Black Music Month QLS Classic: Jeffrey Osborne

For Black Music Month, travel back to this beloved episode when R&B legend Jeffrey Osborne told Questlove Supreme tales of drumming on Soul Train, touring with The Jacksons, and flying high...On The Wings of Love.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
What up, y'all, it's unpaid bill for Quest Love Supreme.
As you may have seen throughout June, we are celebrating
black music a month by releasing an episode every day,
so every day you will have to be here, especially
picked QLs Classic, and on Wednesdays we are dropping new
two part episodes with Wayne Brady and the legendary James Poyser,
both of which were filmed in the studio. Black music
is deeply important to me and has been an influence
throughout my entire career. It's also something we celebrate here

(00:32):
at QLs. Today, QLs revisits are Jeffrey Osborne Interview. This
one is informative, but my co host Shoogy Steve also
drops a few comedic gems in this special twenty eighteen episode.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Supremo Suprema Roll Call, Suprema Suh Suh, Supremo roll Call,
Suprema suck s, Suprema roll Call, Suprema sun So.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Suprema Rolly. It's alright with me, Yeah, no matter what
you want to believe. Yeah. Half of Supreme teams here
or for me and Steve. Roll call Supremo built Supremo.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Roll call, Suprema suck Son Suprema roll call.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
My name is Sugar. Yeah, what's it all about?

Speaker 6 (01:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
Roll call yeah or roll out. I'll explain later.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
Suprema roll call, Suprema su Suprema roll called.

Speaker 7 (01:35):
My shoelaces Yeah, have slowly loosened. Yeah, please forgive me. Yeah,
I'm only human.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Call Supreme Supprema roll call, Suprema Sun, Suprema roll call.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
My name is Joy.

Speaker 6 (01:53):
Some call me Jeffrey, Yeah, some call me Osborne. Hey,
what's that for me?

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Bro Suprema soun Sun Supremo roll call, Suprema soun Sun
Suprema roll call Supreme Son Son Supreme My roll call
Suprema Son Son Suppreme my roll call.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Wait before I do anything, Yes, I'm breaking tradition. Okay,
I'm asking a question first. Then I'll introduce our guests. Okay,
Jeffrey Osborne, you just introduced our guests. Is that you
drumming for Smokey Robinson on Soul Trade in nineteen seventy four.

Speaker 6 (02:37):
With the part down the middle of my head. A,
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
I knew it.

Speaker 6 (02:44):
I knew it.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Quest Love Supreme. I am
Quest Love and our Supreme team consisting.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Of this team today Supreme.

Speaker 6 (02:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, Sugars thief who's very excited. I think more than
anyone wanted this episode to go down, Sugar Steve. Uh
and of course, uh boss Bill with us, not with us.
Fantakolo is still waiting on his titles for his for
his basement house furnishing. Uh, like you somewhere getting our
house together in U Los Angeles.

Speaker 7 (03:17):
Did you know that they did an audiobook recently? No,
I didn't know that. Apparently he narrated a children's book.
It's called The title is great. The title is called
we used to have money, Now we have you.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
You have some explains to do, Fonte Uh and unpaid
Bill somewhere on Sesame Street, Sesame Street land. Uh, Ladies
and gentlemen, I'm so excited about our guest today that
I did absolutely no prep work whatsoever because I think
I can just go off the top of the dome

(03:50):
one of my personal in my my top five soul
singers ever. And uh, you know, I haven't been this
happy for Steve I mean, he means much more, even
more than me than Steve is mad at me already

(04:10):
for putting on this spot. No, no, well.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
Don't I mean, I know.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Okay, okay, okay, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jeffrey Osborne,
quest of supre Won. Alright, all right, all right, we've
been trying to make this happen for a second. Thank
you for coming on the show.

Speaker 6 (04:26):
Oh it's great, man, I'm enjoying it and I even
got started and I'm joining it trusting.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
This is this is Black Music, Nerd Paradise and Steve
when the NERD came in. Yeah, so okay, where My
first question is always where were you born?

Speaker 6 (04:49):
In Providence, Rhode Island? Really Providence, Rhode Island? Yeah, youngest
of twelve, really really yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
I don't think I ever had a situation where someon
wasn't born down South or in the Midwest. You're probably
our first Northeast oh really yeah?

Speaker 6 (05:06):
Yeah, And it was interesting growing up there not a
lot of black people. I think my family probably represented
the most black people in Pute Island. Really no, but
that's not a lot. So it was kind of shocking
when I met LTD because they told me it was
a ten piece black band playing downtown. I'm like, and
it wasn't black musicians together in a while Providence, so

(05:28):
that was kind of interesting.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
They started in Providence.

Speaker 6 (05:30):
No, they were actually Sam and Dave's backup band back
when Sam and Dave were rolling during the Hold on
Them Coming Days, soul Man Days. They were called sol
Men Ltd. Sole Men Limited. And they left them in
the early well actually around sixty nine, and they were

(05:50):
based in North Carolina. So they started coming up the
East coast playing in the clubs. And I met him
in a little nightclub in my hometown in Province. But
I don't believe it or not.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
So was it a musical family my family, Yeah, yeah,
quite a bit.

Speaker 6 (06:05):
I say eight of eight of the twelve of us
were into music. Either played instruments, saying. My father was
a great trumpet player, and you know, he was one
of those guys that never went after his dream. But
you know, anytime and then the big bands came through town,
like Ellington and Base, he would run down and play
trumpet with them, and he was pretty amazing trumpet player.

(06:26):
But he had twelve kids. That's what you get if
I having twelve damn kids, Like, I don't even know
you have twelve kids. You couldn't do it today. Back
then it was you know, it was a lot of
big families back then. Okay, so he just worked a
few jobs, you know, during the day, and played at
night in the clubs.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And what was the mean well known what was the
main industry in Rhode Island?

Speaker 6 (06:47):
Costume jewelry still is, you know really especially in Patucket,
Rhode Island, huge costume jewelry place. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
So similar to people moving to Detroit for cars or
threes in the Midwest, costume joy.

Speaker 6 (07:03):
Like the yeah, it was in Pentucket, Rhode Island, right.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
The more you know, wow, that's crazy. So uh well,
leading back to my original question, can I assume that
drums was your weapon of choice first or how did you?

Speaker 6 (07:22):
Well, I've always singing. I was winding up at a
choice first. I started singing in nightclubs when I was thirteen.
My mother used to chaperon me and I would go
start at My first job was in New London, Connecticut,
a little club called Ebony Lounge. Was pretty I was thirteen,
you know, I thought I was doing big shit back then.
I was making ten dollars a night, but you know
that was that was way back then. And I started

(07:47):
playing drums when I was about fifteen. My brother Billy,
who was a drummer, left a set in the basement,
you know, and so I kind of was a self
taught drummer. But everything that's happened for me has happened
through drumming. Like when I met LTD, their drummer had
gotten locked up that night I went to see him

(08:07):
for smoking weed. In nineteen seventy. That was like a
major offense. Now everybody got a marijuana card, you know,
it don't mean nothing today. But they locked him up
and I sat in, played drums with him, sang a
couple of songs, and they asked me to join the group.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
So you winged your first gig with LTD.

Speaker 6 (08:26):
Not know, Yeah, but they were doing Top forty and
I used to work part time in the record store,
so I kind of knew everything that was out there,
so it was kind of easy. And I was playing
locally in my band, So so I sat in with
them and you know, sang a couple of songs and
I don't know that guy was in jail for a while.
So and then's the funny thing. When I was fifteen,

(08:49):
I met the OJ's and a club in Province. So
I went to see them perform and they had a drummer.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
And back then, you know, the.

Speaker 6 (08:58):
Drum of passion was heroin. You know, That's what a
lot of our black musicians got hung up into back
in the day. And so he was nodding out in
between songs and I'm watching him and I'm like, damn,
this dude was falling asleep in between songs. So club
owner let me meet them. I talked to Eddie. I
was like, you need a drummer. They said, okay, well
if you can find us one, because you're too young.

(09:18):
I'm like, no, I can play now, I said, okay.
So I brought about three drummers up and auditioned and
I got the job. So I played with them for
two weeks while they were in Providence. And so I
kind of old my career.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
To drugs, drug drums.

Speaker 6 (09:33):
But again, drumming is you know what opened the door
for all that I'd see.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, drumming opens the door. There you go to an industry. Wait,
what year was the was it before?

Speaker 6 (09:46):
It was nineteen seventy, all right, So before.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
They made their in Philadelphia record a year l Yeah.

Speaker 6 (09:51):
Yeah, they actually they had five people in the group.
It was five singers. OK, yeah that lineup.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
So so you're singing that before your nightclub hopping. You
didn't have like a high school band experience or any.

Speaker 6 (10:05):
Not a high school band experience. But I played with
a lot of the you know, the musicians that I
played with were all from the same high school. We
played together, but I was the only black one. But yeah,
but I did play with a lot of musicians that
were working their way through Berkeley School of Music in Boston.
So that was nice because I got a chance to
play with some really good musicians back then.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Oh so you even had to learn rapertoire for rock music.
And yeah, I was playing nightclubs, but it was actually
the funny thing. It was in the ghetto. It was
a hood.

