Jeffrey Osborne • R&B MONEY Podcast • Episode 027

[Music] money [Music] take Valentine we are the authorities on all things r b what's going on ladies and gentlemen my name is tank I'm Jay Valentine and this is the r b money podcast The Authority yes sir hmm yeah we tapping into this choice we tap the Stars remember the Matrix he said where do you have to go you know what I mean like he's Neil said the one he said I have to go to the source I gotta get to the foundation of all of this why is it like this why do we want to be like this in the building we have a pillar of the r b construct this man right here Mr Jeffrey Osborne yeah hit it he didn't flew in on the wings of love come on they gonna bend that note like that no boy boy answer is a question here's a question and we and we're going to get into what I like to call our format as we go back into the history to the beginning of of you and finding it and then getting all the way here but how does it feel to be if you don't mind me asking your age oh I tell everybody my age all the time because I'm kind of proud of it yeah because I kind of stay in shape and I kind of like well I'm 74 I'll be 75 in March come on come on Saturday yeah um how does it feel it's 74.75 in March to be new in 2022 it's unbelievable actually because I see it coming back around I'm just out working all the time doing live shows and it's like the the hunger is there for old school r b music it's amazing it's like it's come all the way full circle it's back around and it's new again and people uh I have to do probably more LTD songs in my show than I do my own songs well that's how far people want to go back so yeah so it's a great feeling to see that it's been rejuvenated and uh and I'm seeing young people in my show no boys starting with Brother D nice on on doing Club quarantine yeah um putting putting our soul music our foundational music on an international platform right which which you know the world got this the love affair began in in such a way all over again to going down to Miami with Mike Gardner and and DJ Fly Guy and and them having a a night dedicated Saturday night dedicated to r b music highlight room the Highlight room Wednesday night in L.A Wednesday night in L.A yeah dedicated to Soul R B music it's incredible thank you hey yes thank you thank you no I think those people out there that supported it all those years yeah because it's amazing and those people are still coming out still still coming it's like when you when you dream up of a career when you say you know I'm gonna do this this is what I'm gonna do and it's not that you ever put an expiration date on yourself or say okay I'm gonna retire at this point in time which I tried to do and you know Anita Baker won't let me Jay won't let me like it's just throw out a few names um but it's like to see yourself however many moons later right steal still selling tickets yeah yeah people paying their hearts it's different to come see you right because there's a lot of music that we'll listen to that we won't necessarily buy a ticket for that's different because that's a different kind of income and a different level of entertainment and sustainability right that you still have and you you spoke on being in shape you know what I'm saying you look like you still throw a couple hands a little bit you know I'm saying some promoter some promoters get out of the line yeah hit him with a couple more blues [Laughter] oh man but again thank you brother for giving us giving us something to pull from giving us something to to to be inspired something for us to Aspire to we want to be 75 and I I always thought there was an expiration date until I started Living it and now I see that it's all about health taking care of yourself and uh taking care of your instrument you know you know because I I'm running around with great grandchildren now you know when I first got married to my wife we've been married 40 years I'm like well we're gonna have kids I already got kids that are like you know 19 20 years old when we gonna have kids am I going to be able to run and play with my kids yeah yeah now I'm running and playing with my great grandkids wow so you know I guess there is no expiration date you know I mean we all got to go at some point but as far as feeling good I mean I see some of my constituents still in the business at 85 86 years old still out there singing shows yeah yeah you know Legends still out there doing it yeah well you're in that bag bro absolutely you in that bag yeah and we're supporting it you do damn right we're supporting it because we are the authority yeah r b music so so we got to bring them people through yeah um let's go back to the beginning take us all the way back to to the first time somebody said to you or the first time you realized you had something special back in Rhode Island back in back in Rhode Island yeah well I guess it started at an early age for me because I'm the youngest of 12. and my mother used to make me sing for all her fans so all her friends I mean when I was four and five years old she just called me in a room and said listen to my son saying no I just sing and uh so being the youngest of 12 and everybody playing instruments and singing We all sat around saying you know we used to go out saying Christmas carols Christmas we used to walk around the street all the whole family saying Grizzly Carol so uh I knew that that's what I wanted to do at an early age uh I think at 13 is when I started performing in nightclubs 13. it was right at the club in nightclubs in the streets that was actually my older brother Billy was uh fleeing he had a little band and I was going from Providence to New London Connecticut 13 years old and check it out I was making ten dollars a night I thought that was the [ __ ] but wasn't it the [ __ ] that was the [ __ ] I got a whole ten dollars that was right what you want to do it was 61. 1961 ten dollars a night I need somebody to Google the inflation of ten dollars with ten dollars if you went to the stove what what could you get I could get a bag a bag of groceries when I first started driving gas was 19 a gallon at 60 come on man 19 again you know how far I would go they don't have they don't have to do this to us is what he's saying they don't have to do anything right you don't have to do this eight dollars again 19 Cent a gallon when I first started driving so what's your first car my first car was like a 57 Chevy 57 yes it was it was a dog too it would be smoking and [ __ ] I know they was happening yeah yeah it started a little slow once we get to move we're gonna be all right right exactly you know Jeffrey with the 57 she had you know Jeffrey yeah so the nightclubs nightclubs was it was it was it everything you thought it was it was I was like 13 years old singing in front of all these adult people and they were going crazy and so I knew that's what I wanted to do but at 15 I started playing drums and that's what really got me into the love of this because I got a chance to play with a lot of the local musicians around and I really started doing my own thing in the nightclubs and then I met the OJ's when I was 15 at this club I used to play and I went up there was 15 years old and I went to see him and they had a drummer back then the drug was heroin come on talk about it I mean you know that's all over awesome all of our great all the Jazz Greats were they were in the heroin so I'm watching this drummer and he's nodding out after every song song ended he's like boom and I'm like I'm like what the hell is that that's all I'm looking hey that's a whole another level of get a drummer so [Laughter] [ __ ] so you know at the end of the night I knew the club owner I said man I want to meet the guys you know yeah so I got a chance to meet Eddie O'Jays they have five guys in the group back then oh wow and uh I said yeah I need a drummer they said yeah man you know any drummers in town I said well I played they said yeah but you you're too young I said no man I said I'll tell you what I'll call a few drummers we come up next afternoon you can audition them if you give me a chance to audition so they said okay and I ended up getting the cake so I ended up playing with The OJ's when I was 15 for two weeks in Providence so they were there for two weeks I mean it was like six nights a week too and my mom said don't you even think about leaving going nowhere old men at this time they're grown men yeah yeah they were they were in their 20s you know but still like 15 you know so you've only been playing drums for a year I've been playing drums for a year yeah yeah and I never took lessons it was just natural I just sat down and was able to play and got it and I'm probably doing it all the wrong way but I was playing it was making sense yeah yeah it was about the feel you know uh as far as rudiments was concerned I had to figure that out down the line you know well this is how you're supposed to play this but yeah so I got the gig with The OJ's they asked me to leave with a myself couldn't do that so that's when I got the real taste when I knew that I could perform with one of the popular groups out today that was all that's all the inspiration I need and with the OJ's The OJ's at that time no they were The OJ's okay they had hit records They had hits back then so you know I used to work part-time in a record store so I knew everybody's records back then and uh got that opportunity and that's all I needed that's when I knew that's what I wanted to do my whole my whole career is based off of drugs it seems like if that's how I got an LTD they came through Providence I was I don't know probably 19 20 years old then and uh no black musicians hardly in Providence when I was growing up so I was playing with the guys that were going through Berkeley School of Music and someone said there's 10 black musicians playing in this club downtown I said are you serious I said I'm going to see them they were actually Sam and Dave's band LTD LTD was Sam and Dave's band and they left Sam and Dave and started traveling up the east coast and they ended up in a club in Providence so I went to see him and now I went to see him that drummer got taken to jail for smoking weed 1969 weed was a major offense major offense took his ass to jail club owner can you sit in with these guys I'm like oh no man what are they playing well all top 40. like I know all top 40 so I sat in with him sang a couple songs next day they asked me to join the group so it was first it was heroin it was sweet in a good way in a good way in a good way to gigs wow so I left in 1970. came out to LA you know looking for the big dream and we struggled we played every nightclub in LA you know for admission fee you know two dollars to get in that's the money we got and we we all lived in a one bedroom apartment and how many guys are in a group because I remember there was there used to be in I want to say it was an album cover in my house and it was like a circle oh yeah and it was so many black there was so many black men I'm like but this was on your a weird picture on that album cover because we all had our shirt saw yeah some reason like why we got our shirts off I remembered that coverage I don't like what