Truly moved by the “We Are The World” documentary on Netflix and then casting my mind back to sitting in the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979, witnessing Earth, Wind & Fire, The Bee Gees, Abba, Donna Summer and others in a special concert for UNICEF, I am taken back…
“What do you want to be when you grow up?’
I don’t know if my parents Mark and Frances ever asked me that question directly. By the time it would have been relevant in my mid-teens, they were both aware that I was a ‘strange’ child and an even ‘stranger’ adolescent!
Suffice it to say, the ‘strangeness’ had much to do with my avid interest in the world outside our working class surroundings in London which manifested in many wild and wonderous ways, from my performance at Parents’ Day aged ten as a Siamese temple dancer (inspired by the film ‘The King & I’); my collection of stamps from faraway places (Senegal, Laos, Dahomey, Cambodia, Nepal and Ethiopia included!); and by June 1963, aged fifteen, my appearance in the local newspaper, ‘The Kilburn Times’ under the headline ‘His Diplomatic Bag’ in which an incredulous reporter interviewed me about my ‘unusual’ hobby: I was collecting the names of all the Ambassadors in the world!
Why? “You see, we are heading toward unity all the time despite what people think, and sometime we will achieve it. This is what the diplomatic services are working towards,” I stated, looking optimistically.
There was an obvious answer to the question the reporter posed about my future plans which consisted of going to university and then joining the British Foreign Service! I believed that I could play a role in being a peacemaker and making a difference in the world…
Enter Stage Left: Dionne Warwick, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin…
Within a year of that first brush with teenage ‘fame’ (which also included being on the BBC radio one morning before I went to school shortly after the ‘Kilburn Times’ interview appeared), my diplomatic mission in life was somewhat displaced by my inherent romanticism which had manifested in the first love story I wrote, aged nine, a fervent desire to marry my teacher, Miss Batterson (who asked to see my mother after I sent her letter asking her to wait till I was older so we could get hitched!) and more than a few schoolboy crushes (redhead Marilyn and blonde Harriet).
Music. The aching poignancy of unrequited love expressed by lyricist Hal David and composer Burt Bacharach, brought to life with wistful melancholy by a 24-year old Dionne Warwick with “Walk On By.” By the summer of ‘64, my desire to be an Ambassador was waning as matters of the heart (and a few raging hormones!) took over.
Then, rising to the heights as a hitmaker in the UK, Dionne shares that Nina Simone is one of her favorite American singers of the day. I am swept away into the court of a High Priestess, who herself is clearly committed to justice, freedom and equality, fundamental to any would-be changemaker, speaking once more to my core and essence of being a peacemaker. “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good…” Me too, Miss Simone…
‘65 and I’m in the presence of Nina after forming her first appreciation society/fan club in Britain. At school, the deputy headmaster asks me to share with my fellow pupils about Miss Simone and why her music is important to me. Before a hushed group of fellow students, I play Nina’s starkly moving “Strange Fruit,” explaining what the song is about. “Blood on the leaves and blood at the root…” My classmates are silent as the track ends and then errupt into applause. I’m discovering that music has the power to transcend beyond borders…
In our first in-person conversation within minutes of her arrival in London on Saturday, June 26th 1965 at Heathrow airport, Nina asks, “Have you heard of Aretha Franklin?” I stutter, “Uh, yes, I’ve heard her name,” at the time, a less-than-truthful statement. But a few months later, the gospel fire is lit, fuelling passion into my very soul as I hear Aretha’s voice emoting her own version of “Walk On By” on an imported LP…
Please Can I Get A Piano?
1966, time to get a job and contribute to the household. I am so consumed by sweet-and-bitter-happy-and-sad-joy-and-pain music of the soul for the soul that thoughts of study, of being a diplomat have been displaced. “I want to play the piano,” I tell my mum. I have visions of emulating Nina and her keyboard virtuosity. I’m working in the city of London at a record shop and taking every opportunity share the latest American R&B releases with anyone who will listen.
A soul-to-the-bone UK chartopper, Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves A Woman” validates my mission and not too long after, Jimmy Ruffin’s aching “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” echoes sorrowfully in the tiny basement of the store where I work nine-to-five.
At home, I tinker on the piano, finding that my fingers seem to be fixated on playing only the black keys. Go figure. My mother tells me that if I’m not going to learn to play the upright piano, she’s going to sell it…
The Universal Power of Music…
1993, my good friend and super-talented wordsmith A. Scott Galloway is writing an article for Blues & Soul about my years of being the US correspondent for the magazine. He gets some amazing quotes from some of the artists I’ve gotten to know over the decades, Maurice White, Luther Vandross, Aretha, Dionne included. He asks what I wanted to do when I was growing up. I share about my original career goal to be a diplomat. I quote, “Ambassadors are a tool for bringing people together to communicate…” Right there and then, I realise that I have fulfiled my teenage dream to be an Ambassador by virtue of being a conduit in the US for sharing about the incredible artists, producers and songwriters I have the privilege to meet, interview and write about in a British magazine!
That soul music brings people together is undeniable. I’m reminded of hearing “Turn The Beat Around” by Vicki Sue Robinson on the radio in New York one Friday night before I flew to London, arriving on Saturday afternoon the next day and heading out to dance the night away. “Turn The Beat Around” is the choon!! Everybody’s boogeying… Vicki Sue is proof positive of the universal power of music and I am a witness.
An Ambassadorial Postscript!
From my archives, here’s the ‘American Boogie’ column from February 1979 in which I shared about attending the UNICEF concert . I found myself sitting in the UN General Assembly, something I imagined in 1963 I’d be doing back in pursuing my career path as a diplomat. Seems my diplomatic ‘mission’ as ‘The British Ambassador’ (Of Soul)’ has turned out pretty well thus far!
For Paid Subscribers: “The Incomparable Ms.Marlena”
I want to say thank you to all of the subscribers to my Substack platform, I really really LOVE writing these posts! And…as I shared a little while back, I am now starting to offer exclusive ‘Premium Content’ to our paid subscribers, to whom I am most grateful.
My first such post is devoted to ‘The Incomparable Ms, Marlena Shaw’ and to give those of you who are considering upgrading to being paid subscribers ($6 for a monthly subscription), here’s a short excerpt from the thirty-minute-plus audio interview I did with Marlena some years which is available in its entirety as ‘Premium Content’ for paid subscribers….
The Incomparable Ms. Marlena
Waking up on Saturday morning, January 20th in chilly London - as is often the case - I turned on my iPhone and checked social media. There have only been a few times in recent memory where seeing a post on my Facebook feed has literally made me do a double take. In the times we live in where news about a public figure’s transition has sometimes proved to be ‘fake,’ I didn’t take me more than a moment to realise that this was sadly so real.
With gratitude, appreciation and respect,
David N
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