they into? 2:28:32.160 --> 2:28:33.520 I turned them out of the house and cut them 2:28:33.520 --> 2:28:41.200 off like years ago. Well, you know they started. 2:28:41.240 --> 2:28:41.400 You know. 2:28:41.680 --> 2:28:43.320 The problem is the kids. They think your money is 2:28:43.360 --> 2:28:45.560 their money less. 2:28:45.879 --> 2:28:46.680 Yeah, yeah, you know. 2:28:46.800 --> 2:28:48.400 So I kicked my kids out, and you know what, 2:28:48.800 --> 2:28:51.119 they all fell to the ground. And now they're all 2:28:51.200 --> 2:28:54.760 making a lot of money, doing well, and so hopefully 2:28:54.840 --> 2:28:56.800 the younger ones will do the same thing. And it's 2:28:56.879 --> 2:28:59.200 really painful to the fire. I told my kids the 2:28:59.280 --> 2:29:01.840 old story. It's got it's gonna hurt you, but guess what, 2:29:01.920 --> 2:29:09.760 you get the fuck out. I came home one day 2:29:09.800 --> 2:29:11.000 and both of them were supposed to be looking for 2:29:11.040 --> 2:29:13.520 a job. One and graduated college. Won had dropped out, 2:29:13.680 --> 2:29:16.080 and they were at the swimming pool drinking margaritas and 2:29:16.200 --> 2:29:18.960 it was now I said, what with the job? They said, 2:29:19.000 --> 2:29:24.560 we searched all day, all day. It's twelve o'clock. So 2:29:25.680 --> 2:29:28.600 finally put them out. They were twenty two and twenty four. 2:29:28.760 --> 2:29:30.000 Okay, it's reasonable. 2:29:30.200 --> 2:29:35.560 You get lessons every you got. 2:29:36.520 --> 2:29:38.120 It may have been twenty one and twenty because the 2:29:38.160 --> 2:29:40.640 oldest one had graduated, so maybe it's twenty three, and 2:29:40.840 --> 2:29:41.160 why you. 2:29:41.200 --> 2:29:42.360 Give them an extra year? 2:29:42.360 --> 2:29:44.640 The other one dropped out. I said at the time, 2:29:45.000 --> 2:29:47.119 y'all can move together, share my spl. 2:29:48.760 --> 2:29:52.880 Bro. That's that's real. Like, did you ever have a deadline? 2:29:52.920 --> 2:29:56.760 Like when I was twenty, my dad was like, Yo, 2:29:57.879 --> 2:29:58.760 something gotta happened. 2:29:58.920 --> 2:30:02.120 I wasn't lucky. I got my record deal like within 2:30:03.879 --> 2:30:07.240 a year and a half, Like, but I got super lucky. 2:30:07.320 --> 2:30:09.200 It was eighteen for me, and I knew. Once I 2:30:09.320 --> 2:30:11.280 graduated high school, I was just like, yeah, I can't 2:30:11.320 --> 2:30:14.320 come back. So then I went to college and even 2:30:14.360 --> 2:30:16.280 coming back for the summers was tough. 2:30:16.440 --> 2:30:18.720 You know what I'm saying. Able to pay something? 2:30:18.920 --> 2:30:22.240 Yeah, totally. I was working everything. 2:30:22.520 --> 2:30:26.000 So then finally my senior year, me and my buddy, 2:30:26.360 --> 2:30:29.360 we got our own apartment and so that was then. 2:30:29.400 --> 2:30:30.720 I also had a kid on the way. I had 2:30:30.720 --> 2:30:35.720 my son on the way, so that kind of so 2:30:36.000 --> 2:30:36.960 I was. I was hustling. 2:30:37.000 --> 2:30:39.200 And then I graduated and then we signed that first deal. 2:30:39.560 --> 2:30:41.720 We completed the list in like a couple of months 2:30:41.760 --> 2:30:42.440 as I graduated. 