this is how many members there's 10 of us 10 members it's 10 yeah when I joined it was 10 of us and then one of your brothers he joined yeah he didn't join when I first joined he joined down the line but he was there when we started making our first records because it took us I guess maybe two years three years of just going out and Performing working yeah and then finally uh uh this female vocalist named Mary Clayton she was popular back then she was doing background vocals for like the Rolling Stones and she was so she was on a m records and uh they let us come up and do a showcase and they said yeah but we had some we had some original material that was you know it was kind of like hardcore yeah it was controversial we were talking about everything and so they liked the band but they weren't sure about our music so they asked us to play behind Mary Clayton so we went up and played behind Mary Clayton at uh the Monterey Folk Festival it was huge it was like 25 30 000 people out there and we played and one of the groups fell out and they said we got a 20-minute spot y'all want to go ahead and play so we went out we did 20 minutes record company saw the crowd react and that's how we got signed so what did y'all play y'all just played we played Just top 40. okay we didn't we weren't going to play our music because we were uh we were a little you know we were about to the issues yeah talking about the issues yeah I mean in terms of politically yeah exactly what was going on so yeah we just played some top 40 stuff they went crazy and we actually signed through a Publishing Company of Jerry Butler talking about R B legend Jerry Butler we went through his he's had a little it's probably yeah all right and we signed through his production company we did one record and then the a m signed us directly to their label but it was three albums in before we had a hit record the first two records nobody even know they are wow but you guys were signed two for those first two records we were signed so they back then they had artists development Departments of course they don't have anymore talk about it right uh-huh artist development development departments right and they said well we're going to give you a three-year window so after the first two albums they said okay uh we're gonna start looking for some yeah so that you were still they were still allowing y'all to write they were still lost the right yeah but you know our first hit was Love Ballad that was just that was first that was our first hit ah um yeah and uh that was our that was our first hit that was like did you write 75 oh I wish I did damn no that was skip Scarborough skip Scarborough was yeah absolutely yes he wrote absolutely a lot of stuff for Earth Wind and Fire emotion stuff man don't ask my neighbors he wrote all that I mean yeah you hear that that's a very you know what what don't ask my neighbors stay out my business okay this is not your business right don't ask my neighbors that's my name that's the internet now your neighbors skip real some big head You Know You Can't Hide Love for Earth Wind and Fire he was a great songwriter yeah the funny thing about that song is that uh it was the Mazel Brothers Larry and France myself they were out of DC they produced The Record okay and uh we were getting ready to do the session that night and they didn't show up so we're sitting there and I'm in there like seven o'clock okay it's midnight producers ain't showed up yet I'm like oh I know there's some [ __ ] going on right now so so it's been happening since the beginning so we we had a little meeting and we're like you know what let's just let's just leave let's just come back tomorrow but they come in about 12 30 1 o'clock and they got this story and they're like man oh yeah just saying just you know hold on man can you just go in and try to sing this song so by the time we got to that point after the meeting it was 3 30 4 o'clock in the morning and I said you want me to actually go in and sing a song now at 3 30 4 o'clock in the morning just give it a shot so I went in I sang Love ballot one take walked out now what's the take wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait hold up hold up hold up that was it come on big Jeff come on big Jeff I'm telling you top and bottom huh top to bottom so when the records you're listening to the record that your mama's Mama right your auntie we was just singing This Record on top of the couches exactly yeah we're listening to this you're listening to One Thing no punches no punches well you know back then it wasn't a whole lot of punching going on anyways they would have to actually literally cut the tape right no no vocal enhancements right wow that one take boom love ballad has no steroids it has one truck of everything you need everything you need and it's got a vamp on it it's got a vamp on your boys must have been somebody was from church because that's the only way you can understand [Laughter] right this is much more than this see ten more times they don't start getting to you to the 17th time I feel it now I feel it now who you had a bath on there at 3 34 in the morning at about four o'clock in the morning we did that I'm gonna listen to that record completely different now it's crazy and I'm going to sing records different now no no we're not gonna do that too here's something I want to say and this is and it's not about me so that means it's obviously about to be about you a little bit okay it's not about me no disrespect no disrespect disrespect ensues um I'm in the studio with Gladys Knight um and the mics are going to blow up here pouring champagne on them man I'm in the studio with Gladys Knight and producing um I'm producing this inner loop for maybe about two minute interlude that she's doing for this gospel album she's doing my guys are helping her do it and I come in I do all of the backgrounds write it I produced the two and just had it all set up and so you know Gladys walks in she's like okay let me hear what you got and I play it she's like oh yeah yeah yeah I like I like that a lot I like that a lot she said okay just play it and she said in the back of the studio and it just played it played from like maybe like five or six times and then she got up and she said okay I'm ready okay okay so me and I'm a young kid I'm like I'm about to produce Gladys Knight yeah you know what I'm saying I'm about to have a Hands-On interaction with making sure her vocal turns out the way it's supposed to turn out it's gonna be because of me last night got on that microphone we started that song at the beginning she sang from top to bottom for all the two minutes and when it stopped I mean an engineer looked at each other I said what you going to tell her he's like I don't know that [ __ ] was amazing I said yeah it was yeah absolutely amazing I said maybe I should just tell her to do it again just to say I did so right now that was amazing um uh I don't know if you want to do anymore if you got one more in you uh yeah I'll do one more tank that's not a problem baby did one more same thing and I said I have to try that because there's obviously something in that where artists where you come from where singing that record straight down and getting that actual true live performance right it's a true live performance because you can when you stop and take breaks and refresh and get like that's not a true live performance because as you see when people go live with those kind of that's just a recording those those recorded records or punched in records They can't execute it the same no because it wasn't saying life properly to begin with so when I sang Maybe I Deserve I said I want to do what Gladys Knight did and I sang that song from top top to bottom and now every time I sing that song even at 46 I can execute that song right the same way I did when I was 22. hmm because it's a lot it's but it's a lost art most of my recordings will one take mostly all my recordings were one tick that's so you're throwing the champagne back on me no I'm just saying yeah but the difference is when it rains right get wet no no no no when it rains get wet get wet I mean George used to call me Duke George Juke is called me one tape just go in there and do it yeah okay George yeah you see his hand your story was cute yeah yeah George Duke used to call me one take one take yeah yeah the difference though in one take is that that is the real true feeling you have for the song everything after that is you trying to sing like yourself yeah you know once you once you get that one take you kind of give it all the emotion everything you feel in that song after that when you keep punching in it becomes you know it's just not the same it's not it doesn't have that real true energy anymore because you know I might now here's the thing about George that I love I'm not saying a word Out Of Tune and he said that's the trash Factor leave that [ __ ] alone don't touch it I'm like George it's a little don't touch it it's the feel the Trap you're making me he called the trash bag he said you making me feel it I don't care if it's in tune it has that feel and that's what you can't produce again sometimes when you're punching in when you're trying to you're trying to yeah you're trying to jump into that emotion and it don't quite have the same feel that's the Mary J Blige effect yeah yeah but I mean as you become you know a veteran artist you learn how to do that better and better so you know you can use you start getting the knack for punching in but it don't still don't have that Vibe I used to do most of stuff with George we would have because it was all live musicians you know all that we we had oh Studio full of live musicians and they would be in and I would be in the booth while we were doing the tracks while they're doing the tracks and we keep them some of them vocals so it's just a Vibe you know it's something about being in the room with the musicians too that just give you that when's the last time anybody's done that so that's what I don't know LTD that's how it was too but yeah you guys were big it was a band so you go in and you sing while they're you know a lot of times you know I would have to sing after I played drums on a lot of the LTD stuff too I'm a drummer as well oh really yeah yeah that that makes a difference makes a difference it makes a difference you kind of get inside of yourself and even when it's like when it comes to like arranging the shows and things like that like I can right being a musician I can hear things and being able to I can articulate things a lot better right because I understand it from a musician's standpoint which I think gives us uh I won't say unfair advantages here's what it is no it gives you an advantage for sure the advantage no it's and it's crazy from the business side of it you know I'll have conversations with promoters and and buyers in different markets and you know they'll be like oh yeah you know we just you know we we want tank to sit in with a house band I'm like you do understand this man as a musician right he can't just go sit in with anybody no it's just not going to happen it don't work a lot of times it's just not going to happen yeah like I get it yeah I mean