"If I Were Your Woman" (Pre-American Idol)

A SWITCH MOMENT

Switch's 2nd Album

 After the success of SWITCH'S first album, as we were working on our 2nd album, we would have various meetings at the Motown building and from time to time we would have meetings at Berry Gordy's home.

On one of our meetings at the Motown building the whole band was together. So imagine 6 young guys who just had success with a hit album and we're all together having fun. I actually don't remember what the meeting we attended was about but I do remember what happened when we got downstairs in the lobby.

SWITCH playing on the iPhone

There was this girl that ran up to us as we got off of the elevator saying, "Switch, hey you guys are Switch...I love your music". We thanked her for supporting our music. Remember we had just finished a meeting and we were either on our way home or to get something to eat or on our way to band rehearsal. She met the whole band and at this point we were being very nice to her. But then....

She begins to tell us that she could sing, but before we could say anything she started singing, and it was like American Idol because SHE COULDN'T SING! - She started singing, "If I Were Your Woman, and you were my man"...by Gladys Knight. Here comes the sad part, Tommy DeBarge fell out in laughter because he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Tommy's laughter triggered the whole band's laughter and it was hard to control. Tommy was laughing at her, the rest of the band was laughing at Tommy's laughter.

The girl obviously got her feelings hurt, and just like American Idol, when a person is rejected then they tend to attack. This girl got mad at us and said, "well you guys don't look like your album cover" and this made me say..."Well how did you know who we were?" which caused more laughter from the band.

The sad thing is meeting her started nice, she was a nice girl, she let's us know that she can sing, we didn't ask her to show us, she choose to show us on her own, she couldn't sing and thus this little moment which could've ended well ended up in disaster, or laughter depending on how you want to look at it.

Thus a little SWITCH moment in history of many, many more to come.

Until next time - Phillip

SWITCH today, sharing some of the moments from the past with some of our newest band members. 

 

"The Steubenville Boy's Choir" - A SWITCH Moment

SWITCH 1st album Photo Shoot

When our first few hits came out, "There'll Never Be'', "I Wanna Be Closer", "I Call Your Name", etc we were touring the whole country. Because of the popularity of the group we had fake names when we would check into our hotels. Why would we do that?

Well when artists come to perform in different towns true fans know how to find where the artists are staying, they know the schedule etc. We learned from Jermaine Jackson that you need to have some type of diversions for the fans. For example, when the Jackson 5 were up and coming Jermaine told us that after a concert they would have 2 limousines with dark windows go one way and the brothers would hop into a Volkswagen, after the crowd followed the limo's and go a different direction. This diversion was very successful.

SWITCH LIVE!

So what was our diversion? Jody Sims, our original drummer was from Steubenville, Ohio which is a pretty small town. We traveled around the country as "The Steubenville Boy's Choir". When we would check into our hotel, the hotel knew that we were SWITCH, but they would make our rooming list out as The Steubenville's Boy's Choir. This list showed our rooms but we all had fake names on the list. I think Greg was Jack Daniels, I know that I was D. Pepsi and I can't remember some of the others right now. Did it work? Absolutely! I remember one time some fans were trying to find different ones in the group and they had seen the rooming list by accident, and they said "this isn't the list". A true diversion.

Phillip

We definitely had a lot of fun back then traveling under a different name. playing in different cities. There were still some fans that would find us, which always happens, but for the majority of the fans, they couldn't find SWITCH, the only found The Steubenville Boy's Choir.

Until Next Time - Phillip 

November 26 - December 3, 2011 "Busy but fulPhiling Week"

SWITCH, SWV, Lenny Williams

What a week this has been from November 26 - December 3, 2011. First of all SWITCH had been in rehearsals for a few weeks for an upcoming concert with SWV, and Lenny Williams. On November 26 we had the concert. It was a smaller audience than anticipated, but the ones that were there definitely enjoyed themselves.