2:30:42.959 --> 2:30:45.879 So what about you paid Bill and Steve? Your parents 2:30:45.959 --> 2:30:55.199 were like, I get the funk out. He's like Roger Dangerfield, 2:30:55.640 --> 2:30:56.520 don't stay home. 2:30:58.600 --> 2:31:03.880 School are the last I have one last question, but 2:31:04.879 --> 2:31:07.120 I have to rewind back a little bit on because 2:31:07.200 --> 2:31:11.080 it means so much to me. But I just have 2:31:11.200 --> 2:31:18.000 to say like your your theme The Prior's Place, Yo 2:31:18.160 --> 2:31:21.400 that that was one of my favorite shows ever, Like 2:31:21.480 --> 2:31:23.280 what was it like working with Richard Pryor? And how 2:31:23.360 --> 2:31:23.840 did how did you? 2:31:23.879 --> 2:31:26.680 Man? That was wonderful. I got that because I was 2:31:26.760 --> 2:31:35.400 dating the director's daughter. I need one more like campfire 2:31:35.480 --> 2:31:39.920 story about rain the ladies leave the rest of that alone. 2:31:39.680 --> 2:31:41.600 To the white pants and the peaches back. 2:31:43.000 --> 2:31:45.280 So her dad asked me to come in and write 2:31:45.320 --> 2:31:47.720 the song, you know, and working with Richard Pryor was 2:31:47.800 --> 2:31:50.120 wonderful and it was like a dream come true. Then 2:31:50.160 --> 2:31:52.240 they put me in the video and I'm bouncing the basketball. 2:31:52.360 --> 2:31:52.560 Richard. 2:31:53.360 --> 2:31:55.000 I'm like, oh man, this is as cool as you 2:31:55.080 --> 2:31:57.560 can get, right, And all of a sudden, I don't 2:31:57.600 --> 2:31:59.959 know where the ratings come out. The thing is going 2:32:00.200 --> 2:32:03.080 great and it's us kids cartoons, I mean kids think 2:32:03.200 --> 2:32:05.680 So I'm thinking, wow, this is every everything, This is it. 2:32:06.080 --> 2:32:08.560 I got it. Then Richard probably just says I want 2:32:08.600 --> 2:32:12.080 to do no more, man like after several episodes and 2:32:12.120 --> 2:32:14.840 everybody's like, yeah, what happened. I thought if we said 2:32:14.879 --> 2:32:17.360 the ratings, the ratings are, Richie just doesn't feel like 2:32:17.480 --> 2:32:21.240 doing it anymore, you know. No, he just didn't feel 2:32:21.760 --> 2:32:22.640 just changed his mind. 2:32:22.680 --> 2:32:24.000 It was the Black Sesame Street. 2:32:24.360 --> 2:32:25.360 Yeah, he just changes his mind. 2:32:26.000 --> 2:32:27.920 He came on eleven thirty ripe before a soldier. 2:32:28.000 --> 2:32:29.960 Yeah, he just decided, I'm not gonna do no more. 2:32:30.520 --> 2:32:31.720 Wow. You know. 2:32:31.879 --> 2:32:34.600 And then when that happens, you know what about us 2:32:34.680 --> 2:32:39.000 little guys? You know, come on, you know it must 2:32:39.080 --> 2:32:41.160 be nice, It must be nice. Just walk away right 2:32:41.200 --> 2:32:43.840 in the middle of it. Don't care. Let's go So 2:32:44.680 --> 2:32:48.920 okay any any I mean your new addition session. 2:32:48.760 --> 2:32:50.200 Was okay, you're gonna like this. 2:32:50.440 --> 2:32:54.520 So I wrote mister Telephone Man right alongside Jack and 2:32:54.640 --> 2:32:57.320 Jill and some other stuff all at the same time, right, 2:32:58.080 --> 2:32:59.959 and I thought, stupid song, mister teller. 