every every now and then you'll be like okay but most times it's like um yeah and I don't like to have to go and rehearse yeah that's the thing another man you gotta go sit in the rehearsals like before this I'm like nah that ain't working no not at all every now and then if I want to add something to the show but I don't sound chick anymore I had my background single he'll just check the mic you know you know if I'm feeling like I want to I will but most times I don't I take that nap talk about that now talk about that talk about that free games but this is also Insight this is also a chance to get to see and hear about the process right that a lot of people just don't talk about they don't talk about how important rest is yes is the most important thing you know what I mean you jumping on these planes you you know either are you on this bus all night whatever it is but you need your rest yeah and you know people don't realize that the vocal cord is the smallest muscle in the body and it gets used more than any other muscle because you're talking about it all day you're talking about talking so you you're banging on it all day long and you know the only real true vocal rest is to shut the hell up you gotta shut up you know and that's that's hard it's hard it's hard it's hard it's hard it's hard the life of the party yeah when you are the focal point exactly everybody wants to talk everybody wants to and before the show they want to come back stage and it's like damn I'd be trying to say no but it's like he like to turn up I like to turn up me and him would be on our way to the V but yeah man you know really well I'm gonna relax next year I know somebody bringing ribs I'm like bro you don't even eat ribs why what are you doing what are you doing there's 30 people in the room got the music the show ain't even started yet dream Sergeant yeah exactly so you got this hit love ballad right and and you've you've been dropping albums yeah and and trying to figure it out and find your way and now you found it what changes you're making more than ten dollars a night you more than ten dollars y'all splitting it yeah oh yeah it was split 10 ways respect yeah respect that is we're a group that ultimately that's what happens when you're in a group that's right who are you talking to I'm talking to people who don't want to split the money evenly you know right possibly a group to call TGT I don't know who was in the group Tyrese genuine the tank right spent the money evenly that's right it's supposed to be split even we have a historian in the building LTD a theologian of this r b thing that says the money is to be split you know what like did I even ever have a conversation of like listen I've seen the lead so no no we we were set up all wrong which is why I ended up leaving the group I mean we were set up when I when we first started they were asking me to put other people's names on my songs so we could all get our publishing in the published and get their own you know get set up in ASCAP and BMI we all need to be set up and so like a fool I was doing that [ __ ] back then so you know you start learning as you go along yeah uh but we was we were set up completely wrong I mean I I admire today's youth because I love the fact that they collaborate with one another you see collaborations which is they didn't do that back in the day old school you never saw that back in the day you know you think about it look at all the talent that was out there and nobody came together you know like you and genuine and Tyrese and you know they just didn't do it that way so I got kind of to the point where okay I think I'm ready to leave now it's time for me to kind of move on to the next step but we'll we'll get to the we'll get to this there's a lot involved right now I'm sure I'm sure but but we we kind of veered off of when you get that first hit record that first hit record I'll tell you what it did for me the the biggest change was I have been playing and singing at the same time I had no idea what to do when the record company said you got to hit record you got to go stand out front sing they can't see you with four horn players behind front of you well your ladies love this song no this is after the vehicle when it came out right yeah that's when they said you didn't get up but I was singing from the drums and my brother Billy played drums so when I sang he would play something and then when he's saying I would play it but there were a lot of times where I was singing and playing at the same time so I didn't really know what to do with my hands now I got hit record and I'm standing out there you can't be like I'm like yeah I'm like so I'm like okay well so they said you know what we're gonna get you somebody too to kind of take you through being out front yeah stage presence that's what the audience so uh we got this guy that was the theater director at La City College and he came and worked with me and he was incredible man he he really taught me how to control an audience bring an audience in you know the most important thing he told me was look that last person in that last seat that's who you work to forget these people right here they're right in front of you if you get that person you got the whole place so he made me project learn how to project learn how to bring people in all of this that I didn't know as I was sitting there all closed up like playing drums yeah yeah so that was biggest that was the biggest adjustment for me was learning how to be out front and learning how to you know take command to the stage yeah yeah so so how how long does it take y'all to get to the next hit uh the next album so we only had one hit off that first one hit when we had but you know radio was different back then because radio would play everything off your record whether it was a single or nothing you don't do that today you know the album came out they played four or five songs so people were hearing the other things on the record yeah but the one that talked yeah was love ballad but I love about and the next album was back in love that's a story in itself back in love because back then it was different you know with record companies they had r b departments and they had pop department and they didn't want to work our records pop right and that's one temporary r b and I'm like well you're not gonna work this record I mean it's starting to move up the charts pretty good and the next thing you know it crossed over on its own today it's totally different but it had actually crossed over on its own so they didn't want to take then they want to take credit for it damn thing you ain't work this record pop at all yeah but then it started becoming a major hit in the top Department started taking a little interest in us then yeah that record is different world back then huh that's that's an Alzheimer as well like y'all was just coming back to back like the back in love record like because now you go from Love Ballad to a slow jam now you got the tempo records y'all right y'all yeah and the barbecues the backyard the club they are everywhere now is it was there a huge difference in having a love ballad to uh back in love as far as just from a performance sense from where y'all were taking it because I'm obviously you know because the other thing that they have now is they have like uh like hosting gigs and Club appearances yeah I wouldn't but y'all didn't have that y'all just did y'all show yeah y'all didn't get paid to go to the to the club after and just show up what we did oh yeah I mean the after shows yeah yeah oh yeah it was always after shows that that's what's the promotest thing it's always after party yeah that he paid you guys to come to no he didn't pay us to come to we didn't we didn't get paid to go to the after show back then no that's what you're saying now you get paid oh no yeah now you get paid right yeah if there's gonna be an after show you're gonna get paid but yeah back then it was all about hanging out hanging out with the promoters trying to get in good so they keep booking you you know and we had to we had the big toys back then because it was LTD Commodores you know that was that was one of the major tours we yeah we did like maybe three tours with the cowboys that was huge LTD Commodores and then you know we did The OJ's and back then it was Con Funk Shun pilot oh yeah yeah yeah how many cities would you guys do in one tour man they killed us back then I swear we were doing we did in 79 we did the Jackson tour we opened up for the Jacksons that's when Michael had off the wall and he would come out and do the Jackson show and then they would leave and he would come out and do the whole Off the Wall out it was great it was this is crazy this was crazy I know that was crazy I mean and we were doing 14 13 14 nights in a row golly what until Michael said uh-uh I can't do this no more he's like uh so we started canceling dates yeah so two weeks straight three weeks straight we performing tonight that was a big show everybody I mean you know we was doing the big places that's when I knew that I might have had a few hits but this is a real Superstar here this dude is Jackson this is different I've seen things and I was like I mean because we we at a bus store so we traveled together we had a bus LTD and the Jackson they had a bus and the dude has to come out and disguise us every day he couldn't even walk out he had to be completely disguised every day and they would pull up to the stage get out do the show finish the show get back in the limo right there of the Columbia coliseums and drive out and people would jump on top of the car as they were driving up the ramp that's cool to get to this dude I've seen it all I believe it I'm telling you man I've never seen anything like it they threw a kid through the window at a Holiday Inn in Baltimore to get to them what you mean wait too to get to him well well he we did finish the show they are friends came over they knew we were at the hotel Baltimore this fool comes out of his rumors like two-story holiday and walks around and they see him they pick up a kid throw him through the window and all rush through to get to Michael Jackson this is a stop that's a dick that's there's a whole nother level that's a different level yeah I don't think we'll ever see again no we won't ever know not that in life not that yeah he was phenomenal not that that's that's amazing and and so does so is that in a sense what took y'all there a record like back at love back in love Yeah by then we had we had you know uh love ballad and then we had a lot of ballots that were big back then like we Both Deserve Each Other's yeah concentrate on you all these songs holding on was big we had so we started piling up some of the hits then we were we were rolling and LTD was a great live band I gotta tell you they were them four horn players was doing steps out there and [ __ ] twirling them horns yeah we putting pressure on everybody back then so it was great live group yeah it was exciting live was seeing Michael you know coming out there do his thing by himself was that an inspiration to you that was it was more inspiration is that he used to come to my dressing room and ask me what I did to keep my