WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Jean Carne 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:09.840 Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.960 Welcome to another episode of Quest Love Supreme. I am 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:18.000 your host Quest Love. Uh, this is Team Supreme. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.440 Why are you? How are you how doing. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:25.000 Something? 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:25.720 What? 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.160 I want to know? How many rooms you have in 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.280 your house? Because are you in like a nineteen room mansion? 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.760 Stop saying that this is my house? Just the last 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:37.240 time we spoke, I was somewhere else. 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.760 And but you have more artwork than any human I know. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.400 Yeah, you've met met my parents, so yes, I do. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:47.000 I got I'm surprised I don't got a payre of 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:48.960 our guests on my wall somewhere. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:50.520 Yeah, I see. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:55.400 Your dad gave me one of yourself, one of your 0:00:55.480 --> 0:01:00.600 aunt Deanna and your dad and Melbour and Lindsay. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:08.160 Oh mystery voice? Yeah, okay, okay, who was that mystery voice? Hey? Steve? 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:08.960 How are you? Bro? 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.000 You know, if you delete something off an iTunes playlist, 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.000 all you gotta do is hit Apple X and it 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.319 all comes back app You know what Apple X? You 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.800 know command X? I mean help your brother anyway? 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:20.920 Oh delete? 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.479 I leave rally one day in fourteen years, Steve, Yeah, 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:25.800 somehow a playlist gets to. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:28.840 You in the history of it Tonight Show, Sugar Steve 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.120 has been a constant presence almost every day, and the 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.000 one day he leaves, things don't fall apart. 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:39.200 I kept things together, so yes, that things don't fall apart. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:41.360 What's up everybody dot. 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:43.640 My song title. 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:45.920 It was a good album title as well. 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.680 Fan Tickelo what's that brother? What's going on? Bro? What's 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.480 going on? Miss Jane? It's very nice to meet you. 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:52.200 Lovely meeting you. 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.440 Yeah, my my aunt she was a big fan of 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.320 your records and I would always go to her house 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.760 and like play your stuff, and I just always remember 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.040 just your album covers. You just always look really classy, 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:08.600 really pretty, and just always just just a really really 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.960 classy singer. So it's really an honored to sit with 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:12.040 you today. I appreciate it. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.799 Oh, it's my pleasure, and I appreciate you educating you. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:17.799 Yes, ma'am. 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:24.040 Absolutely, Ladies and gentlemen, our guest today is an extraordinary 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:40.720 singer and artists. Basically our guest today. You know, I 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:46.800 was introduced to her via my father's illustrious record collection. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:49.920 A lot of jazz in there, and of course you 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.119 know the Black Jazz label, and I will say that 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.600 all the albums of our Guest Today and her former husband, 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:02.040 the Doug carn definitely played a major role in my 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.240 personal growing up. Basically just some of the best what 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.359 I call spiritual jazz. I mean, there's so many titles 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.079 for it. Some people say fusion, spiritual jazz. I don't 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.760 know what you call it. But there's also a point 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:21.120 in the seventies when our Guest Today became part of 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:27.040 the incredible stable of artists that contributed to the sound 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.400 of Philadelphia, helm by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff with 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.160 such legendary songs as you know, free Love and Don't 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.360 let It Go to Your Head and my Love Don't 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.520 Come Easy, and then of course you know the immortal 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.560 close and then close. Not to mention my song was 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.440 the Flame of Love. Like, there's so much to talk about, 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:51.080 but you know, April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and basically 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.960 our guest Today she makes jazz, she makes R and B, 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.800 she makes disco. She does it all and she's worked 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.320 with all the legends. All the legends work with her, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.520 Kenny Gamble, Leon Huf, Jerry Butler, Eddie Laverert, Philip Simon 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.760 or o'garner, Billy Paul, text To Janzell, The Temptations, Grove Washington, Junior, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.640 James Dir George Do just everyone, ladies and gentlemen, please 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:16.880 welcome so overdue our guests, the incomparable Gene car Into, 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:17.840 Quest Love Supreme. 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.880 Thank you very much, thank you for coming. How are you? 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.520 I'm wonderful. How's everybody doing well? 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:26.080 Doing well? 