Jeffrey Osborne

in the building? We have a pillar of the R and B construct This man right here, Mr Jeffrey Osborne. Yeah, he didn't flow in on the wings alone. Yeah that note like that, love boy boy. There's a question. Here's a question, And we're gonna get into what I like to call our format as we go back into the history to the beginning of of of you and finding it and then getting all the way here. But how does it feel to be if you don't mind me

asking your age? Oh? I tell everybody my age all the time because I'm kind of proud of it, because I kind of stay in shape and I kind of learned what seventy four, I'll be seventy five March seven. How does it feel at seventy four, seventy five in March to be new in It's unbelievable actually, because I see it coming back around. I'm just out working all the time doing live shows, and it's like the the hunger is there for old school R and B music.

It's amazing. It's like it's come all the way full circle and back around and it's new again, and people are I have to do probably more LTD songs in my show than I do my own songs. That's how far people want to go back. So yeah, So it's a great feeling to see that it's been rejuvenated. And uh, and I'm seeing young people in my show, starting with brother d nice on on doing club quarantine, um, putting putting our soul music, our foundational music on an international

platform which which you know, the world. The Love Affair began in such a way all over again to going down to Miami with Mike Gardner and and DJ fly Guy and and them having a night dedicated Saturday night dedicated to R and B music. Yeah, night Room, the Highlight Room, Wednesday night, night Light dedicated to soul, R and B music. It's incredible. Thank you, yes, thank you, thank you. No. I think those people out there that supported it all those years, because it's amazing, and those

people are still coming out, still still coming in. It's like when you dream up of a career, when you say you know, I'm going to do this, this is what I'm gonna do. And it's not that you ever put an expiration date on yourself or say, Okay, I'm a retired at this point in time, which I tried to do and you know, nither Becker won't let me, j won't let me. Like it's just all a few names, um, but it's like to see yourself however, many moons later,

still still selling tickets. Yeah, it's different because is different. There's a lot of music, there's a lot of music that will listen to that we won't necessarily buy a ticket for. That's different because that's a different kind of income in a different level of entertainment and sustainability that

you still have. And you you spoke on being in shape, you know what I'm saying, Like it's still throw a couple of hands a little bit, you know what I'm saying some promoters, some promoters get out of line with that. Hit him with a couple Yeah you want, oh man. But again, thank you brother for giving us, giving us something to pull from, giving us something to to to be inspired, something for us to aspire to we want.

I always thought there was an expiration date until I started living it, and now I see that it's all about health, taking care of yourself and uh, taking care of your instrument. You know, you know, because I I'm running around with great grandchildren now. You know, when my first got married to my wife was we're married forty years. I'm like, well, we're gonna have kids. I already got kids, like,

you know, nineteen twenty years old. When we're gonna have kids, Am I gonna be able to run and play with my kids? Now running and play with my great grandkids. So you know, I guess there is no expiration date, you know. I mean, we all got to go at some point. But as far as feeling good, I mean, I see some of my constituents still in the business eight six years old, still out their singing shows. Yeah, legends, you're out there doing it. Well, you're in that bag.

You in that bag. You do damn right be supporting it because we are the authority. Yeah. So, so we got to bring them people through. Um, let's go back to the beginning. Take us all the way back to to the first time somebody said to you, or the first time you realized you have something special back in

Rhode Island, back in back in Rhode Island. Well, I guess it started at an early age for me because I'm the youngest of twelve and my mother used to make me sing for all her fans, her all her friends. I mean when I was four and five years old, she just called me in the room and said, listen to my son, saying, no, I just sing. And uh so, being the youngest of twelve and everybody is playing instrument some singing, we all sat around and saying, you know,

we used to go off sing Christmas carols. Christmas. We used to walk around the street, all the whole families saying Christmas Carroll. So I knew that that's what I wanted to do at an early age. I think at thirteen is when I started performing in nightclubs, club in nightclubs in the streets. That was actually my older brother Billy was playing. He had a little band, and I was going from Providence to New London, Connecticut at thirteen years old and checking out. I was making ten dollars

a night. I thought that was the ship. But wasn't it the ship? It was I got a whole ten dollars. What you want to dollars a night? When I need somebody to google the inflation of ten dollars dollars If you went to the stole, I could get a bag bag of groceries. When I first started driving, gas was nineteen cent a gallon at sixty Come on, man, nineteen you know how far I would go. They don't They don't have to do this stuff, is what he's saying. They don't have to do it. I don't have to

do this eight gallon when I first started driving. So what's your first car? My first car was like a fifty seven Chevy seven. It was It was a dog too. It was smoking and ship. I know they was happening. Yeah, it start a little slow, but once we get the movie, we're gonna be all right back exactly. You know. Jeffrey with seven Jeffrey think on the way to give me too. It was just started up for the nightclubs. Nightclubs was it was, it was it Everything you thought it was

