Subj: article
The Cincinnati Enquirer
June 18, 1995
THE NEXT BIG THING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Top-10 hit vaults Blessid Union Of Souls into a world of limos and TV appearances
New York - There's no escaping The Smile. Everywhere on the set of Live with Regis and Kathie Lee are huge grinning photos of the shows hosts, silently urging happiness. But the perky duo's message is not getting through to everyone. Members of the Cincinnati band Blessid Union Of Souls, this day's guests, look more like a union of zombies as they slouch around the shows waiting room. No one is grinning. The band is fried from too many 18-hour days promoting its Top-10 song, "I Believe," and still jittery from the night flight from Toronto in a shaky five-seat propeller plane. In less than an hour, millions of TV viewers will fix their eyes on the group.
Vocalist Eliot Sloan is stressed out about something else, too: He's worried the show's producers will tell him he can't sing the word "nigger" when Blessid Union performs "I Believe." Sloan has vowed not to change the word for Regis Philbin, Kathie Lee Gifford, the pope or anyone else. Inspired by his romance with a white woman a few years ago, Sloan, who is black, wrote the lyrics: "I've been seeing Lisa now for a little over a year / She says she's never been so happy but Lisa lives in fear / That one day daddy's gonna find out she's in love / With a nigger from the streets." In the song, love prevails over racism. In real life, "Lisa" dumped Sloan after her father threatened to cut off her college tuition if she continued to date him. "Either I sing 'nigger' or nothing at all," Sloan says. "I have to be very blunt because that's really how Lisa's dad felt about me." During the rehearsal, Sloan sings the word in question. The show's producers huddle and whisper; they don't look pleased. Finally, producer Michael Gelman decides the lyrics will stand as written. "We may get phone calls over this, but the word is in the context of telling a story, so I don't find it offensive," Gelman says. Thirty minutes later, with cameras rolling, the four members perform "I Believe" for real. Adrenalin rushing, they're not only grinning, they're beaming. "That was great!" Gifford enthuses during the post-performance chat. "I bet Lisa's dad is watching and saying 'That guy wasn't so bad after all.'"
FRIENDS IN RADIO
Lisa's dad wouldn't be the only one with a new perspective on these guys. A year ago, Blessid Union Of Souls was just another pop group with zero name recognition -- even in Cincinnati. And it looked as if it would stay that way. Soon after EMI Records signed the group in 1993, the New York-based label imploded. Dozens of employees were fired, including the two bigwigs who signed the band. Blessid Union's neck was on the chopping block, too. Meanwhile, back in Cincinnati, WKRQ-FM (Q102) music director Brian Douglas and program director Jimmy Steal heard an early version of "I Believe" and fell in love with the dramatic, string-laden tune. They played it on the air, then called their pals at radio stations across the country and urged them to do the same. Before anyone knew it, the song was a hit -- even though EMI had never officially released it. The record company quickly set a March release date for Blessid Union's debut album, "HOME." And as band members watched in amazement, "I Believe" rose to No. 1 in May in Radio & Records, the magazine that tracks national air play. More than 200,000 copies later, "I Believe" is still selling. It was No. 9 last week on Billboard's singles chart, which measures air play and record sales. "HOME," meanwhile, is selling 13,000 copies a week and has passed the 100,000 mark. Expect those figures to jump if a tentative spot on The Late Show With David Letterman materializes this month.
THE STAR LIFE
Not surprisingly, New York is giving Blessid Union the The Next Big Thing treatment: Chauffeurs assist the band into stretch limos; music publishers buy them $650 dinners; and Manhattan record stores hang huge Blessid Union posters in their windows. Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of them. In the hours following their spot on Live With and Kathie Lee, band members and their Cincinnati-based managers, Mark Liggett and Jerry Lane, are assaulted from all fronts as they hustle around the Big Apple: A flirty interviewer from Weekend Today invites herself to the band's video shoot for their next single "Let Me Be The One." T-shirt merchandisers try to coax the group into signing a contract. An EMI publicist needs a stack of photos autographed (and asks a reporter to fake the signature of a missing band member). Entertainment Weekly calls, hoping to interview Sloan and guitarist Jeff Pence. The local ABC station wants an interview, too. And the band's lawyer desperately wants to do lunch. Despite the hoopla, Blessid Union Of Souls is -- in music biz jargon -- a "baby band." sometimes it shows. Pence, for example, seems amazed when a publicist tells him he may talk to journalists "off the record." But their rookie status is deceiving -- most of the band has tasted fame before.