voice in shape because he would be running out of gas but you know anybody dancing around like that and singing I'm like dude you going to come to your dressing room yeah exactly and that's it Jeffrey what he said what do you saying what do you say Jeffrey oh what do you say Jeffrey I need to ask you a couple questions you know because everybody has a description of how they feel Michael really talk some people think it was playing music Jeffrey man my voice keep going out and [ __ ] man tell me what I got to do dogs what do you do what do you do man it was really there it was really there right but that it was also a form of vocal rest oh yeah which people don't know yeah that the Jacksons have mastered they speak low yeah speak low and it's not like they don't project heavy they're not doing what uh these right here well look man vocal therapy is singing as soft as you can it's not about these opera singers that have vocal therapy they go in and they're singing no and just trying to open up this and keep the Airstream and contract as long as you can just hold the note it's not singing at with any Force at all it's all as soft as you can controlling the Airstream yeah and some of the exercises that they do is like you know to take that glass and fill it up half with water and take a straw and you blow in that straw and it's like and you control the bubbles if the bubbles come over the top of the glass you ain't doing this [ __ ] right so you got to keep the bubbles inside the glass and it's all about controlling the Airstream and it's as soft as you can it's not because you know I I hadn't I had covet about four months ago and I'm like damn you know and that it messed me up otherwise my respiratory was so I talked to my throat though he said just go to this vocal therapist and I'm like so I went and the whole thing she had me doing was as soft as you can sing it's all real easy I need that number huh I need to go to a vocal therapist I mean it was incredible just and those are basically just simple things she was doing you know they call this backwood kazoo thing when they have you shape your mouth so that your cheeks are in your no we're not supposed to Puff them and it's just controlling the Airstream real soft and you go up the scale no and it's like 20 minutes a few hours later another 20 minutes get that glass there's that straw boom and it's amazing it opens it really does open you up I'm doing it but it's totally it's totally the opposite thing I thought I thought she was going to have me trying to bang at the top of my range and everything she's like oh no no it ain't about that so do you do these daily now I I do now I do it now yeah because I I still I still haven't recovered from covert I mean I have my natural voice is fine but it took away my falsetta and so I had still and I'm still struggling to get into my falsetta but these are the exercises that they gave me which uh vocal therapy I was I was blown away I'm thinking vocal therapy is going to be some strenuous stuff here total opposite what was the advice you gave Michael uh steaming hmm he was asking me and I said well you should steam a little bit because steaming is like to me the most important thing is vocal hygiene and steaming is one it lubricates the cord it takes any kind of swelling down off the court so is that with uh with like a uh you can get it or you can lift or something like that or just yeah well you know Luke eucalyptus is you know he's on the old guy in here now eucalyptus is is kind of a myth okay because it's a it's a menthol mentholated kind of thing and what it does is this opens you up right away and then it tightens your cord so anything like eucalyptus or mint anything is not good to really steam with I've been doing that wrong too yeah okay so just straight water straight water just straight water and I I carry a portable steamer there's several different kinds you can get but it's a it's a steam I steam after a show and sometimes before show because you know the moisture helps on the cord and it does take the swelling down so I do a lot of little crazy things like that I steam uh goggle with the nastiest [ __ ] in the world Goldenseal root powder it's it's like gobbling with dirt because it's a root powder but it's incredible what it does for you golden golden steel root powder so I'll steam and then I'll gargle and then I shut up and go to sleep yeah you're giving up and I'll tell you a really good sea salt is good if you get a sea salt that has all the trace minerals in it and gargle with that warm water that really helps too this is really does golden golden seal but if you need to get the root get rid of autotune give you some golden seal what kind of root powder root powder it comes in a capsule it used to come in bulk but now it's always in a capsule and you just open the capsule up pour it in cup put some warm water in it it's nasty though I mean it tastes like dirt and it doesn't bother me some people don't like the taste of stuff like that but I've been vegan for six years I can eat anything it's money and dessert it's money in the dirt right listen it tastes like there was money in the dirt yeah oh you vegan now too oh yeah I just started eating fish in the last four months but I've been vegan for almost seven years I went straight vegan did you do you feel like that helped you at all as far as yours you know from from your your vocal ability your I think it just helps more so help I just for overall health yeah I felt a lot more efficient you know I just felt efficient after going vegan and my whole it made it easy because my whole family went at the same time my wife my son we all did it at the same time uh but it was one of the best things I've done so now I'm basically still vegan but I'll eat some fish now I went to a train on Toby you need some fatty acids get some of the old Mega fatty acids yeah I was funny I'm like oh well this bodybuilder is that a vegan he said yeah but you know what they're doing I said well he said they're taking uh uh animal protein and ain't no way that that they're using whey protein they're not using yeah vegan protein I was like really you said you ain't building all that muscle with no no you need some attitude natural reserves yes yeah yeah I know that game well you got it yeah so so LTD y'all on tour y'all doing your thing with the Jacksons y'all one of the biggest groups in the world right what happens what happened what with that makes you just like you know what enough is enough now did you did you ever want to go solo that that was the last tour that I did and I wasn't supposed to do that tour I had actually let them know two years in front of that that I was ready to leave the group two years two years I did I did an album and another tour after I had told him I wanted to leave oh so you didn't pull a flash into Five Heartbeats no I didn't just yeah as long only at the top it come out next week no no you didn't do anything I kind of let them know that uh you know I was ready to leave uh it just like I said it wasn't set up right so I was getting office from record company to do a solo record and they squashed that because I had other group member squash that are I had a songwriters agreement that I signed with the group like stupid [ __ ] you do when you're young and uh so they wouldn't let me out of the songwriters agreement and they stopped me from doing the solo record so you know and then they didn't want me to write for other people because I was not the right for people people were like asking me to write and they were like no you can't do that you're gonna songwriters agreement with us so I'm like this is too confining I gotta go that would have made them money right that would have made everybody more money since you were signed to this agreement if you wrote for other people too but where they make money from it or was it just an agreement just you had the right for the group it was agreement with the group within the group and you know I had to write all the stuff I wrote was before the group The songwriters I was tied to Okay so you know at that point I'm like well you know what I I can't deal with this anymore so I'm it's time for me to get out of here so I left but it took it took almost two years before I actually left after I gave them the notice that I was going to leave so that whole 79 tour in 1979. that was that was the last tour I did you know with the and that was it was worth holding on for that one that was incredible to see that too yeah it was a good Dismount yeah yeah Ltd in the Jacksons oh is it was crazy I'm gonna stay for the next two years too Jesus Christ for the next two years so did you stay at a m I did I signed with a M it took me let's see I left the group in 80. my first record came out in 82 that's how long the mess was took me till 82. so it wasn't a clean break it was a clean break but they tied me up as far as being able to sign the agreement with a m so for a year I couldn't sign because I was still tied to this songwriters agreement so what are you doing during this time in limbo was you this is your time remember what are you doing because you're not performing with them either I was broke as hell that's what I was doing oh wow I was just trying to make it you know uh you know I just basically started reaching out to people who I thought I would like to work with for my project because I knew the project was going to happen you know so I started reaching out the different songwriters and I started sitting with different songwriters and I it was time to find a producer and are you in La at this time I'm in L.A okay and uh and that's when I went through a couple of people before I decided to go with George Duke and so George was the first producer that I worked with that as a solo artist and I did my first three albums with George George was incredible I learned so much from George it was ridiculous he was probably one of the most beautiful people I ever met dude got Perfect Pitch dude is just you know he's ridiculous the guy was again virtuoso pianist yeah I mean you know he could sing produce and I learned so much from he was the the first producer that I actually that actually gave me criticism not criticism but constructive criticism and said maybe you should do this here first producer ever everybody else I just went in and saying they were like oh that's cool I'm like everything's good oh oh it's good George was like well maybe right here you should try this I was like oh [ __ ] up producer yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I'm like okay so uh I learned a lot with George I mean he was he was just phenomenal God could walk into a string session we used to do string sessions back there with 35 40 strings and he will tell the second chair three strings out of two I'm like how are you hearing this wow with all these strings I mean this is how incredible his ear was so he was he was probably the perfect person for me to team up with as a solo artist I still do tribute to him every night on my show it's amazing every night I let people know how important he was to my career and I talked during the show and then I do a George Duke song I do reach for it um yeah but I do I do a tribute to