was it was. I was like thirteen years old singing in front of all these adult people and they were going crazy, and so I knew that's what I wanted to do. But at fifteen, I started playing drums, and that's what really got me into the love of this because I got a chance to play with a lot of the local musicians around and I really started doing

my own thing in the nightclubs. And then I met the O J's when I was fifteen at this club I used to play and I went up there, was fifteen years old and I went to see him and they had a drummer. Back then, the drug was heroin. Come on, talk about it. I mean, you know, all of all, some of them, all of our great all the jazz greats were they were in the heroin. So I'm watching this drummer and he's nodding out after every song the song ended, he like, and I'm like, oh, like,

what the hell is that? That's all I'm looking at. That's a whole another level of um. Don't get a drummer n So you know, at the end of the night, I knew the club and I said, man, I want to meet the guys, you know. So I got a chance to meet Eddie Old Jays. They have five guys in the group back then, and uh, I said, y'all need a drummer. They said, yeah, man, you know any drummers in town? I said, I played. They said yeah, but you're too young. I said, oh, man, I said,

I'll tell you what. I'll call a few drummers. We come up the next afternoon. You can audition them if you give me a chance to audition. So they said okay, and I ended up getting the game. So I ended up playing with the Old Jas when I was fifteen for two weeks in Providence. They were there for two weeks. I mean it was like six nights a week too. And my mom said, don't you even think about leaving

going nowhere with these But at this time they're grown. Man. Yeah, yeah, they were They were in their twenties, you know, but still fifteen. You know, so you've only been playing drums for a year. I've been playing drums for a year. Yeah. And I never took lessons. It was just natural. I just sat down and was able to play and probably doing it all the wrong way. But I was playing Yeah, yeah, it was about the field, you know, as far as

Rutimus was concerned. I had to figure that out down the line, you know, well, this is how you're supposed to play this. But yeah, So I got the gig with the ODJS, asked me to leave with myself. Couldn't do that. So that's when I got the real taste. When I knew that I could perform with one of

the popular groups out today, that was all. That's all the inspiration I needed with the os, the OJS at that time, they were the OJ's, They had hit records, They had hits back then, so you know, I used to work part time in the record store, so I knew everybody's records back then. And the got that opportunity, and that's all I needed. That's when I knew that's what I wanted to do. My whole my whole career is based off of drugs, it seems like, because that's

how I got into LTD. They came through Providence. I was well, I don't know, nineteen twenty years old and and uh no black musicians all the in Providence when I was growing up. So I was playing with the guys that were going through Berkeley School Music. And someone said there's ten black musicians playing in this club downtown. I said serious, I said, I'm going to see them.

They were actually Salmon Dave's Band Ltd. Ltd was Salmon Dave's band, and they left Salmon Dave and stopped traveling up the East coast and they ended up in the club in Providence. So I went to see him, and now I want to see him. The drummer got taken to jail for smoking weed nineteen sixty nine. Weed was a major offense. Major offense took his asked the jail club on can you sit in with these guys? I'm like, oh't know, man, what are they playing? All top forty?

Like I know all top forties? So I sat in with him, sang a couple of songs. Next day they asked me to join the group. So was first of was Heroin. It was married DRUGA wait for you in a good way, in a good way, a good way. You got you the gigs. So I left in nineteen seventy came out to l A, you know, looking for the big dream, and we struggled. We played every nightclub in l A. You know for admission fee, you know, two dollars to get in. That's the money we got.

And we all lived in a one bedroom apartment. And how many guys are because there was there used to be and I want to say it was an album covering my house and it was like a circle. Oh yeah, and it was so many black people, so many black man And I'm like, this was on you a weird picture on that album cover because we all had our shirts all why we got our shirts, remembered that cover seeing that how many members were in ten of us? Ten members? Ten? Yeah, when I joined was ten of us.

And then one of your brothers with you he joined. Yeah, he didn't join when I first joined. He joined down the line, but he was there when we started making our first records because it took us I guess maybe two years, three years just going out working, yeah, and then finally uh uh. This female vocalist named Mary Clayton.

She was popular back then. She was doing background vocals for like the Rolling Stones and she was so she was on an M Records and they let us come up and do a showcase and they said, yeah, but we had some we had some original material that was you know, it was kind of like hardcore. It was controversial. We were talking about everything and so they liked the band, but they weren't sure about our music. So they asked

us to play behind Mary Clayton. So we went up and played behind Mary Clayton at the Monterey Folk Festival. It was huge. It was like thirty people out there and we played. One of the groups fell out and they said, we got a twenty minute spot. You all want to go ahead and play, and so we went out. We did twenty minutes. Record companies saw the crowd of you act and that's how we got signed. So what

did y'all play? We played this topt We didn't we weren't going to play all music because we were we were a little you know, we were about to the issues. We're talking about the issues I mean in terms of political So yeah, we just played some top forty stuff. They weren't crazy. And we actually signed through a publishing company of Jerry Butler talking about R and B Legend Jerry Butler. We went through his He had a little problem there right, and we signed through his production company.

