This week I wrote about my place in the music world---as a writer, musician, and performer. One of the songs I mentioned was the first that I wrote: “My Love.”
There’s an interesting history to that song.
I actually created it with my brother Rick James. I wrote the music. He put together the lyrics. It was released on Rick’s Throwin’ Down Album and was the only song the two of us collaborated on in his career.
The musicians who played on the album were top-of-the-line and included Grammy winner, Michael Narada Walden, American funk/soul/jazz composer, and music producer, Roy Ayers, American sax/flute player Danny Lamelle, and Rick. It was produced by American arranger, Jeff Tyzik, who produced “Forever Yours,” by Val Young.
“My Love” was popular when the album was released in 1982, but today, 40 years later, the song is hitting the airwaves again on the online international radio show called Hilltop Radio Show (https://www.blogtalkradio.com/thehilltopradioshow.) Since its re-debut two months ago, it has reached 14,000 listeners a week, a number that is steadily growing.
As I stated earlier this week, I no longer focus on writing music, and I rarely perform publicly anymore. But I am still a member of American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP,) and once LEROI: Living in Color opens on Nov. 11th---who knows!
LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition includes the work of students from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. The exhibition will be on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through March 26, 2023, presented by M&T Bank, with additional support from organizations and individuals throughout the Western New York community.