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MONTY GUY; METAMORPHOSIS... Rating for montyguy.com QUALITY, REPUTATION, & SAFETY Website Content Rating; E-Award Recipient. IT STARTED WHEN... I was born in Georgetown, Guyana, South America; formerly British Guiana. My Father was a Police Officer who liked to sing Nat 'King' Cole songs around the home; lines, actually. He was pretty good. I learnt later that he was a well regarded choir member and soloist. My Mother developed exceptional skills as a caterer; later honing her craft in London. Years later, my Father would buy me a guitar and teach me my first chords, while my Mother would buy me 'the big amp' with no questions asked. They tolerated the incessant strumming and picking, never requesting a performance break. GUYANESE STARS AND PARTY MUSIC The Guyanese music scene was diverse. At the big people's party (that's what we called the adults), you heard The Drifters, The Platters, Johnny Mathis (he was huge), Sam Cooke, and the calypsonians like Lord Kitchener, Lord Canary, and, of course, the Mighty Sparrow. Our biggest star may well be Bill Rogers. He composed, arranged, and sang his own material; SHANTOS, we call them. He even signed a contract with RCA; so he was in the international league. Of course, with his exciting and widely known 80's hit "Electric Avenue", Eddy Grant (inventor of the Ringbang style; and an original member of the well regarded UK pop group 'The Equals'), may be considered by many pop music lovers to be Guyana's best known mega pop star of the modern age. Still, my Eddy Grant song is 'Romancing The Stone'; a very fine composition and work of art. Talk of the Guyanese music scene would be incomplete without mention of the Harry Whitaker Combo, The Guyana Police Force Band & Choir, the travelling Steel Bands, and highly regarded radio broadcast personalities like the seasoned and avuncular Basil Hinds, along with the sincere and energetic Roland Phillips. ENGLAND'S PIRATE RADIO We moved to England in time to catch Chubby Checker and the Twist, Little Eva and The Locomotion, and Ray Charles with "What'd I Say"? The scene later exploded with fuel from the pirate radio stations like Radio London and Radio Carolina operating "just off the coast". Radio Luxemburg, though not 'pirate', consistently broadcasted an exciting and varied popular music playlist. Jimmy Saville, a large cigar smoking (it might have been a prop, as he was never seen actually smoking it), platinum blond DJ introduced The Rolling Stones doing Chuck Berry's "Come On". Lou Christie's "Lightnin' Strikes" was a big favorite. BRITISH POP GROUP SCENE The music scene percolated with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, Billy J Kramer with The Dakotas, Cliff Richards and The Shadows, Cilla Black, Manfred Mann, The Kinks, The Troggs, The Searchers, I could go on. Even Matt Monroe and Acker Bilk got a listen; as did Texas guy P. J. Proby with his hit "Hold Me", Wilson Pickett, and the innumerable star Soul Singers of the USA. Everyone was in a band, knew someone in a band, or wished that they were in a band. We all watched 'Ready, Steady, Go!' on ITV (television). MY FIRST BAND COMES ALIVE I met Nigel Evans in Harringay, North London. We both gravitated to Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, becoming Altar Boys and Choir Boys. Our first instruments were harmonicas. We were enthusiastic in our noise making. We met Gary Fricker soon thereafter. He had a birthday party just after we met. We noticed a snare drum in the corner. Gary reluctantly played after Nigel and I pressed him. He was pretty good; had a nice touch. The three of us met out in the hall immediately, and resolved to start a band. Nigel knew a kid at his school who actually had a guitar. Ben King was to find out later that he was in a band. As Nigel had the decency to be left handed (remember The Beatles were big), naturally he would play bass. Nigel practiced on my guitar (I'm righty). Years later, it would become clear how this item helped us develop our understanding of music theory as we had to repeatedly switch strings in order to communicate, learn, understand the sheet music we were buying, and play our favorite hit songs. By and by, we got equipment, and Gary got a full set of drums. We rehearsed at the Vicar's house. As we hailed from different countries, Nigel's Mother suggested that we call ourselves THE COSMOS; we did. THE