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RIGHT BY MY SIDE
One of the most beautiful songs Gerald recorded during his solo spell was called Right by my Side. Co-written by Stanley Clarke, this lovely serenade was released on the Stanley Clarke/George Duke project “3” (Epic 46012, in 1990). “I wished a million times, over and over again, that Motown had gotten George Duke to produce one of my albums. It would have been sensational. He made me feel comfortable. Sometimes, when a producer gets too excited about the artist’s voice, he loses focus of what he’s doing. George was focused. I think back then he would have been the perfect producer for one of my CDs.”
In the world of r&b there’s also another gentleman by the name of Gerald Alston. This namesake was one of the members of the quintet called Classic Example, which released a self-titled CD on Boston Int. Records/Hollywood (61333) in 1992, for the most part produced by Maurice Starr.
On YouTube you can still watch an almost 14-minute-long clip of the play Chaos - shot in June 2011 - where Gerald and Glenn Jones are having a singing battle over Leslie Dupree. Gerald sings There’s No Me without You. “I did one night in the play Chaos. My cousin recommended me to do the thing.”
Gerald is listed as one of the vocalists on Stick Me for My Riches, which appeared on Wu-Tang Clan’s CD “8 Diagrams” in 2007. “It’s all wrong. The song was not done for Wu-Tang. Illegally Wu-Tang put that record on the album. I did it for a friend of mine, who was putting a movie together, and we invited a gentleman from Wu-Tang to do a rap on the record. They took the record, mixed it and I never got paid for it. I never got anything for it. No respect at all! I didn’t give my right for that song to be put on anybody’s album.”
“When I was doing my solo career, I did a lot of work in Europe. In ’91 I did a European tour with Whitney Houston. We did Wembley, two days in Manchester, we did Rotterdam, Scotland, Germany and France. I opened for her... a great show! I also toured England with Natalie Cole. I toured here in the States with Anita Baker, and I also toured with Stephanie Mills. I toured with divas. All of them were very nice to work with.” Gerald’s official website can be found at www.gerald-alston.com.
BLUE LOVETT
As stated in the previous part of the Manhattans story, the New Year’s Eve of 1990 was the last day for Blue in the group, before he had to step aside for awhile. Blue: “I didn’t retire. I was forced to get out of the business by health-wise. I took a leave of absence, so to speak. At that particular time, my blood pressure was very high and the advice of my doctor was to take a break.”
Already in the 80s Blue produced new and upcoming talent for his Blue and Love Lee labels (for details, please see part 4 of the story) and during his 2 ½-year hiatus in the early 90s he continued in this field. Blue: “I worked with the Bolton Brothers out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We did two albums. The gospel field was a new field for me. We did a live CD on them, and it did pretty okay, but I wasn’t that familiar with the distribution and markets in the gospel field.” Blue actually worked on two live CDs for the group, Live in Mobile in 1996 and Live in Mobile, vol. 2 two years later on Blackberry Records.
I have sidetracked a few times in this story before by presenting artists and music figures that were someway related to the Manhattans or the label they were on – Joe Evans, other Carnival recording artists such as Lee Williams and Phil Terrell, also Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Martin, Bobby Eli, Carla Benson, Bunny Sigler, Leo Graham etc. – so let’s add James Bolton to the list, as well.
THE BOLTON BROTHERS
James Bolton was born on January 11th in 1960. The exact place was a small town called McLain in Greene County, Mississippi, 37 miles to the southeast of Hattiesburg. James: “We even don’t have a red light there anymore and no 4-way stop.” Altogether there were twenty children in the Bolton family – twelve girls and eight boys – and in the mid-fifties the family formed its first gospel group called the Wearyland Singers. James became a member of their next group, the Gospel Soul Singers, formed in 1965, and this time with some cousins joining in, too. “At that time in the group there were fifteen of us.” Finally, when the Bolton Brothers was formed in 1976, there were seven members in the first line-up, and James was one of them.
James: “I met Blue some thirty years ago. George Ray was doing management back then, and he was also a promoter. He heard me sing and thought I was pretty good. George sent a tape on me for Blue to hear me sing. Blue then took me on the road. He took me to Japan – to Tokyo and Yokohama – in the late 80s. Of course, I was into gospel music, but he still treated me like a king. After Gerald left, he offered me the position. In Atlanta he told me that whenever you’re ready, you got the job. So I must have been alright. He gave me a lot of training, and we became great friends.”
Under Control was the first, 9-track album by James Bolton and the Bolton Brothers in 1991 on Giant Records (CD 02845) out of Forest, MS. “It was produced by a guy named David Huff. Since then I’ve done two more CDs by myself.” David is also a guitarist of David & the Giants fame.
“Live in Mobile was a CD and video shoot back in 1995-96. Blue helped us a lot in choreography and vocal training.” Interestingly, Blue isn’t credited anywhere on the set. “He didn’t want to be mentioned, but he would give us a lot of vocal coaching.”
Blue also wrote or co-wrote some songs for the brothers – such as Call Somebody Please, We Must Come Together, When Are My People Coming Home? – but all of them were not recorded. “We started recording When Are My People Coming Home, but we never finished the recording.”
The Bolton Brothers cut one more live CD for Blackberry, Revival in Atlanta, in 2001, and since then Blackberry has released a compilation titled One More Time in 2007. Blackberry was a label that belonged to another gospel outfit, the Williams Brothers. One interesting detail is that one of the biggest songs for the Bolton Brothers has been If You Move, I’ll fall, which is credited to three Williams brothers. It is actually the same song that all the soul music lovers know by the Dells from their ’73 album, produced by Don Davis, and there the song was credited to James Dean and William Lloyd Wooten. The Williams Brothers have recorded the song themselves, too.