We did one record and then the m signed us directly to their label. But it was three albums in before we had a hit record. The first two records nobody even though they are wow, but you guys were signed to for those first two records. We were signed then they had artist development departments. Of course they don't have any more about it, artist development development departments, right, and they said, well, we're gonna give you a three

year window. So after the first two albums they said, okay, uh, we're gonna stop looking for some produce it. Yeah, so that you were still they were still allowing y'all to write. They were still allows to write. Yeah, but you know, our first hit was love Ballot. That was that was That was our first hit. Ah have never Yeah, and uh that was that was our first hit. That was like, oh, I wish I did know. That was Skip Scarborough. Skip

Scarborough was incredible. Yeah. He wrote absolutely the stuff for earth win fire stuff. Don't ask my neighbors, he wrote all that I mean, don't ask my name. You hear that very you know what, don't ask my neighbors, stay out. Okay, this is not your business. Don't ask my neighbors. That's the internet, now your neighbors. Skip wrote some Big, You Can't Hide Love for Earth Winding Fire. He was a

great songwriter. Yeah. The funny thing about that song is that it was the Myzelle brothers, Larry and Fonds Myzelle. They d C they produced the record. Okay, and uh, we were getting ready to do the session that night and they didn't show up. So we're sitting there and I'm in there like seven o'clock. Okay, it's midnight. Producers ain't showed up yet, Like, oh, I know this ship going on right now, so hap. So we had a little me and then I'm like, you know what, let's

just let's just leave, Let's just come back tomorrow. But they come in about twelve one o'clock and they got this story and they're like, man, oh yeah, just say you know, hold on, man, can you just go in and try to sing this song. So by the time we got to that point after the meeting, it was three thirty four o'clock in the morning, and I said, you want me to actually go in and sing a song now at three thirty four o'clock and one, just give it a shot. So I went in. I sang

love Ballot one take walked out. That was the take wait wait wait, wait, wait wait wait, hold hold up, that was it? Come on, big Jeff, I'm telling you talking bottom. Huh So when the record you're listening to the record that your mama's mama, right, your auntie. We're just singing this record on top of the couches exactly. Yeah,

we're listening to this. You're listening to one thing. No punches, no punches, well you know back then going on, Yeah, don't they have to actually literally cut the tape right, no vocal enhancement that one day Boom Love Ballot has no steroids, it has one try everything you need, everything you need, and it's got a vamph on it. Your boys must have been somebody was from church, because that's the only one you get. You know what I'm saying. See,

there's much bore. Tim, Tim just kept rolling, but we have this. They don't start getting to you to the seventeen times. I feel it now, I feel it now. Who you had a bad at about four gd morning, I'm gonna listen to that record completely there right now. It's crazy, crazy, it's a lot, it's but it's a lost start. Most of my recordings one take, mostly all of my recordings with one take. That's so you're throwing

the champagne back on me. I'm just saying, yeah, but when it rains, get no, no, no no, when it rains, get wet, get wet. I George used to call me dude. George has called me one take. It's going and do it at George your story now your story was to George. Doke used to call me one take, one take. The difference though, in one take is that that is the real true feeling you have for the song. Everything after

that is you're trying to sing like yourself. Yeah, you know, once you once you give that one take, you kind of give it all the emotion, everything you feel in that song. After that, when you keep punching in, it becomes you know, it's just not the same. It's not it doesn't have that real true energy anymore, because you know, I might now here's the thing about George that I love. I might have saying a word out of tune and he said, that's the trash factor. Be that ship alone.

Don't touch it. I'm like, George, it's a little don't touch it. It's the feel making trash factor. He said, you're making me feel it. I don't care if it's in tune. It has that feel and that's what you can't produce. Again. Sometimes when you're punching in trying to you're trying to jump into that emotional and it don't quite have the same feel. That's the Mary J. Blige fact.

But I mean as you become, you know, a veteran artist, you learn how to do that better and better, so you know, you can you start getting the knack for punching in, but it don't still don't have that vibe. I used to do most of the stuff with George. We would have because it was all live musicians, you know, all that. We had studio full of live musicians and they would be in and I would be in the booth while we were doing the tracks, singing, and we

keep them some of them vocals. So it's just the vibe, you know, It's something about being in the room with the musicians to that just give you that the last time anybody's done that that. So that's what LTD. That's how it was too. Yeah, you guys were it was a band. So you go in and you sing while there. You know, a lot of times, you know, I would have to sing after God played drums on a lot of the LTD stuff too. I'm a drummer as well.

Oh really, yeah, that that makes a differences different, makes it different. Kind of get inside of yourself and even when it's like when it comes to like arranging the shows and things like that, like I can being a musician, I can hear things, and being a too, I can articulate things a lot better because I understand it from a musicians standpoint, which I think gives us. I won't say unfair advantage is what it is, because it's it's

crazy from the business side of it. You know. I'll have conversations with promoters and buyers in different markets, and you know they'll be like, oh, yeah, you know, we just you know we we won't tank to sitting in with a house man. I'm like, you do understand this man as a musician, right, he can't just go sit in with anybody. It's just not going to happen. Don't work a lot of times, it's just not going to happen.

