Working with one of the 'Greatest Sax Players' of all time!

Ernie Watts

Many of you may not know this man, but you've definitely heard him on many of your recordings. Mr. Ernie Watts. I knew about Ernie, because I've read album credits most of my life. I would hear this sax solo on a Gino Vanelli record, or The Jacksons record and look to see who it was and consistently it was Ernie Watts.

Ernie's superb sax work has graced many albums by artist diverse as Barbara Streisand, The Crusaders, Christopher Cross, Boz Scaggs, Rickie Lee Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire, SWITCH, etc, etc, etc.

I was very familiar with Ernie's work like I said and when SWITCH recorded their first album Jermaine Jackson called Ernie to come and play on our recordings. The saxophone solo on "I Wanna Be Closer" one of SWITCH'S biggest hits is Mr. Ernie Watts. Like I said, you've heard him but many of you may not know who he is.

Ernie Watts - "Chariots Of Fire"

Ernie ended up playing on a number of SWITCH records so I got to know him over the years. In 1982 Qunicy Jones produced an album on Ernie Watts called "Chariots of Fire" 
My brother James called Howard Hewitt and myself in to sing backgrounds on Ernie's album. It was my first time meeting Quincy Jones and it was nice to have 3 guys from Akron, Ohio all working together on the same project.

But more importantly it was also nice to be able to sing backgrounds on Ernie's record since he was such a part of of SWITCH'S career. James, Howard and myself ended up singing 2 songs on this project.

The Dude Tour 1982

After singing on Ernie's project in the early part of 1982 later that summer when Quincy Jones was doing "The Dude" tour we were all together again.

I sang backgrounds on that tour with Edie Leighman and Phil Perry and Ernie was one of the horn players in the band. If you look at the picture on the left, you can see Ernie with the sun glasses on in the upper right hand corner.

Ernie has always been a gentleman, very nice and very unassuming.

Ernie doing what he does best

It would be years before I ran into Ernie again. The last time I saw Ernie was when we worked with Quincy Jones again at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2011 with "60 Years Of Quincy Jones". Ernie was part of the horn section and I was singing backgrounds on that concert. (I wrote about that concert on this BLOG, back in September 11, 2011)

Even after all these years Ernie is still the same. It was an honor to meet him back in 1977 / 1978 when he first played on "I Wanna Be Closer", but over the years he's remained, one of the greatest Sax players of all time. (Ernie Watts)


 Until Next Time - Phillip
 

Working With Paul Young

Paul Young in the 80s

For much of the 80's Paul Young rivaled Simply Red's Mick Hucknail as the top blue-eyed soul/pop singer in the U.K. In the U.S, Young was known primarily for his song "Everytime You Go Away", but was able to sustain his commercial success in the U.K. for much of the decade.

In 1990 Paul Young did a remake of the Chi-Lites hit "Oh Girl". Oren Waters, Kevin Dorsey and myself were called in to sing the backgrounds on this song which became Paul's single. This cover of "Oh Girl" peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Peter Wolf produced this project and Oren, Kevin and I also sang background on quite a few other songs for the project as well.

Because of the popularity of "Oh Girl" Paul was asked to perform the song on The Tonight Show.  Paul asked if Oren, Kevin and myself could do the show with him, which we did.

The next time our paths crossed was when I was called in for the film, "Friend Green Tomatoes" which I BLOGGED about a while ago. Paul had recorded a re-make of "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" and we sang backgrounds on the song which was also used for the film.

After we recorded the song for the film our paths never crossed again. It seems that Paul had moved back to the U.K. and was doing work there.

We met Paul a few years after his huge success with "Everytime You Go Away", this song hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985.

Paul Young Today

 Paul was always nice to work with, of course he had a strong British accent which stood out. Our paths crossed for just a few short projects, but again it was nice to play a small part of someone else's career.

I enjoyed working with Paul Young.

Until Next Time - Phillip 

Working With Eros Ramazzotti

Eros Ramazzotti

As you know, I've been called to work with some amazing artists even ones from afar. Eros Ramazzotti is an Italian musician and singer-songwriter. Eros is enormously popular in Italy and is well known in most non-English European countries and in the Spanish-speaking world. Most of Eros albums were released in both Italian and Spanish.