George every night that's how much you know that's really cool yeah hey once you once you go on your own are they like um are they like reach outs are they like guys from the guys from the from the band like see you do your thing man yeah you know I I respect it or but yeah come around here no more we're gonna [ __ ] you up we pulling up to Detroit yeah it was it was difficult that first that year was was tough but you know I was fortunate that uh I had Georgia the producer and my first album went huge you know I really don't need the light was my first single but on the wings of love was the second single and that kind of took me over the top with wings so I feel like I've had two career songs Love Ballad and on the wings of love is a solo career kind of like because nobody knew my name when I was with LTD they got you it was just LTD my name was never out front of LTT but people knew my voice right so the most important thing with my first album was to associate the name with the voice so why that's why I just titled the album Jeffrey Osborne and that way people had to say this is on the wings of love by Jeffrey Osborne from the album Jeffrey Osborne so they had to keep signing the names yeah yeah but that's right that's why we yell RV money all the time all the time yeah yeah you know they knew my voice though you know oh you can know your voice yeah you know it was you know but that back then there was a lot of right around that era at that time there was a lot of people leaving us when Lionel left the Commodores that's when Michael left the Jacksons that's 79 to what was probably the last two he did the Jacksons oh wow then he you know he went crazy out on his own yeah a lot of people ventured off some people ended up going back but you know but it's tough when you have a group that big that's a that's a lot I mean a million dollars is nothing for 10 people you think about it in split 10 ways yeah you're gonna run I wonder how Earth Wind and Fire was set up they was set up probably as a group when they started and then it came down to Maurice and Philip and uh now they have uh they're not it used to be the drummer with them what's his name Ralph Ralph was a drummer with them and now he's one of the core people I think it's three of them I think it's Philip now and Ralph and Verdine and Verdine yeah everybody else is basically no because it's just tough to carry that yes it's impossible almost yeah you know I mean the road is a beast I mean right now I'm I'm doing shows and I'm traveling with I got 10 people that I'm traveling with and it's just ridiculous I mean especially now after covet and the airlines the airline tickets are doubled from last year yeah so when you're flying that many people and putting them in hotels and paying per diems Mr Beast it get tricky yeah you got to get that after party that's what Jeffrey Osborne will also be here at Sensations right after the show flying over hey lap dances are twenty dollars tonight if you can if you can Jeffrey Osborne hearing Sensations so so when you get here when you get a record that big like on the wings of love Yeah and was this the record that truly crossed you over because that like that record is a yes at the course of r b record but it's just it has a different feeling too it's a pop record so it turns Place apart well I mean I can tell when I do concerts you know if I'm at a concert with that is a corporate thing with 80 white people it's on the wings of love Yeah queue it up kill it up we singing that the other one the other side is love ballad yeah yeah you know so but I mean people do appreciate it you know the r b audience appreciate it but it's kind of more of a pop song than uh you know than an RB song and I think back then we kind of try to you know configure our records so that they would like that you know I know with George we were like let's do a pop single pop ballad and let's do an imbec was that that record in the movie no it wasn't it was up for a movie and then it got canceled like it was like it was in a movie that uh it was up for a gentlemen and uh that wasn't even the gentleman and a soldier or something okay and it was up for the movie and then they ended up using them just Lift us up where we belong yeah we used that instead I was like yeah yeah yeah laughs but did you did you write that record yeah I wrote on the wings of love you wrote on the wings of love yeah yeah that's not that was exciting yeah what was that record about was it was it like a a personal thing to that record or were you just writing I was kind of just writing and I was reading this poet Cahill jibron and there was a poem he had in there and it was talking about what love would look like in Flight I was like oh [ __ ] love and flight that's Wings love okay that's why you know I wrote three sets of lyrics before I ended up with another one slow I do that a lot I write it and if it don't sing well I'm just this ain't working right and I Said lyrics so that was like third set of flight yeah what is love and flight feel like what does it look like it's a yeah someone tell my wife you better be glad I let you fly on these wings of love you would be grounded if it wasn't for these wings of love you know you'll be on your feet I don't think that's gonna work out instead of in the air with me I don't think that's gonna work out you want to take flight yeah act right here hey ask a man who's been married for 40 decades [Laughter] I don't know I guess it depends on how you say it to see how are you how you say it you got to say it nicely yeah no you can't get gangster with it you gotta know how do you get married for 40 years in r b that's a great question 40 years I need you it's a long time I need help I mean well most you got to be friends first yeah for sure you got to be friends first oh oh it don't work you know uh but you know we go through your trials and your tribulations your ups and downs and then at some point you realize that you know how many times you want to start over again it's like it's too much work it's a lot of work it's a lot of work you know so when you find someone that you really have that Bond you know and you just you just kind of work through everything and you know I had been through a divorce and splitting a family and you know I don't want to go through that again and you know I love my wife I love my kids I got great kids so I know you're crazy it's easy you know 40 years and you were married before that right yeah and how long was that that was about 10 years but I would I was I'd say I was married for five years I hung on for the other five you know but technically you've been married 50 years of your life exactly number seven exactly well you've been locked away for a minute you know what I'm gonna have me yeah [Laughter] [Laughter] we four years in now okay um but you know that's new look we definitely gotta we've known each other for 22 years though oh okay so we kind of you know been off and on and you know like a 14 year old baby you know we we got the baby in before the marriage we had both our kids before the marriage actually yeah they was both at the wedding yeah yeah that's how she got the job she had my son she had my son on my birthday I said you know what you did you different you made it um but it's like you said like it's it's it's a choice you have to make every day you have to wake up and make that choice you know what it's you and we're gonna rock out if a fit woof well four let's give me the proper 40 years that's that is amazing brother absolutely amazing so I can do it yeah oh yeah you can do it it's work it takes work on both sides I can't do it I can I think I can do it I'm gonna try to do it I think I can so I know we talked about like you know you go from LTD you go to your solo career and you had talked about being in this writing commitment where you couldn't write for other people right as once once you're out of that and you're into your solo career and out of this you know commitment to this one thing are you now able to flourish as a songwriter with other artists and all of that yeah I I was able to write songs for other artists you know uh and I wrote a couple songs for other artists not a lot but just the fact that I had the opportunity to do it you know was nice and I wrote one song for Whitney Houston that I ain't mad at that one that one did pretty well on her first time all at once wait you were all at once yeah I wrote all at once yeah not right all at once yeah it did that's amazing that is amazing you wrote all at once yeah and it's refer yeah that's her first yeah that was her first yeah yeah so when you're right okay so Michael master I wrote it with Michael Masset Michael Master wrote some serious number one hit so was that a phone call like oh they got this new artist all right well they're like how did that go no that was a publishing kind of a thing where I was signed to a m publishing company and I met Michael masser and he had been writing all these incredible songs you know do you know where you're going to Mahogany you wrote all the other nights right so I sat with him and I wrote a couple of songs with him and I recorded it and I didn't use it between all at once and we're going all the way and me and George are sitting there and I'm like kind of like we're going all the way better yes so we ended up using we're going all the way and Mike will call me right away I'm producing Whitney I want this song I want this song I'm like who's Whitney right right all right who's with me oh she's incredible I'm like well go ahead use it well that's how she ended up getting it because Michael Massa produced that album he wrote All That saving all my love for you and all that Michael Master wrote all that [ __ ] oh he's uh he was incredible right he's good and yours just happened to be one of the records that he just was like you know what this fits well because he wrote it so yeah yeah I'm gonna take this ride that is dope wow that is though because I mean I was I mean of course me and Jay you know we are writers and producers for some of everybody and I was I was kind of forced into it because I wanted to keep all my music for myself right you know what I mean I would share it with I guess people who I would deem worthy of these lyrics and Melodies and beats but you know when I when I got set on the bench you know and the labor wasn't paying me no attention for five years I had to figure out how to eat and that ended up being um my Saving Grace but a different kind of gift in Disguise that I'd never anticipate that will sustain me way differently than being an artist yeah without a doubt because that up and that artist up and down thing is is real it's crazy everybody think they're gonna be hot forever you're not and you are not I don't care who you are everyone right them fees will change right exactly you know what I'm saying one day you're getting a nice you know you're getting that five thousand then you getting that 50. right and then you back to three well our music changes so much you know uh for our culture you know it's uh you know R B's in next thing you know hip-hop is in next thing you know this is in and so you know you go through these stages where it's not like rock