still rising - the s.o.s. band are in the uk next · pdf file... gave the band new momentum...

STILL RISING - THE S.O.S. BAND ARE IN THE UK NEXT MONTH AND TALK TO SJF

Written by Charles WaringThursday, 22 October 2015 09:39 - Last Updated Saturday, 24 October 2015 08:25

In the spring of 1980, an unknown band from Atlanta came from nowhere and took the UScharts by storm with the infectious dance floor burner, 'Take Your Time (Do It Right).' They werecalled the S.O.S. Band and their debut single (written and produced by the late Sigidi Abdullah)spent five weeks nestled at the top of the American R&B singles chart that summer. Moresignificantly, its across-the-board popularity was such that it crossed over into the US popcharts (Billboard's The Hot 100) rising to #3 and selling a million copies in the process.

Its meteoric success suddenly thrust the seven-piece Georgia funk and soul group - fronted bysmoky-voiced singer, Mary Davis - into the limelight but during the next two years in the wakeof that phenomenal debut hit, the group struggled to emulate its success with subsequentsingles.

A fortuitous hook up with Time members and budding tunesmiths, Jimmy 'Jam' Harris and Terry Lewis, gave the band new momentum and a new 'electro' sound and they scored a series of biginternational hits, beginning with 'Just Be Good To Me,' in 1983 and followed by 'Tell Me If YouStill Care,' 'Just The Way You Like It,' 'No One's Gonna Love You,' 'Weekend Girl,' The Finest,'and 'Borrowed Love' during a fertile three-year period. Mary Davis's departure for a solo careerin 1987 didn't sink the band, which continued with Pennye Ford on vocals and continued torecord well into the I990s.

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Recently, Mary Davis - whose husky, soulful vocals gave the band a distinctive sound - returnedto the fold and the long-running group - who've always been popular with the UK soulcommunity - are coming over to the UK in November to perform at two Great Voices Of Soulconcerts In London and Birmingham) alongside fellow soul legends Patti LaBelle, TheWhispers, Gwen Dickey, Loose Ends, Soul II Soul and Meli'sa Morgan. Ahead of the concertsand with a new album in the pipeline, the band's long-serving original members, Mary Davisand Abdul Ra'oof, chewed the fat with SJF's Charles Waring...

Now, if we can go right back to the beginning, Mary, how did the SOS band come intobeing in the first place and how did you get recruited?

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I lived in New York for a while and then moved to Atlanta. At that time I was looking for a bandto perform with so on the strip there was this club, The Regal Room, in South West Atlanta. Iwent to the club because everybody said a band was there so I went and performed a song atthe club and the manager/owner of the club liked my voice. Jason (Bryant, a founder member ofthe original SOS Band), also lived in Atlanta. He had been overseas in Europe for about sixmonths and he came back home, and he was there looking for work. The owner of the club saidto us, he called us in his office and said if we would put a band together he would hire us for sixmonths. So Jason went and got different musicians and we went into the woodshed and wepracticed and we did most of the Top Ten hits of that time and we started singing and playing atthe club on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and then after that we started playing like sevennights a week and then one of the horn players, Billy Ellis - who passed away a while back - heknew Bunny Ransom (who became the band's manager) who knew Clarence Avant who ranTabu Records. Clarence was looking for a group to sign up. She (Bunny) told us to go into thestudio and do a demo and we did and she sent it to Clarence. Clarence liked what he heard andhe said he wanted to sign us up. Then he sent (producer/songwriter) Sigidi Abdullah to Atlantato record us and 'Take Your Time' came out of that and that's history from there.

You were called Santa Monica, I believe, before you became the SOS Band?

That was the name of the time that we played in the club - Santa Monica. We were told that thatname was too long so we were told to come up with a shorter name, so we all threw names inthe hat but Sigidi was the one that came up with SOS Band, which stands for Sounds OfSuccess.

Abdul, you joined a little later after Mary. How did you come on board?

I was a local musician playing here (in Atlanta) and I was approached by (saxophonist) BillyEllis to be a part of the group and I heard the band perform on 'Take Your Time.' There weretwo songs that they had done already, already recorded, when I joined the band but I was ableto be recording on the remaining songs, horn-wise. I think I may have done some vocals, but Idid all the horn work, because they were looking for a horn player. I knew Jason and he knewme from playing in Atlanta. I was playing locally and they wanted someone that could doubleup. I was percussion, trumpet, singer and entertainer, so I was blessed to be a part of thatgroup and I joined in the summer of '79 during the time when the record was out. I used to go tothe Regal Room so most of us knew each other basically. But that's how the offer came to meand it's been an excellent journey for me.

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What was Clarence Avant like to work with?

Mary: Stern. (Laughs). He was so stern and very businesslike.