2:33:00.240 --> 2:33:01.520 I don't know why did I write that? 2:33:01.879 --> 2:33:04.040 So I can it and I don't do anything with it, 2:33:04.800 --> 2:33:06.640 and we end up recording it on this kid on 2:33:06.720 --> 2:33:11.119 Geffen Records, Kid Junior Tucker, and they for some reason 2:33:11.200 --> 2:33:14.040 they throw his album with David Foster cuts some first 2:33:14.560 --> 2:33:16.480 Jay Graden that comes some They didn't like anything, and 2:33:16.560 --> 2:33:20.720 they gave it to me at discounted budget, and I 2:33:20.959 --> 2:33:22.680 actually finished the record for him, got it done, and 2:33:22.720 --> 2:33:24.280 then they just canned the thing and they didn't do nothing. 2:33:24.320 --> 2:33:27.119 With it, but somehow the new addition heard it through 2:33:27.200 --> 2:33:29.240 this guy Dale Konwa Shimo used to work for Michael 2:33:29.320 --> 2:33:33.720 Jackson and they loved the song. I didn't know that 2:33:33.800 --> 2:33:36.080 they had heard it. So Gerald Buzzby called me up 2:33:36.600 --> 2:33:39.440 in Detroit while my parents were sick, and he says, 2:33:39.800 --> 2:33:42.320 I want you to fly to New York Boston and 2:33:42.440 --> 2:33:45.840 hear these kids singing, because you know, they want you 2:33:45.959 --> 2:33:47.520 to work with him on a song. That's why he 2:33:47.560 --> 2:33:49.160 didn't say right it. He said work with him on 2:33:49.240 --> 2:33:51.960 a song. And my parents were sick. I've been in 2:33:52.040 --> 2:33:54.640 Detroit for months, it's freezing cold, and he wants me 2:33:54.720 --> 2:33:57.959 to go to Boston. It's January, not even not feeling 2:33:58.040 --> 2:34:00.480 it right. So I tell Gerald, thanks of the man. 2:34:00.600 --> 2:34:04.280 I don't think sothing man feeling So Gerald, being the 2:34:04.360 --> 2:34:07.240 smart guy, he was called back a month later. A 2:34:07.280 --> 2:34:09.640 few weeks later, he says, how about we take the 2:34:09.760 --> 2:34:12.400 jet and go to the Bahamas and stay at the 2:34:12.440 --> 2:34:15.360 Trump thing there and go to the restaurant and we party. 2:34:15.600 --> 2:34:19.920 I said that works to do that, So we fly 2:34:20.080 --> 2:34:23.160 down to the Bahamas, we rent motorcycles, we go in 2:34:23.200 --> 2:34:25.760 the casino, we eat at the same restaurant. Donald trump 2:34:25.840 --> 2:34:28.760 stand over there. We're sitting here and we party so hard. 2:34:29.200 --> 2:34:32.000 We get to the kids concert. They walk off the stage, 2:34:32.680 --> 2:34:35.480 right there's mister Parker. How did you like our song? 2:34:35.560 --> 2:34:40.720 I ain't even heard it yet. Gerald looks at me. 2:34:40.760 --> 2:34:43.920 I'm looking at him like, whoa, man, we're late. We 2:34:44.080 --> 2:34:46.360 missed the whole thing, you know. And we're like, oh, yeah, 2:34:46.400 --> 2:34:46.800 that was great. 2:34:46.840 --> 2:34:47.040 Yeah. 2:34:48.480 --> 2:34:50.280 And so I go back and I'm feeling bad now 2:34:50.320 --> 2:34:53.480 because I'm like, man, Gerald, man, my parents are sick, 2:34:54.080 --> 2:34:54.960 really not feeling this. 2:34:55.320 --> 2:34:57.560 Write the song thing and go back to you know. 2:34:57.680 --> 2:34:59.560 Just He says, oh, man, you ain't got to write 2:34:59.600 --> 2:35:02.080 the song. He says, they were playing your song. They 2:35:02.160 --> 2:35:03.480 just want you to re record it. 2:35:03.600 --> 2:35:03.720 You know. 2:35:04.400 --> 2:35:07.200 I was like, what song, mister telephone? I said, how 2:35:07.240 --> 2:35:09.720 did they hear that? He says, no, they worked out there, 2:35:10.000 --> 2:35:12.480 they know what. They want you to cut it, just 2:35:12.560 --> 2:35:14.440 like those stuff. So we got went to back in 2:35:14.520 --> 2:35:19.040 California and uh, the kids say, look, just cut it 2:35:19.400 --> 2:35:21.400 just like in fact, can we buy the old track? 