Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Aug. 11, 1988, edition 1 / Page 13
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B Section Page One ENTERTAINMENT ®l(je Charlotte $O0t Thursday, August 11,1988 BIG DEAL! _ki J 31 Tin [7 ^iiu Nl TheDeele ^ 1 -|—^ m 1 • Miss Beverly Ann Celeste Hayes The Deele Gets Down To Dealing Ebony 1989 .» /. ,.i .1 i. ^ ,1 . . . r¥-«i. _ X 1 xi X -ft iTi J — j ^1-X OX torvxk VjomH tn ■oloTr 1 fr\r* Qr^lar Plioto/LaNEY From the fertile soil of Cincin nati's musical hothouse springs The Deele, a band who pierced the top 20 on the R&B singles charts less than two months af ter the release of their debut LP. As this bio went to press, The Deele's single, "Body Talk," was moving up the charts with a bul let. The Deele's first LP, Street Beat (Solar/Electra Records) was following suit. And The Deele had been signed to open for Luther Vandross and De- Barge on a three-month nation al tour. But how did The Deele, a band you never heard of, come out of nowhere so quickly? The secret is that The Deele's six men did not come out of nowhere... They came out of Cincinnati! And Cincinnati Is proving to be one of the most active and least rec ognized spawning grounds for new, black talent. Explains The Deele's leader, Antonio Reid, "Music has been important In Cincinnati since before I can remember. When I was growing up, the Isley Broth ers had already been raised In Cincinnati, had gotten their mu sic together there, and had gone. King Records -- the label that had James Brown — had been started In Cincinnati. When I was thirteen years old. I'd go down to the park to watch con certs by a local guy and his funk band. You know him as Bootsy Collins. When I was In high school. 1 got my start as a pro fessional musician from my mu sic teacher. You've heard of the band he was In a few years later - Shalamar. After high school when (fellow Deele founder) Ke vin Roberson and 1 started play ing regularly, we were up against heavy competition from other local bands you've heard of since then — Zapp and Lake side. Even when we moved out of town, we couldn't get away from the Cincinnati bands. We went to Indianapolis, and the group that was always drawing the crowds up the street from the club we'd play was from back home — It was Midnight Star!" Midnight Star, whose recent album No Parking On The Dance Floor. Just went platinum and was one of the two blggest- selllng albums on Elektra Records In 1983 (just behind Linda Ronstadt and ahead of Jackson Browne), eventually produced The Deele. Even The Deele's manager Is an Ohio- based figure with national suc cess - William Pablo Davis of Glo Management, who also manages Midnight Star. 'The people In the Cincinnati area expect a high standard en tertainment," says The Deele's Reid. "It's not enough to work at being good. You have to work at being extremely good!" All that is evident on The Deele's debut album for Solar Records, §treet..Beat- But for the true genesis for The Deele, one really has to go back to the mld-60's when Antonio Reid was just a child being raised by a single parent. His parents were divorced when he was just a baby and his mother supported Antonio and his sis ter as a seamstress. Reid devel oped a passion for music listen ing to the blue chip soul of James Brown and Sly Stone. A drumming hobby-turned- passlon was supported by his mother, who made Antonio go to her job with her In exchange for paying for Antonio's drum Idts. "I was sort of her personal va let where she worked," chuckled Reid who started to get a little more serious about the whole deal when he hooked up with Kevin Roberson, his tenth grade home room buddy at Cincinna ti's Hughes High. In their junior year, Reid and Roberson were recruited by their music teacher, Terry Brown, to be the rhythm section In his professional band. With their teacher, Reid and Roberson toured the Mid west, playing bars and beauty pageants in Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. "Our teacher was the lead^Blng- er but he made sure we did our homework, some of It In hotel rooms while we were on the road!" recalls Reid. Through Brown, who eventually went on to join the original Shalamar, Reid and Roberson saw spot duty providing the backing on local commercials Including a spot for Keebler's ("makes un commonly good") Cookies. After graduating high school In 1974, Reid and Roberson formed their own band, a jazz fusion combo, with which they slugged It out for four hard years, occa sionally flirting with top 40 funk. After numerous club dates ,Md a couple of opening spots for Fandango (the rock band that featured current Rainbow lead singer Joe Lynn Turner) and for the Gap Band, Reid moved his band to Indianapolis. "We wanted to make records, we wanted to be stars," says Reid who was 23 at the time."Kayo and I wanted to get a group of musicians together who were exceptionally good looking, exceptionally taTented and ex citing to watch." After moving back to Cincin nati, Reid and Roberson quickly enlisted Darnell Bristol, Stanley Burke, Carlos Greene, and gui tarist Kenny Edmonds. "We booked a recording ses sion In Cincinnati with money we had earned from local gigs," says Reid of The Deele's big break. One of the musicians The Deele asked to Join them on the session was Bo Watson, a mem ber of Midnight Star. Bo con vinced his manager, Pablo Da