rock is just rock all the time it's just rock all the time country guys are like yeah 80 years old filling up stadiums right country music same way same way right it was sad because you know we've had so many legends that end up not being able to even sell tickets not being able to you know it's like unbelievable you think about it you know what is that that's that's because we're always into the next new [ __ ] we don't really sit back and support the the Legends you know the people that have done it for so long and it's been like that forever you know unless we change it started the same way I mean my family was into jazz so I was in the cerebron and Billy Eckstein and Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson and all these people and then when my time came LTD they were phasing them out just like they just phased them out I'm like what the hell how do we phase that out how do you do that that's what I'm saying wow I mean it's like there's not even any big band music anymore you know I mean big band was like [ __ ] oh big man was serious yeah and all of a sudden it just whacked no more big band so we've kind of you know we jump onto the next new thing a lot yeah yeah and not stick with you know I think I think our culture also struggles with what we deem cool that's what I mean exactly because we always we we are the cool yeah you know our culture that's just it's yeah you know we're the salt of the earth and I think what happens is we don't realize that what came before us was also cool and it's still cool right and we try to get away from it I I see I even see people that are older feeling weird about liking things that that came along during their time like oh that's like wait wait hold on you you grew up on that too though like yeah oh yeah but you know this it's like why can't you like both right you know what I mean like when my kids are in the car with me they're going to hear Marvin Gaye yeah they're going to hear Stevie Wonder they're going to hear James Brown right and that wasn't even my generation yeah that was my parents playing those records for me exactly yeah you know what I mean like I'm still going to make sure like we talk about that on the podcast like it's important you play your kids good music it is without a doubt I want your kids to have some taste yep because I'm definitely met some people who don't got no taste be like wait wait you don't know oh you man you tripping you know what I'm saying like well you know we'll go down records and we'll go down music and it'll surprise you sometimes yeah without a doubt it's got to be a code right and it's Gotta Be um there got to be people willing to hold the line you know what I mean and and everything everything doesn't have to be I mean I get it things do progress and we want to we want to appreciate the progression um and how it's being sang now or how it's being written now or being produced now yeah but you cannot forget where it comes from you can't no you cannot forget the building blocks you cannot forget to appreciate why we even have this opportunity why it's even been able to evolve yeah yeah it starts somewhere it starts and we've all been drawing from it from the beginning from the beginning you know yeah all of this music today is still incorporating everything that was before it you know of course so yeah we it's it's important that these kids at least learn about what was there before them yeah it seems like you don't see as many live musicians you don't see as many you know it's it's crazy it's crazy because you know what the pr sometimes you have promoters that don't see the value in it who don't know the difference between a crowd reacting to a live show or attraction yeah they don't know the difference no you know what I mean they're even down the track do you even do it I've done it you know I got a track show coming up somewhere in December but uh it feels different though it's so different yeah because it's just constricting and confining I can't do I can't break it down I can't you know it's like it is what it is because I I'm so used to being with a van all the time but every now and then you know it's it's usually it's a private function yeah yeah you know that man yeah that makes a lot more sense it's a small group of people they don't want to pay enough for the band They want me to do it I'm like okay well you get some tracks yeah you're gonna get these yeah you're gonna get these tracks I I appreciate when artists reach back I appreciate it I mean and that's really what our platform is about and you know just you know we're going to reach forward and backwards on on on the Army money podcast but you know looking at artists like a Beyonce who would do you know a Frankie Beverly record over oh yeah and include them and then also do the record now with the Isley Brothers you know and and that we need that in r b music this is something that just never has truly existed we I feel like we we uh we as a genre have this thing where we just kind of send our Legends out to pasture yeah exactly and that's crazy to me yeah that's and that's what I was saying earlier the difference between r b and Rock rock music you know these guys are they'll still tour together they're getting big money too yeah big money to do it stadiums Arenas still cracking yeah exactly and and the fan is still engaged yes completely yeah the fan has not abandoned yeah but that's also but that's also them putting their kids onto it because you'll go and you'll see Generations yeah and that's the thing like yeah just like you were you were saying that uh with your shows too is you're starting to see younger kids there as well like our good friends Boys to Men when we go to their concerts you'll see nieces nephews and it's like that's what it's supposed to be yeah but that's also a testament to the music and the music to the music you know these Timeless records Timeless I mean look hey face man that dude wrote oh yeah face that's just ridiculous the songs his catalog is ridiculous when you think that almost all of this Boyz II Men songs or face baby face and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis they had the best of the best yeah they had the best of the best to dial up dial up hit records yeah yeah just like dial up it's not a nothing not an accident right here's a hit I'm still waiting for myself I'm still waiting for my baby face song wow you heard that live right here on the r b money podcast Jeffrey Osborne said listen here uh Mr Babyface that's right okay I'm still waiting oh my God and he is Shake he brought the smoke with him oh that would be amazing that's something and we we need that we need that we need that yep so I mean and that's the other thing because I think what happens um is we get to a point too where some of the artists because I've had conversations with you know the newer artists and even some established artists where they're just like man I don't know how how can I even get to him I don't even think I don't think they would do the record with me I don't well you know what I mean like are you that's a that's are you up for that I'm up I'll definitely be up for that for like the newer artists for I mean you know I'm you know I'm I'm just impressed that the fact that like like look look at tank I mean look with the artists he's worked with you know Drake and T.I and all these people and I'd love to have a drink Drake yeah yeah I would what's his name is Jeffrey Williams that's what I'm talking about yeah we need it wow we needed it we need it well listen our our whole platform is dedicated to that to Bridging the Gap and that's beautiful and making sure that there's understanding and that there's information yeah Drake don't see it yeah you're gonna see a boy wonder yeah that there's information man and so you know that's the key you know what I mean like we we can't we can't we can't keep this information to ourselves we can't we have to distribute it and give uh give uh give our up and coming our young kids the opportunity yeah let us all be little Michael Jackson knocking on the door yeah hey man because the information you gave today even just of of preserving your instrument right like this is so important like there's nowhere else that they get this type of information from yeah I hear you and I took notes I think I know yeah whatever they're taking notes but I'm gonna go get me some root yeah and I'm gonna goggle the dirt yeah and get my vocal right there you go see a vocal therapist whoever that is yeah I don't even know that I gotta take this thing serious I didn't even know it existed oh vocal therapy yeah yeah I didn't know they even exist I knew there was vocal coaching but I know it was a vocal thing it was vocal therapy yeah and I'll tell you what uh kick medical which is USC's Medical Center they have a good staff a vocal therapist there wow I'm sure UCLA probably those two yeah the medical center yeah because I I also feel like since music we and we talked about this before we before we started recording about just the freedom of anybody can do it you can jump in it from any you know you don't need any form or anything right um I think a lot a lot of stuff gets lost we don't always take this as our occupation our as our job job I don't know people that are putting in eight hours a day right you may have some yeah but hanging out at the studio is not putting in eight hours a day no you know what I mean and that and that becomes a thing now where she's like well I was at the studio well what were you doing there yeah did you write a song did you write two songs right [ __ ] beat did you did you sing did you sing one one take you know what I mean like I definitely didn't do that are you really are you really building up your career and preparing yourself to be successful and lasting yeah you got to put in you have to literally put in the work and these are things like if you're going to be a singer get rest take care of your voice right you know what I mean like work out don't be around all that smoke I know all y'all want to smoke weed 100 you know all day and all night but that's that's taken away from your voice yeah it is drives you out dry your throat out immediately I can't even like drink wine if I'm on the sink if I you know and I love wine but if I have a show to do I'll stay awful I won't drink a glass of wine if my show is Thursday night Monday night might have a glass of wine and that's it and then after I'll have a glass of wine but wine dries my throat out now I'm sure it may not react that other people may not have that reaction but it dries my throat out and I can you know that's a noticeable difference if I stay away from it you know and you want to be at your best you want to be exactly yeah when they see you you know when they pay for them tickets yeah you won't even give them what they paid for and then some absolutely well Mr Jeffrey Osborne um first of all we thank you tremendously oh no thank you um it's great are we not done we're not done we're just I'm just thinking just saying I'm just thanking you brother you know periodically I'm just gonna say thank you because you deserve that absolutely um [Laughter] yeah stay tuned um we got some questions