Speaker 6 (10:36):
There was a hood in Providence. So I was basically
doing mostly R and B, mostly R and B music,
you know. But I you know, I grew up listening
to jazz because my whole family was in the jazz.
I'm the youngest of twelve and I'm seventy years old,
so so everybody was listening to Sarah Vaughn and Ela
Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstein and Joe Williams. And my dad

(10:59):
was in the Miles Day but his favorite trumpet players
he was Clifford Brown. So I got a chance to
listen to everything, you know. So, you know, back in
when I started, I was singing a couple of jazz songs,
you know, in R and B. You know, I kind
of mixed it up, but I didn not a lot
of rock. Wasn't in the rock.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Who were your influences as far as vocal back then?

Speaker 6 (11:21):
You know, my biggest influence, which everybody finds strange, was
a singer named Gloria Lynn. Gloria Lynn was actually my
biggest influence. I didn't realize that too down the line,
and I went back and started listening to the Gloria
Linn records, and I'm like, damn, I phrased a lot
of things like her. I guess subconsciously I was kind
of really into her. But you know, Sarah was my favorite.

(11:43):
I love Sarah Vaughan. I loved, you know, I loved
all the jazz singers. And then of course coming up
there was the Tip you know, the regulars, the Donnie
Hathaway's the Marvin Gays.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
You know those people I loved, and.

Speaker 6 (11:59):
You know Stevie. Stevie was singing back then. You know,
at thirteen years old, I was still trying to sing
fingertips and my voice was that high back then. And
my voice dropped from male soprano to bass from junior
high school to high school one semester. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
So when did LTD officially start or as a group,
or even at that time you're freelancing as a drummer
and right in the group at the same time.

Speaker 6 (12:30):
Well, we took a trip to LA and they were
actually from Rhode Island. We drove to LA with a
big U haul trailer on the back of the car
and that broke off and snapped the bumper and rolled
down the mountain in Flagstaff, Arizona. Wait wait, wait what, yeah,

(12:51):
I mean we were driving through flag Staff. People don't
realize it's nose in Flagstaff, Arizona. So it was going
up a little hill and it was icy and cars
just started skidding and trailer snapped off roll down the hill.
So we had to get someone to go down and
pull it back up. And we were there for a
couple of days trying to get the bumper repaired. And

(13:12):
so we drove out to LA in nineteen seventy and
we played in every nightclub in LA for no money.
It was the price of admission. It was ten of
us living in a one bedroom house and we played
for the admission and with fee was back then it
was two dollars ahead to get in. So you know,

(13:33):
if we got forty people in the night club, we
had eighty dollars to split ten ways. I was sending
home for money, my pig, my baby. My ho was like,
h don't you think it might be time to come
back home. My older brother was like, I was like, dude,
just send me the money. I don't want to lecture

(13:55):
right now.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
I well, I do want to ask how is it
or was it feasible? Because you know, the seventies had supergroups. Yeah,
and in my mind, I mean I was in the
nineties in a band of four members. We were struggling.
Oh yeah, And so I you know, I used to wonder, like, well,

(14:20):
what was the system like for bands in the seventies
that were ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen strong. You all had costumes,
you all had all these elements. Was per diem a
thing back then in the day.

Speaker 6 (14:34):
Oh, I didn't even know what padem was until I
became a solo artist, and then you had to pay it, right,
That's when I had to pay it to other musicians.
That's when I realized, oh, this is I got to
pay this. But no, yeah, there was no padem back then.
I mean, we were struggling just to get by and
paid the rent. You know, it was I mean, what
you got to look at it for what it is.

(14:56):
I mean, even when we became a hit group in
the seventy two was our first record, so it took
us a couple of years to get rolling, you know.
And then even when we were popular, you split anything
ten ways, that ain't nothing. You think a million dollars
split it ten ways, it ain't. So yeah, it gets
it's rough for those groups back then, a lot of them.

(15:16):
You don't realize the struggle that they went through. And
then again then you got you know, people's personalities clashing
and this one wants to do this and that one
wants to do that, and there's always a struggle. It's
it's tough. So I admired the groups that came out
of that era.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
You know, so even before you were scheduled to do
this show, I found a record on Sunday. I didn't
realize that there was a I guess your first record
on an M And there was a woman in the
group as well.

Speaker 6 (15:47):
Oh yeah, Celeste. Her name was Celestia.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, so was she always in the group in the
beginning or no?

Speaker 6 (15:54):
There was a girl named Tammy Starr in the group
when I joined the group, and you know, there was
you know a lot of people that went through that group.
We had a baritone sacks player, yeah, a percussionists and
times got hard and they dropped out before we even
got the record going. You know, yeah, it upset now,

(16:16):
but you know it happens like that. You know, it's
hard to make that struggle and give up everything. So
she was with us for one record.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
What was the audition process like? And how many other
labels were you guys gunning for or how did you
even game the well?

Speaker 6 (16:30):
We we actually got our first deal through a production
deal that Jerry Butler had on In and Records.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Very funny really yeah, yeah, Leon Silver, Like everyone has
a Jerry.

Speaker 6 (16:45):
So we had a production company, production company, so we
signed his production company and after our first record. The
label then came over and signed us directly to the label,
even though we didn't do any sales on the first record.
I couldn't figure that out, but they they signed us
directly to the label after the first record.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
What do you think it was that?

Speaker 6 (17:04):
I think back then it was so different than it
is today because they had artists development departments, so they
could look, they could see us live. They watched the
potential and they said, three years down the line, we
know what you could be.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
That don't happen anymore.

Speaker 6 (17:20):
Today, and so they invested in developing us and you know,
they went out, they found producers, and that's why music
is so different today today. I mean, we used to
get a piano vocal and we'd be able to hear
what this song could be, and record companies could Today.

(17:41):
You got to give them a fully produced product and
they still can't hear what it's supposed to be. It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
So when you nap that record deal, was there suddenly
dreams and hopes of like okay, we made it big
time and where were those early struggle days?

Speaker 6 (18:00):
Like well it was you know what we did first?
Was it with the NM? Was we played behind a
couple of their artists. So we played behind Mary Clayton
and we did all her live shows and we had
this one show was at the Monterey Folk Festival. I
guess it was nineteen seventy one and the nineteen seventy
one and somebody fell out, so they asked us to

(18:22):
do a twenty minute set and we did a twenty
minute set. It was like eighty thousand people and they
went crazy. That's when the record company said, okay, we
see what you can be now. So it was you know,
it was a grind, but we were doing all original
material and it was a lot of it was social
protest material back then, so we were kind of turning

(18:43):
people on and turning people off.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
If that seemed like so was it? Albert? Did you
guys have a relationship with Albert or Moss at the time?

Speaker 6 (18:55):
When not really? Now the first year we didn't. We
were trying to form a relationship. But but but Jerry
was our guy, Jerry Moss, I mean herb Albert was
the music guy, you know, because he was off doing
his thing. But Jerry Moss is the one that really
believed in us, and and uh, you know, he put
the support behind us.

Speaker 1 (19:16):
See. Yeah, at the time I thought that the Getting
Down album, I thought that was the first album.

Speaker 6 (19:21):
I didn't realize that there was one before that. Yeah,
it's just called LTD. Really a real forgettable record. You
know Getting Down is kind of forgettable too, But you
know it was the struggle was it was everybody wanted
to sing. So if you listen to those early albums,

(19:41):
there was about four different lead singers on.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
The record, and so I thought you were just the
drummer of the group. And then figure out.

Speaker 6 (19:48):
So this is where the company came in and you know,
the third record, they said, okay, you know this is
our third your third record we're invested in. We now
have to zero in on a voice. There's too many
lead singers, and we think he should do the majority
of the vocals.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
How was that.

Speaker 6 (20:08):
I don't think that still sits well with them wait
to this day, to this day, Yeah, because they feel
that if if everybody had a chance to sing when
I left, they would still be viable. So I get that.
You know, if it wasn't for the producer giving you
all the damn songs and you know when you left,
we'd have been straight white.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Well should have had a hit with some of the
I wasn't mad at cutting it up. No, that became
you know, that became a hip hop staple. It was
different because all this time I thought it was P
Funk related. I didn't realize it was ALTD. But well,

(20:48):
who was managing you guys at the time? Back then?

Speaker 6 (20:51):
It was a guy named ron Nadell. Okay, he was
one of my first managers.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
And so in a situation like that, at least with
ten people, like who's the Who's the alpha?

Speaker 6 (21:04):
The alpha figure that there was, It was an alpha
figure when I first joined the group. His name was Onion.
He had a ball ball headed Onion.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Onion. Onion was the guy.

Speaker 6 (21:16):
He was the leader. And after I was in the
group for about a year and a half, my brother
Billy came into group. Okay, and he's an alpha.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
So they clashed.

