When I was 31,
in front of an audience of about 3000 at the
Valley Forge Music Fair, I volunteered and was
chosen to sing "Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie
Wonder towards the close of his concert.
Three weeks later I was able to obtain a tape of
the performance that was recorded by one of the
Music Fair staff members. The original
recording was made on a very cheap cassette
recorder, so the quality of this recording is
not very good, in particular, you cannot hear
the instrumentation very well, but I am still
forever grateful to have been able to obtain the
recording.
the rest of the story.....
The location was the Valley Forge Music Fair in Devon,
PA.
It
was one of the best music venues in the Philadelphia
area, mainly because of the seating arrangement
and sound system. Stevie Wonder had booked
an entire week of sold out shows beginning
on Monday November 28, 1983. I
attended his opening show with two friends, Bill
and Delphine. There was no opening act; so
it was all Stevie for at least 3 hours with a 20
minute intermission. Sometime during the
second half of the program, Stevie said something
like, "hey, I need a white brother and some backup
singers down here to help me out with a
song". Nobody reacted, so Stevie repeated
the request, actually 2 or 3 more times before the
audience realized he was serious and wanted some
volunteers to join him on stage. Eventually,
some people made it down to the stage and Stevie
told them that they were all going to perform
"Ebony and Ivory" together. Taken by
surprise, the guy volunteer didn't know all the
words, but had a very good voice - so good, that
after they had finished the song, Stevie asked him
if he wanted to sing another song. They
ended up doing "I Feel Good", the James Brown
classic and this same guy who had stumbled
somewhat through the "Ebony and Ivory" lyrics,
nailed one of the most classic soul songs of
recent decades! And it DID "feel good".... he
brought the roof down! James Brown would
have been proud... not to proud to beg, but very
proud.
I remember being very envious.... a chance
to share the stage with the eighth Wonder of the
world.... gee, I could've done that had I known!
By no stretch do I consider myself a
vocalist, but I thought I could half-decently sing
Paul McCartney's part in "Ebony and Ivory".
There's only one verse to the song, the same verse
is repeated after a brief interlude... the
harmonies fall naturally in thirds in the key of E
major... I could certainly handle that,
right? Sure, I could. I later told
Bill and Delphine that I was considering buying
tickets to another one of his shows that week and
shooting down to the stage as soon as Stevie said
he wanted a volunteer. I did just that - I
bought tickets to his very last performance that
week, a Sunday night, December 4th, 1983. I
was married back then and went to the concert with
my wife, Faith. Our seats were in the next to the
last row, so if and when Stevie made the request,
I would have to move through some people in our
row quickly and dart down the aisle as fast as I
could to one of the stage entrances. As it
turned out, when Stevie gave the word, at least 50
people also darted down from all over the
place. That's when I then realized that
others knew he was going to ask and were also
ready to rush the stage. Perhaps they had
been to a previous show as I had. Dog gone
it, my chances or odds of being chosen had quickly
slimmed. Now what?!!!
At the particular opening point of the stage where
I landed, there stood Stevie Wonder's brother,
Milton Hardaway. Milton is usually the guy
you see guiding Stevie onto stages any time he
performs live. I began to talk as fast as I
could, pleading with Milton that I should be the
one chosen because I knew all the words and could
also sing either harmony, top or bottom - I was
practically begging. I kept repeating myself
to him, and he had this look on his face as if to
say, "yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard that line
every night this week?" There were 4 other
stage entrances and people were backed up at each
one, where other staff members were. I'm
sure they were pleading to get on too, but
suddenly Milton raised his hand up high and got
the attention of the other staff and said "I got
'em". It happened, I was chosen! Holy
cow, I'm gonna sing with the great Mr. Stevie
Wonder! I was thrilled to death and was led up
onto the stage and sat down on the piano bench
right next to him. On this particular night,
he did not ask for any volunteer backup singers as
he had when we saw him 6 evenings prior.
Stevie conducted a brief interview with me first,
asking me my name, where I was from, what I do,
etc. I wish that had made it onto the
recording that I eventually obtained, because that
was priceless by itself. He was humorous and
made me feel at ease. I wasn't all that
nervous though, because I knew the song inside
out, and because the Music Fair served alcohol, I
had also downed three double shots of Southern
Comfort throughout the evening, which had almost
no effect what so ever due to the adrenalin rush
that was overcoming me all night. If
anything the alcohol brought me down to earth a
bit. He asked if I knew the words and I
enthusiastically replied, "yes, I do!", adding
that I could take the "top or bottom".
Though Stevie knew I was referring to either
harmony, he also knew most of the audience didn't
know what I meant by "top or bottom" and seized
the opportunity to joke in an innuendo way that
many would anticipate, which resulted in the
expected laughter.