SWV sounded wonderful, then Lenny Williams performed followed by SWITCH. We performed to an audience of about 350 who jammed until the last note. A little before SWITCH went on stage we ran into Bunny DeBarge backstage. As you know Bunny is the sister of both Bobby and Tommy DeBarge. I asked Bunny if she didn't mind coming up to sing a little bit, and she said she didn't mind. I didn't quite know where we were going to bring her up, so during the show I went to Akili and let him know that I would bring her up just before our last song, which is "I Call Your Name". As we ended a medley that we do in the show, I walked into the audience and pulled up Bunny to sing with us. Greg gave her a mic, and she took the first verse, Akili took the 2nd verse and then the three of us did ad-libs and it really solidified SWITCH'S November 26th performance. Some say 'we brought the house down'. 

Phillip, David, Raina, and Earl

On Monday November 28th I left for Japan to do some shows with Sheena Easton. We flew into Tokyo and then took another flight into Nagoya Japan, where we performed 2 shows at the world renown Blue Note on Wednesday November 30th. As you can see from in the picture on the right, this is right before we were going on stage.  Next to me is Dave Hart, Sheena's guitarist and Earl Campbell, Sheena's drummer. Raina was our host for the Blue Note and she did a great job of taking care of us while at the Blue Note

Our first performance was at 6:30 pm and the 2nd performance was at 9:15 pm. Since 2007 Sheena Easton has been asked back to Japan every single year, playing at either the Blue Note, Billboard Live or the Cotton Club. We start off 2012 going back to Japan again performing in Osaka and Tokyo at the Billboard Live.

Bullet Train

On December 1st we took the 'Bullet Train' from Nagoya to Tokyo where we were performing 2 shows for Harry Winston Jewelers. Both of these shows were private affairs.  The 'Bullet Train' is a smooth high-speed railway with maximum speeds  of 149-186 mph. We reached our destination of about 274 miles in about an hour and a half. We enjoyed some nice Japanese countryside scenery and probably one of the most smoothest modes of transportation I know of. This is our 2nd time riding the 'Bullet Train' in our travels in Japan.

We performed one show on December 1st and the 2nd show on December 2nd. Again these were private affairs with some of the most gorgeous jewelry your eyes have ever beheld. Sheena had on some jewelry from the Harry Winston collection. It was understated, beautiful and worth about $1,000,000. Both of these shows went well.

On December 3rd, we left Tokyo and arrived back in LA on Dec 3rd. 5 shows in one week from Culver City, California to Tokyo and Nagoya Japan. This definitely was a busy but very fulphiling week.

Until Next Time - Phillip

SWITCH Rocks Lock 3

On July 24, 2011 Akron, Ohio celebrated the African-American Festival @ Lock 3 in Downtown Akron. Headlining the festival was SWITCH! There were a couple of local acts that also performed. This proved to be a great time because Eddie Fluellen and myself are from Akron, Ohio and since SWITCH'S inception, we've never played in Akron. We've played other cities in Ohio, but not Akron.
We were able to see some old friends, make some new ones and spend time with the family as well.
Lock 3 had a great turnout, 8,000 people showed up to celebrate SWITCH'S coming to the home town.

So how did the show go you ask? Allow me to let you read some of the comments that have been sent to my FaceBook Page:

• Joi wrote, "Enjoyed the show Sunday at Lock 3 and your new lead singer, Akili Nickson, is great, as well as the whole group, hope you come home again". 
• William said, "Great show, you just don't know how much we enjoyed it and hope you can do it again in the near future"

• Rick wrote, "Phillip, you and the band were AWESOME, East High still rocks!
• Laura said, "Phillip, it was Great to see you and the band....great show!
• Cheryl..."Phenomenal performance! It was wonderful to see you. 
• Shamon..."Very good show...loved every minute of it...done with class represented well! Ole school=the ONLY school"
• Christina - "Fabulous show last night -so enjoyed the entire evening with old friends and great sounds. 

