Jerry Lawson: Then & Now

Why Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town & The Persuasions are not Doo Wop

2011-05-21T13:18:00.007-07:00

Obviously there are more important issues that need attention in this world than the one I am about to share here. Having noted that, I strongly believe that Jerry’s history is worthy of being correctly documented based on the facts. As is anyone's of course.

It was brought to our attention this week that Jerry Lawson & Talk of The Town along with The Persuasions were recently nominated in the ACA community for best Doo Wop group. We thank all who were responsible for the nomination. It always feels good to be appreciated! This is not the first time. In fact the Persuasions were nominated and won 2 awards in the Doo Wop category several years ago and Jerry has these framed and hanging in our home on his "Wall of Fame".

However Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town as well as The Persuasions are not Doo Wop groups. And it is our mission to correct the wrong that was established in the press by an uneducated journalist back in 1971 and has been perpetuated ever since.

You may wonder why we care. Well it's just that nobody wants their history, their intention, their purpose, their life long dedication to be misunderstood or mistakenly documented. Would you wonder why Sinatra would not want to be categorized as a rapper, or The Beatles would not want to be called Acid Rock or an author of non-fiction would not want to be placed among fiction writers? Or more to the point would Rockapella or The House Jacks allow themselves to be categorized as Doo Wop groups? Of course not. Because they are Contemporary! The Persuasions and JL/TOTT are also Contemporary. They sing everything including The Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead etc. But their roots are Soul, Gospel & R&B.

For those of you who don't know this the Doo Wop era was specific to the 1950s and 1960s. The Persuasions didn’t begin recording until the 70s. Doo Wop was considered “Oldies” by the time Jerry came along. Jerry never even heard of Doo Wop music before moving North. Of course once he did hear this style of vocal group singing he had great respect for the Doo Wop artists but his own musical inspiration came from a time and place long before he was introduced to Doo Wop.

Jerry grew up in the South and spent the summers of his childhood in Philadelphia. In his hometown of Apopka, Florida his Uncle Book owned a juke joint called The Two Spot. Jerry's mom cooked the fried fish and Jerry cleaned up the empty beer bottles and swept the floors. While cleaning up the juke joint the juke box was playing Brook Benton, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Roy Hamilton and many other great crooners, Gospel groups and R&B legends.

I believe that the majority of Doo Wop groups were from the Northeastern Seaboard. Jerry didn’t even know one Doo Wop song. In addition to the artists mentioned above he was listening to David Ruffin, The Four Tops, The Spinners, Nancy Wilson, Candy Staton, Little Richard, John Denver, The Oakridge Boys, Bob Dylan, CSNY and too many more to mention here.

I ask you to consider this. Jerry says, it comes down to the ignorance of mostly Caucasian people who seem to think that if you’re African American and singing A Cappella then you are a Doo Wop group. That is not a racist statement it is simply his observation. The journalists (the Caucasian journalists) got it wrong in 1971 when Jerry & the Persuasions were still in their 20s. So they certainly were not an “Oldies” group. The Doo Woppers were already in their 40’s and appropriately known as “Oldies” by the early 70's. Doo Wop was specifically of another era while The Persuasions were performing the music of their day. Be it Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, The Temptations, Paul Simon, The Beatles, CSNY, and too many more to mention.

Jerry Lawson is a Soul Singer, an R & B singer, a Pop singer who is no less Contemporary than Rockapella or the House Jacks. The only difference is that Jerry doesn’t use beat boxing. Which does not exclude any group from being Contemporary.

His act is phenomenally diverse and among the thousands of songs in his repertoire there may be 3 Doo Wop standards. He has always performed and recorded the music of the day in addition to the music that inspired him from childhood on. Because he sings Country music does that make him a Country Singer?

If The House Jacks or Rockapella were singing The Dixie Chicks, Duffy, Shania Twain, , Billy Joel, Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Sam Cooke, Brook Benton, Randy Newman, Shirley Temple etc would they be considered Doo Wop? No of course not, yet these are songs from Jerry's shows and last CD. So you see there is no logical reason, no musical justification, facts or evidence to support categorizing them as Doo Wop. It's just wrong.

And if you are still not convinced we encourage you to write to us at mail@jerrylawson.biz so that we may hear your explanation and perhaps help to further clarify.

As frustrating as it is to try to get the media to correct it, it is abundantly more frustrating when our comrades in the A Cappella community get it wrong! It’s embarrassing. Therefore we are practically begging all of you in the A Cappella community to take responsibility and unite with us on this mission to educate from within.