Like I get it. Yeah, I mean every every now and then you'll be like, okay, but most times it's like and I don't like to have to go and rehearse. That's the thing, another man, you gotta go sit in rehearse. It's like before this, I'm like, no, that ain't working. So you know, do you still sound check? No? Not at all. Every now and then. If I want to add something to the show, but I don't sound check anymore. I had my background single, He'll just check the mic,

you know. You know, if I'm feeling like I want to, I will, But most times I don't. I take that nap. Talk about that, talk about that, talk about the talking about But this is also inside. This is also a chance to get to see and hear about the process that a lot of people just don't talk about. They don't talk about how important rest is. Rest is the most important thing, you know what I mean, you're jumping on these planes. You you know, either are you on

this bus all night? Whatever it is, but you need your rest. And you know, people don't realize that the vocal cord is the smallest muscle in the body and it gets used more than any other muscle because you're talking about it all there. You're talking, talking, so you you're banging on it all day long. And know the only real, true vocal rest is to shut the hell up. You gotta shut up, you know. And that's that's hard. That's hard. It's hard to dis hard. That's the life

of the party. Yeah, when you are the focal point, exactly, everybody wants to talk to talk everybody before the show. They want to come backstage, and it's like, damn, I'd be trying to say no, but it's like he likes to turn up, to turn and he would be on our way to the bed, like, yeah, man, you don't really want I'm gonna relax and see you know, somebody bringing ribs some I'm like, you don't even eat ribs? Why what are you doing? What are you doing? People

in the room got the music, yeah, exactly. So you got this hit love Ballot, right and and and you've you've been dropping albums, yeah, and trying to figure it out and find your way, and now you found it. What changes you're making more than ten dollars a night? Y'are splitting it? Oh yeah, we'll split ten. Respect Yeah, respect that we're a group. That ultimately, that's what happens

when you're in a group. Right, I'm talking to people who don't want to split the money evenly you know, possibly a group called T G T. I don't know who was in the group. Tyree genuine the tank spent the money even that's right, it's supposed to be. We have a historian in the building Ltd. A theologian of this R and B thing that says the money is to be split, you know what, like if you even ever have a conversation of like, listen, I've seen the lead. So no, no, we were set up all wrong, which

is why I ended up leaving the group. I mean we were set up when I when we first started, they were asking me to put other people's names on my songs so we could all get out published and the publish and get their own you know, get set up in ask cap and being my we all need to be set up and so like a fool, I was doing that ship back then. So you know, you start learning as you go along. H But we were

we were set up completely wrong. I mean I admire today's youth because I love the fact that they collaborate with one another. You see collaborations, which is they didn't do that back in the day. Old school. You never saw that back in the day. You know, if you think about it. Look at all the talent that was out there, and nobody came together, you know, like you in genuine and taries. You know, they just didn't do

it that way. So I got kind of to the point where I, Okay, I think I'm ready to leave. Now it's time for me to kind of move on to the next step. But we'll get we'll get to the we'll get to the I'm sure, I'm sure, but but we we kind of veered off of when you get that first hit record, that first hit record, I'll tell you what it did for me. The biggest change was I had been playing and singing at the same time. I had no idea what to do when the record

company said you gotta hit record. You gotta go stand out front and sing it can't see You with four horn players behind front of you. The ladies love this song. I was singing from the no just after the record when it came out. Yeah, that's when they said you need to get up. But I was singing from the drums and my brother Billy played drums. So when I saying he would play something, and then when he sang,

I would play it. But there was a lot of times where I was singing and playing at the same time, so I didn't really know what to do with my hands. You know, I got hit record, I'm standing out there, but I'm like so, I'm like, okay. Well, so they said, you know what, well on at you somebody too to kind of take you through being out front. Stage. President

was the audience. So we got this guy that was the theater director at l A City College and he came and worked with me, and he was incredible man. He he really taught me how to control an audience, bring an audience in. You know. The most important thing he told me was look that last person in that last seat. That's who you work too Forget these people right here, they're right in front of you. If you

get that person, you got the whole place. So he made me project learn how to project, learn how to bring people in. All this that I didn't know as I was sitting there all closed up like playing drug. So that was the biggest That was the biggest adjustment for me was learning how to be out front and learning how to you know, take command of the stage. Yeah, so, so, how how long does it take you all to get to the next hit uh, the next album, So we only had one hit off that first one we had.

But you know, radio was different back then because radio would play everything off your record, whether it was a single or none. You don't do that today. You know, the album came out, they played four or five songs, so people were hearing the other things on the record, but the one that talked was love Balance. And the next album was back in Love, and that just that said that, you said, that's what Now, that's a story in itself, back in Love, because back then it was different.