Since 1984, Eros Ramazzotti has released 11 studio albums, one EP, three compilation albums, three live albums and 37 singles. Eros has sold over 40 million records in his 25-year career.

Studio Album By Eros

I got the call to first work with Eros back in 1996. I was asked to put together some singers for a very famous Italian artist. I called Jim Gilstrap, Alex Brown and Lynn Davis. The producer was very pleased with our work and have called us to do other projects with Eros since then over the years.

Many famous artists from around the world come to the United States to work with American Musicians and singers. This is how I first met, Anri from Japan, and Amaia Montero from Spain. The same producer that produced one of Eros Ramazzotti's albums also produced Amaia Montero's first album, that's how we were able to work with her. 

We always recorded Eros's albums at the old A&M Recording Studios. This is since been bought out by Jim Hensen Productions and is now called Hensen Studios. We still record Eros projects at this studio.

Silelibero

Usually we would work for about 2-3 days putting the backgrounds on Eros Ramazzotti projects. When we first started working with Eros, his producer would always order lunch from this FABULOUS Italian restaurant here in Los Angeles. It's sad that it took someone from Italy to introduce us to a fabulous Italian restaurant right here in our own backyard.

It's always a pleasant recording session, we always have fun. We usually don't sing a lot of Italian words, some, but mainly we're singing 'oohhhss'.

Unless you're from Italy most people here in the United States are not familiar with Eros Ramazzotti's music. All together we have recorded about 4 of Eros Ramazzotti's projects.

Eros Ramazzotti.

Eros doesn't speak any English so we're usually working with the producer that can convey some of Eros musical ideas to us. Even though he doesn't speak English, nor we Italian he's always happy to see us.

The last time we worked with Eros was about 3 years ago. We enjoy his music, the recording sessions and we always enjoy working with Eros Ramazzotti.

Until Next Time - Phillip

Remembering 'The Queen Of Disco' Donna Summer

Donna Summer

Donna Summer was known as the 'Queen of Disco' in the 1970's. In her career Donna recorded a total of 17 albums. She had a string of hits.

In 1982 Donna recorded her 10th studio album which was released on July 19, 1982. This album was simply named 'Donna Summer'. During this time period I got to work with Donna Summer. Quincy Jones was producing this particular project and one of the songs that was recorded was 'Love Is In Control (Finger on the Trigger)'. To date this song is one of the highest backgrounds that I've ever sung on. It was my brother James, Howard Hewitt and myself.

When Donna worked on this project with Quincy Jones, this was the first time Donna had worked with a producer other than Moroder and Bellotte since 1974, so this was a different route for her.

The Album - Donna Summer

The song 'Love In In Control (Finger on the Trigger)' peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1982 and the album, Donna Summer, reached #20 on the Billboard hot 100s.

Ultimately the Donna Summer album fell short of it's goal to restore Donna to the level of stardom she'd enjoyed in the 1970s. 'Love Is In Control' had the lowest Hot 100 peak of a lead single from an album of new material by Donna Summer since 1978. This song did represent a considerable comeback for Summer on the R&B charts with a #4 peak. This afforded Donna her fifth Top 5 R&B hit. Summer also reached the UK Top 20 with both 'Love Is In Control... and another single from the album "State of Independence". Both of these tracks reached the Top Ten in the Netherlands. 

Donna Summer - "On The Radio"

The only time I worked with Donna Summer was on the project that Quincy Jones produced. The last time I saw Donna was a few years later, I ran into her coming out of a store on Melrose Ave and we chatted for a few minutes. She was telling me about her new project and I shared what I was doing.

It was very sad to hear that Donna was battling caner and lost her fight on May 17, 2012 at the age of 63. Since I hadn't seen or been in Donna's presence for a while I had no idea she was going through this battle.

But again I do appreciate that to a small degree I was able to be a part of Donna's career.

Until Next Time - Phillip

Working with the Commodores

Commodores - Nightshift Album

Right after Lionel Richie left the Commodores, the Commodores picked up a new lead singer by the name of JD Nicholas.

JD is a great singer and JD and I had sung on quite a few records singing background together for other artists prior to him joining the Commodores. JD had also worked a while with the group Heatwave. Since the Commodores and SWITCH was on Motown we had met quite a few times.