Finally it was time. He started the song and
we began to sing. OK, so I stepped on his
line a little in the first verse, give me a break
! But beside that, I did OK in the song for
not being a vocalist. And I'm sure Stevie
was pleased that I knew the tag harmony which
occurs at the end of the song, as you can hear him
chuckle and say, "he's got it down!". But
following that, when I thought I was through,
Stevie put me on the spot. He's very
spontaneous during his performances and I was not
expecting what he did at the end of the
song. He wanted me to improvise and he goes
through this whole explanation and I didn't even
realize he was talking to me - I guess I was still
sort of recovering from the shock of having just
sung with him. So he begins this improv part
and I don't come in as I should, so he halts
the piece and explains to me again - what? oh
no.... he's asking me to improvise over the chorus
background vocals of the song! Lord have
mercy, now I am nervous! (another
double-shot of Southern please!) I was so taken by
surprise and didn't have a clue what I was going
to do. I'm not very good at coming up with
lyrics in general, even when I have plenty of time
to do so, let alone come up with them on the
spot. So, as you'll hear (or heard already),
I just decided to do some scat singing, much like
jazz singers like Ella Fitzgerald or Louis
Armstrong sometimes do... sort of imitating an
instrumental solo using the voice, and which
incidentally, I also suck at. But the
audience was very kind and seemed to react in a
positive way, so I was happy and continued on
until Stevie says, "Let's give Dennis a hand
y'all". ( I think he had enough - ha ha )
I leaned to Stevie and spoke into his ear,
asking if I should go back to my seat. He
can be heard telling me that I can stay on stage
if I want to, but I thought I might as well head
back to my seat. So I left the stage and
made my way up the aisle. The audience in my
section gave me another round of applause and I
was on cloud nine. Faith had told me that
while I was on the stage, people around her were
asking if I was part of the act - yeah, right
! - flattering, but it wasn't THAT
good. :-)
When the show was over, just a few minutes
after my performance, Faith and I left our seats
and shuffled through the crowd to make our
exit. About every 10 feet or so, someone
would yell out, "there he is", or something
similar, pointing at me. A few may have
shaken my hand, or high-fived me. To
my amazement, even driving out of the parking lot
in my car, I saw people point in my direction and
smile. The smile on my face was almost
permanent. It surely lasted the entire drive
home.
When I finally arrived home, the adrenalin still
very much occupied every cell in my body. I
never slept all night. I know what some of you are
thinking - so what's new, right?
In 1983, I worked as a psychiatric
aide at EasternStateSchool
and Hospital and was due to be in at 7:00
A.M. I had been telling people at work all
week long that I had been planning to sing with
Stevie Wonder on Sunday, but I'm sure some, if not
all, didn't believe that it would actually
happen. I was on time, walking into the
office where I was to relieve the third
shift. A friend named Ed Lewis was the staff
member I was taking over for that morning.
(thanks Dave and Sue for remembering his last
name!) He was one of many that I had told my
plans to earlier in the week. I walked in
and just about screamed it out, "I DID IT!"
He smiled and said "no s--t!" Yes, I did it,
but unfortunately had nothing to show for it - no
pictures, no recording. Ed suggested that I
put an ad in the newspaper, requesting that if
anyone had attended that particular performance
and took pictures, or recorded anything from it,
to please call my home number. I thought it
was worth trying, so I did just that.
I ran the ad for a week. I'd estimate that
about 20 people responded. Though I was
clear in the ad that the only performance I was
interested in was Stevie's December 4th evening
performance, I had received calls from people that
were there throughout the week. In fact only
about four people that called were at the show
where I performed. I told them I was the guy
that sang "Ebony and Ivory" that evening and had
nothing to show or prove that I had done so.
Some seemed suspicious. I think they thought
I was looking for people that illegally recorded
or something. One curious only caller asked me why
I was only interested in Sunday evening's
show? I explained to him that I had sung
with Stevie that night. Well, he had no
problem believing me because, coincidentally, he
identified himself as the fellow that sang with
Stevie on on that opening Monday night! What
a coincidence! I told him how awesome he was
when he sang the James Brown song and he wished me
luck in my pursuit for a tape of my
performance. He also had nothing to show for
his Stevie debut.
Finally, a guy from West Philly, a staff member at
the Music Fair, said he was there every night and
that he even remembered me and my
performance. He said he had taped various
segments of the concerts throughout Stevie's
week-long stay and that he would check to see if
he had mine. My hopes were high !!
Unfortunately, he called back the next day and
told me he did not have my segment.
Gosh, I was so disappointed, but thanked him
for looking. As the week progressed, the
calls dwindled, and the ad expired. I did
not bother renewing it.. I conceded in my
mind, "that was that, I have no choice but to
settle for the memory". And if I didn't have
proof, I know I would eventually cease telling the
story.
But 3 weeks after the ad had expired, to my
amazement, I got a repeat call from that fellow in
West Philly, the staff member that taped
segments. He now said he DID have my
performance on tape after all! I asked him
how he knew it was me and he just replied that he
was absolutely sure that it was me. Not
convinced, I asked him to please play a little bit
over the phone. He did so and I got goose
bumps ! A recording existed ! I
thought to myself, "how much is he going to
ask?... who cares, I'll give him anything he
wants!!" I told him I'd come down right then
and pay for a copy, but he said he'd just GIVE me
the tape. I told him he could name his price
but he still he declined. What a guy !
And it truly saddens me that I didn't write down
and keep his name, but in 1983, there was no
internet yet, at least not as it exists today, and
I had no clue that I would want to document this
entire experience someday on a webpage. If I
knew where he was, I would send him a huge
Christmas gift certificate, annually, for as long
as I live. I still hope that by some
incredible coincidence, that I find this guy some
day to thank him again.
I made the trip to West Philly in record time and
knocked on his door. He invited me in and we
listened together. Wow, I am going be able to play
this for my children someday ! Again, I
offered him money, anything he wanted, but he
still said no thanks. I wasn't having any of
that, so I threw some cash on his table and told
him I wasn't taking no for an answer.
He simply shook my hand and I could not stop
thanking him. Again, I am so sorry I didn’t
keep in touch with this guy who, quite obviously,
went out of his way to re-contact me, knowing how
much it would mean to me. God bless you
forever, where ever you are, my friend !