“Standing on the Promise is the latest project on the Bolton Brothers. It’s brand new. We started our own label for it, Now Faith Records. Today it’s five brothers. We perform a lot on Friday nights, on Saturdays and sometimes we get together on Sundays. We have a lot of fans. We stay as busy as we want to be in the United States” (laughing).
JAMES BOLTON
Not only as the lead for the Bolton Brothers, but also in the capacity of a solo singer James has created quite a following. His second solo CD, Three Times My Saviour (Musicssippi Entertainment; 73 min.), was released about five years ago and again it was produced by David Huff. Shawn Williams, who also plays drums on the album, is credited as a co-producer. Recorded at Huff Recording Studio out of Forest, MS, James wrote or co-wrote eleven songs out of the fifteen on display.
On many tracks – This Is Where I Belong, There Is No Secret, I want to be Right, Just Let Me Show You, Lord We Worship you - James’ masculine baritone singing grows into intense delivery and his voice radiates soulfulness and occasionally gruff power. There are some familiar tunes, such as Three Times My Saviour – inspired by Lionel Richie’s Three Times a Lady – and Hold Out Until the End, inspired by the Hartfield Brothers, and the three tracks that are owned by Giant Records (Here’s My Heart, He’ll Be There and Love Has a Place) are all quite soft and melodic floaters and probably derive from earlier sessions.
Backing music is provided for the most part by a real live rhythm section on this mainly down-tempo, inspirational set, where brothers and other family members contribute vocally on two songs, a mid-tempo gospel beater called Glad To Be In the Service and a gentle and melodic ballad titled It’s Just a Dream. There’s even one country-tinged waltz, (They Treated Jesus Like a) Tramp On the Street.
James’ recent solo CD, He’s All I Need, woos also younger audience with more contemporary urban beats and even rap... and the unfortunate autotune, on a duet with Kellye Huff. Personally I hate autotune. Good singers like James don’t really need it. On this CD James, however, has mainly a live rhythm section backing him up and there’s a full sound throughout - including my favourite r&b instrument, the saxophone.
In the more traditional vein, there are slow and rousing testimonies, such as My, My, My... the Lord been good to me and He’s All I Need/Bright Side. There are also a few smooth and very tuneful songs like the country-tinged You Saved My Life and the tender and sensitive My Heart Belongs to You. A couple of tunes James had cut already earlier, Just to Know Him and He’s Coming Back – this time turned into a rocker by David Huff. Altogether I recommend give this CD a listen, because it’s very solid inspirational music.
Today James and Blue are still friends. “We didn’t depart. We just kind of lost contact, with me having my own CD and doing my thing. We’ve always been great friends. Blue was really a big plus for me. He opened a lot of doors for me.” (http://jamesboltonministries.com).
SONNY BIVINS
After Gerald embarked on a solo career in 1988, Blue took a hiatus at the end of 1990 and Kenny Kelly went on to work in a schooling system and retail (see the end of our previous part 4), one of the founding members that was still around, Sonny Bivins, was suddenly out there alone. Sonny: “In 1990 Roger Harriswas the replacement for Gerald Alston, and he was a background singer with Regina Belle and with the Manhattans, before Gerald went solo. After Blue and Kenny retired that left Roger and myself, so I had to look for replacements fast. I already had some performances lined up within the next month or so, and through my prayers everything fell into place – Charles, Harsey and then Al.”
Sonny formed a group in the line-up of himself (baritone), Roger Harris (lead), Alvin Pazant (bass), Harsey Hemphill (1st tenor) and Charles Hardy (2nd tenor).
Charles Hardy: “Having a mother Dorothy Sebastian that was a chorus line dancer at the original Cotton Club and Apollo Theater, and a godfather Rev. William E. Lee, I think God planned for me to be in the entertainment business.” Charles is of Indian decent, Pequet Indian tribe. “I was introduced to the Manhattans in the late 70s through my cousin Walter “Scooter” Collins, their wardrobe manager, who took me on the road with him and I became very close to ‘Uncle Sonny’. I would become an assistant to Scooter.”
“I found out Gerald knew a lot of my family members, who were from Henderson, North Carolina... just like Gerald. Blue and Kenny were always very nice to me. I learned a lot from them. Harsey and I grew up together in Mount Vernon, New York, and started singing together, when he was five years old and I was seven years old. That’s forty-seven years as singing partners - first in his family quartet group, the Morning Star Gospel Singers, then in a local band called Sky’s the Limit that recorded under De-Lite Records (Your Love Runs Free in 1982). Also we did a lot of studio background vocals for different artists. When Scooter called me and asked, if we wanted to audition for the Manhattans, we just went and did our thing, got the positions and have been here with Uncle Sonny for the last twenty-two years.”
Alvin Pazant had earlier in his career played trumpet with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, had worked as the musical director for Melba Moore and had performed and recorded as the Pazant Brothers & Beaufort Express in the 60s, 70s and 80s for GWP, Priscilla, Vigor, Vanguard (an album entitled Loose and Juicy) and P.M.P. Records.
His brother, Edward Pazant, also has ties with Sonny’s group. Sonny: “Edward is an East Coast Jazz Hall of Famer and a saxophone and woodwind specialist. He is the older brother of Al, and he’s not a member of the Manhattans. He is one of the musicians that accompany the band that plays for the Manhattans.”
