Friends & Legends with Skip Martin
Host: Skip Martin
Summary:
Part 2 of Skip Martin's sit down with Dazz Band founder Bobby Harris picks up as Skip joins the band and they head to Motown in 1980. Bobby breaks down the monster musicians in the lineup: the Wiley brothers, who couldn't read music but could play anything they heard, and Kenny Pettus, whose falsetto Bobby says even The Weeknd never matched. He tells how Motown's head of A&R Lee Young, brother of jazz great Lester Young, sent them producer Reggie Andrews, how the band tested him and how he won them over, and how Bobby first heard Let It Whip over breakfast in Reggie's hotel room. Skip owns up to the Gilligan's Island joke that went viral, Bobby relives Skip's 3am vocal on What a Night, and the pair talk about the musicians who make you feel them and the Cleveland fans who made them.
Main Topics:
Skip joins and the move to Motown in 1980
Invitation to Love, the first album together
The Wiley brothers, playing anything by ear
Kenny Pettus and a falsetto nobody has matched
Lee Young, Lester Young's brother, running A&R at Motown
Producer Reggie Andrews wins over the band
The DMX drum machine they called Damien
How Let It Whip was born in a hotel room
The Gilligan's Island joke that went viral
Skip's 3am vocal on What a Night
The Cleveland fans and radio that made them
Intriguing Quotes:
"Their ears were big as elephant ears. They heard it, they could play it." - Bobby Harris
"Deal with a sternness, but with a soft hand." - Bobby Harris
"When Clevelanders get behind you, they hold you up and they don't forget." - Bobby Harris
"I just wanted to do something to be remembered." - Skip Martin
"What's easy to do is not always rewarding." - Bobby Harris
"They let you feel them, not their education." - Bobby Harris
Key Moments:
[00:00] Part 2 with Bobby Harris
[00:32] Skip joins, Motown in 1980
[01:08] The Wiley brothers play it all by ear
[02:20] Kenny Pettus and that falsetto
[04:31] Motown sends Reggie Andrews
[06:03] The band tests the new producer
[09:31] The drum machine called Damien
[10:19] Let It Whip in a hotel room
[11:31] The Gilligan's Island joke
[15:07] Musicians are the messengers
[17:31] The Cleveland fans and radio
[21:30] Skip the balladeer
[22:05] The 3am vocal on What a Night
[24:41] Feel them, not their education
[27:59] Don't play no games
Notable Resources:
Invitation to Love, the first Dazz Band album with Skip
Keep It Live, featuring "Let It Whip"
The People Get Ready Project, Skip's COVID era collaboration
Connect with Bobby Harris and the Dazz Band:
Website: https://www.thedazzband.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoneandonlydazzband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedazzband
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtN1sSbm7vOMHVwuSKJRyA
Connect with Skip Martin:
Website: https://www.skipmartinmusic.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/skipmartinmusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skipmartinmusic/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/skipmartinmusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/skipmartinmusic
Watch Every Episode of Friends & Legends with Skip Martin:
YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV1sm5Ou1dv5BtxzWFV3Wq8jxDi17jNhJ