Speaker 6 (21:27):
Oh you know. It was like, okay, I want to
run it this way. I want run it this way.
And so I'm sitting in the middle because I was
doing most of the work and the lead singing. So
it's like, who am I going to side with? So
that got old with me. I had to side with somebody,
you know. But there were two. There were two that
really wanted to control the group, and a group was

(21:48):
just set up wrong, you know, and you know you
which is good, and you see the way groups are
set up today, it's a lot better for the individuals
to actually evolve. Back then, you know, we had this
songwriters agreement that for some stupid reason, I signed, and
so when I was ready to leave the group, I

(22:09):
was still signed it as songwriters agreement. And then they
didn't want to give me a solo record because A
and M came to me and said, we want to
give you a solo project. They're like, no, he can't
do the solo project. He's exclusive with us. People that
wanted me to write songs, no exclusive songwriter agreement with us.
So it got stifling to the point where I really
couldn't evolve if I wanted to. And you know, so

(22:35):
I in nineteen seventy nine, I told him I wanted
to leave the group, and then I stayed down another
year just to make it easier for them to find someone.
And then I did the next tour, and that was
in seventy nine. That was the tour we did with
the Jacksons, and that was so that was the last
tour and then I think I did one more tour.

(22:56):
But then when I got ready to leave the group
in nineteen eighty, it got they got kind of ugly.
That's so that's why there's never been a reunion.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
You know.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
Everybody said, how come there's no LTD reunion? Well, even
it's just the way that we split up. It wasn't
It wasn't an It wasn't an amicable split, right.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
What was it like working with the Miselle brothers, who.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
Was interesting They produced the Blackbirds. Yeah, they produced Love
to the World Record. They were interesting. Uh. They were
good because they had you know, they they brought in
some very good people as far as uh, you know,
orchestrating things. You know, I think Love Ballot was orchestrated
so well back then. And uh, but you know, we

(23:46):
we did well with the with them. The funny story
with them is that I think I sang the lead
vocal on Love Ballot at five o'clock in the morning,
after I sat and waited for them to show up,
and I was so pissed off. I did one take
and left and that was it. It was like, I mean,
you know, well I'm there at like nine o'clock. I'm

(24:08):
all pump rady to sing no Show, No Show. I
think they showed up about two thirty three o'clock in
the morning, and so we had this big round table discussion.
I'm like, I'm out of here. I'm gone just sing
this song one time, just try it, all right. So
I sang it one take.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
That's the alpha.

Speaker 6 (24:26):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
That's the infamous Quincy Jones Alpha state. Quincy Jones has
a theory that well, for a lot of the music
he would choose to record when he was making a dude,
choose to record his musicians at those ungotly hours because
he says that if you're fully aware, you'll tend to

(24:50):
overthink your performance in the studio, whereas if you're just tired, uh,
you just do the matter at hand without putting a
second thought into it.

Speaker 6 (25:02):
And that might work for musicians, but if you're tired
as a singer, no, but you can't.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
So you're saying when you listen to Love Ballot like,
you're like I was pitching on the port or no it.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
Was I was, you know, but you know, for me,
for the most part of my career, my first takes
always my best take. Always, you know, and I would
always go back and do another take, and it was
like I was trying to sing like myself now I'm
trying to you know, but the first impression was always
the right impression. So I'm a I'm a big believer

(25:36):
in that.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
You know, so rarely if you worked with the producers,
it's like, oh yeah, one time, George.

Speaker 6 (25:44):
Duke, No, I love George Duke, he was George Duke
was Oh man. I was so close with George Richard Perry,
Richard Perry who had all these hits with the Point
of Sisters, and he approves the emotional album with the
wu Wu song.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Okay okay and swato right, and yeah, that was my joy.

Speaker 6 (26:04):
But I pulled it from him after a certain point
and took it. So we went on friends to this day.
But about he uh yeah, I mean, I mean, I
you know, I was like take twenty four and I'm like, dude,
I'm not sang this song twenty times.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
You have it. But he never knew what he had.

Speaker 6 (26:24):
He had to sit up and listen to this, taking
this take and then piece all this together and I'm like, man,
that ain't even real. So we you know, after a
while I was like, I got to get away. So
and that was a A and M Records decision because
that was the first record I did without George. He
did my first three solo records, and then here comes

(26:45):
Richard Perry and it was like, you know, George was
a dream that he was to me, the best producer
I've ever worked with as far as knowing how to
work with a vocalist, because most of the other producers
were kind of intimidate and didn't know what to tell
me to do. But George was I mean, dude, dude,

(27:06):
he's scary. He had like perfect pitch. He always said,
he says he's on that perfect, but he had the
perfect pitch.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
And uh.

Speaker 6 (27:12):
He would just make suggestions that were so right on,
you know, and I'm like, yeah, George, that's pretty cool.
That works, you know. So I had a great relationship
with George. But Richard was a different guy.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
You know.

Speaker 6 (27:23):
It was back in the day when people were doing
things that they shouldn't be doing in the booth and
he never knew when he had it. And it was
like that with the musicians. Also. He just was takeoff
to take off, the take off to take so he
was the one guy that I've never had that experience
with any other.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Who chose How did you guys even get a love ballot?
Would Skip? Skip? Scarborough wrote it?

Speaker 6 (27:47):
Skip?

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Scarboro wrote it? And did he have a relationship with
you guys? That was just like a song.

Speaker 6 (27:52):
I think Mizelle's knew him and Maurice passed on it.
Maurice White passed on it. He gave him first.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Oops, I'm trying to mat I'm trying to imagine that. Yeah,
I probably just didn't work for him, you know, I
can kind of hear we would have the earth wind
fire right, Yeah, okay, it would be like a love

(28:23):
solid day. Yeah, yeah, I can see that now.

Speaker 6 (28:26):
Skip was great, though, Script was brilliant. Cat I used
to wait play drums with Skip around town. It used
to play behind artists all the time. Yeah, me and Skip.
So Skip was cool guy, great songwriter.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Wait, there was I have a question about like we
had a cheap echosystem or like a reverb ecosystem and
the mics thing, and like how that came out in seventy.

Speaker 6 (28:53):
Probably seven Love seventy seven okay, six, so the first.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Song I even't heard it since I was a kid.
It but I remember the first song, someone's yelling the
words showdown on the fade. Yeah, right, And so in
my father's speaker system, like all you have to do
is test test one two one two one two, and
something told me, Okay, go over there and turn on
the ecosystem. But it's nightclub and I was permanently taken

(29:23):
off of I never told y'all that I got fired
from sound and he was like, no, you just work lights.
Now you're not. You're not working mind, just sounds. That's funny. Yeah,
but uh, with you guys' presentation, which watching a lot
of bands, I will say that maybe heat Wave is

(29:44):
probably the only other band I knew that really put
a lot of emphasis on their choreography and their acrobatics.
I mean heat Wave were.

Speaker 6 (29:56):
They were literally flips and back flips.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
You ever see heat Wave clips seen like a couple
of clips you ever see like bring it On? Or
like those cheerleading uh ESPN cheerleading squad where they're standing
on shoulders and they're doing that. Heat Wave was damn
near doing like human pyramids like but playing at the
same time, but still like Johnny Wilder's like on someone's

(30:20):
shoulders and someone's on his shoulders and crazy.

Speaker 6 (30:24):
But you guys were like, well horn section was flashy.
They did all kind of steps.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
Yeah, y'all, y'all were so together with Yeah, so what
was in that period when when when the wheels were
turning the hits were coming, where you guys like, okay,
we gotta have a presentation better than this group and
that group like oh yeah.

Speaker 6 (30:45):
It was very competitive back then. The interesting thing was though,
that there was one guy that made all the damn
uniforms because.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
People don't know guy the ain't Bill Whitten.

Speaker 6 (30:55):
Bill Whitten made the Commodoa's uniforms Ltd's uniforms winning five.
We all had those big tubes.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
And stuff and the mirrors on the I was wondering.

Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah it was a guy named Bill Whitten, and uh,
you know, but yeah, it was you know, it was
it was competitive back then, but it was a it
was a fun kind of competitiveness. You know.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
We we would challenge each other. You know, did you
ever think like, okay, well Parliament's cheating because they're using
theatrics and we need to do that. We need to levitate,
oh god, earth wind and fires using duty Duck Henning
and all that stuff. So was there any discussion of
because I know that in the opening for the Jacksons
and their affinity for explosive explosives and all those things, Like,

(31:45):
was there the thought process like we now have to
add on top of these songs, add these theatrical elements
to our shows.

Speaker 6 (31:52):
I don't think we ever felt that. I think we
were just happy to finally be getting a paycheck and
put it all into production. But you're right, was that
that uh that Jackson tool was eye opening for me?

Speaker 4 (32:08):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (32:09):
You know that was actually the year Michael came out
with Off the Wall, that was his first solo record.
So we used to open for them and then they
would come out and do theirs, and then he would
go back and come back as a solo artist. Right,
And uh, it was a fascinating show. It was amazing. Uh,
just that whole just traveling with that. I've never seen

(32:31):
anybody that the fans went so crazy over as Michael.
I mean it was, it was. It was scary to
watch it.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
How did for that particular tour, how did product I'm
thinking in terms of production, like as far as backline
is concerned, Like normally, if.

Speaker 6 (32:48):
We carried all of it back then, most of it
really Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Got set up and did your loading and all that stuff. Yeah,
well no we didn't.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
We had roadies, but I mean we you know, we
weren't renting back line back then.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
You know. Well just even the point of like using
an established act, wouldn't want an opening act that had
you know, I would just think like LTD, damn all
those microphones and then they got sound check, use their
soundboard and then I got to wipe the board. There
was no digital stuff back then, so it was like

(33:20):
as big as their production was, then what space that
leave you guys, all ten of you to set up
your instruments and your equipment and you're well, you.

