So, imagine you are the “new hire” at a record company. You have always LOVED that one Cliff Dawson lp. You know the one that was so great they released it TWICE with the same cover, but a different title?

You got lucky, you did. You did some freelancing for a company years ago and suggested they reissue Cliff Dawson “Cliff who”? They asked.

“On Boardwalk records” I answered, confident that they just needed to be reminded.

“Boardwalk who”? They responded. Oh just great. Well at least they didn’t get stuck on who Cliff Dawson was- they just didnt know anything.

Another time, I produced a wedding songs CD. Cliff was on my “lets get this track” list. “Cliff who”? they asked. “This fantastic duet with Renee Diggs of Starpoint” I responded. “Yes! Starpoint! Secret Lovers, love that record!” they responded. At that moment I felt like the new guy in prison. Everybody here is stupid and violent and no matter what happens? Everybodys gonna get fucked.

I opted for easy prison time. I bent over, clenched my teeth and removed Cliff Dawson from my list.

Flash forward a few years. I’m now working for FTG. And we are gonna license CLIFF DAWSON. Even better we get to combine the 2 lps and fix the idea that one version has the duet with Renee Diggs “Never Say I Do (If You Dont Mean It)”, and the other version has the boogie slam-dunk, funky-jam, ”I Can Love You Better”.  The Great Universal Catalog A&R Harry Weinger once taught me that in producing reissues “all the mistakes have already been made”.  THIS PROVED IT~! The error that Boardwalk made in 1981, because we had already seen it- well in 2008 we could FIX IT and do it right!

You know the TV show “LOST”? I’m the LOST guy. Our company is in the UK. Our owners Anthony Calvert and Matt Murphy are in the UK. Me? I’m on the island of New York. 5 hours and an airplane ride away. But see…CLIFF DAWSON lives on the island, too!

And one of the things I had been trying to do during the production of the Cliff Dawson CD was interview the man. I knew people that knew him: George Littlejohn of Purpose Music and legendary producer, remixer, songwriter Paul Simpson. But I didnt know him. Paul got Cliff to call me….two weeks AFTER the CD had gone to production. But still…Cliff called ME. I’m not so jaded that I dont excited over the prospect of a recording artist calling me, because I do. I was jazzed. Tony was jazzed. We made the appointment to talk face-to-face, and by the time he got here I should have the CDs fresh off the presses.

So, then in walks CLIFF DAWSON….

Immediatly I curve my spine in deference. Cliff looks like his album cover, just with dreads. Remember the album cover that came out in 1982? The smiling face, the trim body? It’s the same guy. The EXACT same guy. But it’s 2009. TWENTY SEVEN years later. The man is is not a man, he’s a GOD. He’s ripped, cut, trim and buff.

I thank god that my soon to be wife is not here. This could get ugly. Meaning ME in comparison to The God that just walked into my home. And he can sing, too? GAME OVER. GAME OVER. GAME OVER! ABORT ABORT ABORT!

Luckily my system kicked in and began to replace some of the testosterone that had drained from my body. I straightened my spine (only a little), and we began to talk………

Why are there TWO different versions of your debut LP?

The finished song ”Never say I Do” got to Ruben Rodriguez the Boardwalk A & R executive around the first or second week the album was released, he loved it so much the Label decided to pull the Album and include it. It was going to be on my album or the next Starpoint album….and I won.

 

Did you know that the song ”I can love you better” that Boardwalk removed to make way for another track “Never Say I Love You” was becoming your signature song in the U.K.?

I had no idea the song “I Can Love You Better” would become a hit in Europe, musician friends of mine would call me and say you got a hit in Europe with that song that they took off the album. I only regret not doing the Overseas tour that was planned with Starpoint at the time, that was one of the fun tunes to play.  

 

No performer comes from “nowhere”- besides your fantastic songwriting pedigree, were you part of any groups or bands early in your career?

For sure, I was lead singer for a band called Pleasure House of Detention which then went on to change it’s name to Zenith. They did one Album for CBS. It was with those guys that I really got my singing and writing chops together. Dexter Daley, Tito Pediford, Dave Revels, Terri Burrus, Jeff Medina & cast  

Why was there no immediate follow-up to your Boardwalk LP?