• Lucia, "Excellent concert last night Phillip. I had a great time. Always have and will be a fan of SWITCH. Take care my dear friend, see you on your next visit home"
• Karen - "Great concert! Always loved listening to you sing my friend!"
• Jeff - "Hey Phillip, excellent show, jam packed crowd. I like the way you guys did "I Wanna Be Closer", "Next To You", and "Calling On All Girls", then again the whole show was TIGHT!!!!
• Derrick - "What's up Phillip?Just wanted to say we had a great (memorable) time with you and the group SWITCH downtown in Akron on Sunday. I must say that after listening to your music since you started and watching your rise to fame I often wondered if and when you would return to Akron to do a show and I have to say it was well worth the wait. You are very humble and down to earth and if you don't mind me saying so, pretty doggone silly too. LOL. Don't take so long coming back the next time, we would love to have you, your hometown family..."
• Richard - "I'm not just saying it but that was the best doggone show I've seen all year"
• Steven -"Hey Phillip the show was absolutely fantastic last night. You guys really brought back the memories for me."
• Melinda - "Phillip, I'll be talking about that show you did tonight in Akron until I am 90 years old. You all were super".....
• Cheryl - "Superlative! Phenomenal! There are no better words for describing tonight's performance. WOW! You blew me away! I had the most amazing time. Thank you for giving Akron the gift of SWITCH!"

Even the Mayor of Akron wanted to take a picture with me he said..."we've received more compliments from this show than any other show that we've brought in"...

So in essence, SWITCH Rocked Lock 3 :-)

Until Next Time - Phillip 

"Wow wow wow !!!!!!! What an AMAZING concert

On February 11, 2011 SWITCH performed at Morongo Casino in the VIBE room. Every Friday Morongo brings back the 'old school' with what they call 'Funky Friday' Well right after our concert on Friday night Bruce McClure, Executive Director Of Operations, came to SWITCH'S dressing room and asked us, 'how would you feel if we asked you to come back?" We thought, what a nice compliment to the 90-minute show that we had just performed.

What made Bruce talk about bringing SWITCH back? Normally the VIBE room at Morongo on a Friday night typically attracts a crowd of about 435 people, which is a good crowd. The attendance for our concert was 750 and everyone was, as I say, 'Jammin'. When we performed "There'll Never Be" & "Love Over & Over" people were singing every lyric. Some of the comments were, ..."we couldn't hardly hear you guys from the crowd singing your songs..." You can take that a couple of ways, we take it as a compliment. People want to enjoy themselves, and enjoy themselves they did. The fact that people were dancing with their partners and singing the lyrics, both women AND men, to many of our songs showed us that they were there to have a good time and they did.

When the band was introduced to do their 'solos' during "We Like To Party', I have to say that James Strong, our bass player, did a GREAT solo. The crowd went wild. So from the funk to the ballads & harmonies that SWITCH is known for, it all came together in Friday Night's Performance.

Let me allow you to read a couple of comments that was posted on my Facebook page after our Friday night performance:

Terrance wrote @ 2:34 am :
"I FINALLY got a chance to see my FAVORITE group, that was an awsome show tonight. I drove all the way from Salinas to catch this one.. AMAZINGGGGG.....  if I would have closed my eyes I would have said Bobby was on that stage with you..."


Matt wrote:
Great show guys!...thanks for letting me know it was going down.


Charlene wrote @ 2:30 am:
"Wow wow wow !!!!!!! What an AMAZING concert tonight @ Morengo Casino...you guys blew it up!!!!! Switch still is and will always be my favorite band of all time!!!! Akilli if I didn't know I would have thought he was a DeBarge."


These are just a few of the many comments that we received in appreciation of Friday night's performance. As always I'll keep you informed of upcoming performances with SWITCH especially when we'll be coming to a town near you. But in the meantime I think that Charlene's words summed up the night - "Wow wow wow !!!!!!! What an AMAZING concert...


