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my 15 minutes of fame.... |
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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.
to listen,
click on the
title below - to download, right-click on the
same title and
select "Save Target As...", etc.
Ebony
and Ivory
performed
by
Stevie Wonder and
Dennis Parrish
recorded
live at the
Valley Forge Music Fair December 4, 1983
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 Eastern State School
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 !
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