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.000 We're great massive fans of yours and uh, you know, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.240 I thank you for doing this. You know, with a 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.799 lot of our guests of late, just how the music 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:42.320 industry is built mostly celebrating, you know, a certain type 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.040 of mainstream artists and really not giving light or shine 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.360 to artist of I mean, I don't want to sound 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.039 like the old grumpy music lover, but you know a 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.360 lot of artists that have substance or something extra to give. 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.680 You really don't read that much, and I don't recall 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.240 ever like reading in depth interviews with you at all. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.479 But you know, I'm so familiar with your work, but 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.200 you know, you don't get to see your artists in 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.640 some of these mainstream publications that do music. So I 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.839 thank you for finally granting us the just the honor 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:19.840 of getting to interview you. So I'm gonna ask a 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.120 lot of questions. Number one, Miss Karen, could you tell 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.800 me your first musical memory. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:36.040 My first musical memory, perhaps, Oh, I guess in church 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:44.839 greater amount Calvary Baptist Church, maybe singing solo in front 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:50.240 of the adult choir. I must have been four then, 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:56.680 because I remember I think the song must have been yeah, 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.839 because I think Mahelia Jackson had done it one of 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:06.520 these mornings, one of these mornings home, going home to 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.160 live a God. And I was just a little kid, 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.159 you know, But I think that might have been my 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.159 first public memory. And I did a lot of stuff 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:18.880 at I remember a lot of stuff at home that 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.640 I would do when somebody would visit us. My mother 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.360 said I would give them a concert. He said. I'd 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.440 put on my ballet slippers and I'd stand in a 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.680 plia position with my hands like this, and I give 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.760 them a concert if they, you know, if my folks 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:34.320 asked me to. 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.600 So that that was just a typical occurrence, because you 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:38.320 hear that a lot. 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.240 You hear about like Cecil Franklin waking up Aretha Franklin 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.479 at three in the morning, like entertainment guests like saying 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:46.200 something for them. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.520 But so your parents were like that a lot. 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.720 Yeah, yeah, and I didn't mind, you know, So, yeah, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:53.800 they were cool like that. 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:55.359 What city were you born in? 0:06:56.600 --> 0:07:01.039 I was born in Columbus, Georgia. I was in Atlanta. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.320 Okay. It's weird, like a lot of. 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.600 Artists that represent Philly International, in my mind, they're always 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.960 from Philadelphia, even though they just record for a Philadelphia label. 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.160 So you know, it's kind of a yeah. 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:18.960 I've always been a part time Philadelphia, well for fifty 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:19.760 years now. 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.640 So you live there currently right now? You still live. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.040 There half the time here and half and the rest 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:27.800 in Atlanta. 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.120 Okay, Okay, so you never lost touch with your your 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.760 home roots or anyth that those things? No, No, So, 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.640 having been raised in the church, especially with down South, 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.640 how does like, what is your relationship with secular music? 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:49.080 I know that for there's a lot of generation generational 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.520 Blacks that grew up in households in which like secular 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:56.440 music is somewhat taboo or not allowed in the household. 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.200 Was your household that sort of that way or. 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.400 You know, I've learned that that's the case with a 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:07.480 lot of a lot of singers. But thank goodness, It 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.920 wasn't the case at my house because my dad loved music, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:17.040 you know, big band, New Orleans jazz, you know, preservation jazz, 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:22.760 R and B. So I was never pigeonholed where music 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.840 was concerned. I started collecting records, you know, with the 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.880 little record player in the little box with the little 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:36.240 snap on there. I started collecting records that I guess 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.680 spy ish, and they never they never limited this, you know, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:42.880 the records I could buy. 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.079 What was some of the records you were buying at 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:45.440 that time? 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.880 Oh gosh, Well, my dad had a record store on 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.000 Auburn Avenue. 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:54.120 It was with. 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:58.640 A cab company and a moving company and an employment agency, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:04.959 so all one, yeah, in one building, and I yeah. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.320 It was right down the street from Big Bethel Baptist Church, 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:13.640 and it was two blocks down from Ebeneza Baptist Church. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.200 And so I got you know, I got to sell 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.319 records too, because my brother and I would come and 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.559 you know and work for my dad. Sometimes I was dispatcher, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.160 you know, for the cab company, and then sometimes I 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.160 saw records and it you know, it was just a 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:35.680 whole plethora of activity that we got to do. But 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:41.360 I don't know, I think I think selling records was 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.280 the most fun for me because if somebody comes in 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:47.240 and asks for a record that we didn't have, I 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.520 had to write down the artists and and my dad 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.480 would pick it up at the at There were one 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:59.160 stops where the record stores would you know they got 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:05.000 the uh Manu pressed records from. I think then they 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:11.400 had a pressing plant in Canton, Georgia, and and that 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.760 that's how we you know, that was the chain of 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.160 command for for for doing records. I think that was 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.840 the most fun, the most fun growing up. And it 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.920 was down the street from the Royal Peacock. It was 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.160 like two doors down from the Royal Peacock. So when 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.520 artists would come to perform the Peacock, I would slip 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:37.040 out and go see their soundchecks because the owner of 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.160 the Peacock was, you know, a friend of my dad's. 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.959 In fact, I remember talking to Ruth Brown and telling 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:48.920 her that I saw her do a sound check because 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.959 her son saying he was he's he's a he was 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.480 a guitar player a few years ago on one of 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.760 the nighttime shows and he had this amazing voice. Because 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:06.880 he did a demo that I eventually recorded, and so 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:09.600 Ruth Brown and I got to talk because he put 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.720 her on the phone and I told her, you know, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:18.400 I remember you, you know when when Mama Dotter mean 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:20.839 was you know, it was a big song for her, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.480 and she loved it. She absolutely loved the fact because 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.640 I was I was a little kid. Wow, Okay, wondering, 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:30.599 aren't I? 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:35.520 No, no, no, no, this is literally what I was about. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.160 And I'm glad you mentioned. For the longest, I couldn't 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.840 figure out the proper title. So whenever I whenever people 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.360 ask me about my record collection, I never knew the 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:54.319 proper title of those dealers were called one stops. But oftentimes, 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.160 like when people ask like how do you collect so 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.080 many records? I think they think that I go out 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.440 and actually purchased like individual like two thousand records where 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.680 now you know, a lot of those owners of those 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:12.440 one stops either they're widow widows or you know, or 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.360 their family don't know what to do with them. So 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.640 usually there's like thirty or forty thousand pieces lying around 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:22.600 and then maybe a guy like me will purchase it 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.079 if it seems interesting enough and that sort of. 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.040 Thing, so it can get to them before the British 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.240 come because they can. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:31.280 Everyone, yeah, come to. 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.400 America every year to you know, get the great records. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.760 You know, yeah, Japanese dealers, British people like every place, 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.600 but the United States really treasure is like you know, 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:44.280 I mean there's some people in the United. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.360 States, but for the most part, But that's. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.800 Also interesting measures you know, how we are treasures sometimes. 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:55.680 Yeah, we're disposable country. So okay, So that makes a 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.600 lot of sense to me because normally when our guests 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:04.040 come on this show, the common denominator is that a 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.800 lot of guests on the show are DJs. And that's 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.840 how at least the producers that we've had on the show. 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:12.480 So the fact that you've worked in the record store 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.480 explains a lot of your you know, of your illustrious 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:19.160 range as far as like the world of jazz, the 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:20.880 world of soul, the world of blues, like all the 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:21.800 music that you sing. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.760 Does it also mean like your dad was a man 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.760 because like record store owners were the man in the streets, right, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:33.360 Like they had a lot of respect and access and whatnot. 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.400 Yeah, Well, the street that my dad's business was on, 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:42.440 Auburn Avenue, was the seat for that part of town 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:48.600 of black business. In fact, okay, Gladys Knight's sponsor, mister 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:55.840 Alexander TM Alexander was was his his realty company. He 0:13:55.880 --> 0:14:00.240 and mister Calloway's realty company was right down the three 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.319 doors down from you know, from from my dad's business. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.800 And and I remember, you know, we knew from the 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:12.240 inside that that TM was Gladys Knight's sponsor, and I 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.480 knew of her and then I got to see her 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:21.600 on Ted Max's original Amateur Hour. Yeah, yeah, I remember 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.000 the first time we got a request for for their 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.320 record because I had to write it down, you know, 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.720 it was every beat of my heart. And on the 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:43.000 on the b side was Darling, which was only the Pips. Okay, okay, yeah, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:47.240 and Darling Darling was just the Pips and on the 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:52.320 other side was Gladys Knight and the Pips. So yeah, yeah, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.760 but I didn't know that was part of the hierarchy 0:14:54.880 --> 0:15:02.480 that you know, record company owners were the man in 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.040 the street because there were businesses all the way down 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.280 the street on the Auburn Avenue. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.000 How long did he keep that business up? What was 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.160 that a majority of your life? 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:18.880 Or I remember when I was twelve, that was when 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.600 when I ordered Darling. I must have been twelve then 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:30.320 and as a then up up to to a teenagehood, 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:35.320 I performed at Big Bethel Baptist Church, which is, like 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.920 I said, two blocks down from Wheat Street Baptist Church 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.720 and one blockdown from Ebniza Baptist Church, which was Doctor 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:45.480 King's church. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:47.920 So did you ever get to see him in person, 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:50.600 to see who doctor King? 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.680 Oh? Yeah, yeah. In fact, my brother, doctor King, my 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:00.000 dad had a cab stand, you know, at Big Bethel 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.720 Baptist Church, and that's where you pay for slots for 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:10.520 your cabs to sit, so that after church, after choir, rehearsal, 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.840 all those places, all those events, people can come out 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.640 of the church and the cabs waiting. They're like like 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:18.640 they do at the airport. 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:19.440 Okay. 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.080 And but Doctor King could park anywhere. And my brother, 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.920 my brother used to used to wait for him to 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.760 park at when he would park at at Big Bethel, 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.640 and he would walk him down to Blacks to Aveniza 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.080 because he was you know, he was now he was 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.960 the man. And I remember my brother was so thrilled 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.400 because this was before a couple of weeks before the 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:52.040 march on Washington, Okay, and my brother, I mean he 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.200 was literally shaking when he told us about the fact 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.960 that doctor King had told him where to meet them, 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.200 to be on the bus to go to the march 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:06.960 on Washington. So yeah, to answer your question. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:10.480 Wow, you got to see him, that's incredible. 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:16.240 Oh yeah, yes, yes. After he he passed away, I 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:20.480 did numerous misiness King would call on me to do, 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:25.520 to do numerous activities, sing it, you know, on on 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:33.560 ecumenical Sunday when they would you know, honor him and 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:38.720 to sing, you know, at the church at Stetra. Yeah, okay, 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.000 And she invited me to the second March on Washington. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.520 Your vocal style like you have a very very rich, 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.359 rich rich tenor yes, you've can sing the highest of 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.119 the highs and the lowest of the lows. Who was 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:02.200 your inspiration as far as like, h your your singing style? 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:03.639 Who did you gravitate towards? 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.000 Oh? It was different periods of my life, you know. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.359 I was influenced by by various and sundry singers and 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:19.240 horn players and keyboard players. I remember seeing Aretha. She 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:24.160 was traveling with her father, Reverend C. L. Franklin, and 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:28.040 she they were at the City Auditorium, which belongs to 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:34.400 Georgia State now uh and and she she sang a 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.280 song called in a Land Where Will Never Grow Old? 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.880 And by then I was playing piano for church choirs. 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.040 So I put that in my in my repertoire and 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.159 always remembered her for that song, and I sung it 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.080 at funerals from like I said, from time I was 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:58.800 an early teenager till till I guess a couple of 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.439 years ago staying at a funeral as well. 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.200 So you were just the go to person. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:10.879 I guess. But Atlanta was so full of wonderful singers 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:18.280 whoa yeah, I was just one among so many extremely 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:19.240 talented for. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:25.280 Were you at all somewhat hobnobbing or crossing paths with 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:30.240 any other future legends that we might have known known 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:31.399 of at the time period? 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.680 Well, let's see, did you never think of it that way? 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.280 Right? Or who started out? That's what I was just thinking, 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:41.320 like when you were in Atlanta? 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:41.479 Who? 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.040 Who were the singers in Atlanta? 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.720 Well, there were lots of blues singers, Okay, the tams 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:54.160 as we stroll along to get the times, Oh oh 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.320 that's the Times. But Atlanta, that's my uncle. 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:00.760 Billie Billy Jackson. 