In 1991 Roger Harris left the group and Wade Taylor became their new lead singer for a short period. Sonny: “Wade came to us by way of our MC at the time, Oscar “Flame n’ King” Richardson, if I’m not mistaken. Wade was in a local band. He was doing a lot of studio work also. He had a regular job, so I knew he wasn’t going to be with the group for a long time, unless we were working a lot. He reminded me of Philippé Wynne of the Spinners... very down-to-earth personality, always had a kind word for everyone he met.” Already in 1991 Wade was replaced by Lee Williams (for his bio, please see the 2nd part of the story)
THE MANHATTANS NOW
The group in the line-up of Lee, Harsey, Charles, Al and Sonny released one album called The Manhattans Now (HRC-4010) on Hektoen Recording Corp. out of New York in 1994. The label was owned by Michael D. Hektoen. Sonny: Our manager Gerald Delet and Mike Hektoen were business partners. Mike had owned Media Sound Studios in NYC for years. That was one of the biggest recording studios on the east coast. When the idea came up to record the group, Gerry told me he had a partner he wanted me to meet. We sat down, talked over the whole picture of what I wanted to do and the direction I wanted to take the group in. The deal was made and the project was under way.”
Michael D. Hektoen had worked as Executive Vice President of TWM Management in the late 70s, President of Media Sound Studios in the 80s and for the last ten years as CEO of RockSTAR Music Corporation. He’s been listed as executive producer on many artists’ albums, including Tramaine and Aurra in the 80s.
Produced by Stephen C. Washington of the Ohio Players, Slave, Aurra etc. fame, besides keys and guitars in terms of live instruments there’s Ed Pazant on saxophone solos and Al Pazant on trumpet solos.
The album is divided into “This Side” and “That Side”. “This” is more relaxed, doowopish, late-night mood music, whereas “That” offers smooth and melodic dancers. On this 12-tracker, Lee sings lead on all except three songs. Sonny and Al wrote and share lead on a romantic slowie with a long bass monologue called Just for Tonight. Harsey is the co-lead on a tuneful slow-to-mid-pacer named The One Who Adores you and they all share lead on the poppy Save the Best for Last.
The co-writer on Hey Lady and Wonderful, two uptempo songs, was Rusty Cloud. Sonny: “Rusty produced, arranged and did the music for those songs. We met Rusty through Lee, and Al knew him, too... a great musician and person to work with.”
The album opens with a rather laid-back but accumulative reading of A Change Is Gonna Come and Sam Cooke is covered also on the relaxed and sax-driven versions of Touch the Hem of His Garment and Having a Party. There’s also one nostalgic Manhattans medley of There’s No Me without You & Kiss and Say Goodbye & Shining Star, but unfortunately the machines tend to push through too audibly in the instrumentation.
The concluding song, Midnite Lovin’ is a melodic and energetic mover. Sonny: “It was a song written by our MC at the time, Oscar Richardson. ‘King’, as he is known to everybody, is the owner of PMP Studios in Harlem, New York. We rehearsed there and had the auditions for the new members of the group back in 1990. I knew King from the 60s and he now is the manager of the Legendary Intruders. We keep in touch with him still.” Besides “Legendary”, there are also other line-ups of the Intruders and tribute groups working on the scene these days.
Sonny: “I felt the CD could have been promoted better. The selection of material could have been better also. But I enjoyed recording that CD.” Charles: “In my personal opinion the CD was ok and we needed to put something out that would bring the Manhattans name back into circulation. We got very good responses from the places we played, so that wasn’t the problem. We were on a limited budget, so we had to do with what we had... and it turned out pretty nice. We got some learning experience from it. All in all it was a good project working together for the first time in the studio.”
The Manhattans Now remained their sole album, because the contract with Hektoen Records was up in 1996, and the group decided not to renew it. Instead the group formed Manhattans Entertainment, Inc. for bookings, management, PR, marketing, merchandise, recording, videos, movies and investments in charity projects. Sonny: “We wanted to start our own corporation. This way the Manhattans could choose who they wanted to work with in all musical and business fields. There comes a time, when you have to control your own destiny.”
In 1998 Sonny’s group performed at the White House Christmas party for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Sonny: “We received a personal letter from the president thanking us for being a part of the celebration at the White House. This time around personally for me was different than the inauguration for President Carter in the 70s. We had a lot of fun. What an honour!” Charles: “As a kid I went on a school trip to DC, saw the monuments and all the sites. But to perform for the president of the United States is an once-in-a-lifetime thing.” Harsey: “That’s something you will be able to tell your kids, grandkids and great-grands. It’s a lifetime experience I will always remember.”
Since then Sonny’s group has been touring – quite a lot overseas, too – and they’ve also performed in such plays as Girl, He Ain’t Worth It and Chicken Shack. Sonny: “Being that I am not physically able at this time to perform with the group and I am at the rehabilitation center due to hip surgery and rehab from surgery, the line-up still remains with the other four members. I have turned everything over to Charles to run the group and conduct every aspect that I was doing for Manhattan Entertainment, Inc. Charles is consulted and mentored by my best friend, Mr. Toye Kates Jr., who is still a part of the Manhattans family and in who I have the utmost trust and respect for. He was the road manager for the Manhattans in the 60s.”
Sonny: “Classic soul music will never die. It’s just like life infinity. The artist may pass on but the music – if you’re listening to it, talking about it or have lived it or living it now – continues to multiply through new generations of people that it is bestowed upon.”
