Over Easy:Unexpected Performances
(FROM A MANSION IN THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS TO WILLIE DIXON’S LIVING ROOM)
In late 1993, David Foster was hosting a Christmas album release party at the old Peer Mansion, a historic Hollywood home owned by the publishing company started by Ralph Peer almost a century ago, the company that publishes "Deep in the Heart of Texas", “Georgia On My Mind” and "You Are My Sunshine". One of the featured singers on the record was Natalie Cole, who had recently scored a huge hit album with “Unforgettable”, her covers of her father’s songs. I was introduced to her as “the guy who wrote “Black Velvet””. She smiled and said, with a twinkle in her eye, “But did you write that other song?” I paused, uncertain of what she meant, and she proceeded to sing in full voice, about two feet away from me,
“Love is what you want it to be”
It was a brief, but totally surprising performance and left me flabbergasted.
There have been others.
I was in the Oliver Peoples eyewear shop on Sunset Blvd. and Seal was there. Star sightings are fairly common in L.A., but Seal is a particularly striking man who would never pass unnoticed. He added to his presence that day by bursting into song in the shop, for no apparent reason, and we all nonchalantly continued our shopping as if this was an everyday occasion.
Out with a group of friends at Kate Mantalini, a late night restaurant in Beverly Hills, I went upstairs to the restroom.
On entering I noticed a very well-dressed young man standing outside one of the cubicles. We nodded as men do in these situations, when a voice from the cubicle rang out and the occupant adlibbed the most extraordinary R&B licks in a somewhat familiar voice. The young man gave me a small shrug as the performance continued, until the toilet flushed and Stevie Wonder emerged, grinning, in a floor length orange caftan. His assistant led him to the sink and I raced to my table to recount the moment for my friends.
Returning to the seasonal theme, Stephen Bishop came to a Christmas party at our house, and in a quiet moment, picked up one of my guitars, and sang an exquisite version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.
We were mixing Alannah Myles’ first album at the Atlantic Studios in NYC, when I ran into drummer Steve Ferrone, who had played on some of my earliest recordings, back when he was a member of the Average White Band. He subsequently played with Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan, and many others, before becoming the drummer in Tom Petty’s band from 1994 to 2017. He said he was working down the hall with Joe Cocker and wondered if we’d like to drop in and have a listen to what they were doing. Yes. Alannah, her producer Dave Tyson and I causally ‘dropped in’, as you will when Joe’s down the hall, and we were welcomed as they were getting ready for a playback. Joe sat in the captain’s chair in the centre of the console and as the rest of us arrayed ourselves around him, I found myself right next to his chair where he relaxed, cold Corona in hand. He signaled the playback and the track blasted out of the speakers, sounding amazing as things often do in a studio. It took me a moment to register that there were no vocals on the track, as Joe began to sing “One Night of Sin”, an Elvis hit as “One Night With You”, in a full-throated performance that was one of the most breathtaking I’ve ever witnessed first-hand.
On a MuchMusic assignment to take a couple of contest winners to L.A. comedy clubs, cameraman Basil Young and I used our days to pursue interviews for a songwriting special I was working on. We were given the extraordinary opportunity of an interview with Willie Dixon at his home in Glendale. If the name isn’t familiar, the songs will be. Willie’s music is one of the cornerstones of American blues and his catalogue includes “Back Door Man”, “Spoonful’, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and many more including “You Need Love”, a song that Led Zeppelin changed into “Whole Lotta Love”, which resulted in a plagiarism lawsuit settled in Willie’s favour. The interview was amazing, but the unexpected part came at the end, when Willie called his grandson Alex in from playing football on the lawn to accompany him on piano. Here’s the result.
https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherWardMusic/videos/384018689605745