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:06.080 Billy Jackson who produced that song that's that's one of 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:06.880 my uncles. 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.760 Last night I did with with where Billy Paul performed. 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:16.760 It was in London. The Times were on there, okay, 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.879 but I think the Tams were an Atlanta group, but 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:23.000 I gave them the wrong song. 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:24.440 The Times of Philadelphia. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.480 Okay, the Times of Philadelphia and yeah, what kind of 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:33.680 food do you think I am? Yeah, yeah, that's them. 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:35.280 Yeah okay. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.639 But for you, though, like when did you? Was it 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.120 a thing where you just out the womb singing or 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.960 like what what how old were you when you've made 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.280 the decision that this was going to be your profession, 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.679 this was going to be your your calling. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:53.119 You know. 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:55.600 I guess I never really made that kind of decision, 0:20:55.600 --> 0:21:00.359 because I do. I did sing, my mother said before 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:07.560 before I could remember. I remember vaguely some of the 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.480 little concerts I did for folks that would visit us, 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:11.959 you know, relatives and stuff. 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:12.560 Uh. 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:16.919 And I remember being in the church choir and singing 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:21.680 solo before the church choir. But I never made a decision. 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:23.280 It was I guess it was. 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.960 Even in college, right like even in college you were 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:28.960 you were singing. 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:32.119 It was made. The decision was made for me because 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:37.560 I got scholarships, you know, for music scholarships and academic scholarship. 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.560 The school that I chose, Mars Brown, I got a 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:46.720 scholarship for academics and I got one a vocal scholarship, 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:51.800 a music scholarship. So I was going to be doing 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.200 that for the rest of my life. Whether I knew 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:58.760 it or not, I never made a decision. I think 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.280 it was just God. 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.000 I hear another thing that we have in common that 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.280 you and I would have been former Juilliard students. 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:13.600 But yeah, we had a different calling. So what was 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:15.400 your decision to not go to Juilliard. 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:19.520 I fell in love with Doug carn and we eloped 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:24.480 to Hollywood and got married and that's when we. 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:25.840 Owe you guys, I did that. 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.080 You well, no, we were no, we were late teens, 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:37.679 but we started the family, you know. I was twenty Okay, wow, 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:42.639 So you had that that kind of fate as well. 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:48.119 Uh, yeah, I was at least My dad planned on 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.320 me going to either Juilliard or Curtis. 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:53.879 He wanted me to be in classical music because he 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:54.400 thought that. 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:59.960 Was that's what folks thought respectable, irrespectable, our form. 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:04.240 Yeah, because I sang classically, you know, all the major 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:09.199 Arias and you know the Messiah and seven Last Words, 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:14.600 and and and so it was it was understood that 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:17.680 I would probably teach music in a college. 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:20.720 What is this Russian thing? I'm sorry, I know that's 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:23.280 in there too. I did not know this about you 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:26.880 that that started early on when you were younger too, 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:27.760 the Russian singing. 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:32.880 I we were on a in high school. We were 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:37.240 on a in a special experimental program of program of 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:42.240 study in high school, and our foreign language was Russian. 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:48.800 So I took Russian all during high school. Then when 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:52.360 I went to Morris Brown that was the first year 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:57.960 they had a Russian course. So I did three years 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:03.440 in high school and then two years at marsh Brown. So, 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:07.280 and you speaking proficiently for me too? I used to. 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:12.000 Same, you do, a mayor, you speak Russian proficiently. 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:16.480 In the first grade. The only thing I remember now is. 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:20.040 Okay, what did she say, a mire? 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:21.440 What she said, dude? 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:23.640 That was forty five years ago. 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:29.280 The type of school I went to, we learned four 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:32.159 or five languages we had to know, like from first 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:39.119 to fourth grade, I was fluent in French, Russian, Spanish, Latin, English, 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:41.520 and ebonics. 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:46.520 Yeah, that's a good answer. Yes, it is hot. 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:49.000 Yes, that's yeah. 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:51.320 I'm just fascinated. Like most people take Spanish in French 0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:53.199 day whole life, they're still not proficient. Y'all take it 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:55.760 for three four five years, and it's like. 0:24:56.680 --> 0:25:00.920 Yo, Well, I got a little proficiency in some languages 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:05.280 because when when I perform in you know, in France 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:10.200