Speaker 6 (33:31):
Know, the biggest thing was them setting up. Because we won.
We went on first, so it was kind of easy
for us. I mean, you know, once we finished, then
they had to set that whole stage up for them.
But the thing but they made it tough for us.
They did make it tough for us because I mean
we had to. You know, I always tell people, they're
like I do shows with people. They're like, well, you
got this banner, take this band it down. I'm like, dude,

(33:54):
I sang shows with the Jackson sign literally hanging on
top of you, I'm ducking right.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
And these things.

Speaker 6 (34:02):
So yeah, so it was challenging because you know, they
were the headline and act and so you know, they
could leave their most of their stuff up, so we
had to play around it. So a lot of times
we didn't have that much room on stage. But we
were incredible live band. I mean, uh, And they kicked
us off that tour. Oh, they kicked us up before

(34:22):
they went to LA. They was like, you will not
be opening for us in LA. They kicked us off
the tour. We did a handful of Dans, We did
Madison Square, gotten here, and but we used to light
them groups up, commodoors. Who's to light them up? Telling
you there was nobody wanted us in front of them.
We're a great live group and uh, you know, so

(34:45):
that's that's how it was back in the day. Man.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
You know, you had to bring it. You had to
bring it. You said that a competition was was really
big back then. Who were some of the bands that
you guys were afraid of? Were you afraid of it?

Speaker 4 (34:56):
You know?

Speaker 6 (34:56):
We I mean everybody was good back then. So you
know we want shows with you know, with the Commodoors mainly,
and the big tour back then was LTD Commodoors. We
did maybe two three years of that tour and then
we'll be on packages. So we were the Old Jays
a lot comfunction. Uh you know, we did some days
whining Fire, so it was it was competition. But you know,

(35:19):
for most of the parts we were we were never headlining.
Uh most of those shows, we were somewhere in the middle.
We opened for the Commodoors, it was just us and
the Commodore's and uh Jackson was just us in the Jackson's.
But then we did a lot of those big places
like the Dome and Atlanta and we had you know,
the Old Jay's confunction LTD Commodoores and we'd be somewhere

(35:42):
in the middle, and we used to always talk shit.
And my favorite one of my.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Friend yeah, because you know, my favorite, one of my
favorite guys of all time is a LeVert.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
I just I thought he was probably one of the
best entertainers I've ever seen because that dude brought it
every single night. I knew there was not going to
be one night that went by where he was not
going to bring it. So we used to talk ship
to each other and I'm a single love ballot the
night saying I'll be sweeter than But it was always

(36:19):
it was friendly. It was friendly. You know, it didn't
start getting ugly until god like the nineties and them
group started going crazy. It was shooting, going on checks.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
My era.

Speaker 6 (36:33):
Was all kind of wild.

Speaker 7 (36:36):
I wonder how friendly it got because you know, you
listen to what was it Ankadelics, Let's take the stage
and it's like slicking the family brick, and you know, yeah,
they used to talk a lot. So I was just wondering,
you know, did anybody ever get offended? You know it
was anybody?

Speaker 6 (36:48):
I thought it was funny. Actually it didn't offend me.
You know, I thought it was funny. They had names
for us. They said, we had a two on our phone.
Wait what O? T D had a two on the bunk,
like we cut it twice. That's been funny.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
So with with I think the first time that we
sort of communicated was when the new edition biopic came on.
Were you were you surprised at all that they covered
holding on in that or did they ever tell you
like that was our.

Speaker 6 (37:28):
Johnny kept hitting to me, you know what they were doing.
He said, man, you're gonna like this. You're gonna like this.
I said, really, He said, oh yeah, man, we did
it right. He said, you did it right. You're gonna
You're gonna see. But I remember meeting them when they
had first come out, and uh, you know, they brooke
their manager, the choreographer brooke did everything.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
He they did a show and they opened up for
me and he came to He said, man, I need
you to come in the dressing room and talk to
these kids. That's so wow, man, he said.

Speaker 5 (38:00):
They need and they love you.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Man.

Speaker 6 (38:01):
They love you. They love holding On, they love all
your songs. So if you come and speak with a man,
it would mean a lot. So I went to the
dress room and talk to him and they was wild.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Like you said, they was just kids.

Speaker 6 (38:11):
Man. They was having fun. But you know they that
was the song they got their deal with, you know,
holding On.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
So yeah, when I was watching it, I was just
like yo, and I was I was more happy because, uh,
normally in cases like that, they'll try to dumb down
to the you know, the lowest common denominator. And normally,
like work in a movie music placement, usually the producers like, well,

(38:40):
why don't we pick a song that's more popular? Da
da da da whatever? Right, And so I knew that
movie was serious when they I was like, yo, they
actually And I called the Barry, I called the music supervisors,
like how did that even happen? He's like, yep, we
wanted to keep authentic and meal and that's the song
they always that was the song, always rehearsed.

Speaker 6 (39:00):
They slicked up a little bit with Jimmy and uh,
Jimmy and Terry put a little put a little hardcore
groove on it.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
It was funky.

Speaker 6 (39:08):
I was like, but yeah, no, they and then you know,
I ran into Bobby at some functions. He was like, man,
they gave you my play and they gave me in
that movie.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Were you shocked at all at the at the the
reception of how Stranger got embraced in the dance tall
community at all, or Stranger in the song Stranger? Uh?

Speaker 6 (39:44):
Yeah, I mean I didn't expect it to be that
kind of a song, you know, but.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
It's And I hate to ask this because I want
to I want to ask a sampling question.

Speaker 6 (39:56):
And then opened the door like it's been sampled a
million times. Oh, Okay, you know about a million that
lit if I got paid for every time someone's saying
that no no, no, no, no, no no no, I'd
be going.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Through the bank. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (40:10):
I was gonna everybody ripped that.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
That is he that is held down dance all music
for so long that I was like, yo, I really
kind of hope.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
Uh you know that's what that. You know, that copyright
thing comes in. You know, you get four bars, you
got to change it on the fourth bar and you're safe.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Who did a I'm trying to figure out who initially
did it? Oh no, no, no, no, no no no,
no kill he was the biggest, really but he but no,
it's the dance all guy.

Speaker 6 (40:43):
Uh oh, I know you talked about it. I can't remember.

Speaker 5 (40:49):
I can't remember the.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
Name because my very first gold record came from him
as well. Well he he sampled, Uh who am I?

Speaker 6 (41:00):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Who are you guys have music college? I know, but
we're I'm failing today now we have to look it
up now. I was saying that my my very first
gold record for the longest was the only gold record
I can claim, not my own. For your eventual exit

(41:36):
uh from the group, going into your solo career. You
said that it wasn't amicable, so you gave yourself like
at least a year to.

Speaker 6 (41:44):
Well, I had to sit out a year before I
could even sign with the and because of this songwriters agreement,
because they really wanted to sign me as a writer
on the publishing side and as an artist, so they
wanted to deal the run concurrently. And uh so I
was tied up with them and they wouldn't give me
a release. And they told me that if I gave

(42:04):
them a piece of my contract, they give me a release.
So there's been some ugly stuff going on. So I said,
I'll set this year out.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Wait you were, you were signed, you had you had
to sign the LTD and within him Like, no, I had.

Speaker 6 (42:18):
I had a songwriters agreement signed with LTD and it
was another year on it. Okay, and so and M
wackets wanted to sign me concurrently with a publishing deal
and as an artist. And so they came to an
M and said, well, we'll make a deal. If he
gives us a piece of this and a piece of that,
we'll give it. And I'm like, I'm not giving up

(42:39):
a piece of nothing no more. So I just sat
a year out.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
So, so is that why the Devotion and the Shine
On record was so released in proximity because in my head,
and you can't even find the Devotion album anymore on
streaming services or anything.

Speaker 6 (42:55):
Yeah, it's it's hard to find it.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Just like, okay, let's get this out with it.

Speaker 6 (42:59):
Then that's it.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
No, I don't think so.

Speaker 6 (43:01):
They they you know, they they put a little time
into the record. It didn't affect that record. It affected
their next record though, because you know, the company wasn't
happy about what happened. So because they had their their
last record on A and M was after I left
the song, but they had a pull love on that song.

(43:22):
And yeah, but that kind of affected their deal, you know,
because they basically h went back and said it was
another it was a whole is a whole other thing.
Now they went over budget with that record. So the
record company said, oh okay. They called me. They said, okay,
we got a wedge. Now they're over budget, so maybe

(43:43):
I can work a deal with them and we'll give
them the rest of the money if they give you
the release. So said cool. So they worked the deal
and no, but they didn't hold up to their end
of the deal. LTD, which is why there was only
one record left that they have.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
They so.

Speaker 6 (44:02):
It could have been could have been great group, though,
I mean, yeah, it's a great group.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
So with your solo record, I mean, was it a
feeling of relief finally like or was it fear like, Okay,
I'm here alone, Yeah, I'm responsible for everything?

