VOLUME XII, NO. 45 DECEMBER 11, 1987 $5.00 NEWSPAPER E 0 ",!,,*. ISLEY B OTHERS "I Wish' SL Stevie Wonder 'Earth, Wind & Fire oger Troutman revert S KNIGHT/Pips ur Love" 11111E....... TONY TERRA mim miliesip...itar TERRI AVERY NAMED YBPC PRESIDENT Pg 10 WCKX-STATION SPOTLIGHT Pg 18 SINGLES— MADAME X—I WANT YOUR FIVE STAR—STRONG AS STEEL—RCA— CHICO DeBARGE—RAINY NIGHT— BODY—ATLANTIC—This trio has the kind Nobody speaks the language of pop better MOTO WN—Chico takes a break from of super fresh sound that sets them apart than these Brit soul stars, as they offer a producin& hits for other artists and lays from the rest. Here's another infectious, perfect down tempo love groove. Multi- down this sparkling mid tempo jam. edgy avant-garde hit! Demos: All. format smash! Demos: All. Danceable, hookish and hitbound! ALBUMS—BOBBY WOMACK—THE LAST MELISA MORGAN —GOOD LOVE— MILES DAVIS AND MARCUS MILLER— SOUL MAN —MCA— Womack may not be CAPITOL—"If You Can Do It" is powering MUSIC FROM SIESTA— WB—This the very last soul man, and the perrenial up the chart just as the hot duet with Kashif collaboration of genius talent results in a hit maker has not been "Living In A Box" "Love Changes" gets ready to break out stunning soundtrack on the level of but hey, who cares!! The stuff rocks! as well. Great album! Demos: Young "Sketches Of Spain." Classic stuff!! Demos: All. adults. Demos: I ->zz listeners. PR!ter,e HOT THING" THE NEW SINGLE From the double album SIGN 4" THE TIMES Produced, Arranged. Composed and Performed By Prince Personal Manageme vallo, Ruffalo & Fargnoli c 1987 Palsley Park Records VOLUME XII, NO. 45 DECEMBER 11, 1987 PUBLISHER'S PAGE Black Radio Exclusive USPS 363-210 ISSN 0745-5992 is published by Black Radio Exclusive 6353 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028-6363 (213) 469-7262 PUBLISHER Sidney Miller Jr. EDITOR Bill Quinn DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING K. Bianca Baker OPERATIONS MANAGER Angela Taylor RADIO! RETAIL RESEARCH DIRECTOR Carolyn Plummer Riley Bill Quinn MUSIC LIBRARIAN Elaine Stepter PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Maxine Chong-Morrow With this issue, Bill Quinn, a recent arrival from the East Coast, will officially PRODUCTION ASSISTANT pick up the editor's red pencil at BRE. lacquie Jones Quinn, a drummer and film/TV scripter who has been an editor for down beat ART DIRECTOR Kim Smock Playboy and Muhammad Speaks in Chicago, as well as publications director ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR for a variety of D.C.-based organizations, Duff Marlowe including the Democratic National Committee, says his main aim at BRE DIGITAL TYPESETTING will be to increase the magazine's Martin Blackwell readership and broaden the editorial focus. TRAFFIC Welcome B.Q.; we're off to a great Felix Whyte year at BRE in '88. Mayor Harold Washington One interesting sidelight of the Sony- CBS deal [See News, page 101 is sure BRE NEWSSTANDS to be an alteration in the position on New York: Penn Book Store Midwest: Ingram Periodicals DAT held previously by the recording Along with BRE readers everywhere, Los Angeles: World Book & News company. Heretofore, CBS Records had we, too, were shocked and saddened Robertson News & Bookstore, been dead set against the introduction to hear about the untimely death of Las Palmas & Sherman Oaks Newsstand of the new technology to the U.S. Windy City Mayor Harold Washington. SUBSCRIPTION RATES market. Understandably so, since the His firm leadership and brilliant wit will 3 Mos.-$90; 6 Mos.-$120; 9 Mos.-$150; audibly perfect technology threatens to 1 Yr.-$175; 1st Class-$250; not only be missed by multitudes of Overseas-$250 eclipse all other formats' present capa- Chicagoans but by the rest of us who bilities. Meanwhile, CBS' new parent admired "grace under fire" and the corporation, Sony, is the world's leading POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Black ability to "bring us together" as Hizzoner Radio Exclusive, 6353 Hollywood 81., Hollywood, manufacturer of DAT hardware. So look did. A further blow along that same line CA 90028-6363. Second Class postage paid at Los Angeles, CA. Newsstand price $5.00. Back issues for a change of heart on DAT under the as we learned at presstime of the tragic available at $1.75. BRE is not responsible for any new CBS management. Not so, say Sony unsolicited material. loss of writer James Baldwin, who fell Black Radio Exclusive is published weekly except spokesmen in Tokyo. After the purchase to cancer in his adopted home of France. one week in lune, one