Well in 1985 I had been working with Dennis Lambert, great songwriter /  producer on various projects and he was called in to work with the Commodores to produce this upcoming album. Dennis Lambert called me in to do some backgrounds on a song he had written called "Nightshift". The song 'Nighshift' not only became the hit song from this album, but it was also the title track. The song was a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvyn Gaye.

The Commodores Performing

This song was the first hit attained by the Commodores following Lionel Richie's departure from the group. It was also their biggest hit after Richie's departure, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and rising to number one on the Hot Black Singles chart, as well as number three in the UK Singles Chart.

Although the band was against the label's decision to release it as a single, it won a Grammy Award in 1985 for Best Vocal R&B Performance by a Duo/Group. The song features the lead vocal from Walter Orange, whose lead appeared years before on "Brick House". The 2nd vocalist on the song is JD Nicholas.

The Commodores today

I got to sing background on quite a few different songs for this particular album, but the song Nightshift was such a huge hit that it overpowered the rest of the project.

Since then JD and I have stayed in touch and I've got to see the Commodores perform a few times.  As always it was fun, but it's been a while since I've worked with the Commodores. 

Until Next Time - Phillip

Remembering Edwin Starr

Edwin Starr was a soul singer who had a string of hits back in the 60s, and 70s and a few more into the 80s.

I remember back in 1969, I was 11 and hearing the song "25 Miles". I used to sing that song with a pencil in my hand using it as a microphone. The biggest hit of Edwin's career which cemented his reputation was the Vietnam War protest song "War" which was released in 1970. This song spent three weeks in the top position on the US Billboard charts, it was an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples. This song alone sold over 3 million copies.

Back in 1977 SWITCH had been signed to Motown records which was the same label that Edwin Starr was on previously. As I was leaving a meeting, for some reason, which I can't remember at this time, but I had my congas with me. Even though I'm known for my singing I started out in my local bands being a percussionist and singing. Kevin Dorsey was with me and while we were in the lobby of the Motown building we ran into Edwin Starr. Edwin asked if I played the congas and I said yes. He asked if I would be interested in playing on a 'demo' that he was doing. I told him that I would and then he found out that both Kevin and I sing so we were asked to sing backgrounds on this 'demo' of his for 2 songs. Of course we were getting paid.

The 'demo' we recorded was called "Contact". I'm playing the congas on that song and I'm singing backgrounds with Kevin Dorsey. What we thought was going to be a 'demo' only, turned out to be one of Edwin Starr's biggest hits. This song was released in 1979, hit #65 in the US pop charts, #13 on the R&B charts, #6 in the UK and #1 on the dance charts. This song along with "I'm So Into You" were the 2 songs that I sang backgrounds on. At this point Edwin was no longer with Motown records, these songs were released on 20th Century Records.

We recorded these 2 songs at a small studio here in LA. At the time Edwin Starr's fame had dwindled but this song was somewhat of a resurgence of Edwin's career.

This was the only time I met and worked with Edwin Starr. We happen to be at the Motown building at the same time, he asked if I played and I told him yes. We recorded 2 songs that evening, got paid and that was it. So my time with Edwin Starr was literally a "Brief Encounter"all in ONE DAY. We basically spent a few hours together. But the song "Contact" of course lives on.

You can listen to the song here on this YouTube upload. When you hear the congas, yeah that's me.

On April 2, 2003, at the age of 61, Edwin Starr suffered a heart attack and died while taking a bath at this home.

Here again, even though it was a brief encounter, I was able to contribute my talent, in some small degree, to Edwin's career.

Until next time - Phillip

Working with David Benoit

I first met David Benoit when David Pack from Ambrosia called me to sing background on a gorgeous song that both David Pack and David Benoit wrote together. The song was called "Key To You" and it's become one of David Benoit's classics.

This introduction led to me working on various projects with David Benoit. After singing background on this project, I was also called in to sing background on a few more of David's albums. One of the albums that I sang on was "Inner Motion". The song "Every Corner Of The World" was another song that was written by David Benoit and David Pack.

What was nice about this project is when David Benoit was promoting this album he did a performance out here in Los Angeles at the Greek Theater. It was a great concert.