Until Next Time - Phillip 

I thought SWITCH only had 3 albums???

A SWITCH MOMENT:

Some people have been surprised to know that SWITCH had 5 albums instead of 3. Of course the die-hard SWITCH fans are aware of all 5 of our records because many of these fans have posted songs from every one of our records on YouTube. It's funny saying albums because these days the term album is rarely used, it's more cd's, recordings, mp3's, etc. and the list goes on. But back in the day we worked on ALBUMS.

Here is SWITCH'S Discography: 

SWITCH

Our 1st release was back in 1978. The album was titled 'SWITCH'. This was the album that introduced our band to the world. The album went platinum and it included the hits "There'll Never Be" & "I Wanna Be Closer", which are still some of the fans favorites. Boys II Men re-recorded "There'll Never Be" and the group SWV also re-recorded "There'll Never Be" and sang it on a TV show.

SWITCH II

Our 2nd release was titled "SWITCH II", this was released back in 1979 and it reached the Gold status. The hits from this album were "Best Beat In Town" and "I Call Your Name", which has become a SWITCH classic and has been used and re-recorded by other artists. We always close our shows with "I Call Your Name". Incidentally when DeBarge, or El DeBarge, Tommy & Bobby's younger brothers, perform live they always include "I Call Your Name" and sometimes they'll do "There'll Never Be". It's sort of a tribute to their older brother Bobby who died back in 1995.

Reaching For Tomorrow

Our 3rd release was titled "Reaching For Tomorrow" which was released in 1980. The single from this album was called "Don't Take My Love Away" and one of the songs that really has also become a SWITCH favorite but was never a single was "My Friend In The Sky". If you notice on this album there aren't any pictures and the logo is slightly different. Sad to say SWITCH was going through some internal problems at the time and Motown decided not to put a picture on the cover. This album came on the charts and jumped 61 positions when it was released just based on the momentum from the other 2 records, but the momentum only carried the record so far. We lost momentum and ended up not getting a 'hit' from this particular record. Thus one of the reasons people think we only had 3 albums.

This Is My Dream

Our 4th release was titled "This Is My Dream". This album was released in 1981 and included the hit "Love Over & Over" and the 2nd single was "You & I". This album brought our momentum back, and obviously Motown decided to put the groups picture back on the cover. "Love Over & Over" reached the 10 ten on the R & B charts. After this record and our tours, Bobby DeBarge decided to leave the band, more internal problems.

SWITCH V

SWITCH V was released in 1982 and included the single "Call On Me". Again you notice pictures of the group on the record. Bobby was working on a solo career but his solo career never took off. Sometimes keeping things the way they are makes more sense. So again momentum was lost and "Call On Me" got a lot of radio play but didn't get a lot of sales. It's what's known as a 'radio hit', but the sales didn't match.

You may have noticed, the records with the pictures of the group on the cover sold more than the other 2 records with no pictures. These are the 3 that most fans remember. Our 3rd & 5th albums aren't as known to the public but to the die-hard SWITCH fans, they were aware of all of our work.

After we left Motown, back in 1982, while we were working on a 6th album, they released 'The Best Of Switch' in 1984. By this time CD's were out and so this was released on CD. This CD sold quite well and continues to do so.

20 years later, 2004, Motown re-packaged and re-released the 'Best of Switch'. It's known as the 'Best of Switch - 20th Anniversary CD'. The fact that they took the time to re-release this CD means that it's still selling.



I also found out that a company called BBR records has the rights to re-release all 5 of our albums in 2011. At this time we don't know the actual date, but we do know that the re-releasing is in the works.

So there you have it, 5 albums, and 2 'Best of Switch' CDs was released on the group and more to come in 2011. Instead of I thought SWITCH only had 3 albums, now you understand why, but also you can see, there's a lot more.