Speaker 6 (44:19):
And well it was a little bit of both because
I couldn't I didn't have you know, now I'm out front.
It's like I got it now because my name was
never out front of the group. It was always just LTD.
But you know, you're on stage and you always feel
the comfort of having ten of the nine other people
behind you. So now it's just me and not in

(44:39):
not ever having my name out there, I didn't know
if people people didn't know my name, they knew my voice,
they didn't know my name. So the biggest, uh, the
biggest thing we had, the obstacle we had was to
associate the name with the voice, which is why my
first record was just called Jeffrey Osborne because back then
radio used to backline everything, in front lock everything, so

(45:02):
it'd be okay, this is really don't need No Light
by Jeffery Osborne. From the album Jeffery Osborne, so they
have to keep saying your name, so it kind of yeah,
it's so it happened kind of quick. But George. You know,
working with George was great too. It helped to have
I just felt solid. You know, when you have like
a guy that is that musically incredibly solid doing your project.

(45:25):
You I felt good about that. I'm like, well, I
know it's gonna be musically right.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
You personally chose him, yeah, or were there any other options?

Speaker 6 (45:34):
Like did you well, you know, they the record company
was really cool. They said, you know, do we want
to We want to find the right person for you,
you know, so I talked to a few other people,
but when I met George, I was like sold on George,
you know, just you know, and I had we had
done shows with George, so I had met George before.

(45:54):
But he was what a guy talent.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Okay, I'm dying right now because I just wikipedia his
first solo record. I didn't realize that Steve Farni was
the drummer on that album and.

Speaker 6 (46:09):
Steve Farroni And now this is what's funny. George didn't
even know Steve Froni. But I had done gigs with No.
He didn't know Steve Rooniy because George was into more
than do go chancellors. You know, the those kind of
fusion kind of drummer. It's more so so. And I
had been doing shows with AWB you know, a lot
of shows, and he was my favorite drummer. I used

(46:31):
to sit there and he was I just was fascinated.
He had the most incredible press role I ever heard
drummer too. I'm like, how do you do that? So
I was like, I told George, I said, man, I
would love to have this drummer, Steve Froni. He said,
I don't know, Man, I don't know Steve. I said, man,
I'm telling you. He said, well, he's in New York.

(46:52):
We gotta fly him in, we gotta put him up.
I said, it's gonna be worthy, George, It's gonna be worthy.
He said, I'm gonna trust you on this.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Wait a minute, now, I have to listen to this
entire record because God even the double hit at the
end of one of the wings of Love right, wait
till I tell my family that's the step is my idol.
The reason why I drummed that he's one of my
idols man. Yeah, it was my boys, his black and

(47:19):
white kit that he used on the AWB tour, like
his only drum kit. He gave me that snare drum
my first day of the Tonight Show.

Speaker 6 (47:27):
Are you serious?

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah? Like I was raised on a w B. When
I saw him on Soul Train, I was like, that's
what I want to do for a living. So he
gave me that on my first day at the Tonight Show. Yo.
Incredible dude drumming on the wings love.

Speaker 5 (47:43):
Yeah, speaking of which we have now we have that
in common.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yes, now for the next ninety minutes, Sugar, Steve, I mean,
are we at that? Yes, We're We're there. I set
you up for the alue.

Speaker 8 (47:57):
This is it feels ridiculous this guy's telling us an Actually,
I mean no, don't be a shame.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Listen, Steve has I've been waiting for you to tell
this story to our listeners. We've been, we've been throughout
the history of the show. Right, They've known that on
the Wings of Love means something to Steve, but we
never thoroughly explained really why.

Speaker 8 (48:21):
First of all, you're going to feel silly telling me no,
I just got I'm a Jewish person. I have ten
disclaimers I want to put first.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
Jeff have you ever had someone just nerd out on
you and it's been a little awkward.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
No, it's not awkward.

Speaker 8 (48:39):
I've told the story literally one hundred times, one hundred
times in my life, so it's not awkward.

Speaker 5 (48:43):
It's awkward telling it to you, but.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
Just pretending he's not here. Yeah, no, but you tell
us about on the wings. I'm just talking to me
and Bill. I'm about to Okay, thanks.

Speaker 8 (48:52):
I'm gonna tell it to Jeffrey that Actually, if you
don't mind, all right, I'm gonna eat my oatmeal.

Speaker 6 (48:56):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (48:59):
But and I'm sure you've heard a thousand and one
stories about this song and people's experiences with this song weddings,
I'm sure, and this, that and the other thing.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
But for me, what what? What is it?

Speaker 8 (49:13):
Nineteen eighty two now is Yes? So I was eleven
or twelve or something like that in seventh or eighth
grade and and so junior high and we have music.
It was a music class and one of the assignments
mister Gallo was the teacher, and the assignment was called

(49:34):
a roll out, which was basically, you take you choose
a song, and you do illustrations based on the lyrics,
and then you go in front of the class, you
play the song, and as the song plays, you roll
out the scroll of illustrations as the lyrics go by.
So that was my favorite song at the time. It

(49:55):
was on the top ten or whatever, and I was
completely digging it. And so I chose that song, and
I worked for weeks on this rollout, and I had
the markers and the crayons, and I went to town.
I mean it's you know, as the first verse starts
and all the sunshine, you know, everything was sun and
love and wings and hearts.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
And I'm having a hard time seeing this coming from you.
And you didn't and you didn't say there was this
junior high. I thought this was elementary.

Speaker 8 (50:26):
No, there's like seventh grade or something like that. Okay,
junior high right out of elementary school. But whatever, whatever
grade you're in when you're eleven or twelve. So so
I did this, I mean I really, I have to say,
I did a great job on this thing, real proud
of it, and went into school the day that we
were presenting it, and so sitting in the class and

(50:47):
mister Gallows says, all right, the boys going to go first,
And so the first boy went up and put He says,
all right, you know, my song is Black Sabbath war
Pigs and proceeds to play warp Pigs and rolls out
this this rollout, and next next boy comes up and

(51:08):
he says, yeah, this is a my song is van
Halen running with the Devil? You know, does his thing?
Next kid comes up, deep purple smoke on the water.
You see where this is going. So next next up

(51:31):
Stephen Mandel, you know, come to the front of the class.
By this point, I know, I know that things are
have gone horribly right from me already and are about
to go much more horribly awry, of course, with all
due respect to the greatness of your song.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
So I go up to the front of the class, hearts.

Speaker 8 (51:52):
Beating, everybody looking at me, put my cassette in, you know,
in the boom box. Piano starts and uh and uh,
you know, the intro, and then the first first starts.
I start rolling out my scroll. Here comes the sun,
Here comes the hearts, Here comes the wings. And I

(52:15):
see all the girls looking at me like falling in love.
And I see all the dudes pointing and laughing and
screaming sorry, and uh it was you know, it was
clearly at that moment when I realized, you know that.

Speaker 5 (52:39):
I wasn't cool. I guess according to SO, I was essentially.

Speaker 8 (52:45):
Excommunicated for the next I don't know, six years from
the from the social scene of my junior high and
then high school.

Speaker 5 (52:55):
I was. I was beat up, mocking laughed at, of course,
m beat up and whooped.

Speaker 8 (53:02):
But here's here's the the end, or the punchline rather,
which is, uh, the joke was on them because I
got an A plus and uh. And it took it
took a few years to recover from that socially, but
never I never turned my back on the song, though
I never said, I never said that.

Speaker 6 (53:20):
Song every time you heard it the opposite.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
He went deep into what's which actually leads me to
my next question, because the song got so much traction
on m R, which is, what is it? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
so uh leased in eighty two there's there's there's a

(53:52):
pattern that I noticed of seventies X uh, seventy soul
X that go solo or sort of go to a
promised land, like I never thought it was a thing
of okay, what do I have to do to survive

(54:13):
or justify my record deal? And I never you know,
I've read some of that stuff in Jet magazine like
Go and Pop or whatever or crossing Over. But you
know between Coolna Gang, the Pornous Sisters, Lionel, Michael Jackson, whatever,
I mean there there's there's this migration into a new, unchartered, black, smooth,

(54:43):
black pop territory that you're kind of planting your flag
and not occupying. I mean, at the time with On
the Wings of Love, did you feel as though, okay,
this is this might have the potential to be something
more than it was, or to you it was just like,
got another ballot here, this is it now?

Speaker 6 (55:05):
I think, you know, under Wings of Love to me
was a chance to showcase another side of myself that
I hadn't really had that opportunity with LTD because LTD
most of the ballots were straight up R and B ballots.
So this was the first chance I got it because
I always felt, you know, I mean, I want to
be able to sing everything, no matter what it is.

(55:27):
I want to be able to sing that, and I
never really got. The closest thing we came to it
was the year before was shine On, which was again
written with Richard Kerr, who was one of those you know,
big songwriters back then, and that didn't do as well
as the R and B records. On that record, I mean,
the R and B songs like where did We Go Wrong?

(55:48):
Those were bigger than shine On, But I just felt
like it was a nice departure and still trying to
keep the record so that it was you know, it
had an R and B flavor to it because I
didn't want to leave the R and B roots, but
I did want something that might go across.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
It was.