The way they did the concert was very cool it was done in 3-stages. First they started with David playing the piano by himself on stage, with a curtain behind him. Then the 2nd phase they opened the curtain and there was a rhythm section with us singing the backgrounds on "Key To You" and other songs. The third phase they opened another curtain and behind us was an orchestra, which surprised the audience. It was a fantastic evening, the weather was beautiful. We closed the show with "Every Corner Of the World".

David Benoit at the piano

I ended up singing background on 3 of David's projects. There was another project that David Benoit called me for. The Film Actor George Hamilton, who was always known for his tans, was doing a new talk show with his ex-wife. I guess the network thought this was a great idea! David Benoit had been called in to arrange the theme song which was "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off".

I sang this song with Eyvonne Williams as a duet. The show didn't really last long, but we appreciated David calling us to sing the theme song of this new TV show. The idea of doing a show though with your ex-wife doesn't really sound appealing. 

David Benoit called me for a live project that he was doing a few years later and unfortunately I wasn't able to work that project out. Davd was always very nice very unassuming and NO MESS - YEAH!

The last time I saw David was at the LAX Airport. I was leaving to go do a show with Sheena Easton and David was just coming in from a concert from somewhere in the U.S.

I haven't worked with David since the TV Show theme and since I wasn't able to work out the live project with him it's been a while. When I ran into him at LAX we did exchange numbers again and got caught up, so we'll see what happens in the future.

If you've never heard "Key To You", which was my introduction to David Benoit, you should check the song out. I've included the YouTube link above.

Again, another facet of my musical career over the years. It was great Working With David Benoit. 

Until Next Time - Phillip 

Singing for a Hallmark Card?

In my career I've sung on quite a few records,commercials, and movies. I've worked with various artists, performed all over the world, but this particular session was probably to date my most interesting.

I got called to sing "How Sweet It Is", the old Marvin Gaye song, for Hallmark. I wasn't quite sure what the song was going to be used for, but the song was used for a Hallmark card. The card was one of those cards that you purchase for an anniversary or some other occasion and when you open up the card, there was my voice singing "How Sweet It Is".

 I sang the whole song but only a portion of the song was used for the card. Growing up in Akron, Ohio you would only see the artists performing on records and touring like I did with SWITCH, becoming a recording artist, etc, the people that are out front. But living in Los Angeles, CA there are so many different projects you can be a part of. Out here in California you see what's behind the scenes in addition to what's out front.

For example, I've sang on quite a few Disney projects over the years, one of the most unusual was singing as 'Goofy' for one of their floats that was used for a Disney Parade at their theme parks. I'll tell you about it sometime. 

That was different, but I still think that singing for a Hallmark card tops them all.

I've never received a copy of the card, but I think that would've been pretty cool to have a copy of that card.

So if I'm ever asked, you mean to tell me you were singing for a Hallmark Card? I'll have to answer YES - (Smile)

Until next time - Phillip

Working With Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton

In the late 80s early 90s, Michael Bolton was very hot on the charts enjoying some serious success. At the time I was working quite a bit with Walter Afanasieff and was asked to put together some singers for an upcoming Michael Bolton Project.

I called Dorian Holley, Jim Gilstrap and we worked with the female singers that tour with Michael for his live performances. I was the vocal contractor for the upcoming project and a few days before the session I received a call from Michael's manaager letting me know that they were not going to pay this exorbitant price for singers. I mentioned to him that I was going to fill out the AFTRA contract based on how many songs we would sing on, and how many tracks per song we would sing on.

"The One Thing"

A.F.T.R.A stands for the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. They have a set scale for recording, so I let Michael's manager know that if he wanted any changes he was going to have to take things up with Walter who was the producer of the session.

The album we recorded was called "The One Thing" It contained the hit "Said I Loved You...But I Lied", which reached #6 in the US, but it didn't match the sales of his previous two albums. This project did hit 3 times platinum in the US and a total of 6 million worldwide.

During the session Michael came in teasing me about the money, his first comment to me was "boy I'm going to have to melt down some of my grammy's to help pay for this session because we have Phillip Ingram on the session." That was our first time meeting each other and the first words that came out of his mouth, so my comment was "well at least you have some grammy's to melt down"...The female singers that toured with Michael laughed because I was holding my own.