You know what record companies they had R and B departments and they had popped the park and they didn't want to work our records pop R and B. And I'm like, well, you're not gonna work this record. I mean, it's starting to move up the charts pretty good. And the next thing, you know, where it crossed over on its own. Today it's totally different, but it had actually crossed over on the soon. So they didn't want to take any want to take credit for it. Damn thing

you record pop at all. But then it started becoming a major hit in the department started taking a little interest in us. There. You know, different world back then. That's that's an all timer as well. Like y'all was just coming back to back like the back and Love record, like because now you go from love ballot to a slow jam. Now you got the Temple record, y'all, y'all and the y'all and the barbecues, the backyard, the club

that y'all everywhere. Now, it was there a huge difference in having a Love Ballot to back in Love as far as just from a performance since from where you were taking because I'm obviously you know, because the other thing that they have now is they have like, uh like hosting gigs and club appearances. Y'all wouldn't but y'all didn't have that. Y'all just did y'all show. Yeah, y'all don't get paid to go to the to the club after what we did after shows? Yeah, oh yeah, it

was always after shows. That that's what the promoters thing. It's always the after party. Yeah that he paid you guys to come to. No, he didn't pay us to come to it, didin't. We didn't get paid to go to the after show back then that's what you get paid. No, yeah, no, you get paid right If this is gonna be an

after show, you're gonna get paid. But yeah, back then it was all about hanging out, hanging out with the promotives, trying to get in good so they keep booking you, you know, And we had we had the big tours back then because it was LTD Commodoors, you know, that was that was one of the major tours. We did like maybe three tours with the ticket doors. That was huge. LTD Commodoors. And then you know, we did O J's and back then it was con function and pilot. Yeah,

how many cities would you guys do in one tour? Man, they killed us back then, I swear we were doing we did in seventy nine, we did the Jackson tour. We opened up for the Jacksons. That's when Michael had Off the Wall and he would come out and do the Jackson show and then they would leave and he would come out and do the whole Off the Wall out. It was crazy. It was crazy. This was crazy, I mean, and we were doing fourteen, fourteen nights in a row

until Michael said, I can't do this no more. He's like, uh so we started canceling dates. Yeah, two weeks straight, we performing a night that was a big show everybody. I mean, you know, we was doing the big places. That's when I knew that I might have had a few hits. But this is a real superstar. Hear this, dude, this is different. I've seen things and I was like, I mean because we were at a bus store, so we traveled together. We had a bus LTD. And Jackson.

They had a bus and dude has to come out and disguise us every day. He couldn't even walk out. He had to be completely disguised every day. And they would put up to the stage, get out, do the show, finish the show, get back in the limo right there, big color seum and drive out and people would jump on top of the car as they were driving up the ramp to get to this dude. I'm telling you, man, I've never seen anything like it. They threw a kid through the window at Holiday in in Baltimore to get

to him. What you mean to get to him? Well, he we finished the show, came over. They knew we were at the Hotel Baltimore. This food comes out of his rumors like two story holiday and walks around and they see him. They pick up a kid, throw him through the window and all rushed through to get the Michael Jackson use a boy as a molotop. This is a stop. There's a whole another level. That's a different level. Yeah, I don't think we'll ever see again. We won't that

in life. Not that. Yeah he was not that. That's that's amazing, and and so does so. Is that in a sense what took y'all? There a record like back At Back in Love? Yeah, we did that. Then we had we had, you know, love Balid and then we had a lot of ballots that were big back then. We both deserve each other, concentrate on you all these songs. Holding On was big we had. So we started piling up some of the hits. Then we were we were rolling and LTD was a great live then, I gotta

tell you they were. And four horn players was doing steps out there and horns. We put the pressure on everybody. So it was a great live group. Yeah, it was exciting. Lie, We're seeing Michael, you know, coming out there do his thing by his self. Was that an inspiration to you? It was more inspiration is that he used to come to my dress room and asked me what I did to keep my voice and shape because he would be

running out of gas. But you know, anybody dancing around like that and singing, I'm like, dude, you're going to yeah exactly. And Jeffrey, what are you saying? What do you say? What do you say? Jeffrey? What he saying? Jeffrey? I need you because everybody has a DESCRIPTIONI how they feel. Michael really talk. Some people was playing mentor it Jeffrey man voice, keep going out, ship man, tell me what I gotta do? Dogs? What do you do? What do

you do? Man? It was really there. It was really there because but that is also a form of vocal arrest, which people don't know that the Jacksons have mastered. They speak low, Yeah, speak low, And it's not like they don't project heavy. They're not doing what these two right here, ye man. Vocal therapy is singing as soft as you can. It's not about these opera singers that have vocal therapy. They go in and they're singing no and just trying to open up this and keep the airstream and contract