week at Thanksgiving, two of CBS, they said, the record company weeks at Christmas, and two weeks at New Years. Like Mayor Washington, however, Cover and contents may not be reproduced in whole will still be free to express an independ- Baldwin's memory will linger long or in part without prior written permission. ent viewpoint on the subject. among those who cherish Black 0 Copyright 1987 How CBS will tightrope that one ought achievement. We will sorely miss both to be very interesting... these giants. rr ony DIVERSITY By David Nathan Gospel programs every weekend as The t a time when the musical marketplace Freedom Gospel Singers." Tony also is chock full of excit- became a featured soloist with the ing new artists, the Reverend Thomas Gospel Singers and, chance for imme- by the age of 13, he'd begun to turn diateA acceptance with a first release his musical attention to the more secular clearly depends on quality: The response sounds of artists like Stevie Wonder, to Tony Terry's initial single, "She's Fly," Michael Jackson and Donny Hathaway. is a demonstration that it's still what's "I learned every single riff of every single in the grooves that counts. It was record until my mom would come in inspired, singer Tony says, by Washing- and tell me to stop singing!" ton, D.C.'s "go-go" sound and is just a small sample of the wide diversity of music to be found on Tony's debut Epic album, Forever Yours. The title track is clearly derived 44 from the doo-wop sound of the ...I plan Fifties (an unusual musical step for any artist in the Eighties) and contrasts with When Tony entered local talent shows the funk of "Wassup Wit U," in the D.C. area, he was a consistent the dance groove of Terry's winner. Inevitably, he expressed a desire next single, "Lovey Dovey," to go to D.C.'s Duke Ellington School and the smooth ballad sound of the Arts. "To begin with, my mother of "Here With Me." was really opposed to it but, when I was "That was a definite, about 17, she changed her mind. I calculated move," says Terry, started attending the school and audi- calling from a three-week tioned for a lead part in the school's promotional tour that will version of the musical 'Don't Bother Me, introduce him to radio per- I Can't Cope,' which proved to be a sonnel across the nation. "I major event in the city." wanted to ensure that I didn't Tony's obvious vocal prowess led to get categorized as a one- a spot singing background for Gospel dimensional kind of singer— singer Vanessa Bell Armstrong ("I had you know, just someone to learn ten songs in two days!"). who does funk or just does In 1983, a call from a friend in New ballads. We wanted to reach York resulted in Tony's being cast in a as broad a spectrum as possible run of "Black Nativity." "I went back to on this first album, focusing on as Washington, D.C., after that to wait many different musical genres as we tables at Howard Johnson's," Tony could." recalls. "In fact, I was training to be a Tony brings to his first album a strong manager there, when I got a call that background in music that began when 'Black Nativity' was going to be running he was just eight years old. Born in North again in New York." Carolina, he moved with his family to Tony returned to the Big Apple in Washington, D.C., in 1968. As he recalls, 1985, this time to make it his home. "my younger sister, my cousin and I used "After the show, I started singing as a to crash the rehearsals that my family choir member in the hit Off-Broadway was doing as Gospel singers! My folks musical, 'Mama, I Want To Sing.' On thought we sounded better than they one particular night, when one of the did, so we began doing three or four leads didn't show, I was thrown into the BLACK RADIO EXCLUSIVE rr role and stayed with the show for almost 18 months." A visit to hear a local band at New York's Danceteria proved particularly fortuitous for Terry when producer Ted Currier, whose credits include work with George Clinton, Lillo Thomas, Sly Fox and The Boogie Boys, heard him sing a capella. "I was hanging out in the basement dressing room and a friend told me I should just sing a few bars—I think it was a Luther Vandross tune. Anyway, Ted was standing behind me and he asked to hear some more. I guess he liked what he heard because we stayed in touch and I ended up doing backgrounds for a session he was doing for The Boogie Boys." to kick butt!' Terry signed with Currier's Platinum Vibe Productions and further session work included backgrounds on tracks for Virgin's Black Britain and for the New York band, Sweet Sensation.