Post by Diamond Girl on Aug 1, 2005 11:25:56 GMT -5
West Michigan loves its pops a la Motown
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- When Ben E. King sings, he isn't surprised to hear his audience singing back.
"More time than not, they tend to know a few songs," he laughed. "And they bust out in song as well."
Nor is he surprised audiences know his songs, whether from his years with The Drifters in the late 1950s and early 1960s or from his solo career ever since.
Songs such as "Save The Last Dance For Me" with The Drifters and "Spanish Harlem" from King's solo career have stood the test of time.
"We had the best of jazz, the best of rhythm and blues, the best of blues itself. It was there," he said. "The reason the music is alive is nothing has knocked it out of the box."
King and the Motown vocal group, The Miracles, will join the Grand Rapids Symphony Friday and Saturday for its special-event finale to the Bank One Picnic Pops season at Cannonsburg Ski Area.
Music a big draw
If the weather's good, the music should bring out the crowds, associate conductor John Varineau said.
"If there's one thing audiences in Michigan get, it's Motown," Varineau said.
The numbers don't lie. When another Motown group, The Temptations, closed the Picnic Pops in 1998, the pair of concerts drew a record crowd of 12,437 to Cannonsburg Ski Area.
The Miracles plan to sing a tribute to The Temptations with a medley of the quintet's biggest hits
"It's a tribute to a group much loved all over America," said Miracles co-founder Bobby Rogers, who co-wrote The Temptations' first hit, "The Way You Do The Things You Do."
King's biggest hit, "Stand By Me," was a Top 10 hit in 1961 and again in 1986, following the film of the same name.
The North Carolina native wrote the lyrics for "Stand By Me" and for "There Goes My Baby," which he wrote with songwriters Jerry Leiber and Ben Stoller.
"They don't get the praise they should get," King said. "They're brilliant."
Besides his solo career, King tours with a super group, The Four Kings of Rhythm and Blues with Jerry Butler, who recorded "Only the Strong Survive;" Gene Chandler, who sang "Duke of Earl;" and Lloyd Price, who's biggest hit was "Stagger Lee."
"It's a fun show, and we get together whenever we can," King said.
The Miracles, with original lead singer, Smokey Robinson, became the first act in the Motown stable of artists to score a gold record with "Shop Around."
The group enjoyed a long string of hits, including "Tears of a Clown," "I Second That Emotion" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" until Robinson decided to leave the group in 1972 for a solo career as well as for more time at home with his wife, Claudette.
"She had had a few miscarriages, and Smokey wanted to settle down and have some children," Rogers said. "It was a challenge, but Smokey and the rest of The Miracles met that challenge together."
The present group, Dave Finley, Tee Turner and Mark Scott, remains active recording as well as performing.
"We're still talking about putting some songs together," Rogers said. "We're still trying to do it."
King last appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony in 1997 for a Valentine's Day concert, which he recalls as "a great, great engagement."
"It's a compliment when you get a return engagement with a symphony," he said.
Though King and The Miracles are in the same show, they aren't singing together.
"There's no way I can sing tenor like Smokey Robinson, no matter how hard I try," King said, laughing. "I only sing his stuff when I'm in the bathroom taking a shower."
By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk
The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- When Ben E. King sings, he isn't surprised to hear his audience singing back.
"More time than not, they tend to know a few songs," he laughed. "And they bust out in song as well."
Nor is he surprised audiences know his songs, whether from his years with The Drifters in the late 1950s and early 1960s or from his solo career ever since.
Songs such as "Save The Last Dance For Me" with The Drifters and "Spanish Harlem" from King's solo career have stood the test of time.
"We had the best of jazz, the best of rhythm and blues, the best of blues itself. It was there," he said. "The reason the music is alive is nothing has knocked it out of the box."
King and the Motown vocal group, The Miracles, will join the Grand Rapids Symphony Friday and Saturday for its special-event finale to the Bank One Picnic Pops season at Cannonsburg Ski Area.
Music a big draw
If the weather's good, the music should bring out the crowds, associate conductor John Varineau said.
"If there's one thing audiences in Michigan get, it's Motown," Varineau said.
The numbers don't lie. When another Motown group, The Temptations, closed the Picnic Pops in 1998, the pair of concerts drew a record crowd of 12,437 to Cannonsburg Ski Area.
The Miracles plan to sing a tribute to The Temptations with a medley of the quintet's biggest hits
"It's a tribute to a group much loved all over America," said Miracles co-founder Bobby Rogers, who co-wrote The Temptations' first hit, "The Way You Do The Things You Do."
King's biggest hit, "Stand By Me," was a Top 10 hit in 1961 and again in 1986, following the film of the same name.
The North Carolina native wrote the lyrics for "Stand By Me" and for "There Goes My Baby," which he wrote with songwriters Jerry Leiber and Ben Stoller.
"They don't get the praise they should get," King said. "They're brilliant."
Besides his solo career, King tours with a super group, The Four Kings of Rhythm and Blues with Jerry Butler, who recorded "Only the Strong Survive;" Gene Chandler, who sang "Duke of Earl;" and Lloyd Price, who's biggest hit was "Stagger Lee."
"It's a fun show, and we get together whenever we can," King said.
The Miracles, with original lead singer, Smokey Robinson, became the first act in the Motown stable of artists to score a gold record with "Shop Around."
The group enjoyed a long string of hits, including "Tears of a Clown," "I Second That Emotion" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" until Robinson decided to leave the group in 1972 for a solo career as well as for more time at home with his wife, Claudette.
"She had had a few miscarriages, and Smokey wanted to settle down and have some children," Rogers said. "It was a challenge, but Smokey and the rest of The Miracles met that challenge together."
The present group, Dave Finley, Tee Turner and Mark Scott, remains active recording as well as performing.
"We're still talking about putting some songs together," Rogers said. "We're still trying to do it."
King last appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony in 1997 for a Valentine's Day concert, which he recalls as "a great, great engagement."
"It's a compliment when you get a return engagement with a symphony," he said.
Though King and The Miracles are in the same show, they aren't singing together.
"There's no way I can sing tenor like Smokey Robinson, no matter how hard I try," King said, laughing. "I only sing his stuff when I'm in the bathroom taking a shower."