Speaker 6 (56:06):
It was weird back in the seventies. I mean, it
was a time we couldn't put our faces on the
record covers. Yeah you know you remember that, you know,
the rack jobs. They wouldn't rack it, and so it
was weird. And we didn't even get a chance to
have the pop department work our records at M Records.
They never even worked our records. Back in Love just
crossed over on its own. Really, they didn't know what happened.

(56:28):
They looked up and it was on pop shots like okay,
so then they want to take credit for it, right,
like yeah, right, you did nothing, So yeah, so I
kind of made you know, it's one of those songs.
When I heard it, I was like, I wrote it
with this guy piano player, and when he played it
for me, I was like, I like that, that's kind
of showcases another side.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
So well, now I'm realizing that, uh, you had every
monster on this album. People there and yeah, Ernie Watson
and Lark Graham and.

Speaker 6 (57:01):
Bark Graham did yeah, Michael.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
Lewis, Lewis Johnson, Louis.

Speaker 6 (57:06):
Johnson, Yeah, Mike so Bellow, it was Hawk Withlensky, I
wrote a couple of yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:14):
So he had some people on that record. So at
the time, were you just like a kid in the
candy store, like I want the best of the best
to work on this record, And well I was.

Speaker 6 (57:23):
I mean, but you know, it wasn't just me. It
was George. You know, George was.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Like getting George has the connections to get.

Speaker 6 (57:31):
Exactly and a lot of those people had worked with
George before, with the exception of Ferroni, you know, and
I don't know if Mike and Bello had worked with
him before, but Mike was incredible, dude, man, Michael play
play and mikel singing too. Mike was talented.

Speaker 1 (57:48):
You know, this is blew in my mind that I
didn't realize that he's on all all these records, Peter Schles.

Speaker 6 (57:56):
Peter Schlesh, Yeah, he's He wrote the song with Peter
Schless and when it's funny, I played played it for
George and he was playing it real fast. You know,
damn no, no, no, don't, don't don't. Joyce said, nah,
I ain't hearing that, Like jeege, I'm gonna slow it down,
you know, get this melody's gonna be right. I'm gonna
write these incredible lyrics. You're gonna You're gonna have to.

(58:18):
You're gonna really have to turn my head on this one.
So I finally brought it into him. He said, oh, okay, yeah,
I like that.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
I like that.

Speaker 5 (58:27):
And that was the first single on this rend.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
I Really Don't Need No Light.

Speaker 6 (58:29):
Really, don was the first single.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
I even when queuing up his singles for it for
some reason. I Really Don't Need No Light and don't
you get so mad? In my head they're the same song,
the same song, and then I realized, like, oh wait
a minute, they are two different songs.

Speaker 6 (58:47):
They're two different songs, but yeah, they got that same
vibe and they were written by totally different people, which
is interesting.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
You know, how did another barried Man in Cynthia?

Speaker 6 (58:58):
Uh what, yeah?

Speaker 1 (59:03):
Did Okay? So in the songwriters period of the eighties,
and was it just that you go to a publishing
house and they give you a slower cassettes to listen
to and you.

Speaker 6 (59:15):
Yeah, that's basic, do you Yeah? Generally back then, you know,
all these publishing companies they kind of put the word out,
you know, on an artist is getting ready to do
a record, you put the word out and then you
start getting stuff submitted, you know, from all the other
different publishing companies. And that's basically how it worked. And
but with Barry Man Cynthia, while, they actually came to

(59:36):
me and said they had a song that they thought
would be good for me. And I mean, you know,
there's a duo that had probably number one hit records
going as far back as you know, the leader of
the pack that stuff. I mean, you know every year
they had a number one record. Who I was like,
I'm sure not going to turn this down. So yeah,

(59:56):
so it was it was it was great getting a
song from them. And that's an intricate kind of a song.
I mean, so they tailor made it just for you.
I don't know if they tailor made it tailor made
it for me. I think that they had written this
song and they thought that it would be good for me,
not like I went to him in front to write
me a song.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
They came in with the song and I was like, yeah,
this is this is a nice piece of work.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
I could tell that an M was really behind the
baby stayed with me tonight because the commercials.

Speaker 6 (01:00:29):
That's funny though, because they and them told me I
should take go back and sing that song again. I
sang it too low. What I'll tell you this is
just stories when you think, yeah, they told me, Nah,
you didn't. This ain't right. You got to go back
and sing it's too low. Your voice is too low.
I'm like, too low, that's my voice. Who was your
A and R on this project back then? I'm trying
to think, well, Charlie Mino was to pop in our guy.

(01:00:52):
I think it was this guy named Barry. I can't
think of his last name. It was so long ago.
Really yeah, but they basically told me, uh, I think
you missed it and you should go back and re
sing it. And I'm like, I'm not gonna go back
and re sing this. This is how it's supposed to be.
That's weird because we want me to do now taking

(01:01:13):
any other octave and false that up.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
The commercial spots that they had for the album almost
made it almost like James Bondish, like Osborne Osborn, like
the and the logo on like it showed a lot
during like Soul Train and Solid Gold.

Speaker 6 (01:01:32):
So that was Raymond Jones who actually wrote that song,
and uh, it was kind of all of his vision.

Speaker 1 (01:01:41):
You know, he came in.

Speaker 6 (01:01:42):
He wanted Alfonso Johnson play bass. I mean he kind
of had it. Oh you played bass, Okay, yeah, Alfonso
Johnson and uh, you know Raymond had Raymond was a
talented guy. You know he was with Chica all those
years and uh, real talented guy. There was a different
song for that period because I asked, funny because I

(01:02:04):
hear that song now on the radio and it kind
of almost sounds like what's going on today. It's it's
actually sounds fresher than anything else I've done, and still
it's an eighties song.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Yeah, it's the test of time.

Speaker 6 (01:02:17):
Yeah, it had all the gimmicks and that was you
know Hawkwlinsky was the gimmick guy too. Really, oh that
guy was coming. He was the first person I ever
seen coming with that Len drum machine. And uh sequence
Plain Love was completely sequenced, and George was freaking out.
George was like, yeah, he wrote.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
It, that'sh Yeah he was. George was like, George was
not into that.

Speaker 6 (01:02:44):
He was like, I don't know, man, this is I
don't know about this sequence stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:02:47):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Yeah, he wasn't.

Speaker 6 (01:02:49):
He wasn't crazy about just the way it was laid out.
But I mean as we got into it, he was like, Okay,
I see who he's going after. But you know, there
was like Sinn drums on there, some weird and even
the twelve inch mix of it, Like the twelve inch
was that's the only twelve inch mix that I liked
of any song that was ever mixed of mine. I
hate all the mixes. That's the only one I like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
Even to this day. I dja the twelve inch mix
of it.

Speaker 6 (01:03:13):
No, it works like that was the number one dance
song in New York when it was out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
Yes, it was. That was like that was a bee
Boy classic, had a break in the middle and all
that stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:03:23):
When I come to New York to do shows, I
have to do plain love and I don't do it
most of the time, but I have to do it here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
I was gonna Okay, so eventually one of these days, uh,
you know, we're gonna have you sit in on the
tonight show.

Speaker 6 (01:03:36):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
We've been waiting for this moment forever. And we were
kind of on our group chatter and like, okay, what
are the six? What do we make them do? What
do we make it? Time?

Speaker 5 (01:03:45):
And you know, one slots filled right here?

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
Yes, we know, we know.

Speaker 6 (01:03:53):
But this morning I was the east of a song
to play.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
It's funny you say.

Speaker 6 (01:03:58):
Keyboard nightmare, but in my head I.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Was like, yo, well he because in my head like
even a deep cuts like so wato right? Uh? Playing
love like all? I was just like he probably don't
do that no more. He'll just I do it. I
do it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:13):
It just depends. But I've been doing it a lot lately,
actually playing love. Yeah, I've been doing it a lot lately. Hmm.

Speaker 7 (01:04:21):
Okay, I have a question about a song real quick. Yeah,
was I Just Want to Be Your Friend? Ever released
on an album?

Speaker 6 (01:04:27):
Was on that soundtrack? There was a soundtracks that sound.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Okay, I can't find that soundtrack anyway.

Speaker 6 (01:04:32):
The Toy, The Toy with Richard.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
It was it was the theme song.

Speaker 7 (01:04:38):
Know that songboy that The Toy is one of my
favorite movies ever.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
So of course I've seen the intro like a billion
times and it opens the movie. So it does. It's
so funny.

Speaker 6 (01:04:50):
I mean, my my wife, you know, every now and
then she'll be that movie will come on and she Okay,
I can't believe that you're singing this stuff. I used
to love that song.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
Come on, you worked with with Rod Temperton. How did
you get I know that he opened the.

Speaker 6 (01:05:16):
Yeah he did.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
I got to look up the emotional it wasn't it
was we belong to Love? We Belonged to Love was
the song? Yeah? Yeah, he I know that Rod Temperton
did that one. Did you Did he collaborate with you
directly or was it just like no, he wrote it.

Speaker 6 (01:05:28):
I was trying to collaborate with him. But you know,
Rod's different kind of guy. Rod's like, okay, well well mate,
will we'll well mate, we'll we'll.

