 DN: OK, let’s talk about peers, others who have played a role in your life, other artists… Let’s start with…Big Maybelle who was on Scepter Records for a short time…
DW: She was special. I was a lot younger when she was a star. I didn’t know her personally but I knew her records.
DN: Sam Cooke…
DW: One of a kind. I grew up around him, he was like a part of my family…
DN: [Songwriter/producer] Luther Dixon…
DW: He was the first producer I met. He was associated with Scepter Records. He was - for the time he was actively involved at Scepter – an innovator, quite productive, and a kind and gentle person…
DN: Maxine Brown…
DW: An enormous talent…
DN: Frank Sinatra…
DW: He was a mentor, like a surrogate Dad, a loyal friend. I called him ‘papi’ and I miss him a lot…
DN: Esther Phillips…
DW: Part of the very first tour I ever did and quite a character! Another very talented lady..
DN: Jackie Wilson…
DW: Mr. Personality. He was there for the first three or four years of my career [on the road], along with The Drifters, The Shirelles, The Chiffons, that group from Philadelphia…The Orlons…
DN: Dee Dee Warwick…
DW: A true voice…and I wish she would use it more!
DN: Your first manager, Paul Cantor…
DW: My buddy, a wonderful, wonderful manager and still my buddy…
DN: Johnny Mathis…
DW: ‘Mr. Velvet,’ vocally and as a person. A consummate entertainer.
DN: Aretha Franklin…
DW: ‘The Queen Of Soul.’ She is that: she deserved that title when she got it and she wears it well..
DN: Your sons, David and Damon…
DW: I’m very proud of both of them for their accomplishments and knowing that the music tradition [in our family] will live in David as a writer and budding performer and in Damon as a wonderful producer who will be around for a long time.
DN: Finally, is there a new album coming soon?
DW: Absolutely, around the spring of this year…
DN: As we wind down, what are your thoughts on celebrating forty years as a recording artist?
DW: It doesn’t seem like forty years! It’s a testament to the audiences, to the places I go that there’s always something new, fresh and special. It’s gone by so fast…
DN: Any final comments?
DW: Just thank you! And I won’t be doing this for another forty years! (Laughs)
About the Writer
David Nathan is the founder and CEO of SoulMusic.com and began his writing career in 1965; beginning in 1967, he was a regular contributor to Blues & Soul magazine in London before relocating to the U.S. in 1975 where he served as U.S. editor for the publication for several decades and began being known as 'The British Ambassador Of Soul.' From 1988 to 2004, he wrote prolifically for Billboard, has penned bios, produced and written liner notes for box sets and reissue CDs for over a thousand projects. He returned to London in 2009 where he has helped create SoulMusic.com Records as a leading reissue label.
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