THE REUNION TOUR
Gerald: “We knew our 30th anniversary was coming up. The late Al Goodman from Ray, Goodman & Brown gave me a call and said ‘why don’t you get Blue and the guys together for a 30-year reunion and put a band together’. So I gave Blue a call and Blue agreed to it, and I called Sonny and I called Kenny. Kenny couldn’t come back at the time, and Sonny had formed his own group and he didn’t want to come back and put it together. So in 1993 Blue and I just got two other guys, and we started working. All we wanted to do was 30th year reunion. If it worked, we’d stay together, if it didn’t, we would just go our separate ways. When we got back, everything just fell in its place. In our first rehearsal choreography just came back to us, vocal parts came back to us, and turned out that Blue and I missed working together.”
The first two guys Blue and Gerald invited to replace Sonny and Kenny were Eban Brown and Roger Harris. Yes, the very same Roger Harris, who replaced Gerald in 1988 and was the lead vocalist on the Sweet Talk album on Valley Vue in 1989 and then went on to sing lead in Sonny’s group for awhile after Blue and Kenny had left. Blue: “Roger had been a background singer for Gerald at one time, when Gerald was doing his solo career. When I left, I didn’t keep up what was happening with the Manhattans or anyone else. I was told that Roger eventually left the Manhattans as lead singer and some months after that joined background singers with Gerald Alston.”
Gerald: “I don’t know what really happened with the group after I left, but I think evidently it wasn’t that good. Roger sang on the road for me on the background for a couple of times, but never on record. I chose him for our reunion group, because he knew the songs and he did background very good. When you’re trying to do the business, you like to forget about personal issues and you’re trying to make money, and we worked good together.”
To summarize Roger’s “Manhattans career”, he sang lead in the Manhattans in 1988-90 and carried on as the lead in Sonny’s new group still in 1991, then became a background singer for Gerald Alston on the road and finally was chosen to be a member in the reunion group for a minute in 1993.
Eban Brown (www.ebanbrownmusic.net ), on the other hand, is a whole different story. Although turning only 40 on June 14, you could call him a trouper in the field of those male vocal groups that specialize in sweet soul music – not in age or in singing years, but in the number of groups he’s been singing with. Before his short spell with Blue and Gerald in 1993 he had been with Ray, Goodman & Brown in the early 90s for two and a half years, and later he became a member of Wilbert Hart’s Delphonics - William Hart headed the Delfonics those days – prior to his solo career and singing lead with the Stylistics. It seems that not many of these classic soul music groups succeeded in avoiding splitting into two or more sets. For instance, the original lead and indisputably the most renowned voice in the Stylistics, Mr. Russell Thomkins, Jr. is heading his own New Stylistics these days.
Gerald: “Eban is a lead singer, and his voice wouldn’t fit the Manhattans lead singing. He worked with us and - when he found his way to go - he gave notice and we brought in Troy May and then Dave Tyson.”
TROY MAY
Troy Joseph May was born on March 17 in 1965 in Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, a Marine Corps base. Troy: “I moved to Brooklyn, New York, roughly in 1967, when I was two years old. My father sang in a doowop group. They never became famous. They were just known in the neighbourhood. Now I live in Alabama. I moved here two years ago, to be closer to family. My daughters are 16 and 22.”
“In Brooklyn I first went to Julia Richmond High School. There’s a famous school called The School of Performing Arts. I auditioned for that school, but at the time they were full and I couldn’t get in. So I found out about Julia Richmond. They had a Talent Unlimited program, so I went to that school instead. After that it was Medgar Evers College. I went there for five semesters, and then I went to Hunter College.”
“Talent Unlimited program exposed me to a lot of people in the business, so once I came out of school I had friends who were already in the business like James Simmons, who used to be the guitar player for the Manhattans. Eventually he introduced me to Mr. Lovett, and he decided to manage my career for a short period of time. That would have to be around ’91-’92.”
Those days Troy used to cut demos. “It was a group of producers and a gentleman by the name of Tony Prendatt, who was producing Third World at the time. He asked me to sing a few songs to present them to Third World to see if they liked them. I did that for a very short time as well. That was around the same time, ’91-’92. I made quite a few recordings, but I actually never got a label deal. Nothing was ever released.”
“In 1994 I joined the Manhattans. Mr. Lovett said they were back on the road – I believe in ’93 – and one of the gentlemen, Roger Harris, left the group, so he asked me to take his place. It was only supposed to be no more than maybe for a couple of months... and here it is, eighteen years later (laughing). Blue was already trying to establish my career in the recording industry. He said ‘why don’t you just join us for a little bit, for a couple of weeks to get your feet wet in the market and then we go from there’.”
“It’s been an absolute high. For the past almost twenty years it’s been absolute blast. We’re family, and most of the time we’re laughing and joking. We have a genuine love and respect for each other, and it comes across on stage.”
However, on a general level Troy is worried about the current state of r&b music. “I’m a huge fan of Marvin Gaye and I’m an old-school kind of person – Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, the Manhattans... As far as r&b music is concerned, there will always be the main foundation for r&b music. Those classic soul songs will always be there. They’ll last forever. Even a lot of songs today are based on those songs of yesteryear. But those artists – for one – are dying, which is very sad, and the second thing is that these artists are not being allowed to get recording deals, to continue on their recording careers. If you do get one, the label’s not going to push you, so a lot of good music is just going to waste. With the state of things today, a lot of groups from this era find more success on the road as opposed you find if you put out a record. It’s tough to do. The promoters are only going to pay you so much... depending on how your recording is doing today. And if you haven’t had a record in years...”