2:35:21.560 --> 2:35:23.320 I said, no, that blongs you can't buy it over chain. 2:35:23.440 --> 2:35:25.080 But it's me playing all the instruments. So I'll cut 2:35:25.120 --> 2:35:29.640 it again. So I put all the instruments together. He said, yeah, yeah, 2:35:29.640 --> 2:35:32.120 so that's me playing. I play the drums and over dub. 2:35:32.480 --> 2:35:34.440 I'm like Steve. I put the drums on last, you know, 2:35:34.720 --> 2:35:36.160 So I played the bass and all the rest. Well 2:35:36.160 --> 2:35:37.800 that's how the master taught me. I'm just doing it 2:35:37.920 --> 2:35:40.000 like he did it. So I put all the stuff on. 2:35:40.120 --> 2:35:42.360 We get the track done. We get to singing on 2:35:42.520 --> 2:35:44.640 Ralph sings the verse. It sounds great. Nobody can sing 2:35:44.720 --> 2:35:47.520 the chorus, and said Bobby because he's he didn't want 2:35:47.520 --> 2:35:49.520 He said, I don't sing. I rap right. I said, 2:35:49.520 --> 2:35:51.280 well you got to sing because ain't nobody else singing it. 2:35:51.520 --> 2:35:53.240 So he's yelling and screaming up how, I said. We 2:35:53.320 --> 2:35:56.200 get him on up high. Later he tells me, you know, 2:35:56.200 --> 2:35:57.080 I saw him a few weeks ago. 2:35:57.080 --> 2:35:57.680 He told me. 2:35:57.680 --> 2:35:59.440 He says, well, Ray Parker Junior said I can sing 2:35:59.520 --> 2:36:00.920 someth fuck it, I quit the band said, I do 2:36:01.000 --> 2:36:06.119 my own album. I said, boy, that was a confidence 2:36:06.200 --> 2:36:11.080 building Yeah, I'm gone, you know, but uh it was interesting. 2:36:11.400 --> 2:36:13.880 Uh they cut, we cut the record, turned it in 2:36:14.920 --> 2:36:17.160 and they were a little out of tune on some parts, 2:36:17.200 --> 2:36:20.160 and was worked to get the vocals done. So Jero 2:36:20.240 --> 2:36:21.640 Buzzby looks at me. He says, man, can you cut 2:36:21.680 --> 2:36:22.800 four or five more songs? 2:36:22.840 --> 2:36:22.960 You know? 2:36:23.280 --> 2:36:24.560 I said, man, I can't do that. 2:36:24.840 --> 2:36:25.400 I'm doing this. 2:36:25.520 --> 2:36:27.400 He says, well, get your boys, Allie, and wasn't name 2:36:27.440 --> 2:36:29.520 of them to do it. He says, they can ghost 2:36:29.560 --> 2:36:31.680 it for you. He says, you got my permission. So 2:36:31.800 --> 2:36:33.480 I go to my boys. I said, man, y'all, y'all 2:36:33.480 --> 2:36:34.960 want to cut the stuff. I got a pockets full 2:36:35.000 --> 2:36:37.400 of cash burn here, you know, do this. We don't 2:36:37.400 --> 2:36:38.480 want to do that. We don't want to do it. 2:36:38.760 --> 2:36:40.840 I said, yep, but we don't want to. Nobody want 2:36:40.879 --> 2:36:44.040 to do it. Why I just didn't want to do it. No, 2:36:44.160 --> 2:36:48.600 I couldn't get all I mean people needed integrity. Yeah yeah, 2:36:48.640 --> 2:36:51.400 too much integrity or too much poor judgment. So nobody 2:36:51.440 --> 2:36:52.640 would take the money to do it. So that's how 2:36:52.640 --> 2:36:54.480 I ended up with just the one song. I turned 2:36:54.520 --> 2:36:56.560 the song in and believe or not, that's the same 2:36:56.600 --> 2:36:59.920 week when they called me for Ghostbusters. So when Gary 2:37:00.080 --> 2:37:02.960 Lamel called me from Ghostbusters, you know, I had been 2:37:03.000 --> 2:37:04.519 to Spargo's and I was sitting. 