Speaker 1 (01:05:36):
Try to make this work.

Speaker 6 (01:05:37):
He didn't pull and he calls me and says, well,
I got the songs.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
Did he Pool's team as he did it. Yeah, no,
he always right, that's right. Right, Wait a minute, I'm sorry.
I hate the fact that I'm seeing as in real
time Haymush Stewart.

Speaker 6 (01:05:56):
Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, I did not know
that really has brought the song to me. I was like,
I like this song really. Yeah, I know it's kind
of weird, isn't it. Did you think about him that song? Yeah?
Like so I believe it's something you don't know, because
damn you know every day you know more about me

(01:06:17):
than I do.

Speaker 4 (01:06:20):
No, I.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
I'm just saying that.

Speaker 6 (01:06:25):
You know what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
I have most of your discography on cassette, right, A
lot of those credits.

Speaker 6 (01:06:30):
Aren't it's so tiny, So yeah, I did.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
I didn't have it in no, if it was on record,
if I have the records, actual.

Speaker 5 (01:06:39):
Writing is really small on here too.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
No.

Speaker 6 (01:06:41):
But I mean that's a lot bigger than anything you're
gonna get today, though.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
If you get anything.

Speaker 5 (01:06:48):
I have a question.

Speaker 8 (01:06:51):
Whose decision or or request or desire was it to
have Brian May from Queen on Stay with Me?

Speaker 6 (01:06:59):
That was was actually my manager, Jack Nelson, who used
to manage Queen, and he did the guitar solo. He
did the guitar solo on Yeah. Okay, so he said,
you know, he said, well, maybe I can talk Brian
into doing it. I said, really, that would be really
good if Brian came in and did it. And he
came in and did it. Great. Guy.

Speaker 5 (01:07:21):
We're a Queen fan, yeah, I was.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
Yeah. I knew a lot of their stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:07:25):
I wasn't like a big Queen fan, but I knew
a lot of their material, and I was shocked at
some of the songs that Brian May wrote. I mean,
I didn't know he wrote we Will Rock You. It's
like in every stadium across the country. Dude's incredible.

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
I can't read who played bass on Stay with Me Tonight.

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
I'll find so Johnson.

Speaker 5 (01:07:45):
Okay, sorry you said that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
Okay, yeah, so with You should be mine, which, of course,
the magic's in the woo woo woo ad libs. I mean,
how does that presented to you in a way where
you're like, Okay, this will work, or because the thing
is is like hearing you sing and I'm like, oh yeah,

(01:08:08):
hell I have that. But I can't imagine you hearing
the demo and saying like, yeah, this is gonna work
for me? Like how to?

Speaker 6 (01:08:19):
I didn't really know until I sang it. And once
I sang it, I liked it. And I you know,
back then, you know, you bring everything home and you
bring it home and you put it on in the house,
you know, and house tested. And my three year old daughter,
she she's the one that confirmed it. I mean, she
barely can talk and she's like, Daddy, what that woo

(01:08:40):
song is so good? I'm like, what, I liked it?
I said, it's not called the wool song. It's called
you should be Mine. She said, no, that's the woo song.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
How bet you? Every black person ever met.

Speaker 6 (01:08:51):
Says everyone everyone. I mean, you know, they'll just somewhere.
But yeah, that was that's a huge song man. I
became the Woo Woo man all of a sudden.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
I was like, what they did? And why why did
you and Duke stop working together after the the Emotional album.

Speaker 6 (01:09:11):
That was a record company kind of decision. They felt
that we got there, but we didn't get where they
thought I should be and they thought Richard they want Richard.
Perry was the hardest thing out right then. So it
was all for good reasons, but it kind of broke
up a really good relationship that I had with George,

(01:09:32):
and so I was kind of reluctant, and then it
turned out so bad. I was like, wow, that was
not good. But yeah, it was kind of them. They
came to me and they said, well, you know, these
guys are.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Hot, man.

Speaker 6 (01:09:44):
They got all these hit records, and you know, Richard
is great at finding good songs and this and that,
and so you know, I gave it a shot.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
And in their mind, did they say like, okay, well
you should be in Linel territory now, or like where
where was their point of satisfaction?

Speaker 6 (01:10:04):
I think they felt that I should have been that
I could reach another plateau in their mind, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:10:13):
And I have to credit them with by saying, you know,
they were looking out, you know, trying to do the
best that they thought was in my interest. And I
was kind of curious about it because I'm like, wow,
these guys do have this Richard Perry doesn't have a
serious track record of hits. And he brought in the
big people, the Diane Warrens and all them, and you know,

(01:10:35):
the only thing that worked off that record was the.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
Wools, Right.

Speaker 6 (01:10:39):
I still dunk wayo yeah. I mean, you know else,
the Wada was great too. It was a couple of
good songs out there. But you know, for the most part,
it didn't. The relationship didn't work out with me and Richard.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
And was it just like because I oft didn't wonder
when you have mega a mega producer of that level,
and I guess he did the breakout record with Porn
and Sisters, right, So when you have a megaproducer that
is probably often in demand, it's probably paint by numbers

(01:11:13):
if he's an industry like, Okay, I got you this
week and then I got there. So do you feel
as the least with the chemistry between you and George
was that you guys sat down and took time to
socialize with each other and got to know and be.

Speaker 6 (01:11:28):
On top of that, we were really good friends, you know.
So we had a really good, relaxed relationship, you know,
and you come into Richard and it's more of a
hyper kind of thing where you know, he's and he
was never satisfied with anything. So that was confusing me.
I'm like, someone have all this success and he's never satisfied.

(01:11:51):
You know, he would have you know, back then, you
had your master twenty fourth track and he would have
like five slaves. I'm like, dude, when are you gonna
put all these up?

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
Right?

Speaker 6 (01:12:04):
So it was it was an interesting process working with
Richard and we thought it would it would actually, you know,
just lead to more and more success. Basically you made.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
A move to Arista for yeah, I did.

Speaker 6 (01:12:16):
That was an interesting move too.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Was it Clive selling you the dream of I can
make this happen?

Speaker 6 (01:12:21):
Exactly exactly because I actually was torn between Clive in
Motown because Barry Gordy was made a big pitch for me.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
Wait in nineteen ninety yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:12:34):
But Motown wasn't really smoking hot then, it was. It
was on the down side at that point. And Clive,
you know, Clive did his number, he offered you know
me the you know the right number right right. Yeah,
but then we clashed, and Clive kind of clash because
he doesn't like a strong personality. He likes somebody that's

(01:12:57):
just gonna do whatever he says, and you know, I
have a problem. Song was right, But then you know,
this is a guy that wants a saxophone solo on
every record. The couldn't be no other, no other, So
it's gotta be saxophone record. Take that off, put the
saxophone on it, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Sorry, So we had a we had a that's the Arister,
that's the Arista Sax.

Speaker 5 (01:13:20):
Like, sorry, Arista Sax.

Speaker 6 (01:13:28):
Think about it. It's the Kenny g thing for sure. Yeah,
so we you know, the first record, I had a
great time with the Barry Uh, Barry Eastman. He did
basically the whole record. So I came back here to
New York and worked with Barry, and I love Barry.
He was a great guy to work with. But I

(01:13:49):
don't think really Clyide went after that record. I mean,
only Human was was a hit, and then he kind
of like fell off after that by going after he
thought if my Brothers in Trouble was a hit, and
he kind of pushed that song on me. It wasn't
a song that I selected. And that's another way you
run into problems with Clyde. He's so involved and he

(01:14:10):
wants to basically tell you what you should have on
your record and pick your songs. So I had a
hard time with that because you know, I never had
anybody telling me, well, you need to do this song
and take that off, put this song on, do that
and so we kind of clashed heads, and I think
my personality was a little too strong. He doesn't clive,

(01:14:32):
he doesn't like confrontation, and he does he give.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
You at least the warning in the beginning, like, look like,
just let me drive the car, and I swear we'll
get you to I've heard there before exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:14:47):
He gave me that whole pitch and then he you know,
he makes it sound right. You know, you don't realize
you're going to go into a situation where like my
second record, after Only Human, was three years before he
could decide on what songs I was supposed to sing.
So at that point it got crazy and so we

(01:15:07):
worked on an agreement to to get it released. So
I only did one record.

Speaker 1 (01:15:12):
Whatever, okay was, especially in the late eighties and the
early nineties, was the onslaught of new jack swing and
what was happening with traditional R and B. Was that
troublesome for you at the time, Like, well, I'm not
gonna have to do the running man now on these

(01:15:33):
videos pull James ingram Y record, that's right, record, it's real? Yeah,
what yeah, okay, okay.

Speaker 6 (01:15:46):
Well, you know I just never gave into that. I
you know, it was all around me, and it was
temptation maybe I should go this way, but I kind
of said, you know, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna.
I'm just gonna try to stay doing what I do,
you know. I mean, I think what happens with veteran
artists is that, you know, you get to a point

(01:16:07):
where there's there's always something new coming in, there's always
a new flavor. Especially with R and B and black audiences,
they're on to the next hip thing all the time.
So if you don't keep up, you kind of just
kind of get pushed back. And then radio does the
same thing. Unfortunately, you know, if it doesn't fit this format,
you're not going to get played and they can't appreciate,

(01:16:31):
you know, what you have to offer. Although they play
your old stuff, they won't play this stuff, you know,
And so then there's the sellout point. Well you know,
you know, do you do this and then they say
you're selling out. So it's a kind of a catch
twenty two. As you get longer and longer into your career,
it becomes it becomes a challenge. It's a demographic battle.