DAVE TYSON
David Lewis Tyson was born in Philadelphia, PA, on September 14 in 1959. David: “My father was a nine-to-five working man. I have four sisters and two brothers. In my childhood our house was always full of music, and I used to sing on street-corners with some other guys for anybody, who wanted to hear me sing. I would always show off and sing in front of the girls in the schoolyard.”
One of David’s brothers is Ron Tyson, who’s been a member of the Temptations for close to thirty years now. David: “I followed my brother. My brother had a lot of groups, when I was growing up, and a lot of these groups were rehearsing in the basement of our house.”
One of Ron’s groups was the Ethics, which was formed in 1967. “It affected me a lot. Every time he would play at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia, my mom would take me and all the guys in the neighbourhood there. I loved it. I always wanted to be with my brother. I cherished him a lot.” From 1974 the Ethics would continue as Love Committee until 1980.
“Later on I formed my own group, Final Touch, in 1987 and we won The African-American talent show at the Uptown Theater. We made no recordings. We were almost picked up by Hush Productions in New York, but that fell through. We disbanded in 1991.”
“Then I met Eugene “Lambchop” Curry in 1991. He’s a keyboard player and he’s one of the best. We wrote a lot of songs together, but we never did anything with them.” Eugene is also a producer and he has written or co-written songs for numerous artists, such as Patti LaBelle (Somebody Loves You Baby) and the Dells (I Can’t Help Myself).
“Next I found out that Blue was looking for another singer for the Manhattans. My brother knew that I could sing, and he asked me to call Blue. Cholly Atkins was a legendary choreographer for step dancers. Cholly called me up and explained me what to do, and after that I called Blue. I met Blue at the Valley Forge Music Fair (in Denvon, Pennsylvania). I met him backstage over there, we talked and I auditioned for him... and that was it. That was when Blue and Gerald had the reunion tour. I came in just as it started blowing up. I took Eban Brown’s spot, when he left.”
“I remember on some of my visits to the Uptown Theater the Manhattans were there. I remember them come on stage and put the strobe light on, and then they would turn the lights out and put on a black light on hands and all you could see was white gloves. They’re one of my favourites along with the Temptations, my brother’s group. I just love singing with them.”
“We have these ladies called the Manhattanettes (in Facebook under “Manhattans_East Coast Connection). They keep us alive and in everybody’s mind. These girls are tremendous. They really do their job... and do it free. They’re great and beautiful women. I love them.” (www.davetyson.co
LIVE FROM SOUTH AFRICA
After the reunion tour took off in 1994, the Manhattans featuring Gerald Alston and Blue Lovett kept on performing throughout the 90s, also overseas. Gerald: “We toured Europe. We did Germany and the Netherlands. We did Alaska and Japan. We toured Okinawa, Quam, all of the Caribbean... and we got a home in South Africa.”
Amazingly, during their thirty plus years of singing and recording the Manhattans never had a live album released. Gerald: “I don’t know what the problem with Columbia was at the time, but we wanted to do a live album a long time ago, and they refused to do it. In ’76 and ’77 we travelled off-and-on with a full orchestra, and they would not record a live album.”
Blue: “Sony in South Africa approached us in ’96, when we went there to see President Mandela and South-Africans. After our first show Sony came to our hotel and suggested to do a Live in South Africa CD, and we did.” Gerald: “We went to South Africa for the first time. All our records had been hits. Our albums were gold, but people had never seen us. Sony recorded a CD and released it in South Africa, and then a production company – Gerald Payne – bought the rights of it, and he released it in the U.S. Sony still wouldn’t release it in the States, for whatever reason.”
Blue: “We had serious problems with whoever released it in the States. I was very disappointed in what transpired as far as royalty statements and everything else. I complained big time to the president of Sony in South Africa, who eventually moved to London and couldn’t get into the fight with us to stop what was going on in the States.”
Gerald: “We went to South Africa to do four nights and we ended up doing fifteen. We sold out every venue. It was amazing. Even 10-12-year old knew our records, and we found out that during the apartheid a lot of the families would play our music and they passed the music down to their kids. When we got there, they said ‘we’re gonna have a press conference’, and there was like 2000 or 3000 people waiting. It was unbelievable. The reception was so warm, so loving, and every time we go – every other year or so – to this day we get a wonderful reception.”
In 1999 Live from South Africa (GWP 9913) was released in the U.S. on Classic World Productions, Inc. This 73-minute-long CD contains 23 songs, mostly the Manhattans biggest hits, highlighting in We Never Danced to a Love Song, It Feels So Good, There’s No Good in Goodbye, Am I Losing You, I Kinda Miss You, Hurt, There’s No Me Without You, When We Are Made As One (almost a cappella), Don’t Take Your Love From Me and the grand finale of Shining Star and Kiss and Say Goodbye.
A couple of Gerald’s solos are included – Slow Motion and Send for Me – as well as five outside songs, such as a fast dancer called Good Enough (by LA Reid-Babyface-Simmons), the hugely popular End of the Road by the same writers - platinum for Boyz II Men in ’92 – glued to Love Don’t Love Nobody, a hit for the Spinners in 1974. Gerald: “We always used to do Love Don’t Love Nobody, when it first came out, and then we decided to put it back on the show and make a medley out of it.”