2:37:04.280 --> 2:37:05.440 With the lady right there, Claire. 2:37:05.480 --> 2:37:08.800 We were looking at that read I mean black poster 2:37:08.920 --> 2:37:10.800 with it just had to circle on it something like that. 2:37:11.160 --> 2:37:12.560 I said, what is that? And I said, I got 2:37:12.600 --> 2:37:14.960 a phone call from my friend about that, and what 2:37:15.080 --> 2:37:17.160 Gary was saying it was, you know, spent a couple 2:37:17.200 --> 2:37:17.600 of days. 2:37:18.080 --> 2:37:18.640 I paid it right. 2:37:18.720 --> 2:37:20.600 So I says, Man, I'm not doing this song. I'm 2:37:20.640 --> 2:37:21.440 going back to Detroit. 2:37:21.520 --> 2:37:21.840 He says. 2:37:22.480 --> 2:37:23.959 He says, you're not doing music. He says, what are 2:37:24.000 --> 2:37:25.640 you doing here? Now? Says I'm doing a new edition. 2:37:25.640 --> 2:37:27.320 He said, were doing doing music? Then what are you 2:37:27.400 --> 2:37:29.560 talking about? My money ain't good for their you know. 2:37:29.680 --> 2:37:31.560 So that's how he talked me into doing this. I 2:37:31.640 --> 2:37:34.240 was already in town doing a new edition. So he said, 2:37:34.280 --> 2:37:37.920 stay two more days. Fifty grand. Ye. So that year 2:37:38.000 --> 2:37:40.640 I had missed the telephone Man and Ghostbusters came out 2:37:40.640 --> 2:37:41.119 the same year. 2:37:41.879 --> 2:37:47.640 Man, Game Changers, Game Changers. Yeah, Ray Parker Jr. Thank you, 2:37:48.000 --> 2:37:58.720 Thank you, Man, thank you. One of the new edition. 2:37:59.320 --> 2:38:04.600 Ray Parker almost didn't happen, just like Ghostbusters almost didn't happen, 2:38:04.800 --> 2:38:06.840 just like Jack and Jill almost didn't happen. 2:38:07.760 --> 2:38:10.040 Man, I don't know what lesson like. 2:38:10.120 --> 2:38:13.200 There's so many I don't know if it's that I 2:38:13.240 --> 2:38:19.440 should start dating all the daughters of all the mine 2:38:19.560 --> 2:38:21.039 is I'm kicking my kids out the house. 2:38:21.200 --> 2:38:23.760 Yeah, you really have to know that information. You're like 2:38:23.840 --> 2:38:25.600 exactly what I'm like, what was the day? 2:38:25.640 --> 2:38:29.840 I mean, that's the lesson because three days after yet 2:38:29.879 --> 2:38:31.440 to roll right Ghostbusters? 2:38:31.520 --> 2:38:34.360 So yeah, yea myself. They got to go. 2:38:36.640 --> 2:38:38.279 They stay numbered already. 2:38:38.480 --> 2:38:41.640 Oh yeah, that's what you're taking for this, Ray Parkers. Yeah, yeah, 2:38:41.680 --> 2:38:42.800 they gotta get out. 2:38:42.879 --> 2:38:43.320 They gotta go. 2:38:44.000 --> 2:38:46.200 I mean once they they're not legal yet, they're not. 2:38:46.480 --> 2:38:47.480 At fifteen and ten. 2:38:47.760 --> 2:38:53.240 But I'm basically saying seven three to seven years fifteen, 2:38:53.280 --> 2:38:53.840 gotta get out. 2:38:53.879 --> 2:38:57.800 Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah really, oh yes, I mean 2:38:57.840 --> 2:38:59.520 it was like that for me. You know what I'm saying. 