Black History Month and Other Music Influences 2022
- Written by Rebecca DGD
Chago G. Williams, LA and Europe. We shall get to the mega Rapper name very soon. We are truly floored at the music talent somehow bestowed upon us (Hellmut Wolf and Rebecca L Davis a.k.a DGD). We will go back and forth in time first.
It is still bitter Winter in mid-February 2022. I am pushing the shopping cart in a huge grocery store. Wearing Marvel brand Dead Pool pocketed-pants and black high-top Doc Marten boots, I hear the back ground and fore ground music then I start to groove. The announcement in the store speakers preceding all the Motown greats singing reminds us it is wintery- February, Black History Month. Years ago, I actually saw the original Four Tops at the officer’s club at Fort Leavenworth, KS, with a CGSC hottie date (for those who know about U.S. Army history, Command and General Staff College is special). The Four Tops had always been high on my radio list, so I had to see them live.
“Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles moves me to sing and dance (no matter where I am). Under my black leather Wilson’s biker jacket, my skin is married to a K.C. Chiefs t-shirt. I think, “how cool am I?” Truth is: I am not cool or bitchin’ all of the time. lol Actually, this write-up is about Smokey Robinson, Chubby Checker, Jackie Wilson, “little Stevie Wonder,” Ronnie and the Ronettes, The Crystals, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Isley Brothers, the soulful Righteous Brothers, plus Johnny Nash for starters.
I love to cruise down the highway five hours destined for Fort Leonard Wood, MO rocking out to “I Can See Clearly,” (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, Then He Kissed Me, and Be My Baby, and of course, 100’s more that originated in Motown and New York City.
The music from the 60’s and 70’s on the radio enhanced my basketball shooting form, of that I am sure. I loved the oldies as I am an old soul. I listened to those songs after the fact - shooting hoops in the driveway; but they stuck in my head and heart like super Glue on sport’s roids It has been a “few” years and continents later; yet the talents of ole still live on to tomorrow and March Madness.
Tomorrow has arrived. Turns out Hellmut loves Motown, too. He was influenced heavily. His world-class Saxophone and Flute are displayed in all of our songs. It is a cool luxury to have creative freedom at our fingertips. It is Hellmut Wolf who came in unbelievably handy late December 2018 – into my music and life. He gets the credit. Mr Wolf also introduced Chago G. and myself. The long-time Snoop Dogg Producer, Chago G Williams keeps adding “WOW” to our songs. I say wow, as that is what my teenage neighbors say when they hear our songs.
I must be the luckiest, most fortunate songwriter /performer ever. My vision is absorbed by Wolf and stirred into a fantastic, unique song by Chago’s lyrics and performances within our songs and videos. To say it is a special combo with Wolfs collection of guitars, drums, DGD lyrics, and Chago’s undeniable talent, is an understatement - sung under some boardwalk
Radio airwaves; the ear’s final frontier so-to-speak. The diverse music genres’ trek from 1960 to 2022 has been intergalactically stellar. From only a tiny bit worldly DGD opinion, we have early rock & roll oldies; classic rock; Rap; hip-hop, then back to Rock and RAP. My sensibilities about what to write come from true stories of my youth and life at times influenced by Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” volume up! Also, one of my favorite percussionists, King Erisson, from the Neil Diamond band is a friend on “chat” as I grew up in concert band/marching band on the drums.
The mixture of my dad’s Classic piano and the classically-trained, Burton Cummings, on his Magic Piano, have led Hellmut and I to explore more RAP and classic Rock sewn together. With the song, “Appreciation,” Chago’s magic, Wolf’s Flute, Romain Duchein’s electric guitar, our two drummers Jack T Parry and John Bennetts we have a # 12 hit currently; but we want to go Higher and Higher. I saw an interview of The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings. They were rocking out to Motown’s influence, as well, in their early songs and shows.
The collaboration with Dorian P. Williams of The Gap Band brought a powerful input from Dorian’s past/present Gospel feel. Hellmut produced our song Boulders Weeping (Cry No More). The influencers back in the day and now pulse through our lyrics (Chago’s, Dorian’s, and mine). It is a gift of huge proportions to work with the “cool twosome.”
What a blessing it is to play hop-scotch back and forth between the Smokey Robinson eras and the grown up Chago era. Thank you one and all, from Detroit, NYC, and LA, who still impact what is loved and what is being created at this very moment by thousands of fans and songwriters.