Abdul: He's so informed. I talked to him every now and then. He has so much knowledge andhe's like the Godfather. He did so many things and touched so many artists' lives through hisera of being in the industry. He's not doing too much now but he's still doing pretty well. But hewas kind of like Berry Gordy of the Motown story. He was very similar and he was a politician aswell. (The band's manager) Bunny Ransom's ex-husband at the time was Maynard Jackson,who was the mayor in Atlanta. So his relationship was closer to Clarence than even Bunny was.

What about the producer, Sigidi Abdullah - what do you recall about him, because heco-wrote and produced your debut hit, 'Take Your Time' didn't he?

Mary: Sigidi was a true artist because he had a way of using words and putting them togetherto make a story and he was also an excellent person, I really enjoyed working with him. He wasalso stern too when we were in the studio (laughs). He liked perfection: he liked everything to bejust right. We stayed in the studio all night with those vocals on 'Take Your Time.' I took mypillow and my blanket (laughs). He was just stern and a beautiful person.

Abdul: Sigidi was a guy that you'd seldom find today. He could give you a song lyrically withoutany music but the content and the lyrics would just overwhelm you. You hadn't really heard thetrack yet but you'd get the idea and you might call him back the next day and say: did you saythat? That was crazy? Did you use that word? That was really great. So, he was a third-eyethinking person, a very cerebral kind of guy, a spiritual guy, and we miss him dearly. He waspart of the family and I don't think the SOS Band would be where they are today without Sigidi.He was the anchor and he was also the visionary person that really loved the SOS Band.

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Your debut single, 'Take Your Time (Do It Right),' was a number one single and a millionseller. How did it feel to be so successful so early on? Mary: To me it was like a dream come true because when I was a kid I used to dream that Iwould see my name on a billboard and in lights. I lived in New York for a while when I firststarted and I would knock on the doors of different record companies and was turned down. Soto come from where I was as a kid to see my name on billboards and playing at the Apollo, andMadison Square Garden - because that was a dream as well - it was just fantastic. Did having a number one so early on in the band's career put pressure on you to live upto to that success? Mary: Somewhat, I think, because when you have a number one hit people expect you to dothat consistently over and over again but very seldom that happens and the thing about it, wedid the best that we could because the expectations were so high and sometimes it's hard tofollow that but we did the best that we could. Abdul: You've got to look at the fact that that was a megahit. Mary used to call it, what Mary thenational anthem of 1980. It was played so much that people almost got tired of it. It wasincredible so, to follow that was hard... there were big expectations afterwards but you neverknow what's going to happen. We knew it was a good song but we didn't know what it wasgoing to do. No one knew that (Michael Jackson's) 'Thriller' was going to be what it was. Theyknew that it was a great song but you just can't call it out. You just do the best you can, likeMary says. But it took the band a couple of years to find its momentum again, didn't it? Abdul: Yeah, we went through some changes there... As a matter of fact with the second album('SOS Band Too') we went through some problems production-wise - bad tapes - and ourtimeline was a little different than it should have been which made it difficult for us to pursue andfollow-up on that particular album. But that was when we were introduced to (Jimmy) Jam &(Terry) Lewis through 'High Hopes.' That was a single that went another direction. We weretrying to find our way but it was our introduction to Jam & Lewis, they wrote that song. Theydidn't produce it but they were writers for a lot of different artists, a writing team, and LeonSilvers was given the duty to produce the band with Gene Dozier and they presented the song'High Hopes,' which was a song written by Jimmy and Terry.

What qualities did Jam & Lewis bring to the band that you didn't have before? Mary: I felt that Jam & Lewis took what we had and came up with something different becausethey studied Sigidi's 'Take Your Time' along with the musicians that we had - we were a bandthat had different backgrounds in music - so they did their homework and brought 'Just Be GoodTo Me,' 'Just The Way Like It,' and it came out pretty cool. Abdul: It was a time-change in sound and one of the things they did, we went away fromanalogue and it started going digital - the whole drum machine sound, that was a new thing forus. Those same elements were in 'Take Your Time' but they were played by percussion players,because we always had a percussion track in our songs but the invention of the Roland 808drum machine, which is a sound within itself, and the Oberheim, the keyboard that they used todo a lot of those tracks, it was just a unique sound. And that sound is relevant today - the soundis really close to a lot of things that you hear today. Given that you are self-contained band with horns and a rhythm section, was there anyresistance when Jam & Lewis wanted to bring in drum machines and synthesisers? Mary: No. We welcomed it. Abdul: No, we were excited by the tracks. It was different. Naturally, we horn players saidoh-oh, no horns because it took away the horn section itself but it gave us something totallydifferent and another way of doing it. Those songs, that we recorded without horns, for liveentertainment we've added horn arrangements to give it that live feel and to hit those spotswhere we can and to keep the energy in it. What were Jam & Lewis like to work with in the studio? How did they present their songsto you? Mary: They would do basic rhythm tracks and bring them to us. Like Rao'of said, being themusicians that we were, the guys allowed our musicians to be themselves. Like I said earlier,we had different types of musicians: some played gospel, some played R&B, some played jazz,some played rock, so with all of that combined we were able to come up with that particularsound. You had lots of hits with them at the helm with 'Just Be Good To Me' probably thebiggest - what are your recollections of those days? Mary: Yes, that one was our biggest with them, because there are quite a few people that redidthat song. It just brought about a change, like Ra'oof said, for the musicians and the soundchanged. It was a wonderful change and we welcomed that change.