It's bad enough how many A Cappella groups don't know who opened the doors for them. Even our new friends from The Sing Off ( Street Corner Symphony) took their name from Jerry's album title but had never heard of The Persuasions. Also the much lauded winners of The Sing Off, Nota and Committed never heard of The Persuasions. Then there are those who have heard of them but never heard them. We can't begin to understand how one strives to be excellent at any art form but does not have any interest in researching the history of those who came before them. But don't get me started. That's a whole other subject.

And if you don't know just ask Deke or Sean Altman who alone was out there Preserving the DYING Art of A Cappella before Sweet Honey in The Rock, The Bobs, Rockapella, The House Jacks & C.A.S.A. came along. Who was the only A Cappella group signed to major labels and touring the world with major artists, appearing on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show and too many more to mention when A Cappella was written off as nothing more than a "Novelty" act.

So it is our intention to see to it that a new category is established even if Jerry's work is never nominated again. The category is not about award nominations it is about setting the record straight. It's about manifesting awareness. So how about Soul? We are forever grateful to Don Gooding and Mike Mendyke who have already come on board. They both added A Cappella Soul to their sites. We believe it's time for the big daddy of the A Cappella world C.A.S.A. and the ACA community to come on board and help inform the community and properly label Jerry's lifetime of musical contributions. The Persuasions and Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town are
A Cappella Soul.

We respectfully ask the ACA community to help us establish this appropriate category and who knows, maybe one day, perhaps long after we're gone, another African American Soul group will emerge and take their rightful place within the
A Cappella community. Maybe they'll even know who The Persuasions are.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Julie & Jerry

The Doo What Hall of Fame?

2010-05-09T20:53:00.004-07:00

Jerry spent 40 years trying to correct the mis-labeling of The Persuasions. They were never a Doo Wop group. But when they first started out A Cappella was not a familiar word even to well seasoned journalists. So reviewers figured 5 Black guys harmonizing must be Doo Wop. And of course this label stuck and was perpetuated through 40 years.

Jerry has nothing against the great Doo Wop genre he just wanted the facts to be correct. He was an A Cappella artist who alone was carrying the A Cappella torch and keeping the dying art of A Cappella alive until later when Sweet Honey In The Rock, Rockappella,The Bobs and other groups began emerging and gaining some attention.

Jerry was emphatic with his booking agents and insisted on having them turn down all offers to perform or participate in any Doo Wop shows. He felt that would be the death of The Persuasions if they were to get boxed in like that and forever be known as an "Oldies" group which of course they were not.

The difference between Doo Wop and The Persuasions? Doo Wop music was specific to the 1950's and early 1960's. By the time The Persuasions began recording in 1970 Doo Wop was already considered "Oldies". Also Doo Wop was performed with or without instruments. A Cappella means NEVER any instruments.

The Persuasions may have included a few Doo Wop songs in their act but the majority of their repertoire was contemporary. Jerry's musical background was so eclectic from being exposed to the music in his uncle's juke joint in the South and spending the summers of his youth in Philadelphia. He covered the legends like Brook Benton, Roy Hamilton, Sam Cooke, Jerry Butler to James Taylor, The Oakridge Boys, The Partridge Family, Zappa, The Grateful Dead and on and on. None of which was Doo Wop. And like Jerry will tell you "Ya can't Doo Wop "The Lord's Prayer"

Jerry left The Persuasions in 2003. Then in 2009 it was brought to Jerry's attention only after the fact that the remaining Persuasions had accepted an invitation to perform and be inducted into "The Doo Wopp Hall of Fame of America" His comrades of 40 years never informed the president of this organization that their lead singer, arranger and producer should be included. Did Jerry care? Not really since he never wanted to be known as a Doo Wop/Oldies group. However he was surprised that the Hall of Fame had no idea who he was or that he was even alive. When the president of the Hall of Fame realized his oversight he insisted that Jerry be honored at the 2010 award show at Symphony Hall in Boston. At first Jerry struggled with this decision but in the end he felt that having his 40 years of contributions be acknowledged was very significant. During the ceremony the president Harvey Robbins eloquently and with great passion respectfully stated that there would be no A Cappella music today if not for Jerry Lawson's Persuasions.

Here are the links to that ceremony. We hope you enjoy it and share them.