2:38:59.560 --> 2:39:00.200 I did right. 2:39:00.200 --> 2:39:01.800 I ended up in the room with you motherfuckers. 2:39:01.840 --> 2:39:06.680 So I see something a child has to suffer to 2:39:06.760 --> 2:39:07.440 make it in life. 2:39:07.800 --> 2:39:08.080 I don't. 2:39:08.200 --> 2:39:09.480 Is there thing you gotta suffer? 2:39:09.640 --> 2:39:11.879 I just you know what, man, It's it's tough because 2:39:11.920 --> 2:39:13.440 like we were talking about this to Cardoon Knight, like, 2:39:13.920 --> 2:39:16.000 you know, looking at what was it? It was you 2:39:16.160 --> 2:39:19.279 god right, saying like his kids are like super nerds. 2:39:19.360 --> 2:39:22.240 Nerds so a lot of ways like hip hop and 2:39:22.520 --> 2:39:25.640 the kids have entertainers. Hip hop has afforded the kids 2:39:26.080 --> 2:39:29.200 way better lives than the fathers and mothers, you know 2:39:29.240 --> 2:39:31.720 what I'm saying. So that's the good thing. But then 2:39:31.840 --> 2:39:34.960 in some aspects you kind of lose that thing that 2:39:35.280 --> 2:39:40.240 made your dad you know, right or whatever, hunger drive, whatever, 2:39:40.720 --> 2:39:43.840 So you kind of gotta walk that line. It's like, Okay, 2:39:44.320 --> 2:39:46.560 do I want to give my kids everything that I 2:39:46.640 --> 2:39:48.879 didn't have or do I want to make them live 2:39:49.040 --> 2:39:50.000 like Antoine Fisher. 2:39:50.440 --> 2:39:53.120 So I'm just kind of like, I mean, not like 2:39:53.800 --> 2:39:54.439 not white. 2:39:55.879 --> 2:40:06.040 It here, I'm still strong. Oh nigga, I don't know 2:40:06.080 --> 2:40:06.800 who will people be? 2:40:07.800 --> 2:40:08.400 So nah? 2:40:08.480 --> 2:40:11.520 I mean, so that's that's my that is my conflict 2:40:12.040 --> 2:40:14.240 because I want to get in the things. I mean, 2:40:14.240 --> 2:40:15.880 I don't want my kids to like grow up like 2:40:15.959 --> 2:40:19.200 in the crackhouse and ship like I experienced. But at 2:40:19.240 --> 2:40:21.280 the same time, I don't want them, you know, to 2:40:21.440 --> 2:40:24.160 just be soft and mark. 2:40:27.440 --> 2:40:28.119 God damn job. 2:40:29.080 --> 2:40:29.640 Yeah no. 2:40:30.320 --> 2:40:32.800 So so that was my list from break kick your 2:40:32.840 --> 2:40:33.400 kids out there. 2:40:34.840 --> 2:40:38.560 And children. I'm sorry, I just wanted to radio show 2:40:38.640 --> 2:40:41.120 to nerd out a little bit. I didn't want this 2:40:41.280 --> 2:40:46.200 to be the moment of your life changing. Uh so, Bill, 2:40:46.280 --> 2:40:48.840 you seem to agree about kicking my kids out of 2:40:48.840 --> 2:40:51.320 the house. You would kick one daughter out with do 2:40:51.440 --> 2:40:56.000 you know it like tomorrow? 2:40:56.840 --> 2:40:58.960 No, I'm playing, uh, but you're not. 2:40:59.240 --> 2:41:02.480 I'm not. I don't you know. 2:41:03.520 --> 2:41:05.440 I haven't given much thought to kicking my kids out 2:41:05.440 --> 2:41:05.720 of the house. 2:41:05.760 --> 2:41:07.400 I feel like a few years ahead of me. 2:41:07.560 --> 2:41:09.400 So, yeah, your kids, your daughters are much young. 