Gerald, Blue, David and Troy are backed by their permanent band still today, East Coast Connection, consisting of Justice Butler (drums), Howie Robbins (keys), Colt Younger (keys), Mark Bowers (lead & rhythm guitar) and Jason Simons (bass guitar). Blue: “There’s only one replacement since the CD. Colt Younger came later. He replaced Gary Mancinelli.” Gerald: “Jason has been with the Manhattans since 1977. He left for a minute, but he came back. He’s the oldest band member we have – not in age but in number of years.
TURN OUT THE STARS
Gerald’s and Blue’s next CD in 2001, ...Even Now... (Beemark/Love Lee Rec. 8339), was recorded without David and Troy this time. Blue: “It was first released on Beemark. Hillary Johnson introduced me to a gentleman in San Jose, California, where he had a label. They didn’t put money in promoting. None of the stations would play us. So I took it over a year later and put it on Love Lee Records, my label.”
In 2003 Al Bell took over the distribution. Blue: “Another bad story. I never got paid. He never did anything he was supposed to do.” However, towards the end of 2003 the CD appeared shortly on Billboard’s r&b charts, first at # 83 and the next week still at #91.
Although not being properly promoted and not hitting higher echelons of charts, for a classic soul music fan Even Now is one of the best albums of the 2000s. Cut in ’99 at Buffalo Sound Studios in LA, it was produced and arranged by Ted Perlman (www.tedperlman.com). Gerald: “I met Ted with Blue. Ted worked with Stephanie Mills and he produced Ronald Isley. He did a wonderful job with us. Ted is a very, very good producer.” Blue: “He’s one of the best producers that I’ve seen that hasn’t really got the recognition he should have got.”
The set opens with a hooky beat-ballad titled Love Me Right, which Blue had earlier cut on Ted Williams out of California. It is followed by Turn out the Stars, a gorgeous and achingly beautiful song co-written by Jim Weatherly and cut earlier at least by Travis Nelson in 1996. Gerald: “When Blue and I heard it, we fell in love with it. In fact, the demo that we had was by Ollie Woodson, but we just made it our own. Then Ali Ollie released it later on himself.”
Nites like this is a melodic and romantic, lilting song, written by Darrell Harvey and spiced with Gerald Albright’s sax in the instrumentation. Incidentally, one other veteran player on this set is the late Billy Preston on organ. Blue: “Darrell was an artist of mine out of Dallas, Texas. He’s an excellent writer. That’s one of my favourite songs.” Gerald: “That was a beautiful tune. A lot of the stuff that Blue produced was the stuff we would have done, had we been together. Now we ended up using a few of the songs he had done on others.” Nites like this was released as a single CD in 2001 on TOC/Orchard (3680148020).
Even Now – again by Darrell Harvey – is a swaying, gospel-infused ballad, with Blue’s monologues interspersed in the melody line, and one of the more famous songs on the set is a funky cover of Sly Stone’s Everyday People. Gerald: “I think that was Ted’s idea. We opened up our show with it for awhile, and people enjoyed it. It was different for us, but it was a good song.” On this track the Chicago Horns are backing up the two vocalists. Blue: “Everything was hooked up by Ted. His wife is Peggi Blu. She is one of the American Idols’ coaches for the female singers today. They won the Star Search, a TV show before American Idol. They were from New York, but they remained in California after she won the Star Search.”
LET’S TRY LOVE
Gerald and Peggi Blu (on the pic right) evoked highly emotional delivery on Let’s Try Love, a ballad Gerald had already cut on his first solo album. Gerald: “Originally that song was supposed to be a duet with me and Vesta Williams. Just a lot of things that should have happened at Motown fell through at the last minute, but nonetheless it was a good song and Gene Page did a wonderful job with the arrangement.”
Ted Perlman co-wrote another light and melodic, lilting song (in the style of Nites like this) named Any Other Way, while Felicia Jefferson penned a tuneful beat-ballad called How Much More?, which kicks off with Blue’s unmistakable monologue. Gerald: “Felicia and I did some writing together. I did the demo for Felicia, and, when we got back together, we decided ‘well, why won’t I and Blue do it’. That’s how it came about, and it was a beautiful tune.” Felicia “F-Sharp” Jefferson has also written for Bobby Brown (Feelin’ Inside) and Veronica (Release Me).
Carlos Lett wrote the poppy and melodic I Got It Right. Gerald: “Carlos is out of Moss Point, Mississippi. He’s an excellent guitar player, and he did a wonderful job on that tune. That’s one of the songs that Blue also brought.” They say that I Got It Right has become quite a popular wedding song these days.
Lover’s Lullaby is an infectious slow-to-mid-tempo song to a marching beat, while Can You Take It is a gentle, atmospheric number with Blue’s late-night talking. Blue: One of the background singers, Terry Bradford, co-wrote that. We didn’t write ourselves but got all the writers for this CD from California, Nashville, Dallas... We did a lot of work, and paid our own money for it. We thought it was pretty good. I guess – being of age – we didn’t get the airplay that we normally would get. I think, if somebody like R Kelly or Chris Brown had recorded some of those songs, I’m sure they would have been super-hits. A station in Washington DC – WHUR - put us on number five, but the competing station wouldn’t play us at all. They couldn’t hear it.”
Gerald: “That was one of the best albums we had ever recorded. But it was an era of time, when the music was changing. They weren’t listening to the songs that we were still singing. It was the genre that people didn’t want to hear.”