Michael Bolton (Today)

Michaell tried a couple of more times to rib me, but I don't think he knew that I grew up in Akron, Ohio and we did this type of stuff in our sleep.

After the session Michael came over and mentioned how much he enjoyed my singing and also mentioned that if I ever needed a song, he would love to write for me. I thanked him.

We performed quite a few songs on the record, that was the first and the last time that I worked with Michael Bolton. Even with Michael trying to 'rib me' I still had fun. One of my motto's is 'don't let other people's issues become your issues'. I showed up to do what I do and that is SING, and that's what we did.

Below is one of the song's we sang background on, it's called"Never Get Enough Of Your Love" - Written by Diane Warren, Walter Afanasieff and Michael Bolton.

Until next time - Phillip

"Hearts On Fire" - Richard Elliot

Richard Elliot - 'Rock Steady'

By the late 80s I had already done quite a few what they call 'guest vocals' singing and working with various artists. What is a guest vocal? A guest vocal is when you are not the artist but you're invited to sing a song or songs on another artist project.

Well one day, in 1988, I got a call from a saxophonist by the name of Richard Elliot. At the time I wasn't familiar with Richards work but come to find out that Richard was a member of one of my favorite bands of all time, Tower of Power.  Richard had played tenor sax with Tower of Power for 5 years during the 1980s.

Richard had started his solo career with an album called Trolltown in 1986, and his solo career took off when he remade the Percy Sledge classic "When A Man Loves A Woman".

Richard Elliot - Power Of Suggestion

Richard had heard of my work and called me up and sent me a copy of a great song call "Hearts On Fire". When I heard the song I thought it was a very pretty song. This was one of the songs that he was recording for his upcoming Power of Suggestion album.  We went into the studio, I sang the song and it came out great. As Richard was promoting this particular album he called me up to come sing this song on one of his sets at a local club in LA. After the performance the crowd was very pleased and I remember Richard saying to the audience, "now will you buy the album?". Everyone clapped and I'm sure some CD's  were purchased that night.

There's a funny story attached to this song, one of my good friends had a copy of this song on a cassette tape. Someone had made her a copy of various songs and only put the artist name's down, not the one singing the song. One day my friend and I were talking and at the time she had never heard me sing, so I made her a compilation of some of my work and included this song. When she heard "Hearts on Fire", she told me that I sounded like Richard Elliot, and I told her that Richard plays saxophone he doesn't sing. She then told me the story of her cassette tape and how this song was her favorite song for years and Richard Elliot was her favorite singer. She didn't realize that one of her best friends was the singer and not Richard. "We set the record straight"

Richard and his Zebra-Stripped Tenor Sax

On Facebook I always receive various comments about different performances and songs that I've sung over the years. This is one of the comments that I received on Facebook about "Hearts On Fire" from a true fan. "Mr. Ingram...For the past 20 plus years, I have listened to 'Hearts On Fire' at least once a week. Your voice is incredible and I want to thank you for bringing so much enjoyment/pleasure into my life. I've shared this song with countless individuals and all have been moved by the incredible power of voice. Again, thank you very much"  - Jack Parr.

Great song, great guy, Richard Elliot and again I'm happy that our careers crossed in history to create some beautiful music together - "Hearts On Fire" 

Until Next Time - Phillip 

The Return of Bruno (Bruce Willis)

The Return of Bruno

Many people know Bruce Willis as the great actor that he's become. He's known for many films like the Die Hard series, Armageddon, Unbreakable, and Red just to name a few.

I first remember Bruce Willis  in 1985 with a hit television show called Moonlighting where he co-starred with Cybill Shepherd. I loved this show and used to watch it all the time This series helped to establish Bruce Willis as a comedic actor.

What a lot of people don't know is while Bruce was working on the Moonlighting series Bruce recorded an album in 1986-1987 as a singer. The album is the debut album for this actor and it was produced by Robert Kraft. Robert and I had been working on other projects together so I got to sing background on quite a few of the songs on the project.

Bruce Willis

"The Return of Bruno" was released by Motown in 1987. The album is an eclectic gathering of R&B music. With the exception of the song "Jackpot", the rest of the songs are covers or remakes.

This album did see some success, it peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The single "Respect Yourself" received considerable airplay, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 7 in the UK.