2:41:09.840 --> 2:41:18.640 So I mean there are days late, Jordans. There's two kids, 2:41:18.720 --> 2:41:22.760 and I'm paid Bill's life, and one might be testing 2:41:22.800 --> 2:41:25.320 his patience just a little bit more than the other one. 2:41:26.080 --> 2:41:29.200 Everybody's patients, not just me. But do you feel I mean, 2:41:29.320 --> 2:41:31.640 is it too late? She's only three, right, she's four? 2:41:31.879 --> 2:41:32.680 Is it too late to do what? 2:41:32.920 --> 2:41:33.120 Yeah? 2:41:34.240 --> 2:41:36.480 Give her back? Yes, it's too late for that. 2:41:37.080 --> 2:41:40.160 I have about three friends who thought. One one of 2:41:40.200 --> 2:41:44.800 them infamously said, you know, he had a son and 2:41:44.920 --> 2:41:46.280 a daughter and he says, well, you know, I'm gonna 2:41:46.280 --> 2:41:48.959 save my baill money up for my son to college 2:41:49.000 --> 2:41:51.760 tuition up for her. And now they're older, it's the 2:41:51.800 --> 2:41:55.200 complete opposite. The angel is now a nightmare. I heard 2:41:55.200 --> 2:41:58.120 that they switch and right, so as who knows, like 2:41:58.200 --> 2:42:03.080 the apple of your eye, might you know it might 2:42:03.120 --> 2:42:05.760 be bail money time. I mean, I hope. 2:42:09.200 --> 2:42:10.760 You about girls to keep him off the poles. 2:42:10.760 --> 2:42:12.840 The only thing you need to do. I've heard that, 2:42:12.879 --> 2:42:15.840 all right. So Steve drops droptsman, science man, would you learn? Man? 2:42:16.080 --> 2:42:19.080 I thought some of the interesting things he was talking 2:42:19.120 --> 2:42:22.120 about was the Stevie Wonder playing drums on his stuff last. 2:42:22.480 --> 2:42:23.800 Yeah, that is that all? 2:42:23.840 --> 2:42:26.240 I mean, that's that makes a lot of sense. And 2:42:26.400 --> 2:42:30.120 it's just so it's just mind blowing. How does it 2:42:30.200 --> 2:42:33.080 make no click? So he's playing to what well? 2:42:33.160 --> 2:42:37.920 Because Steve is one of the most adventurous uh. 2:42:39.320 --> 2:42:42.760 High hat players all time, that just makes a lot 2:42:42.800 --> 2:42:46.119 of sense that the fluctuation of his drumming is because 2:42:46.160 --> 2:42:51.160 he does it last. And I try that same. I'm 2:42:51.160 --> 2:42:54.080 gonna cut a song on this album's album. 2:42:54.160 --> 2:42:55.840 Every That's what I was thinking the whole time. 2:42:56.200 --> 2:42:57.280 You know, I gotta try this. 2:42:58.800 --> 2:43:01.480 I love that in two weeks. Let's listen. 2:43:01.600 --> 2:43:03.879 Listen, listen. That's something cool. 2:43:04.000 --> 2:43:08.600 And and also Stevie Wonder's apparent competitiveness with with Ray 2:43:08.680 --> 2:43:13.119 Parker and trying to that on the Sha Ka Khan 2:43:13.240 --> 2:43:18.480 thing and all that, and then the Hugelism skills as well, 2:43:18.800 --> 2:43:21.800 and that Barry White didn't like overdubs and he was 2:43:22.080 --> 2:43:25.080 he was doing all that. No, but in general, we're 2:43:25.160 --> 2:43:27.960 choosing people here that seem to know everybody, who have 2:43:28.440 --> 2:43:30.800 seemed to have done everything, and it's like it's just 2:43:31.040 --> 2:43:33.400 so much data going, you know, we need to choose 2:43:33.440 --> 2:43:35.040 somebody who just did like a one hit wonder. 