MEN CRY TOO
In 2008 Swamp Dogg released the CD one more time on his own S-D-E-G label with new tracks on it, and the gem among them is a beautiful ballad called Men Cry Too. The same year Gerald released his impressive solo set entitled Gerald Alston Sings Sam Cooke, and you can read his own comments on both of those albums at http://www.soulexpress.net/deep308.htm#alston.
Already in 2003 Gerald was asked to be one of the performers at the Sam Cooke Tribute in Chicago and since then he’s done other similar tributes to Sam and - by Sam being his all-time number one idol – it was only a matter of time for Gerald to release a tribute album.
Gerald also runs a company called Love Touring Co., Inc. Gerald: “It’s just my company that deals with the group and with my solo work. I don’t work in my name. I work in my company’s name.”
Blue: “We felt that Even Now was one of the greatest albums we did. The writing is on the wall. The O’Jays don’t get airplay anymore, neither do the Dells, the Chi-lites, the Stylistics... America’s not going to play us because of our ages. To spend many hundreds of thousands doing another CD doesn’t make sense to me. Unless you do Internet airplay, you’re not going to sell any product. Then you got crooked distributors that don’t pay us any royalties. It’s a bad situation. It’s a discouraging situation. Touring is still in our plans. We’ve got some Vegas things happening in the summer.”
Gerald: “Blue and I have been talking about recording, but if we record anything we’d have to do it independently, because not only us but the groups of our category just don’t have a place to go. Whatever we do, we have to do it on our own. I’m also in the process of doing and hopefully have my gospel album soon finished.”
“I think our music, classic soul, never dies. If you listen to the production that’s now coming back, it’s just the same thing repeated. There may be some different ways to make it happen, but the chord changes are still the same. Our music will always be around, because our music is true music. We all sing about life, we all sing about reality – and you can’t beat that. We want to leave a legacy of great music, family-orientated music that the young people can listen to. We sing for the people, and our legacy of music speaks for itself.” (www.kissandsaygoodbye.com).
THE MANHATTANS R&B HALL OF FAME
The Manhattans are an American popular R&B vocal group. Their work includes million-selling songs "Kiss and Say Goodbye" recorded in 1976 and 1980's "Shining Star". The Manhattans have recorded 45 chart hits on the Billboard R&B Chart, including twelve top 10 R&B hits in the United States charting on the Billboard chart for the first time in 1965] Sixteen of which reached the Billboard Hot 100, including two Top 10s and a number 1 hit with their song "Kiss and Say Goodbye". Their 1983 song "Forever by Your Side" remains especially popular in Brazil thirty years after its release. They also charted some 8 U.S. R&B Top 20 Albums, three of which were R.I.A.A. certified gold.
The Manhattans, originally from Jersey City, formed in 1962 with members George "Smitty" Smith (born December 28, 1939, Florida; died December 16, 1970), Edward "Sonny" Bivins (born Edward Jessie Bivins, Jr., January 15, 1936, Macon, Georgia;[3] died December 3, 2014, Basking Ridge, Bernards Township, New Jersey), Winfred "Blue" Lovett (born Winfred Lorenzo Lovett, November 16, 1936, Jersey City; died December 9, 2014, Arizona),[4][5] Kenny "Wally" Kelley (born Kenneth Bernard Kelly, January 9, 1941, Jersey City; died February 17, 2015), and Richard "Ricky" Taylor (born in 1940; died December 7, 1987). Bivins, Lovett, and Kelley were graduating from Lincoln High School, while Taylor and Smith were graduating from Snyder High School.[6] All five enlisted in the armed forces and came together as a group following their discharges from their respective branches.
The group's first single was "For the Very First Time," released in 1964 by Carnival Records. They continued recording successfully with songs written by various members of the group. In 1968, the group received the "Most Promising Group" award by NATRA. In 1969, the group moved to the De Luxe record label, a subsidiary of King Records, subsequently embarking on a college tour. While playing at Kittrell College in North Carolina, the group met another group, the New Imperials, featuring Gerald Alston, nephew of The Shirelles' lead singer, Shirley Alston-Reeves. They were so impressed with Alston that they asked him to join the group, but he declined.
Misfortune hit the group late in 1970 when George Smith fell and later took ill. With him unable to perform, the group began to search for a new lead. First they attempted to woo The Cymbals' lead, Lee Williams, but he was unwilling to leave his current group. The group then renewed their request to Gerald Alston (born November 8, 1951, North Carolina), who accepted and took over the lead spot. Original lead singer George Smith died of a brain tumor on December 16, 1970, 12 days before his 31st birthday.
The Manhattans continued recording throughout the 1970s with Alston singing lead vocals. They struck chart gold in 1973 with the Bivins-written song "There's No me Without You". Then their biggest song to date was "Kiss and Say Goodbye," written by Blue Lovett and arranged/co-produced with the group by the Philadelphia-based record producer Bobby Martin, a former member of the MFSB band of session musicians. The song quickly became a number 1 chart topper on both the USBillboard Pop and R&B charts. It also became only the second single to go platinum after the RIAA introduced the award in 1976. Taylor left in 1976 to concentrate on his conversion to Islam. He died in 1987 after a long illness. The group continued as a quartet, and found further success in March 1980 with the release of "Shining Star," which reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 4 on the R&B Chart. Produced and co-written by the Chicago-based record producer, Leo Graham, it received a Grammy Award the following spring.