for you man we just need answers from you man you know we you you are you are deep in this r b thing man you deep deep in the Army streets and and and we want to get perspective from you a theologian in this um top five r b artists male or female wow yeah yeah that's all right it's getting deep top five r b artists I would have to say I'd have to go back because I had I got I gotta say James Brown yeah I gotta say James because he just changed the whole picture of music when he was up but I mean I have artists like going way back that like Sam Cooke I mean that's a voice that why not just unbelievable boys yeah and then you know Marvin oh yeah Donny Hathaway Stevie I mean I can't even give you five but I'm just saying you know code five we'll take it we'll take it it may change like it always changes yeah you know what time of day all right that was you okay you ran through that um it's a songwriter top five R B songs um I got the look on that one and you can use one of yours if you are two or three or four whatever you wrote yeah so many hits you got hits if you want if you want you can you can say outside of mine I can't I can't do that okay I can't use one all right well that's that's tough too one of my favorite songs is All is fair in love that's one of my all-time favorite song I mean his vocal performance on that record was Second To None ridiculous yeah ridiculous I mean God that's hard I'd have to say just for for what it did to wake up the country I have to say what's going on yeah I mean back then they have a song you know that really touched everything everything and everybody was going through right yep exactly and then you can just take any Aretha Franklin song you want you better believe it you better believe it put some rest back though oh my God yeah yeah I mean she was phenomenal and I don't even know how I didn't have her as one of my top five I'm the artist because she's amazing uh it's hard to pick five I'm saying wow I have to I have to pick it's almost like picking artists and songs at the same time because you know Gladys is one of my all-time favorites and I have to say I always wanted to do it do a duet with Gladys Knight that's the one person I've always wanted to do a duet with and I still want to yeah great yeah the Army money podcast makes things happen yeah so yeah hey man put a call in let's see uh R B songs but you got to tell us the Gladys oh no you got to give us the song though you got to give us you gotta give us one either one of us neither one you know I want to be the first yeah neither one of us you said no you said we want to say goodbye okay yeah and then I'm not hanging up and that's four right man fine that's incredible I'm gonna have to go with uh might have to go with Donnie uh I can't even tell you the name of the song It's a hang on to the world as it spins around [Music] keep you down things are moving fast songs poof that was you did really I mean this is Jeffrey Osborne We got everything on here man I don't know if y'all people what's happening uh we like to we want to make a r b Voltron you know Voltron is right yeah well you know Voltron um we want to see who you would get the vocals from the performance style from The Styling from and the passion fruit believe it this is a lady one of my favorite jazz singers Gloria Lynn hmm a lot of people don't even know who Glory lives yeah I don't know who Gloria I gotta look at that I didn't know for years that I actually was emulating almost all of her all of her vocal Style uh but as I listened to myself now and I listen back to her I'm like man I I'm using the same inflections I'm using the same runs I feel like I'm almost cloning myself from Gloria Lynn she she had such a man she has such an impact on me and my my sisters used to listen to her all the time I mean beautiful just that's so weird but okay that's who I think for me that's the most of my vocal you know inspiration came from like Gloria Lynn and that's funny I was in New York one time I was on the radio talking and I said they asked me that question I said well Gloria Lynn was one of my favorites and she called in she picked up the phone and called in and they said guess who's on the line I said oh they said Gloria Lynn I said you got to be kidding me and I had never met him before never met her before that's awesome oh yeah that's amazing so I think I'd have to say her okay which is Off the Wall nobody would ever guess that I've never think that we're gonna dive into that my brother yeah um who would you get the performance style from I don't know if I get the performance style but I got no no who would you if you're built right now we're building an artist right like you're making your perfect R B artist right well would you we you you consider perfect and you're taking Gloria Lynn vocals to put into this exact photo who are you taking the performance style like who do you think has the stage unlock for me I'm going back again but I'm gonna tell you only because I toured with this guy and I watched him every single night and I watched him bring it every single night and I sat there and said God if I can just do that every single night from a performance style and that was Eddie Levert Eddie Levert brought it every time single night top of the top I'm telling you every night Danto LTD OJ I sat there and we used to go back and forth at one another he's like yeah well don't let me get a hold of that love ballad yeah well don't let me get a hold of him don't make me into the day we're great friends but I mean I watched that man give it all and that to me that was it he gave it all every single night I I toured with him you know as they were as they were older right but even still yeah but when he was young you could tell but you could tell like yeah whatever suit he went on he was sweating out of the whole suit I've never seen sweat oh yeah in front of a suit jacket oh yeah jacket this is the man is sweating and he was I said oh I can only imagine him at 25. oh he was amazing being a monster well Jeffrey Osborne playing drums behind it wow okay performance style got it Levert can't beat it um styling what you want your artist to look like who has that aesthetic um wow good question Style damn I never even crossed my mind because it ain't me I don't know man as far as does it have to be a male or female male or female who do you see that put that you know when you see him on stage like that I always you know I don't have to almost say Beyonce yeah I say fly I mean you know I mean you don't miss Trends you know what I mean yeah yeah but you don't miss they gave her clothing line for a reason yeah yeah for a reason shout out Ivy Park shout out yeah shout out we like Ivory Park yeah we like for our ladies to get you know the ivory Park we got the you know when it come out nobody got it them big exclusive things y'all be sitting there um back in the day it was James James come up with some outfits to come out with it boy and he had to be at the shirt all the way down yeah too I might have to bring that back out the shirt no no you sure no okay I'm sure no sorry I'm telling you man he's he was he was he was styling back then James All right so go through the Augusta Airport they still have his uniforms up in there oh yeah yeah even when he got a little chubby yeah he's still where am I fit at he put it I can fit it James you shouldn't no just loosen up things but do something put it on me all right last one who you getting the passion from the heart of the artist um you know that's a good question too as I stole from so many that's how it goes I'm with you you know I'm with you take a little bit of this and a little bit of that um but let's see I don't know I you know I keep going back I keep going back and I have to say one of the best live performances I ever heard was Sam Cook yeah Sam Cooke back in the day had so much passion it was it's unbelievable Him Live at the Copa that record that dude was amazing yeah I'd have to I'd have to say I got a lot from Sam just his overall passion was amazing wow you know what's crazy is that like as I listen to you talk about all these artists I feel like another another reason you've been able to stay for so long outside of you know your gift and and your musical contributions I think is because it just feels like you as a good person people have wanted you to win people have felt that love for you and always supported and sent that back to you which I think keeps keeps people afloat in ways that you don't realize when you're a good person right a supportive person yeah that comes so full circle yeah when you tell how much you appreciate the art and appreciate the artists that come before you absolutely without a doubt yeah people can feel that like I always tell a lot of artists like like make a difference in that way your record is one thing your talent is one thing I said but make a difference with people yeah because the difference in sometimes you getting a gig or not getting a gig like I've gotten a lot of gigs because not because I was the bigger artist at the time but you know the program director might be like you know what I like it yeah we like it yeah when he comes he the smile is great he treats are people good yeah just like you said you said it earlier when you were just like Yeah The After parties were different then yeah but it was we're going to we're going to hang out with the promoter yeah now these guys like they don't want to talk to nobody they don't want to be around them but it's like right you have like we're in the service industry no matter what you think yeah you're supplying a service yeah and once people don't want your service anymore you're in trouble you're in trouble that's right you're in trouble no matter what kind of gifts you got yep yeah I mean it's important to take time with your fans too especially you know when you're out and you're on the road and you're in the hotels and people run up to you and you know I hate to see somebody snob people because that's just me that's not the easiest thing in the world is to be nice to someone it just takes so much energy to be nasty it does it's you know yeah the easiest thing is to be I don't yeah I just don't get it Jay will tell you all the time I like people yeah I have a conversation with anything has never met a stranger I've never met a stranger yeah I'll talk to anybody we're just engaged in an hour-long conversation I don't know he was cool he was cool though we caught a Vibe you know what I'm saying and yeah that's I'm like that I like I'm yeah I grew up in the house of 12. yeah so I like people you know I've always just had that that Bond of people around me and so I like people so and that makes a big difference it makes a big difference yeah I mean I get asked I I stopped doing these cruises because that reason because you were the king because they were like cruises we want you to do the cruise we want you to stay on because you're so nice to the people I was like yeah but when I come out that cabin they are all over here oh no Jeffrey they are come on let's take this picture I don't know how to turn this camera around man see how you turn this camera around you taking up too much of the time we taking up too much of