COSMOS PERFORM We had a pretty good repertoire; "Mr. Tambourine Man" was done well; with Ben playing rhythm while I played lead and did vocals. It was supposed to be the other way; but that's where Ben was comfortable, and I wanted this band to work. So off we went. We even organized and presented a couple of shows at the church hall (Parents, Vicar, and other adults invited); with Nigel getting his red left handed bass guitar the day of our first show! We included guest performers. John Plank, a drummer, had a band, so he was in. THE COSMOS provided back up music for a couple of kids who sang solo. This expanded our working catalog; allowing us to play more hits of the day. The attendees were kids from our respective schools. We entered a talent show for bands once. Nigel's family went on vacation, so we were forced to perform without a bass player. On site, I was encouraged to borrow a fancy solid guitar for the occasion. As the strap could not be properly adjusted in time, I 'strapped up' with some curtain cord like rope that was available back stage. The curtains opened, and we launched into The Surfaris "Wipe Out". The cord gave way, the guitar slipped, I caught it on one knee while kneeling on the other without missing a beat. We finished the song. Of course, we felt that we wiped out, but the wonderfully kind audience gave us a great round of applause. We didn't stick around for the results. My family moved, the band broke up shortly thereafter, and I got into Stevie Wonder (whom I would meet in New York City some years later) and lots of Reggae, known as Blue Beat at the time, featuring Prince Buster with his All Stars band, Delroy Wilson, Ken Boothe, The Skatalites, The Techniques ("Queen Majesty", written by Curtis Mayfield, is a great track!), Tommy McCook and The Supersonics, along with a myriad of well regarded stars from the vibrant recording scene in Jamaica; particularly those on the Treasure Isle and Trojan record labels; and including, of course, Bob Marley and The Wailers. PREPARING TO PARTY With our Saturday morning chores out of the way (general house cleaning, grocery shopping for the respective households, etc), my 'Wood Green' area friends and I (Tony & Paul Perkins, George, Scuddy, Dennis, the other Paul) would visit numerous record shops to hear the new sounds, buy far too many records for our individual collections, energetically discuss the relative merits of each new record, and forecast its 'hit' factor (or, as we put it at the time, its "hardness"). This was particularly important as we would be visiting one another during the week; even though the hang out was usually at my house, as I had musicians gear (like mics, a DJ friendly turntable, 'the big amp'), and current 'hit' records in my room. Years later, my younger sisters would tell me that they enjoyed being part of the 'scene', and reminding me that I never asked them leave when my friends came over. Plus, my Parents did not mind the music playing, and all these respectful and well behaved kids in the house who knew when it was time to go home. THE HOUSE PARTY SCENE The secondary purpose to visit the record shops, was to pick up the flyers for the house parties around London in order to plan our weekend house party tour. As I recall, after a few weekends, we were always well received at the venues as we brought energy, dancing, and news to the Sound System DJs on the few recent "hard pre-releases" they had not as yet heard. The hosts also seemed to appreciate our visits as these tended to be paying parties, and as our group was a noticeable size on the dance floor, newly arriving guests could peep through the door or window and see a well attended party in full swing and be confident that their money was well spent at the door. THE DANCE CONTEST 'SOUL MOVE' Then there were the open dance contest interludes featuring music by the big Soul Stars from the States. Our favorite was Otis Redding; Sam and Dave were in the thick of things. Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood" was a consistent crowd pleaser. Everybody had 'a move' on the dance floor. One night, the contest got really intense. Exhausted bodies were on the sideline. There were about five or six contestants remaining. The last song was being played. The contest was going to end soon; in a matter of moments. I was hanging in there representing my boys. The other competitors were cutting no slack. Suddenly, in an act of entertainment desperation, I pulled a Soul Move on them. I launched myself into the air like a rocket and came down into a full split with arms outstretched in time with the song's ending! Thank goodness that was the end of the contest. I couldn't move. My friends peeled me off the dance floor and carried me to the sideline. I never did that move again; well, I didn't have to; I came through for my boys at the critical time. Our group's party stimulating reputation was intact. The 'contest showcase' was always the winner, as individuals were never named. After the intense Soul Music driven contest work by party goers was over, the reggae (Blue Beat) scene was resumed. We enjoyed being appreciated; and, of course, not paying at the doors as we were elevated to special guest status during our 'tour of service'. After we jump started a fete, we moved to the next party. We did a lot of walking to all these parties, entertaining ourselves with our favorite songs along the way. The early dawn walks back home tended to be the longest because we were usually quite far from home and public transportation was not yet active; unless we were well into the new day. We kept this up until Sunday night, after a break for church and rest. The weekend action culminated with a frantic sprint to the tube (subway) to catch the last train home. We always barely made it. Incidentally, there was increasing talk about some outrageous new guy who played a mean rock guitar with his teeth, and behind his back. I picked up the "Hey Joe/Purple Haze" 45 RPM single on the Polydor label. Hendrix would be 'happening big time' when I got to Philadelphia later. For now, though, the weekend house parties, with the travelling DJs and their fantastic 'Sound Systems' , featuring the latest 'hard' "pre-release" singles, with, of course, the obligatory "curry goat" cuisine, and our own recognized party guest status, defined the spectacular London party scene. PRELUDE TO USA It was sudden. We were going to "the States". I gave my crew the news. I received requests for my encyclopedia set, my guitar, my 'hit record collection', and assorted stuff. It was all given away. School, well, that was interesting. After a few goodbyes to 'the lads' and a few teachers, but just before I walked away, a Prefect (one of the older boys) said that the Headmaster directed him to walk with me to the bus stop. He surprised me during our chat by saying "we're going to miss you"; Oh boy..., you see, I still wasn't sure that I was a well appreciated member of the student body (notwithstanding my stature as a highly regarded multi-sport athlete). Being wrong, sometimes, is O K, I guess. So off we went to America, with only my Scrabble set; which I still have to this day. The box didn't do so well with all the years of eventful travel, but I still have the original board and all the pieces; in perfect condition. ANIMAL CLOTHES AND MUSIC IN BROOKLYN My family relocated to Brooklyn, New York. I discovered pizza by the slice (with extra cheese) on Nostrand and Eastern Parkway; next door to the movie theatre where Marty and I saw 'In Cold Blood', written by Truman Capote. With Garth's Dry Cleaning store as a good community member and gracious business neighbor, Bob's Record Shop, around the corner on Albany, between Eastern Parkway and Union, became my new spot for discs, details, and discussion. Bob, and my new hip buddy Marty, schooled me on the real deal with Soul Music in the USA. They were quite surprised to note that I dug Etta James and was aware of many of the Stars from during my London days. Still, we all shared a generous appreciation for the broad talented spectrum of 'Soul Music' performers. There were some serious basement parties back then. Multi-colored Alpaca knit sweaters were in, along with shark skin pants and alligator shoes. The talk was that somebody somewhere was wearing some lizard skin something. I thought the Brooklyn Zoo was about to have big problems from the fashion trend setters. Not from me though, my budget only allowed for 'regular (non animal)' clothes shopping. Anyway, I was buying records. There was a proliferation of record labels, each primarily publishing 45RPM product featuring exceptional ballads; from both solo artists and vocal groups. William Bell's "I Forgot To Be Your Lover" was a particularly noteworthy and memorable release. Patti Austin's "Family Tree" was frequently on the turntable. Of