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Abdul: It was a great team. We were a great team. Jam & Lewis (pictured left) were youngguys with fresh ideas. It was like any team - a basketball team, a football team or whatever.They were able to manage the musicians, like Mary said, and get us to use our gifts and find away to bring it to the tracks that they may brought and make it the SOS Band. That's what wecreated. One of the things that I remember most was, the day that they got fired (by Prince,from The Time). It was probably the best thing that ever happened to them but it was a situationthat they had to think about. We were already in a groove by that time. We got snowed in. Itdoesn't snow in Atlanta that much but they couldn't fly out. They were touring with The Time andthey couldn't fly out and missed the date. They got fired but it was probably the best thing thatever happened because they became the iconic producers of the '80s from that point startingout with the SOS Band. And I'm so grateful that we were instrumental in their success andtotally a part of that, and they will as well, part of that whole journey that they've taken. You certainly were, weren't you, and that's an amazing story. As you said, it worked totheir benefit that Jam & Lewis got fired in the end. Mary: (laughs) To me was an act of God because in Atlanta it never snowed and that was thefirst time that it happened in a hundred years. Atlanta didn't have any snow ploughs so the snowjust came and people left their cars on the highway and walked home. Everything was shutdown. Airports, the whole bit. The whole town was shut down everybody was gone. So that waslike a blessing in disguise and they missed their gig. Abdul: 'That's right. We already had a process going, a vibe that we knew was going to bespecial. We all he knew it was going to be special so we were already in that mode of recordingso it just made them put more interest in it because they didn't have to go backwards andforwards so they could focus on the band. At that time we became their total focus, not themplaying with The Time and going back and forth. We became their total focus. So it worked forus as well.

Were you surprised that the single 'Just Be Good To Me' and its parent album 'On TheRise' took off so spectacularly? Mary: No, I wasn't because everybody wants somebody to be good to them and the wordsthemselves standout. "I don't care about anybody else - just be good to me." We're good(laughs). Abdul: 'Take Your Time' wasn't by chance. It was a well-thought-out song and the wholeprocess was intentional. So Jimmy and Terry studied that. 'Take Your Time' was a song thatthat had a guitar break, a bass break, it was long and a whole lot went on in that song. Hornbreaks as well. They (Jam & Lewis) did some of the same things. Percussion breaks. They didsome of the same things but it was just a new feel based on the instrumentation they used andJust Be Good to Me had the elements of power, it had a sing-along track, a nice funky drumtrack, and all these things, these elements, that made really made the song feel good. Marytopped it off. She topped it off with her voice - no one has a voice like and when that voice goeson the track and it goes on well it just matches up well with the track and it goes down well. Weused to say it goes on good on tape - we don't do tape anymore but it does the same thing. Let's talk about the Great Voices of Soul concerts in London and Birmingham nextmonth. What is the S.O.S. Band going to serve up? Mary: Nothing but the best. We're going to serve up all the hits that people love listening to andwe're going to to do a great performance. We're looking forward to coming and having a goodtime. We look forward to that. What's in the set list? Abdul: The set time is going to determine what we play but we don't have those logistics yetbut it's going to cover most bases. We've been blessed with so many good songs so it's goingto be a great show for you guys and for the people that are going to be on there with us, theother artists. Who's in the band these days besides you two guys? Abdul: When we put this (version of the) band together, in '94, most of these musicians havebeen around and been friends and we've played when we were reformed placing musicians inthe band. They're excellent guys, excellent musicians, good people to be around and it's a verygood environment for us to be in while we are travelling, performing and doing great things welove to do. What about your previous visits to the UK? What can you remember about coming to theUK in the '80s? Mary: The UK has always been a major market for us and every time we come it's always awonderful thing because the people there like our music, and we love them for liking our musicand we just really feel for each other. We have a good time. Abdul: Europe has always been like a musician's base. They love great entertainment, theylove great music and it's a great atmosphere for musicians and artists to be able to come andgive their talents and share that gift with everybody and you get it back and people reallyappreciate you and really appreciate your art. So we get that from them and we always lovecoming there because we know it's going to be a great audience...and that's part of our wholething, performing, as well. Catch the S.O.S. Band live in the UK next month at the

Great Voices Of Soul concerts: Wembley (SSE Arena,Sunday 15th November) and Birmingham (O2 Academy,16th November).

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Want to find out more and contribute to the S.O.S. Band's new album? Go to: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sosband

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http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sosband

still rising - the s.o.s. band are in the uk next · pdf file... gave the band new momentum...

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