-Drummer Eddie Hedges, 32, who hails from a family of cement contractor in Blue Ash, sang in church as a kid with the Hedges Family Group and went on tour with R & B stars such as Bell Biv Devoe and Johnny Gill. He's the band's resident jock (he holds a black belt in karate) and claustrophobe.
-Keyboardist/producer C.P. "Charly" Roth, 34, is the pale-skinned jazz buff with the ever present sunglasses and haevy metal chops (he's toured with Ozzy Osbourne). He's also a diehard New Yorker with New Jersey roots who likes to mock the Queen City: For example, he calls Cincinnati's airport customs agents "a cross between Dragnet and The Beverly Hillbillies."
-Sloan, 29, a native of Pleasant Ridge played in the Movies, a local R & B band signed to CBS Records in the mid-80's (Hedges sang lead in the group). Though friendly and approachable, the dreadlock-wearing singer admits he's "not very good at working the crowd on stage." As a lyricist, Sloan gives the Union its spiritual slant in "I Believe," "Heaven" and other songs.
-Pence -- who is either 20 or 31 depending on who you ask (he's mum on the subject) -- might look the most rock-starrish of the bunch with his flowing black hair and purple Doc Martens. but he's perhaps the most down-home: His ideal afternoon involves listening to Lynryd Skynyrd and fishing for rock bass near the 100-acre farm in Morrow where he grew up.
-Bassist, Tony Clark, 25, joined the band three months ago, but so far has only appeared with the band for its concerts.
In recent months, Blessid Union has blitzed TV and radio stations around the United States, Canada and Europe (some 4 million German viewers watched its spot on the Nach Show). This week, they're performing on radio and TV in Spain, Italy and England. Next week, they fly to Los Angeles to perform on NBC's Friday Night Videos (the spot airs July 21). The band finally returns to Cincinnati July 21 to perform a free "Q102 One Earth Party" concert at P & G Pavilion. But after that, Guam and Hawaii beckon. "Get a calendar and a map and start throwing darts -- that what our schedule is like," Roth says.
PROMOTING RURAL SOUL
All this has turned the band into wily self-promoters. They wear Blessid Union watches constantly -- always ready to unbuckle on and give it to a DJ or anyone else who merits schmoozing. After Philbin fondles Hedges' egg-sized percussion instrument, the drummer autographs a dozen and delivers them to the set of Live. (Sure enough, Philbin shakes one on the air the next morning and mentions Blessid Union). They also know the power of packaging. "Rural soul" -- a label invented for them by a former EMI exec -- doesn't really describe their radio friendly style of pop/rock/R & B (which isn't very rural). But band members know it's catchy, so they happily chat about "rural soul" at every interview. But they've also learned promoting a record can be a pain -- like when handlers try to spruce up their wardrobe: "I'm not trying to be a (expletive), but I'd rather wear what I want to wear," Roth bellows at EMI's high-rise offices in Manhattan. Or when interviewers focus on topics they don't want to talk about -- namely "Lisa."
"It's hard when people keep bringing up a part of your life that hurts, " Sloan says, after the fourth interviewer of the morning grills him about his ex-girlfriend.
GENUINELY MOVED BY FAME
Despite the grind, band members feel blessed by their newfound fame. When 40 EMI employees applaud as Blessid Union walks into a conference room, the group looks genuinely moved. "We still get all choked up because being accepted like this still seems like a dream," Sloan says. If their success continues, they might need to dream bigger. Instead of suddenly sizing up Range Rovers and Malibu condos, they plan to celebrate their success in a far more modest way. "The only thing I really want to do now," Pence says, "is buy five-way chili for all our friends."
ABOUT THE BAND
Formed 1993
Band members: Singer, Eliot Sloan, guitarist, Jeff Pence, drummer Eddie Hedges, keyboardist, C.P. Roth, bassist, Tony Clark.
First album: HOME, recorded in Cincinnati at Ligosa Sound Studios and released in March on EMI Records.
Album producers: Emosia (P.M. Dawn), David Kershenbaum (Tracy Chapman) and Roth.
First hit single: "I Believe"
Next single: "Let Me Be The One"
Next local show: July 21, P & G Pavilion, Bicentennial Commons at Sawyer Point, free "Q102 One Earth Party" concert.
Musical influences: Everything from Prince and Elton John to Miles Davis and ZZ Top.
Sound: A mix of rock, R & B, hip-hop and folk.
--Thor Christensen