Until Next Time - Phillip

'Best Beat In Town - SWITCH

 A 'SWITCH' MOMENT: 

Switch II - The 2nd Album

We first arrived in California back in the spring of 1977. We lived in the San Fernando Valley and Greg, Bobby, Tommy & myself rented a home, which had become the band house.The living room didn't have any furniture we just had our instruments set up in the living room so that we could rehearse and write songs. It was truly a bachelor's pad. But, do you ever wonder how songs sometimes get their titles? This is a pretty funny story.

The Motown building was on the corner of Sunset & Vine in Hollywood which was about 12 miles or so away from the band house. We would travel back and forth to meetings, etc. So we would see various restaurants around town.  One day we saw this one small hole in the wall restaurant in North Hollywood that had the slogan "Best Beef In Town". Their were some jokes that went around about that slogan. 

From that slogan Bobby used to play this groove on the piano and sing 'Best Beef In Town, Best Beef all around' just being silly. But the melody was catchy and we used to sing it for fun. So from time to time that was one of our little jokes between ourselves.

Eventually the idea went from 'Best Beef In Town,' a slogan for a restaurant to 'Best Beat In  Town'. This actually fit the band. So Bobby played around with the chorus and came up with a verse, we put our touches and 'Best Beat In Town' was born. This became the 1st single on our 2nd Album and it did quite well. One of the only upbeat singles that we recorded. Definitely part of the disco days :-)

As I mentioned in a previous BLOG as to how we got our name, we all play various instruments and would switch instruments on various songs. In the studio usually Jody Sims played the drums but on the 'Best Beat In Town' that's actually Bobby DeBarge playing the drums AND he's playing the congas on the song as well as some of the keyboards. You can also hear him scatting some Popeye vocals on the bridge. That was a fun song and we still have fun performing it today.

So when you hear 'Best Beat In Town' playing on one of those old school radio stations or you're dusting off one of your old vinyls of Switch, realize that the 'Best BEEF In Town' became the 'Best BEAT In Town' showing that inspirations for songs came literally come from anywhere.

Until Next Time - Phillip

How Did 'SWITCH" Get Their Name?

'SWITCH' - "This Is My Dream"

A 'SWITCH' MOMENT: 

One of the questions that I've gotten over the years is 'how did SWITCH get their name? Greg Williams formed the band back in December of 1976. We put together a demo in a studio in Columbus, Ohio. Greg Williams and Jody Sims flew out to California in hopes of getting a record deal. They went into the Motown building to visit an attorney that they knew.

Jackson 5

As they were leaving his office and got on the elevator, Jermaine Jackson of the Jackson 5 also got on the elevator. Jermaine got off on the 5th floor, which was the parking level and Greg & Jody said to themselves, 'we should've given Jermaine a tape' (DUH!) They went back up to the 5th floor and Jermaine was still sitting in his car looking for something to play for his drive home. He was nice enough to accept the tape and they asked him to listen to the tape. Jermaine listened to the tape and called Greg back and asked 'what's happening with this group?'  Greg & Jody let him know that we didn't have a record deal. So Jermaine got Motown interested in the group.

We were doing our showcase for Motown and as we do normally, we would play various instruments during our showcase. Greg would play the trumpet and the keyboards and sing lead & background vocals. Eddie would play the trombone and the keyboards. Bobby & I were playing the keyboards and singing lead & backgrounds, etc. So we literally were 'switching' instruments during our showcase for Motown.

Suzanne De Passe

We then had a meeting with Suzanne De Passe about getting with Motown. Suzanne said, "I've never seen so much 'switching' of instruments in my life!' I said, jokingly, 'why don't we call the band SWITCH, because of Suzanne's comment.

SWITCH - 1st Album

Well the next day Jody mentioned that even though that was a joke, we should run that name by Motown. They loved the idea because that was really the essence of who we were, thus 'SWITCH' was born releasing "There'll Never Be" in 1978 and the album, yes I said album, CD's didn't exist in those days, was released shortly after.

The rest as they say is history. Tune in for more SWITCH moments in the future.


Until next time - Phillip