as long as you can just hold a note. It's not singing and with any force at all. It's all as soft as you can control in the airstream and some of the exercises that they do is like, you know, to take that glass and fill it up half of water and take a straw and you're blowing that straw and it's like, and you control the bubbles. If the bubbles come over the top of the glass, you ain't doing the ship right. So you gotta keep the bubbles

inside the glass. And it's all about controlling the airstream. And it's as soft as you can It's not because you know, I had I had COVID about four months ago and I'm like, damn, you know, and that it messed me up. My respiratory was so I talked to my throat out. He said, just go to this vocal therapist. I'm like, so I went. And the whole thing she had me doing was as soft as you can sing. It's all real easy. I need that number, Huh, I

need to go to a vocal therapist. I mean, it was incredible just and those are basically just simple things she was doing. You know, they called this backward kazoo thing when they have you shape your mouth so that your cheeks are in and you're no, you're not supposed to puff them and it's just controlling the airstream real soft and you go up to scale. No, it's like twenty minutes, a few hours later, another two any minutes, get that glasses that straw boom, and it's amazing. It

opens it really does open you up. But it's totally it's totally the opposite that I thought. I thought she was gonna have me trying to bang at the top of my range. And she's like, oh no, no, it ain't about that. So do you do these daily? Now? I do? Now? I do it now? Yeah, because I still I still haven't recovered from COVID. I mean, I have my natural voice is fine, but it took away my false setter, and so I had still and I'm

still struggling to get into my false setter. But these are the exercises that they gave me, which vocal therapy I was. I was blown away. I'm thinking, vocal therapy is gonna be some strenuous stuff here, total opposite. What was the advice you gave Michael? Michael, uh, steaming mhm. He was asking me, and I said, well, you should steam a little bit, because steaming is like, to me, the most important things local hygiene and steaming is one.

It lubricates the chord. It takes any kind of swelling down off the court. So is that with with like an you can get something like that or just portable well, you know, Luke eucalyptus. You know, you're the old guy. You know eucalypt This is it's kind of a myth because it's a it's a mental mentholated kind of thing. And what it does is it opens you up right away and then it tightens your chord. So anything like

eucalyptus or meant anything that is not good to really steam. Yeah, so just straight water straight and I carry a portable steamer. There's several different kinds you can get, but it's a it's the steam. I steam after it shown sometimes before a show, because you know, the moisture helps on the court and it does take the swelling down. So I do a lot of little crazy things like that. I steam goggle with the nastiest ship in the world, golden

seal root powder. It's like goggling with dirt because it's a root powder. But it's incredible what it does for you. Golden golden seal root powder. So I'll steam, and then I'll goggle and then I shut up and go to sleep. You're giving up, And I'll tell you a really good sea salt is good. If you get a sea salt that has all the trace minerals in it and goggle with that warm water, that really helps too. That sus really does golden golden seal. But you need to get

the roots. Get some golden root powder. Root powder. It comes in the capsule. You used to come in bolt, but now it's always in the capsule and you just open the capsule up, pour it in, put some warm water in and it's nasty though. I mean it tastes like dirt in It doesn't bother me. Some people don't like the taste of stuff like that. But I've been vegan for money, an it's money in the dirt. Listen. It tastes like there was money to dark. Yeah. Ah,

you vegan out too. Yeah. I just started eating fish in the last four months, but I've been vegan for the most seven years. I went straight vegan. Did you feel do you feel like that helped you at all as far as your you know, from from your your vocal ability, or I think it's just just so health. I just for overall health. Yeah, I felt a lot more efficient, you know, I just felt efficient after going vegan and then my whole It made it easy because my whole family went at the same time, my wife,

my son, we all did at the same time. But it was one of the best things I've done. So now I'm basically still vegan, but I'll eat some fish now. I went to a train on Toby you need some fatty acids because some of them will make a fatty acids. I was funny, I'm like, what this bodybuild? Does that a vegan? He said, yeah, but you know what they're doing. I said what he said? They're taking uh animal protein and ain't no way that that that they're using weight protein.

They're not using vegan protein. I was like, really, he said, you ain't building all that muscle? Would no, No, you need Yeah that So LTD y'all own tour y'are doing your thing with the Jackson's y'all one of the biggest groups in the world. What happens? What happened? What that makes you just like, you know? What? Enough? Did you? Did you ever want to go? So that that was the last tour that I did and I wasn't supposed

to do that tour. I had actually let them know two years in front of that that I was ready to leave the group. Two years two years I did. I did an album and another tour after I had told him I wanted to leave. So you didn't pull a flash in the five heart beats, I didn't. Yeah, it's lonely at the top. It come out next week. No, no you didn't. I kind of let them know that, you know, I was ready to leave. It's it's like

I said, it wasn't set up right. So I was get in office from record company to do a solo record, and they squashed that because I had a group member. I had a songwriter's agreement that I signed with the group, like stupid ship you do when you're young, and uh so they wouldn't let me out of the songwriters agreement and they stopped me from doing a solo record, so you know, and then they didn't want me to write for other people because I was stotting the right for people.