Actually there was supposed to be a follow up on Motown. After Neil Bogart the head of the label (and the legendary head of Casablanca Records and Filmworks) passed suddenly from Cancer my manager at the time- Lionel Job pretty much had a deal in Principle with the Label. The songs were written and ready to go, then we got the news that Motown was up for sale and the deal was pretty much off………To this day when I listen to those songs I think about how good the second album would have been. At that time I’d met and became good friends with Jolyon Skinner writer extra-ordanaire who penned hits for Jonathan Butler, Billy Ocean, Joe, Freddie Jackson (to name a few) and we wrote most or all of the songs with Marvin Ennis & Dave Revels. I’m seriously thinking about releasing those songs.

How do you feel about your career? Any Highs? Low Points you care to discuss?

Like any new Artist I was dissappointed in not following up with a second album. I truly wanted to be a “Serious Performing Artist” and be around for a while, then I met Super Producer Keith Diamond- started hanging out with him- and was bit by the writing bug~! I got signed as a writer and basically dissapeared into the background.     

 

Was there a performer you wanted to collaborate with, but did not have the opportunity?

Absolutely~! When I was out promoting my album I met the BAR-KAYS  in Memphis. They were big fans of my Album and I was hoping maybe sometime we could do some work together, considering I was a big fan of Otis Redding (with whom they previously played), plus they were amazing funky players with a great, cool show.  

You came around in the middle of a pivotal time in music- things were moving from more organically based instruments to keyboards and sequencers- how did this affect what you wanted to do with your music?

Like everybody else at the time I jumped on the sequencing and drum machine bandwagon. It’s a great tool when songwriting- you can flesh out songs- changes and instrumentation on the cheap. All it took was one hit song with that sound and everybody including the Major and Independent Labels at the time wanted that sound. Then you had people making “hit” records and getting deals who weren’t really that talented. It was all the production tricks. It was a pretty frustrating period for me as a musician. 

 
Do you realize just how many people WORLDWIDE care about you as a performer and wish you would do another solo project?

As time went by yes I started to realize the effect that Album and my music had on people all over. Once again, friends would call and tell me about articles and pieces they saw on the Internet. Two years ago I did some vocals and helped write a song on a CD my good  friend guitarist Carl Burnett was producing on this Trumpeter Brad Clements. He happened to run into a review of the Album done by a site in Europe called Soul Express in the review the writer who apparently was a big fan of mine spoke about how good it was to hear me sing again and that he wished I had sung lead on some more of the tracks. I did manage to track him down and thank him, and yes there’s a new project in the works and lots of new music, you can check me out on my myspace page and my new web-site to be launched pretty soon.

Who are your friends in the industry- past and present?

Past: Keith Diamond (R.I.P.) Present: Jolyon Skinner, Marvin Ennis and The Brothers from Starpoint, Preston Glass, I know and have a great relationship with James Ingram, Dave Revels-good friend and amazing songwriter, Carl Burnett- guitarist extraordinaire, Bob Baldwin……

What have you done in the industry that might surprise some people? (Inclusive of the “what have you done lately queries”?)

My production and songwriting.  I think what would surprise a lot of people is the songs that I’ve had a hand in or produced that were recorded by major artists: Ann Murray, Jennifer Holliday, Five-Star, Starpoint, Pieces of a Dream, Sarah Dash and Kashif.  I have done Off-Broadway plays in New York City and some singing in Las Vegas musical reviews.

What are your favorite performers past and present?

Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Luther Vandross, Bob Marley, Isaac Hayes, Phyllis Hyman, Levi Stubbs, James Ingram, Stevie Wonder, Babyface, Joe, Jonathan Butler, Kem, Michael McDonald, I basically love the Motown, Stax and Philly eras and a lot of the old blues singers.

So now there was nothing to do really except bid Cliff adieu. I got him to sign some of our CD’s for us, and both versions of the Boardwalk LP. I even got him to autograph my original “Somehow” 12″ on the Half Moon label~!

Flash forward about two months later. Tony & Matt come to NYC. We do business and we meet Cliff and take him out to lunch. While talking to Cliff in the car he starts to sing one bar of a song. We 3 squeal like schoolgirls at a Justin Timberlake concert. Life is good for the guys at FTG….and getting better every single day. 

(In fact, we got some more “Englishmen in New York” posts coming soon by Matt & Tony.)

 

 Interview and transcription by WDC

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 4:43 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.