(01:16:54):
You know, you're fighting for the people that actually go
out and buy the records, which are the younger crowd,
the younger crowd, and it happens, and every entertained his life.
I see people getting all My favorite singers got phased
out when I was hot. You know, they were like
still doing their thing, but radio wasn't embracing it, and
they didn't want to flip over to do this, And

(01:17:16):
so I guess it's a natural process of evolution. The
only person I've seen whether the whole damn storm, is
Damn Tony Bennett. I can't figure out. This guy is
like nowhere, nowhere, He'll still be still singing. Yeah, thats
what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
Touring wise, what are your favorite territories?

Speaker 6 (01:17:38):
Well, you know, I think here in the US, you know,
there's always markets that you like to come to. You know,
New York is one. There are tough markets. New York's
a tough market, isn't it. Well you better you better
be good in New York or they'll let you know it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
I think, Well, I'm not relevant to what you guys
want to at least fourteen instant classics like back up, But.

Speaker 6 (01:18:04):
Yeah, but you still better be good when you go
out there to do them.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
You can't phone it in from home. No, okay, you
know you got you gotta do all at the end
of love ballot or else like way, Mama, you missed one.

Speaker 6 (01:18:19):
That's funny. But yeah, I mean, you know these are
to me New York, Philly, DC. Those are those are
the markets that actually break you, you know, the West
Coast market, so they kind of follow, kind of follow suit.
But these are the tough market. So I like New York,
I like Philly, I like DC. And then my favorite

(01:18:40):
place is New Orleans because New Orleans is just crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:18:43):
Man.

Speaker 6 (01:18:43):
They just love everything down there. Yeah, they love it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
They drink twenty four seven. So the party has already started. Yeah,
but uh, what about what about outside of the United States?
Like where is a market?

Speaker 6 (01:18:58):
You know, I like you, I love the Islands, you know,
I just have a fun time now.

Speaker 1 (01:19:05):
I like the people.

Speaker 6 (01:19:05):
I feel like I'm right at home and they've supported
me forever there. I mean, China is like the national
anthem in Jamaica exactly. It's like what nowhere else in
the world China national anthem. But it's interesting, you know,
because I you know, I don't do a lot abroad.
You know, I've done Europe, but not a lot of Europe,

(01:19:28):
you know. And I'm just getting calls from Sweden like
we want you over here. And I've never been to Sweden.
So there's places, there's places I've never performed, a lot
of places I've never performed.

Speaker 1 (01:19:39):
Oh yeah, absolutely, you got to do it. Wait where
do you reside? Now?

Speaker 6 (01:19:44):
I live in La Okay, I've been in La since
nineteen seventy, so you know I left with LTD back
this nineteen.

Speaker 1 (01:19:52):
So since that, Wait, you never told us at the
did you guys ever recover that trailer that women did? Mountainside?

Speaker 6 (01:20:00):
Did beat up some of our equipment, Uh, you know,
but we recovered it and uh got it back up
the mountain there and put it back on, hitched it
and went on our way to La.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
I thought, you guys are just like, oh, there's that.
That's that.

Speaker 6 (01:20:14):
No, we got it back, you know, we had to
get it back. We were broke ass people just quick.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
So you just released worth it all? You did you
work with on on on that record?

Speaker 6 (01:20:27):
I worked with me and that's it. I mean really
I wrote everything and I produced everything on the record.
So Good's probably the first record that I wrote everything on.
It I have one song that I actually wrote with
my son, and he's, uh, it's like it's it's interesting.
He's he's a junior, never was into music, went to school,
played basketball, came home from Collins and told me he raps. Now,

(01:20:51):
I'm like, what really, I raised your ass and I
never heard you rap once. Well, now you know, I've
been in the dorm with my friends and uh, you know,
we all started rapping, and so I'm into rap. So
so he's doing his thing now, he's you know, rapping
and writing. He's now writing music and he's a great engineer.
He does my sound live sound. Now, my sound engineer

(01:21:13):
took him under this wing and he taught him well
because now when my engineer can't do it, he does
my house and he's really good at it. So I figured, uh,
he here is different than I do. I'm like, okay,
so let me give me a track.

Speaker 1 (01:21:27):
Side note. That's also how I broke the news to
my own dad that I was starting the Roots. Really,
I was like, oh, by the way, it's on your
second album though, right, well, yeah, he saw on the newspaper.

Speaker 5 (01:21:38):
What is this.

Speaker 1 (01:21:39):
I was like, hell, a little project with Yeah, it's
like it took my second album to for me to
break that news to my dad. He wanted me and
Juilliard and whatever. Yeah, I just have to say that
this is it's amazing.

Speaker 6 (01:21:58):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:21:59):
I'm still salty that I'd let a Steve Frown project
go on for so long that I never knew about.
I just saw him too. Oh. Man.

Speaker 6 (01:22:08):
I did a show in La I was one of
the wineries in Mecula and he was on the gig
playing with Mindy A Bear.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
I'm like, what, oh, okay, at least he's still gigging,
because after.

Speaker 6 (01:22:20):
He just let he had just left Tom Petty and
so at the time. So yeah, well Steve always has
the best gigs. Yeah, he always has the best gigs
he does. But he's still my favorite drummer.

Speaker 1 (01:22:32):
Mane.

Speaker 6 (01:22:32):
And then I saw but Not Purtty at one of
my shows and uh, really Houston and that that just
lit me up. I love that dude.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
You still play I mean the.

Speaker 6 (01:22:42):
Rock Steady song that was it. But yeah, he's evolutionized
all that. No, I don't play. I haven't played since
nineteen seventy. I'm going to say when Love Ballot became
a hit, I was seventy five they reck a company
came to me and said, you have got to get

(01:23:02):
up from behind the drums because I used to play
and sing a long time. They said, you know, this
song is a hit with the ladies. They can't see
you with four horn players standing in front of you.
You got to get out. I didn't even know what
to do my hands. I was so used to singing
and playing. So they got me this guy that was
the president of a theater at the LA Community College,
and he came in. He kind of worked with me

(01:23:22):
and showed me how to kind of open up and
you know, and from that point on, I played on
the next couple of records, but I never got a
chance to really sit down and play, and my career
kind of took off. And it's it's one of those
instruments that is really touch sensitive. I mean if you
don't do it. I mean I could sit down and
play a groove, but when I start trying to get
around it. So never en concert. Were you like I

(01:23:45):
used to do? I did at one point. I used
to play in the show, but I don't needmore and
my band is stepping on me. You need to get back.
You need to play at the show man.

Speaker 1 (01:23:58):
You need to but I got to.

Speaker 6 (01:24:00):
Yeah, I mean I got to sit down and I
have the ship. You got three months before I would
even attempt. Man, it's like the bike.

Speaker 1 (01:24:06):
No, it ain't okay.

Speaker 6 (01:24:08):
I mean playing the groove, playing the groom was like
riding the bike. But when you start getting around exactly
I'm here so but you know, I might.

Speaker 1 (01:24:18):
Get back into it.

Speaker 6 (01:24:19):
I just need to take the time out to sit
down and do it because it was it was kind
of what got me into this business.

Speaker 1 (01:24:26):
Really open up the doors for me. Well, we thank
you for it, Steve. Any other things you.

Speaker 6 (01:24:34):
Man, he kind of opened up a lot yea therapeutics.

Speaker 5 (01:24:41):
It was my wings.

Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
Feel good, mister Osborne. We thank you so much. Man,
it's been a pleasure. Hopefully one day you'll come on
the Tonight Show and sit in with the group. Maybe. Yeah,
it's great man.

Speaker 6 (01:24:58):
Yes, I gotta get you guys to come down to
my you know, I have a celebrity golf tournament trying
to get you. It's in July this year, the twenty ninth,
thirtieth and thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:25:07):
First Jeffrey Osborne Celebrity.

Speaker 6 (01:25:10):
It's an incredible tournament, man, and I have all the
old school singers come, Smokey comes, OJ's come, Johnny Gill comes,
Philip Bailey comes, and it's so it's more than just
a tournament because we jam, you know, and then you know,
Magic Johnson hosted for me every year. So I got
Sugar Rayling, I got the most of the top athletes
along with the best entertainers, and we just party. Man,

(01:25:34):
it's a three day party. Man, it's it's incredible, said Foxwoods.
Now I got at the casino, so it loves that, right.

Speaker 1 (01:25:42):
We thank you very much for coming on the show
on behalf of Sugar Steve and Boss Bill and I'm
Paybill and fan Tickeolo and who are not here?

Speaker 5 (01:25:51):
No no, no, no, no suckers.

Speaker 1 (01:25:52):
Yeahs. Anyway, this is Quest Love Quest Love Supreme. We
will see you on the nextico.

Speaker 6 (01:26:00):
Thank a right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:11):
Course. Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Papandora. For more
podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.