"Where It All Began"

Dean, Ricky, Phillip, John, Thaddeus at East High School. 

As many of you may know I come from a musical family of 6 siblings. Most of us played instruments but all of us could sing. James and I were the only two that decided to make a career out of music.

Around the house I would sing to records, and play on pots & pans. I received my first toy drum set when I was 5 years old. I used to play on that set just about everyday. It had a big tiger on the front and one cymbal,and I loved my drum set.

When I was 7 years old I received a pair of bongos from my parents and I played on them all of the time also. I think my parents got tired of me playing on the pots and pans, so they got me a pair of bongos. I wanted to join a band and become the percussionist. Even though I sang I was more interested in playing the percussion for the group.

My 1st Band Raw Soul

2 Brothers lived across the street from us, Rex Richardson and his younger brother David. Rex played Bass and David played the guitar. They were already in a band and I wanted to join their band. Well when I was 13 years old I got the opportunity to join their band. That was a very happy day. The name of the group was Raw Soul. I became their percussionist, but the keyboard player at the time heard me singing at rehearsal and said, 'you can sing, you need to come out front and sing some songs'.


Of course I had NO EXPERIENCE, except for singing with the records and using a pencil for a microphone. Well I was put out front and for the next 5 years, that's where I got my experience of becoming a lead singer. I still played percussion, but I was out front as the main guy.

Back in those days we had songs that were instrumentals with the horns and that's when I would play the congas and timbales, but when we went into the slow jams, or some other uptempo vocal songs, I had to come from behind those instruments and sing to the audience.

I learned what worked and what didn't work, how to get an audience up on their feet and things like this. Those 5 years of being with Raw Soul, I will always cherish because it was part of my learning experience.

My 2nd Band - 'Eastern Parkway'

After Raw Soul, broke up, the drummer from Raw Soul, Ike Allen, asked if I wanted to come and work with the band that he was with. The band was called Eastern Parkway. I definitely wanted to because I enjoyed performing. This was in the summer of 1976 right after I graduated from High School.

I ended up only working with Eastern Parkway for just about 6 months or so. Greg Williams had already spoken with me in October / 1976 about putting together this group that ended up becoming Switch. 


I still remember when I spoke with David Rookard, who was the keyboard player for Eastern Parkway and telling them about my opportunity. They were so gracious and definitely didn't want to stand in my way.

My 3rd band - 'SWITCH'

From 1972 - 1976 I will always cherish those years because that's where I got my experience. In December of 1976 SWITCH was formed and in May / 1977 we signed our record deal with Motown records when I was at the age of 18 turning 19 in July of that year.

Of course with Switch, I learned a lot more because I was now on a different level. Switch, went on to record 5 albums for the Motown label, the first album was Platinum and the 2nd album was Gold. We had 5 top ten R&B hits and a few other singles.

Even though I've learned a lot being with Switch and performing with quite a few people over the years, I'm very grateful for where it all began. 


Until Next Time - Phillip