People were like asking me the right and they were like, no, you can't do that. You go to songwriters agreement with us. So I'm like, this is too confining I gotta go. That would have made them money, right, that would have made everybody more money. Since you were signed to this agreement, if you wrote for other people to agree where they make money from it, or was it just an agreement just you have to write for the group. It was agreement with the group within the group. You know, I

had to write. All the stuff I wrote was before the group and so tied to it. So you know, at that point, I'm like, well, you on what. I can't deal with this anymore. So I'm it's time for me to get out of here. So I left, But it took it took almost two years before I actually left, after I gave them the notice that I was going to leave. So that holds seventy nine tour and nineteen seventy nine that was That was the last tour I did. Like I like people, so and that makes a big good.

I mean, I get asked I stopped doing these cruisers because that reason, because you were the key. They were like, cruisers, we want you to do the cruise, we want you to stay on because you're so nice to the people. I'm like, yeah, but when I come out that cabin, they are over come on, let's take this picture. How to turn this camera around? Say? How you turning this camera? Be taking up too much of the time. We're taking too much just trying to get this kid like I

took a fitture with you yesterday. Yeah, but that was yesterday. I got on my Michael course person. They need to see this. It's something that that we didn't skip it off. We just hadn't got to it yet. Very very very it's gonna be this is I don't even know if we got enough alcohol liquor champagne. The poor when I bring up this, bring it up, bring it up. We are the world, We are the world, We are the children. This was the one of the first songs that I

ever sang, really ever. Wow, you really make me feel old now. Like my parents, my dad especially would make me get in the living room and make me and my brothers we all saying we and my sister and we would have to sing we are the World mhm and we were so we love that record so much. And you were a part of this record. This this record had every major artist known to man at this

time on this record. And you have to tell us the backstory to We Are the world and if there were some people who didn't get on this record that was salty and then and then explain the one piece of video where Michael Jackson is looking at uh oh yeah, Bruce Springstey. I think it was Bruce springste It was too much, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't think you should do that.

It was incredible, man, it was you know, they set it up perfectly because it was it was after the American of Music American Music Awards show, so that finished at like, I don't know, six or seven o'clock that night, and I got the call the day before from Quincy and he said, and are you up to able to do this song? Or we heard the world? We got all he told me all these artists, and I'm like, are you kidding me? And the only reason I got

the call is because Prince canceled on it. So Prince fell out at the last minute, and Quincy said, now I got a spot, man, I got a spot. Can you come. I'm like, yeah, I can come. I'll be there. And it was just amazing to see that many people in A and M studios that night, and it was magical.

It was absolutely magical, you know. And you had Stevie in one corner at the piano and he's going over everybody's parts, you know, he's playing and they was trying to sing their little solo part, and you know, and he had algarrole over here and Alice in tears because you know, Alice one of them real spiritual, emotional people, and he was like, oh my god. And you guys had so many facets going on all over the place.

I think the most incredible moment was when we all stopped and everybody took the sheet music and had everybody signed it. And to see that many artists walk around getting signatures from the other And I have mine and I have mine frames so this is like the jersey swap. Yeah, it was crazy with all Michael Jordan's that's crazy. It was crazy. So I still have mine framed, you know. Uh. But it was pretty amazing. So, you know, and I didn't get a chance to sing. I was like, damn,

I want to sing. Give me two words. Question what we're doing? We're do you know what I do? So Quincy says, hey, man, I know you didn't get a chance to sing, won't you just wait and at the end we'll set up a couple of mics and we'll haven't want to have a few people just add living and you can throw ad lib in here. I'm like great. Yeah, So we waited at the end. It was probably six

o'clock in the morning. We was in there all night, six o'clock in the morning, and it was me, it was James, and it was Diana Ross and we sat there and we sang ad libs and then I get the call Quincy and we can't use to add I'm like, why, he said, Diana sang through everybody else's adement. She wouldn't stopped, she sang. She just kept singing his work. But yeah, yeah, it was pretty you know, I just got a call last week. They're trying to do a special one. We

are the World. It's like the year Anniversity or something. They wanted me to come up to the A and M and do a interview. What the night was like, you know, yeah, it was crazy, it was pretty special. Nut, Yeah, that was that was an amazing That was an amazing record. Do you know how many units that sold? I mean, I know it was all the charity, but I'm sure it's like knowing it has to be the biggest single ever. No,

it had to be one of them. I'm trying to figure out if they ever tracked all the money down huh, you know, because it was I got tricky with the money. Who I think he got tricky. I don't know what happened, but held to go to Yeah, you can play with any money. They would play with any They played with the Church's money money. Wow, did you even get a plaque anything? Is there? A We're the real plaque? I never got a plaque or anything. Come back, it's got

to be a plaque. Somebody hit up to r I A. It's got to be certified at Fox hunting million copies or something. Man, just just fill up the room with it. Yeah, it had to be a ridiculous amount. It was like the biggest thing ever. And everybody had it in their show. Everybody. I was doing it in my show. I had three or four vocalist singing pots and stuff. I want to

see Harry Belafonte, he's doing it in his show. It's funny people that were in it to be like wow, and everybody was doing it in their show's live When that came out, it was big. It was right, It was the biggest songs ever. He dropped a lot of names in that. You know, he didn't even dropped all the names either. There's so many people that were part of that. Oh yeah, it was crazy. Did you Okay?