Follow-up singles "Young Blood" and "Under the Boardwalk" did not fare nearly as well, they peaked at #68 and #59 respectively. What was interesting though is "Under The Boardwalk" saw massive success in Britain, it reached #2 in the charts and has become the UK's 12th best-selling single of 1987.

Bruce Willis today

Bruce Willis has had a phenomenal career that has already crossed a couple of decades. If you didn't know that Bruce is a singer as well as a great actor, well now you do.

I'm again thankful to have played a very small part in this man's career with the project "The Return Of Bruno". 

Until next time - Phillip 

'Running' (Temptations)

Truly For You - Album

In 1984 Al McKay, of Earth,Wind & Fire Fame got called to produce the Temptations upcoming album. Al McKay and I had met when he first did some guitar work on one of SWITCH'S albums. He was looking for some songs for this upcoming project and I submitted some songs to him. One of the songs I submitted was 'Just Call My Name', which ended up being the single for Allison Williams. I spoke about this song on the March 6, 2011 post on this BLOG.

Tony Haynes, Attala Zane Giles and myself  had written a song by the name of "Running", which I also submitted to Al McKay. This song ended up being the first song on the Temptations "Truly For You" project.

This album featured the debut of their new lead singer Ollie Woodson who replaced Dennis Edwards. Since I'm more known as a singer rarely do I get to play on sessions. Of course I did with SWITCH but I've also got to play on the songs that I've written and placed on someone's project. On the song "Running", I'm playing the keyboards and the synth bass and Zane Giles is playing the guitar. Even though the Temptations sing, on this particular song, Zane and I are doing all of the backgrounds with a nice 4-part harmony.

 By this time in the Temptations career they had mega-hits. Some of the groups personnel had changed from the originals but they were still a main-stay in the industry.

This particular album had a #2 hit with the song "Treat Her Like A Lady" and the album as a whole hit #55 on the pop charts. For us it was a privilege to have a song and perform with such a legendary group. I also got to sing backgrounds on a couple of other songs on this album in addition to "Running". 

When you listen to this song today you can definitely tell that it was the 80s. Give it a listen:

Again another project that I was able to add my talent to and I'm thankful,

Until next time - Phillip

Remembering Miss "Lady Tee" - Teena Marie

Miss "Lady Tee"

Teena and I first met back in 1977. SWITCH had just got signed to the Motown label and we were in a meeting with a guy by the name of Tom Difiero. As the meeting was going on, there was a knock at the door and it was Teena Marie. Of course being at Motown I thought she worked there because Motown had mainly put out black artists.

Tom introduced Teena to the band as one of Motown's newest artist. I have to admit we were a little 'shocked' but then we thought this girl must be soulful for Motwn to pick her up. Well that was the understatement of the century. Teena Marie was one of the most soulful singers around and I loved her. Teena and I became friends, we were about the same age and we hang out and play songs that we were working on for our projects.

Phillip & Teena at the piano

When Teena was working on her "Irons In The Fire" album,  Teena and SWITCH were recording at the Motown Hitsville studio at the same time. On one of the breaks Teena invited me out to the car, back when they used to have cassette tapes in them, and she played me pretty much the whole album. I knew the girl was bad, but I was blown away. I believe we were working on our 2nd album at the time.

Our careers with Motown ran pretty much the same years. During the time we were signed, Teena had been signed a little before us, Rick James and the female group High Inergy were all signed around that time. Since we were Motown's newest artists we all got to know each other pretty well.

As you can see from these pictures, Teena and I were at a Motown function and after it was over I got on the piano and her and I just started sanging, I don't even know what it was because we made it up on the spot. Motown was thinking maybe a duet????, but it never happened.

Teena & Phillip

Teena called me to do some backgrounds with her when she was working on the "It Must Be Magic" album. I sang on a ballad with her, but also sang on "Square Biz", which I knew was going to be a hit when she played it for me. After SWITCH was dropped from Motown in 1982 Teena and I still stayed in touch.

When she was working on her "Sapphire" album in 2006 she called me to do some backgrounds as well. It was Val Young, Teena and myself, and it was just like old times singing and having fun. Teena's favorite SWITCH song was "I Wanna Be Closer", she always loved those harmonies. One of the songs we were working on had a similar vibe as "I Wanna Be Closer" and I teased her about ripping SWITCH off.

