The only time I ever took on being someone’s publicist was in the spring of 1985.
It was no ordinary task.
Maurice White had figured prominently in my life from our very first in person interview for an Earth, Wind & Fire cover story for Blues & Soul in the summer of 1975.
I have shared on numerous occasions that the conversation we had in a plane flying from Los Angeles to Seattle - as the only way I could ensure getting Maurice in a closed environment, given the many attempts to have the all-important interview take place while I was visiting Los Angeles from New York for a week in July ‘75 - was a major turning point in my life on many levels.
I often consider Maurice as a clear catalyst for my exploration of metaphysics and spirituality. I was 27, six months into my new life in New York as the on-the-ground correspondent for Blues & Soul, in a place of self-discovery, stepping out into a new solo adventure beyond any confines and limits of my London upbringing.
By the time I met Maurice in person, I had bathed in the joy of seeing Earth, Wind & Fire in concert a couple of times in New York, inspired and uplifted by now-classics like “Devotion,” “Keep Your Head To The Sky” and “That’s The Way Of The World.”
I was beginning to see life ‘differently,’ impacted also by my first visits to what I fondly called ‘Black Gospel churches,’ bearing witness first hand to the power of Spirit, thanks to my dear friend, Arthur Freeman (of the group Revelation) who invited me to a service in Harlem, one memorable Sunday morning; and deep-soul-songstress Doris Duke (of “To The Other Woman, I’m The Other Woman” fame) who brought me to her local place of worship on my first visit to Newark, New Jersey…
Ensconced in Los Angeles in the autumn of 1984, I remember reaching out to Maurice through his long-trusted business manager, Art Macnow. Maurice and I met to talk about what he was planning, his first solo project.
Within a few months, I was back in London when I learned that my mother Frances was in hospital and in December of 1984, she made her transition.
Rather than return to L.A. right away, I booked a trip to Egypt because it ‘felt’ like a way to process the grief over my mother’s passing and at the same time, experience ‘mortality’ and ‘immortality’, symbolically walking on the ground on which others had walked thousands of years old before me…
Knowing of Maurice’s keen and avid interest in Egyptology, we met up when I returned to Los Angeles and I shared with him my experiences of being in Egypt. He innately understood the impact being there had on me, like I was ‘returning’ to a place I had ‘known’ many millennia before…
When it came time to talk about his then-in-progress solo project in the spring of 1985, we discussed the idea of me being his personal publicist and for about a year, I took on that role .
Working with one of my personal mentors and someone who had inspired me to enter a world of Self-discovery remains one of the most precious experiences of my life. Naturally, I used the opportunity to write an article for The Street Scene, the short-lived UK publication in which my work appeared for around six months….
© 1985, 2025, David Nathan/Blue Butterfly Entertainment Ltd. (UK)/All Rights Reserved
Maurice and I continued to be in touch after the solo project. In particular, the memory of being invited to an impromptu rehearsal session with Maurice and The Emotions, circa 1997, remains vivid.
In my world of synchro-destiny, Maurice continues to be a presence in my life.
I am clear how that first plane ride in ‘75 created a pathway for illumination for me that continues to resonate….stay tuned.