vis, to come down to the studio and listen to The Deele's music. Davis liked what he heard. He suggested that Midnight Star's Jeff Cooper produce the Deele's demo. Then manager Davis flew out to L.A. with the resulting tape In hand to play It for Solar Records. Ten days later. The Deele had a recording contract. PhotcLoMEY Ronnie Laws blows saxophone, while Maria Howell blows vo cals at Jonathans Uptown with the assistance of the 7th Street Band. The Laws of Jazz By M.L.LaNey Post Entertainment Editor Jazz is a musical form charac terized by Improvlsatlonal, syn copated rhythms, counterpoint ensemble playing, and special melodic features peculiar to the Individual Interpretation of a musician. When Ronnie Laws Is the fea tured player, you're aware that he knows the meaning of jazz and a host of other things. Laws was in town August 5th and 6th, performing four shows at Jonathan's Uptown. To see Ronnie Laws was Just part of the picture. In what has to be viewed as an unusual treat, on stage with Laws was Maria Howell and the Seventh Street Band. Laws conducts a musical work with the care and dedication of precision crafting; no filler here. Just a straightforward, drlvlng-right-at-you Jazzman. The audience was definitely in the mood for his soaring saxo phone. He used his soprano and tenor horns to close up the spaces in the crowd until he had a packed house. Maria Howell added a depth of vocal control and the Seventh Street Band showed that they could hold their own anywhere, anyhow. The night's musical fare in cluded some of the older pieces, that Laws is noted for, like "My Generation. " He thanked his fans in the audience for their love and their support. Laws has come a long way since the days when he played as part of the Earth, \Vlnd and Fire lineup. It was inspiring to see him in such fine form. His mastery of his instruments has shown a continued growth and maturity. His material Is con temporarily relevant. His pres entations are rich and absorb ing. You can bet that the sound of Ronnie Laws Is one of the sure things In this life. He holds down one of the pinnacles of Jazz and looks like he going to be there a while to come. By M.L. LaNey Post Entertainment Editor The 1989 Miss Ebony was chosen In Statesville, Saturday, August 6ih. With (he an enthu siastic audience on hand. Miss Beverly Ann Celeste Hayes was judged the winner. It was a highly charged emo tional experience for the former Miss Ebony, Miss Tammera Sudderth. Miss Sudderth has represented the sponsoring group, the Foolliills Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, though- out 1988. Surrendering her crown, she expressed her pro found appreciation for her sup porters and sponsors. She Is the 17-year-old daughter of Thomas and Gloria Sudderth of Hickory. N.C. A future law student, Tammera dazzled the audience in the MacGray Auditorium with her piano performance. "I'll always remember the smiles," said the talented teen. There were many smiles to be seen Saturday night. Among them were the pageants' emcee, Charles M.L. Mangum. Mangum Is an attorney and publisher of the black weekly, the Lynch burg Area Journal. The panel of judges included. Kevin L. Pat terson, Ms, Sunya McLaughlin, ' Ms.Charlene Prlce-Patterson, Ms. Willie Marie Studevant and Ms. Gina Studevant-White. There were a number of visiting queens from the surrounding area. Miss Karen Beatty (Miss Ebony Teen) and Miss Rykesha Cowan (Little Miss Ebony) both contributed stirring perfor mances to the evening's special entertainment. The competition Itself was di vided into three categories, an interview, a talent section and an evening gown competition. In consideration of the qualifi- cations of the contestants, beauty In the typical sense was not the main aim. The contest ants were Judged on poise, charm, good manners, pei'.son- ality, talent, as well as beauty. The talent exhibited by the participants varied from classi cal piano displays to a California Raisins dance. There was dramatic portrayal and a lot of very Impressive song. The judges scratched their collective heads and strained to make the call. "This Is going to be real close," said Mr, Feimster. And close it was. Amid the con gratulatory embraces of all in volved, Beverly, the winner, was clearly most pleased with the judges' verdict. A recognition of past queens, brought out former tltleholders. But the spotlight was clearly on the contestants who vied for the 1989 title. They were: "fyana La- shell Bailey; Tamorah Wayne He Boston, Sandra Kaye Carruth, E'lan Petreece Cowan. Melissa LaShay Garner, Stephanie Joy Jones, Alvera Junlce Lesane, Deborah Jewel Moore, Tara Charee Reid, Sahara Lynn Rucker, Sherrill I.,ene Rucker, Kechla Waynette Springs, and Leslie Karen Stevenson. Tony Feimster, a native of the Statesville area, was the art di rector for the pageant. He pro duced a stage backdrop that contained the faces of each young lady participant. The pageant producer was Ralph Dalton, Jr. and the execu tive director was David Rucker. With a substantial pledge of assistance to the cause of lliose afflicted with Sickle-Cell Ane mia the night was a positive success. The pageant, accord ing to Feimster, raised approxi mately $8,000. The Miss Ebony Pageant Contestants
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 11, 1988, edition 1
13
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