That was the last time I spoke with or worked with Teena. I knew that she had been touring and I heard that  her shows were well received. I remember coming home one Sunday and checking my Facebook and I had a message from someone telling me how sorry they were to hear about Teena's death. At the time I hadn't heard. I called Greg Williams, from SWITCH, and he confirmed that Teena had died in her sleep in her home in Pasadena. It was a shock because I didn't know that she was having any problems and the last I heard she was touring.

Teena died on December 26, 2010 at the age of 54 years old. One of the best soulful talents the world has come to know. She was a good friend and definitely Miss 'Lady Tee'. I enjoyed our times together and I will miss her dearly.

Teena Marie

Until Next Time - Phillip

COMMERCIAL BREAK - "California Raisins"

If you were around in the mid-80s, I'm sure you remember 'The California Raisins'. The California Raisins experienced high popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s principally through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.

The concept was originally created for a 1986 commercial on behalf of the California Raisin Advisory Board. Well I had the privilege to be a California Raisin for one of their campaigns. It was pretty interesting.

A commercial firm that I had worked with up in the Bay Area called me to do a California Raisin commercial but this was the scenario. The firm had recorded a demo commercial of the California Raisin song, Heard It Through The Grapevine, with another singer up in the San Francisco area. I never got to know who the other singer was. The advertising agency loved the song at first and then they shot the claymation around the commercial demo. But here was the problem, after they finished shooting the claymation, they weren't happy with the singer's voice. They felt that it was a little too harsh once they saw it up against the film.

When I got the call the firm felt that I would be the perfect replacement, but I needed to sing the song pretty much like the other singer because it had to match the movement of the claymation. I was up for the challenge, even though I like to have my own originality on a song whenever  I sing.

I was sent the original demo to listen to and then I was flown up to San Francisco. The Firm that was doing the commercial as well as the advertising agency was there. I matched the rhythm and the melody exactly like the other singer, the agency and the firm was pleased and was about to call it a wrap, but I wasn't. I like to have my own originality I asked that since they have that particular recording could I do another take since I now know the exact rhythm that's needed, etc and put a different spin on it. I told them that it wouldn't hurt anything especially since they were already satisfied with what they had. The producer and I had worked together so he knew what I was capable of and so I was allowed to do another take.

I did my take, matched the rhythm exactly but changed the melody to make it more exciting and to put my signature on this commercial as it were. The firm, and the Ad Agency were very pleased. They said, 'this turned out a lot better than what they expected', especially since they were pleased with the other take. Why did I choose to do that?

Sometimes singers have stories and I didn't want the singer who sang the original demo commercial to be going around telling others that I sang this song the same way that he did, etc, etc. I knew that I needed to change it up enough so that story wouldn't even exist. Everyone was pleased and that particular commercial ran for quite some time.

A friend of mine found the commercial on YouTube, after I published this BLOG, so I was grateful and decided to add it as an update. Enjoy!

For a moment in time I had the privilege to be the lead singer as one of "The California Raisins"


Until Next Time - Phillip

Remembering George Howard

George Howard

I first met George Howard with a great keyboardist by the name of Denzil "Broadway" Miller. Denzil and I co-wrote "Just call my Name" with Ken Curry for Allison Williams which I wrote about in a previous BLOG. George already had a few albums out on the Palo Alto Jazz label. I had heard of George but had never worked with him up to this point.

George and I became friends and I ended up singing on a few of his albums. George's albums were well received and ranked high on the Billboard magazine jazz album charts. George's third album, Dancin in the Sun, scaled the Billboard Jazz Album chart to number 1. Each of his next three albums also reached this height in the Jazz Album charts.

Dancing In the Sun

George was a great player. To me he was one of the best soprano saxophonist that ever lived. He got his start touring with the great Grover Washington Jr, back in the late 70s. Every time we were in the studio with George we had fun. He was a laid back, crazy personality type of guy, and of course this all came out in his music.

I remember once we recorded one of his albums out in Malibu at the beach, I don't remember exactly which album it was, but I remember he had this groove that was pretty funky and we started this chant on the record, "sounds like George, sounds like Howard to me", it fit the record well and that became our little saying every time we would see George.