your time just trying to get this camera it's like uh I took a picture with you yesterday yeah but that was yesterday I got on my Michael Kors purse today yeah yeah they need to see this is something that we didn't skip it over we just hadn't got to it yet it's very very very it's gonna this is I don't even know if we got enough alcohol liquor champagne to pour when I bring up this bring it up bring it up We Are the World We are the world we are the children yeah this was the one of the first songs that I ever sang really ever wow you really make me feel old now like my my parents my dad especially would make me get in the living room and make me and my brothers we all sang we and my sister and we would have to sing We Are the World um and we were so we loved that record so much yeah and you were a part of this record this this record had every major artist it was crazy known to man at this time absolutely on this record and I you have to tell us the backstory to We are the world and if there were some people who didn't get on this record that was salty and then and then explain the one piece of video where Michael Jackson is looking at uh oh yeah um uh was it Bruce Springsteen I think it was Bruce Springsteen I don't like it I don't like it I don't think you should do that it was incredible man it was you know they they set it up perfectly because it was it was after the American of music American Music Awards show so that finish that like I don't know six or seven o'clock that night and I got the call the day before from Quincy and he said and are you up to able to do this song or We are the world we got all he told me all these artists and I was like are you kidding me and the only reason I got the call is because Prince canceled on it oh wow what so Prince fell out at the last minute and Quincy said man I got a spot man I got a spot can you come I'm like yeah I can come I'll be there and it was just amazing to see that many people in a m Studios that night and it was magical it was absolutely magical you know and you had Stevie in one corner at the piano and he's going over everybody's Parts you know he's playing and they're just trying to sing their little solo part and you know and he had Al Jarreau over here and Al is in tears because you know Al is one of them real spiritual emotional people yeah and he was like oh my God and you guys had so many facets going on all over the place uh I think the most incredible moment was when we all stopped and everybody took this sheet music it had everybody sign it and to see that many artists walk around getting signatures from the others yeah and I have mine and I have mine frame so this is like the Jersey swap yeah it was crazy it was crazy with all Michael Jordan so that's crazy it was crazy so I I still have mine framed you know uh but it was pretty amazing so you know and I didn't get a chance to sing I was like damn I want to sing give me two words question like what are we doing what are we doing here you know what I do so Quincy says hey man I know you didn't get a chance to sing but why don't you just wait and at the end we'll set up a couple of mics and we'll have I'm gonna have a few people just ad-libbing and you can throw an ad-lib in here I'm like great yeah so we waited at the end it was probably six o'clock in the morning we was in there all night long six o'clock in the morning and it was me it was James and it was Diana Ross and we sat there and we sang ad libs and then I get the call Quincy and we can't use the edits I'm like why he said Diana sang through everybody else's Island she wouldn't stop she's saying she just kept singing I'm like oh you can't get this work this is laughs but yeah yeah it was pretty you know I just got a call last week they're trying to do a special on We are the world it's like the 25th year anniversary or something they wanted me to come up to a m and do a interview wow what the night was like you know yeah yeah it was crazy it was a pretty special night yeah that was that was an amazing that was an amazing record do you know how many units that sold I mean I know it was all for charity but I'm sure it's like I have no idea it has to be the biggest single ever no it had to be one of them I'm trying to figure out if they ever tracked all the money down huh you know because it was oh it got tricky with the money I think he got tricky I don't know what happened but he was playing with the We are the world yeah I could play with any money they would play with any they play with the church's money they put Church money [Laughter] did you even get up is there a We Are the World plaque I never got a plaque or anything come on it's got to be a plaque it should have been somebody hit up the riaa it's got to be certified at 400 million copies of something man just just fill up the room with it yeah it had to be a ridiculous amount it was like the biggest thing ever and everybody had it in their show everybody all right I I was doing it in my show I had three or four vocalist singing pots and stuff yeah I went to see Harry Belafonte he's doing it in his show it's funny the people that were in it you'd be like wow and everybody was doing it in their shows live when that came out it was big it was right it was the biggest songs ever amazing he dropped a lot of names in that one yeah he didn't even drop all the names either so many people that were part of that oh yeah it was crazy did you okay so as a vocalist though did you ever have a moment like those vocals are tricky why are they letting them sing because we all singers and we didn't been in rooms and we like he ain't me yeah yeah so you know I can do that part right exactly did you ever I know you had a moment where you're just like well you know you always think damn I didn't not get that shot but the beautiful thing was everybody's saying what they wanted to sing they brought their own individuality too yeah yeah you know what I mean they didn't try to be somebody else you know like even Bob Dylan I mean he was just I'm doing it he was Bob Dylan there wasn't many melodic notes but he got it out yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah [Music] [Laughter] that was great man and I I just had to bring that up because that was a pivotal part of my childhood yeah that record and just you know seeing that togetherness and I thought it's probably something I still tap into and why I feel like things should be more collaborative yeah because that was my first time seeing major artists together together yeah yeah it was powerful extremely powerful yeah so we're gonna go from We Are the World talk to him to this great section it's called I ain't saying no names yeah yeah yeah yeah cause there was enough names but yeah yeah so uh the rules of this segment of the show is you tell us a story funny or [ __ ] up are funny and [ __ ] up but the only rule is you can't say the name so this is Jeffrey Osborne's version Oh my god oh fine if I ain't saying no names wow yeah there's a lot of that moment you had r b music brother he ain't been to a lot of places seen a lot of things yeah I've been to a lot of places I've seen stampedes I mean that was crazy one night in New Orleans it was just you know at the Dome and it's us and The OJ's they're saying that no no he's talking about another story there's a whole other story I'm sorry I'm sorry you know and then I don't know what happened something happened in the crowd and people went crazy and they came in Mounted Police on horses what running through the crowd trampling people trampling people trampling on horses on Horseback yeah um wow that's crazy very well but I have to say I was on tour with this one group yeah yeah yeah oh yeah with my trip down yeah with this one group everybody know this group because they was they was they still well yeah it was popping back then and uh so we go to the sound check so you know what upset we're waiting around to do our sound check and they take it all day we were like so we like in the back come on God damn you know we got to get our sound check in what the hell is going on and they just messing around somebody yelled out too loud the next thing you know is gunshots everywhere and we ducking down and some persons behind the drums and uh we actually finally made it out of there and it was I can't say no names I can't tell you who it was somebody shot at y'all show me the sound checked out they were actually shooting at each other and we were in the room they were fighting them yeah they were sound checking and we were trying to bloom along they stopped yelling and talking back and forth next thing you know they they start shooting at each other um see this is why we don't have groups anymore this is why we don't have groups I tell y'all hip-hop ain't got nothing on us listen we shooting at the soundtrack say shut up they shot it they showed it wow yeah beef to a whole nother level oh yeah my God that was when that was in the 70s probably 78 here's a better question just did y'all still do the show yeah and they did theirs too and they did yeah come on come on come on come on show must go on the show must go home you got to get to the R B Money Hey listen pull that bullet out wrap him up right Stitch him up put some bandages on it we got work to do tonight seeing these damn songs seeing these damn songs we got r b work to do tonight listen man um brother Jeffrey Osborne man you are you are you you are him and you are um you have stood you're beyond still at the test of time you are still thriving in this wonderful place that we call r b music that we love and behold so dearly and you are our Elder are you are him and we we have all this love and flowers and respect for you and we we look forward to you having to continue to cancel shows because you are overbooked yeah yeah right now right now yeah at 74 about to be 75. shout out to your daughter Tiffany come on Tim all right your son-in-law Frank come on Frank and my God little Jeff yeah this is why this happened right here this is why this happened right here we appreciate it you're right about that we appreciate them you know uh I love what Tiffany and Frank are doing over there in the district and uh and my son he works he's my house engineer yes my live sound he's he's incredible and he do karate Eddie doing all that video work over there and the video works yeah he does a lot yeah he's good you know that's where my Juice Spot is oh yeah yeah Urban juice in there yeah yeah come on so I'm tank I'm Jay Valentine and this has been the r b money podcast The Authority yeah on all things r b with an authorian authority what's the word I don't know okay oh God still in the game all right

Channel: R&B Money Podcast

Views: 145,463

Keywords: Tank, jvalentine, r&b, money, podcast, music, entertainment, 90s, 2000s, hits, playlist, slowjams, r&bmoney, rnbmoney, r&b money podcast, r&b money, r & b money podcast, r and b money, tank podcast, j valentine, rnb money, tank, r&b podcast, tank r&b money, r and b podcast, rb money, r&b money tank, tank and j valentine, r & b money, j valentine podcast, tank j valentine, j valentine tank

Id: 0xFhBA4nnU4

Length: 108min 46sec (6526 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 03 2022