Part 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUlJ8xeV4EA&feature=related

Part 2:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9LypcitWDo

Singing In NYC

2009-08-26T08:48:00.003-07:00

I hope you will let your NYC friends know that I'll be doing an a cappella show in NYC with The GrooveBarbers at The Bitter End 9-19-09 8PM - I hear there are no advance ticket sales so it's first come first served. Should be a lot of fun! I hope you can make it. I'll have CDs to sell & autograph too. C'mon down!

Musical Collaborations

2008-11-16T17:55:00.013-07:00

Have you discovered Ayo yet? I believe she writes most if not all of the songs she records. She also plays guitar. She's got a very interesting sound & background. Her dad is Nigerian, her mom a gypsy & I think she was raised in Germany & London. Her debut CD "Joyful" did very well. A big hit from that CD is "Down On My Knees".

Jerry & I produced our own version of "Down On My Knees" as a demo just using a karaoke background until we can record it with a jammin' band. My plan was to send it to Ayo's record producer in the hopes of , well who knows what? A recording contract, new management, a chance to work with Ayo? Well I sent it off to her producer realizing it was another long shot in my long list of attempts to get Jerry the recognition he deserves & has earned. Well as Gomer Pyle would have said "surprise, surprise, surprise" Within a few days they called me & hired Jerry to sing on Ayo's next CD! There's much more magic & synchronicity to this story but I will save it for another time.

Ayo's new CD "Gravity At Last" has just been released in Europe & Jerry is on the closing track. The song is titled "Thank You" and Jerry's southern baptist church roots add the perfect flavoring. It's quite apropo considering that we spend each day thanking the powers that be for all that we have. Each other, a roof over us, food to eat, the people & animals we love, our mostly pain free bodies, the adventures we've shared, the opportunities to make someone's day a little brighter & being free from addictions. Amen! Being the sentimental fool that I am this song gives me chill bumps as they say down south & it can bring tears to my eyes.

The version we're sharing here is our own production. We inserted Jerry's "licks" (hums, groans etc) in many spots even though we were not asked to. We did so because we wanted her producer to have many choices of where to place Jerry for the final version. Better to have more to work with than not enough when you've finished the recording session & it's time to mix. Other than Jerry's volume being a bit too loud, which could have been adjusted later, I think we created a hit! Too bad nobody but you bloggers will ever hear our version. They deleted most of what we gave them & also turned Jerry's volume down to a whisper. I'm guessing they thought that too much of Jerry would upstage Ayo. Of course our POV is that when someone gifts you with unique, priceless, sparkling, one of a kind, exceptionally beautiful ornaments that would only enhance the beauty of the Christmas tree why would you keep them stashed in the box?

Julie

The Persuasions & Me Part 1

2008-11-16T10:04:00.019-07:00

Hello Bloggers, Jerry here. I just want you to know that I'm not a computer person. My wife Julie is helping me here to share some history, thoughts, news & music with you. We'd like to write a book but we'll begin here & see how it goes. So sometimes she'll be sharing my thoughts & feelings in her own voice & sometimes I'll sit with her & she'll type as I speak. I just have to learn to slow down or she'll have to learn to type faster!

It's true, Jerry does not even know where the power button is on the CPU. I'm pretty sure he will never even learn to email so I help him every day to answer his email or reach out to folks who might be able to help us preserve his legacy & promote his new CD as well as share his recordings during his Persuasions years.

You may or may not have heard of The Persuasions. Jerry was their lead singer, arranger & producer for 40 years and 23 albums. He left them in 2003 for a variety of reasons and they haven't spoken since. I know to many fans this is surprising but the truth is that just because you work with someone or stay married to someone for 40 years, that does not mean you are good friends.

The early years were very exciting for 5 young men who met on a basketball court through friends of friends and as neighbors in Brooklyn's Bed Stuy. As the years went by & their career developed so did the irritations with one another, some spoken some unspoken but none of them resolved. Eventually "That's when the old gray cloud burst"

Three of the original members along with a changing roster of additional voices are out there now still performing and calling themselves The Persuasions. They recorded a CD after Jerry left titled "The Persuasions Sing U-2". But the sound of The Persuasions, the sound that made them recognizable is gone forever. I realize this is a touchy subject. But think of The Pips without Gladys, The Stones without Mick or as one Persuasions fan wrote after seeing the new configuration perform, "Man it was like Thanksgiving without the turkey"

Julie

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