There's A Riot Goin' On

After working on about 3 or 4 of George's albums I didn't see or hear from George for a few years. Then one day, back in 1998, I received a call from George asking me to come work on this album he was doing for the Blue Note label. George was re-doing instrumentally Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On album which was released back in 1974. This was one of my favorite albums by Sly & The Family Stone so I was looking forward to working on this project. Alexandra Brown, Mortonette Jenkins and myself went down to record the backgrounds.

I still have Sly album on vinyl, but George had the CD. I asked where did he get the CD because I hadn't seen it on CD yet. George said, here you can have this copy I'm done with it. I still have that CD and every time I play that CD I think of George.

About 3 weeks after we recorded the backgrounds on this project Alexandra Brown called me to say that George was in the hospital with stomach cancer. Before I had a chance to see George at the hospital he died on March 20, 1998 at the age of 41.

He was a great player, a good friend and even though his music will live on, he is dearly missed. I'm happy that our lives crossed and that I was able to contribute, even to a small degree, some of my talent to help with his career.

Until Next Time - Phillip Ingram

Working With "Lionel Richie"

Lionel Richie

I first met Lionel Richie when SWITCH was signed to the Motown label back in 1977. At that time the Commodores had just finished their 5th album for Motown, which included "Brick House" & "Easy" and they were enjoying some huge success. The Commodores success became the type of success that SWITCH wanted to reach so we were honored to meet.

Since we were on the same label we would run into the Commodores from time to time at the studio and in the Motown building.  Because SWITCH was an up and coming group at Motown, SWITCH and the Commodores got to know each other.

After Lionel decided to leave the Commodores and pursue a solo career, in 1982, he produced his self-titled debut album. One of the songs that hit #1 was "Truly". As Lionel was performing some of the late night shows, I was asked to sing backgrounds with him on the "Tonight Show".

Lionel had just left the Commodores and at the time I had just recently left SWITCH. We could both relate to being with a group and now being on our own. After Lionel's debut album he had a string of hits and a lot of success with the albums he produced in the 80s.

"Louder Than Words" CD

Lionel continued to produce albums in the 90s, but they didn't match the success of his earlier work. In 1992 Lionel Richie, along with James Carmicheal, who worked as a producer with Lionel with the Commodores, produced an album called "Louder Than Words".  I was asked to come in and sing backgrounds and this was the 2nd time since the "Tonight Show" that I worked with Lionel. Marva King, Lionel Richie and myself sang backgrounds on quite a few songs on the album, but as mentioned before, it didn't reach the same success he had reached prior.

The next time I ended up working with Lionel Richie was in France. I had a duet out with a Soap Opera star named Brenda Epperson. Brenda had enjoyed quite a bit of success on The Young And Restless.  Brenda had left the show but her character was still on the show over in Europe. Because of this Brenda was asked to go to France and perform some shows opening up for Lionel Richie in 5 different cities. Since our duet was gaining popularity I was asked to do this tour with her.

Our last night in France

When we got to France I ran into Sheila E. Sheila was playing percussion for Lionel's tour. We were at the Venue the night of our first show and Sheila asked me if Lionel knew that I was there, and I said no. She took me into Lionel's dressing room, and there was a reunion. The hugs, the surprise! He asked what was I doing there and I told him that we would hanging for a little bit over the next few days because of the duet I had out with Brenda Epperson. Lionel was pleased and introduced me to some people as one of the greatest singers that he knew, which I appreciated.

Our last night was in Paris, France and Lionel's band was performing "All Night Long",  and my wife Rebecca and Yvonne Williams, the other singer that did the tour with me were watching offstage. Sheila E, called me up to perform with them, but not as a singer, I played percussion along side Sheila. Sheila knew that I had played percussion and sang with SWITCH. Since they were doing the song a little different then the record she would grab my arm every time they had a break in the song. It was fun.

As you can see from the picture above, it was my last night and we all took a picture, since Rebecca, Yvonne, Brenda and myself were leaving Lionel's tour. We were only committed to 5 dates. That was the last time that I crossed paths with Lionel, but I have to say that every time, from when we first met back in 1977 all through the late 90s, which covers a span of about 20 years. Lionel was the same, despite his enormous success.

As always, it was great working with Lionel Richie. 


Until Next Time - Phillip