course, the often under-appreciated, yet most essential, production ingredient in so many popular recordings may well be the band instrument musicians, whose presence and phenomenal skill makes the groove and song experience memorable. These musical geniuses usually elevate the vocalists to almost unimaginable heights of excellent artistic achievement; and hold them there in spectacular creative safety for the duration of the listening thrill. James Brown was hot after I discovered "Cold Sweat". Curtis Mayfield was phenonmenal ("Seven Years" is one of my favorite Mayfield tracks), and Motown could do no wrong. To my mind, it was Isaac's 'Hot Buttered Soul' 33 RPM album event that eased the vinyl disc collectors' focus away from 45s to LPs; notwithstanding the many 'Greatest Hits' LPs that were issued; apart from the Jazz Artist music scene, that is; where LPs were standard disc product. Marty and I dug Isaac Hayes and his great ensemble at the Apollo, Sly and the Family Stone at the club, the Chi-Lites all the time, and I really enjoyed an outstanding instrumental group called The Meters (Inducted, Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2017; Recipient of Recording Academy (GRAMMY®) Lifetime Achievement Award - 60th GRAMMY® Awards 2017/18). Of course, I can't leave without mentioning the vibrant STAX Records label. I soon discovered Billie Holliday, and Miles Davis (for whom I drove round trip from Baltimore to Saratoga Springs to meet. We met backstage before and after the show. He was great...and exceptionally gracious! Oh yes, I met Mel Torme that same day; and Carmen McCrae subsequently!). I'll have to tell you about meeting Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Maestro Wynton Marsalis another time. However, getting back to the Brooklyn story, I was digging Wes Montgomery, Melvin Van Peebles, WWRL radio station, Gary Byrd, Frankie Crocker, and Cousin Brucie on my tube stereo amp with the one small speaker, while playing albums by Prestige recording artist extraordinaire Richard 'Groove' Holmes on my battery operated turntable/tube stereo system hookup. I went to college in Philadelphia with a Nelson Riddle album of orchestral arrangements in my box of 'stuff' to dig TSOP, Chick Corea, Doug & Jean Carn, Grover Washington, Jr., Maestro Barry White, and Weather Report. As I got into Hendrix, Chicago, Grand Funk Railroad, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Norman Connors, the eclectic Wanda Robinson, and much more Miles Davis, I joined my next band as a drummer occasionally doing a Buddy Miles like thing on vocals. That was Freshman year. There were various units, each with its own style, covering many genres; due to eclectic musical tastes on campus, and fluid personnel interchanging within the talent pool. One interesting fledgling trio featured Steve on bass, Milton on keyboards, with me playing drums. In addition to hearing records at the crib, you would hear WDAS-FM DJs Dr. Perry Johnson and Primus. I gave the drums away Sophomore year, and we all got into school. MY LAST $100 and THE COTTON CLUB I finished school, and other than buying records and making a meaningful contribution to the culture of party going, there was no activity on the creative side (save one impromptu duet appearance in Georgetown as Czerena Ali's guest singing "Your Precious Love") until a long hot summer of job hunting in New York City years later. After attending too many interviews, I spent my last one hundred dollars on a guitar to lift my spirits, and, with good fortune on my side, I lucked into the COTTON CLUB audition, where I would meet my skilled musician friends and get inspired to produce my first album 'LOVE JAMBOREE'; just for the Love of it. I'm thrilled to report that 'SATIN HEARTBEAT', the recently released CD, is my tenth album of original music; and I'm still Loving it! ATTENDING THE 52nd GRAMMY® Awards, & A NEW CD PRODUCTION I received three invitations to attend THE GRAMMY® Awards in Los Angeles, California. I accepted the Recording Academy's invitation to attend the 52nd GRAMMY® Celebration. I never imagined such a thing. I made the trip to check out the GRAMMY® AWARDS scene. What a blast! This led to the creation of a new CD collection entitled ABOVE THE CLOUDS. It is mostly instrumental; featuring soundtrack compositions for a movie project named "Shaolin Zulu", featuring the fictional action star Staunchey Sedgwick, a