2:43:35.760 --> 2:43:38.560 So, lie, what did you learn besides the fact that 2:43:38.760 --> 2:43:43.440 you might possibly want Ray Parker Junior to be your 2:43:43.520 --> 2:43:45.080 baby dad, just at least. 2:43:44.959 --> 2:43:47.040 The soundtrack to you Know Me and My Baby. You 2:43:47.080 --> 2:43:47.840 know what I learned? 2:43:47.879 --> 2:43:50.200 And I learned this every week on this show. Excuse me, 2:43:50.640 --> 2:43:53.200 not jokes, but I learned you gotta pay attention. And 2:43:53.320 --> 2:43:55.040 it's funny because y'all made the joke about having a 2:43:55.120 --> 2:43:56.480 one hit Wonder on the show, and I'm like, you know, 2:43:56.520 --> 2:43:58.720 a lot of people listening might think that Ray Parker Jr. 2:43:59.160 --> 2:43:59.880 Was a one hit one. 2:44:00.440 --> 2:44:02.240 So it just goes to show that you and not 2:44:02.360 --> 2:44:04.400 to plug our own show, but you need to pay 2:44:04.400 --> 2:44:06.680 attention to Quest Love Supreme because you will find out 2:44:06.760 --> 2:44:08.920 some ship that you never knew. And then I think 2:44:08.959 --> 2:44:10.480 at the same time, you should have your phone open 2:44:10.560 --> 2:44:12.720 on Google and discogs or whatever else you need to do. 2:44:13.240 --> 2:44:16.640 So that you can be, you know, more musically educated person. 2:44:16.959 --> 2:44:19.920 Bill. Yeah, what's up? What did I learn? 2:44:20.920 --> 2:44:25.240 I learned that it's a good idea to maintain relationships 2:44:25.920 --> 2:44:27.680 because you will never know when you will need certain 2:44:27.720 --> 2:44:32.000 people again. Any other last words of Boss Bill like 2:44:32.200 --> 2:44:37.400 as far as the relationships maintained relationships, Ray Parker Jr. 2:44:37.400 --> 2:44:39.000 Is still one of the coolest dudes on the planet. 2:44:40.360 --> 2:44:44.160 Still he talks like, right, You'll think Drake's going to 2:44:44.200 --> 2:44:50.480 be that cool when he's sixty something, isn't there just rerailised. 2:44:50.520 --> 2:44:52.800 We forgot to ask him Ray Parker, what it was 2:44:52.920 --> 2:44:55.039 like to uh, to be Land of cal. 2:45:00.040 --> 2:45:01.320 Good night, ladies and gentlemen. 2:45:01.760 --> 2:45:03.760 There is another episode of Quest Loves Supreme. 2:45:04.280 --> 2:45:07.000 Boss Bill. Tune in next week. It wasn't Lando Covers, 2:45:07.120 --> 2:45:13.560 It wasn't that wasn't him, Sugar Steve, I'm bay Bill 2:45:13.959 --> 2:45:20.160 Fante Edit Scott Spread Wait, yeah, yeah, Scott Spurn. 2:45:22.200 --> 2:45:23.160 Think about the baby. 2:45:25.320 --> 2:45:28.280 This is a Quest Love come next week again at 2:45:28.360 --> 2:45:34.120 one pm Eastern Eastern Standard times, ten am Specific Standard time. 2:45:34.760 --> 2:45:40.120 And uh, we hope you still are listening Quest Love 2:45:40.200 --> 2:45:51.160 Supreme Pandora, Thank you. Quest Love Supreme is production of iHeartRadio. 2:45:51.680 --> 2:45:55.039 This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora. 2:45:57.600 --> 2:46:00.200 For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the i heart 2:46:00.320 --> 2:46:03.440 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 2:46:03.480 --> 2:46:04.119 favorite shows.