So as a vocalist, though, did you ever have a moment like those vocus are tricky why they're letting him sing because we all singers and we didn't been in rooms and we're like, yeah, yeah, you know I can do that part. Did you ever, I know, you had a moment where you're just like, well, you know, you always think why didn't not get that shot? But the beautiful thing was everybody sang what they wanted to sing. They brought their own individuality. Yeah you know what I mean.

They didn't try to be somebody else, you know, like even Bob Dylan, I mean he was just doing it wasn't many melodic notes, but he got it out. But yeah, yeah, yeah, you got yeah. Like but we remembering that that was great man, And I just had to bring that up because that was a pivotal part of my childhood, that record and just you know, seeing that togetherness and it's probably something I still tap into and why I feel like things should be more collaborative because that was my

first time seeing major artists together. Yeah yeah, it was powerful, extremely powerful. So we're gonna go from Weird the World Who to this great section it's called I ain't saying on that yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, because there was enough names on Weird the World. But yeah, so, uh, the rules of this segment of the show is you tell us a story funnier, fucked up, are funny and fucked up, But the only rule is you can't say the name.

So this is Jeffrey Osborne's Woo Woo Woo version. Oh my god, if I saying on names, Wow, that's a lot of that moment you had, R and B music. Brother, he didn't been to a lot of places and a lot of Yeah, I've been to a lot of places. I've seen stampedes. I mean that was crazy. One night in New Orleans. It was just you know, at the Dome and it's us and the old Jay's story, that the whole another story. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you know,

and then I don't know what happened. Something happened in the crowd and people went crazy and they came in mounted police on horses running through the crowd, trampling people, trampling people. Yeah, that's crazy, but I had to say I was on two with this one route. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah group. Everybody know this group because they was they was they still? Yeah, it was popping back then. And uh so we go to the sound check, so, you know,

we're upset. We're waiting around to do our sound check and they take it all day. They were like, so we're like in the back, come on, god damn, you know, we gotta get out sound checking. What the hell is going on? And they just messing around and somebody yelled out to a long The next thing you know was gunshots everywhere and were ducking down and some Pilson's behind the drums and uh we actually finally made it out of there, and it was I can't say no names,

I can't tell you who it was. Somebody shot at y'all shot the sound checked out. They were actually shooting at each other and we were in the room they were fighting. Yeah, they were sound checking and we were trying to boom along. They start yelling and then talking back and forth. Next thing you know, they start shooting at each other. Oh, see. This is why we don't have groups anymore. This is why we don't have groups. Tell you hip hop and got nothing on us. Listen,

we shooting at the sound check. They shot up the sound they shot they show did wow. Yeah that into the arm, into the arm beef to a whole another level. Yeah, my god, that was when that was in the seventies, probably seventy eight. Here's a better question. Just did y'all still to do the show? Yeah, we did, and they did. They Come on, come on, come on, show must go on, Show must go home. You gotta get to the R and B money. Listen, Pull that bullet out, wrap him

up right, stitch him up, some badges on it. We got work to see these damn songs. We got R and B work to do to night. Listen, man um brother, Jeffrey Osborn Man, you are you are you, You are Him, and you are you have stood beyond stood the test

of time. You're still thriving in this wonderful place that we call R and B music, that we love and be whole so dearly, and you are are elder, You are you are him, and we we have love and flowers and respect for you, and we look forward to you having to continue to cancel shows because you are overbooked right now, right now at seventy four, about to be seventut to your daughter Tiffany, come on till all right, your son in law Frank, come on, and my god,

little Jeff. Yeah, this is why it's happy right here. This is why this has happened right here. We appreciate You're right about that. We appreciate them. You know. I love what Tiffany and Frank are doing over there district. And and my son he works. He my house engineer. Yes, my life sounds. He's incredible and doing all that video work over there, and the video work he does a lot. Yeah, he's good. You know that's where my juice bid is. Oh yeah, juicing there. Yeah, come out, come out, black

business baby community. Uh, we love you, man is man. They love for having me. So I'm taking I'm Jay Valentine And this has been the R Money podcast, the authority on all things are and beat with a with an authoritium authority. What's the word, old guy still in the g R All right, I'll embrave money. R and B Money is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to

your favorite shows. Don't forget to subscribe to and rate our show, and you can connect with us on social media at Ja Valentine and at the Real Tank. For the extended episode, subscribe to YouTube dot com, Forward, slash r, and b Money