In 1983, The Manhattans released the album Forever by Your Side, by Columbia Records, which brought the two singles the group that year. The first was the song "Crazy", the great success of this album, peaked at number 4 on the R&B chart. The second single was the title track "Forever by Your Side", which had moderate success in the United States, peaked at number 30 on the R&B chart, but has become a great success and a romantic classic in Brazil two years later, when she was part of the soundtrack of a soap opera in the country in 1985. The success made "Forever by Your Side" gain a Portuguese version the following year, called "Pra Sempre Vou Te Amar", which also was successful in Brazil and was recorded by several Brazilian artists. Another highlight of this album Forever by Your Sidewas the song "Just The Lonely Talking Again", written by the American singer and songwriter Sam Dees, which was originally recorded by The Manhattans this 1983 album and was later re-recorded by Whitney Houston on her second studio album "Whitney" in 1987.
The group celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1985 with the release of Too Hot To Stop It. It included the Evans/Smith-penned "When We're Made As One," originally recorded in 1966 but covered in an acappella, doo wop style to emphasize the group's doo wop roots. The album was also dedicated to George Smith.
The group continued until 1988. That year, Alston left to record as a solo artist, scoring with several major R&B hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Motown. Roger Harris was recruited as the new lead singer for the group, which moved to the new label, Valley Vue, when their Columbia recording contract expired.
Later history
The group's largest shake-up was in December 1990, when Blue Lovett left the group, upon his doctor’s request, for health reasons. Kenny Kelley left to return to college to pursue his PhD. Bivins continued along with lead singer Roger Harris who had replaced Gerald Alston in 1988-89 along with new members. He recruited new members Charles Hardy and Harsey Hemphill, who in October 1990 had auditioned for Bivins but didn't come aboard until after Lovett and Kelly left at the end of 1990. In early 1991 Bivins added Alvin Pazant, bringing the group back to a quintet. Harris proved to be only a short-term lead, and in April 1991 he was replaced by Wade Taylor. Taylor was replaced in July 1991 when Bivins recruited Lee Williams, the person whom they had originally wanted to replace George Smith.
In the 2000s, there were two versions of The Manhattans. One version featured 0riginal founding member Bivins, plus Charles Hardy, Harsey Hemphill, Al Pazant and Lee Williams. They released the CD Manhattans Now in 1994. In 1996 the group formed their own full-service music corporation company called Manhattan Entertainment Inc. In 2003 and 2007 they were featured artists in two theater plays, Girl He Aint Worth It and The Chicken Shack. In June 2013, the group released a single called "Just For Tonite" written by Bivins and Pazant and produced and arranged by Leroy Burgess. In 2015 Lee Williams retired and was replaced by Keni Jackson as the new lead singer. And they still continue to perform, with the same line up in 2018.
IDENTIFER , The Manhattans (of Sonny Bivins)
The other version of The Manhattans featured original member Blue Lovett. And Gerald Alston lead singer,on the group's biggest hits. Other members include Troy May and David Tyson, brother of The Temptations' Ron Tyson. In the past, the group also featured Eban Brown, who later spent eighteen years as lead vocalist for The Stylistics. This group has also released some CDs, including Even Now. This version of the group was featured in two PBS specials and performed at casinos and theaters across the United States. Alston appeared on Wu-Tang Clan's album, 8 Diagrams, on the song "Stick Me for My Riches" in 2007.
Edward "Sonny" Bivins, founding member of the Manhattans, died on December 3, 2014, at the age of 78. He sang on every Manhattans hit since the group's inception, and wrote many of their hit songs. He led the Manhattans up until his death.
Winfred "Blue" Lovett, the group's original bass singer and songwriter, died on December 9, 2014, at the age of 78. His bass voice was heard on many Manhattans hits, including the spoken word intro to "Kiss and Say Goodbye".
Kenneth "Wally" Kelly, the last surviving original member of the group, died on February 17, 2015, at the age of 74.
Lead singer Gerald Alston is the member of the group's heyday lineup. Keni Jackson Is Lead Singer Of The Manhattans Of Edward Sonny Bivins .
IDENTIFER, The Manhattans feat Gerald Alston.
On July 31, 2018 a supreme court order of a Settlement Agreement was signed between. The Bivins family, Gerald Alston, Charles Hardy, Harsey Hemphill, Alvin Pazant and Manhattan Entertainment Inc. All parties have to use an IDENTIFER, when promoting, advertising and recording using the name MANHATTANS for their groups. The Manhattans (of Sonny Bivins) and The Manhattans feat Gerald Alston.
Alvin Pazant
1990 - 2020 Retired
The Manhattans Of Sonny Bivins
Upon graduating from Florida A&M University, Al, as he is called to his family and friends started playing trumpet with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. After some years (with Hamp) he left to become the Musical Director for (Melba Moore). While with Melba, Al became a school Teacher (Music Major in Collage) and after 32 years of service in the school system, he retired in 1999. Al is the Low-key member of the group he doesn’t speak much, but when he does it’s always on point. Al was instrumental in getting involved with a city program that showcased the Talent of underprivileged children; the name of the program was called “Showcase Of Dreams”. He got help from Sonny to co-write the theme song of the program, and various help from other members of the Manhattans to make this program a success. Al is currently the bandleader of the Cotton Club Orchestra, and he oversees the musical personnel that accompany the Manhattans. Al serves as VP for Manhattan Entertainment Inc where all 5 members of the Manhattans are partners. Al is the bass singer of the group keeping that rich traditional sound that fan’s knows as a very big part of the Manhattans.
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