metro residing Zulu Shaolin Priest PI Lawyer, whose passion and calling are to protect and defend the day to day lifestyle interests of well intentioned community members who are not so well connected socially. The CD's opening vocal track is a vibrant mid-tempo R&B Pop fusion piece entitled "The Beautiful Magic Of You"; one of the most creatively challenging and demanding production pieces to date, in my opinion. The song has garnered praise for its "old school style love lyrics". It was awarded a place on the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance Entry List for the 53rd GRAMMY® AWARDS celebration. ABOVE THE CLOUDS is my eighth album of original music. It has won a place on The Recording Academy's Album Of The Year entry list for the 53rd GRAMMY® AWARDS event. CELEBRATING The Website's 4th Anniversary by presenting SATIN HEARTBEAT, our new CD Collection. We are celebrating the 4th Anniversary of the Official MONTY GUY website at www.montyguy.com. Our mission, is to note interesting goings on within the music artform milieu; and if we are really lucky, we'll get to present one or two well regarded song productions in our own Easy Listening Orchestral Pop genre and music styling. As music fans at the Melotone-Muse label, we are always fascinated with happenings on the music scene; discovering new songs, enjoying new artists, rediscovering spectacular tunes from earlier jukebox days, and appreciating the works of our many legendary music giants one more time. Fans, Friends, and Supporters continue to be kind by downloading, streaming, scrobbling, and purchasing our music and CD productions. We have had to upgrade our website by expanding our own perspective as music fans, enhancing our own Easy Listening Orchestral Pop music catalog, and even by adding more larger doors to our website to accomodate the increasing numbers of Fans, Friends, and Supporters who visit us (smiles). SATIN HEARTBEAT, our newest CD, recently enjoyed a successful pre-publishing sound review session, along with the subsequent obligatory "fussing review session". It is now in the finishing room tidying up "the look"; the design concept worked out well; we really like it...can't wait to share it with you. The music production focus on our Dynamic Sound Engineering Recording (DSER) process for enhanced listening pleasure has been a success. We are confident that you will agree. The only challenge we see right now concerns COSMIC BLISS, our previously released CD collection. As you will recall, COSMIC BLISS was invited to the 55th GRAMMY AWARDS celebration. It arrived for your listening pleasure in time to receive an invitation to participate in the 56th GRAMMY AWARDS celebration. We remain excited to present the song "Work Your Mojo Tonight". Fortunately, it appears that "Work Your Mojo Tonight" has found favor with MONTY GUY supporters for both it lyrical content, and its musical substance. Still, we felt the need to bring something new to the set. We are proud to feature our newest song production work entitled "Tango Of Love" on the brand new SATIN HEARTBEAT CD collection. So, to celebrate the 4th anniversary of our Official MONTY GUY website at www.montyguy.com, we thank you for your kind reception of COSMIC BLISS, which features the well liked song production called "Work Your Mojo Tonight"; while we prepare to launch SATIN HEARTBEAT, which features the new and exciting song work entitled "Tango Of Love". From the Official MONTY GUY website Newspage at www.montyguy.com. The entire CD catalog of original MONTY GUY music may be found for review and enjoyment at www.cdbaby.com/cd/montyguy, and www.cdbaby.com/cd/MONTYGUY1.

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SATIN HEARTBEAT Participates in 56th GRAMMY AWARDS CELEBRATION. COSMIC BLISS Included with Entry List placements. SATIN HEARTBEAT, the most recent CD collection by MONTY GUY, has been awarded the following placements on the 56th GRAMMY AWARDS CELEBRATION Entry Lists: ALBUM OF THE YEAR, Satin Heartbeat RECORD OF THE YEAR, "Tango Of Love" SONG OF THE YEAR, "Tango Of Love" Best Pop Solo Performance, "No Regrets (No Se Arrepiente)" Best Pop Vocal Album, SATIN HEARTBEAT Best R&B Song, "Tango Of Love" Best Instrumental Composition, "Abrazame Asi (Hold Me Like That)" Best Instrumental Arrangement, "Staunchey Tomo Mi Caso (Staunchey Took My Case)" Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical "24 Karat Love (24 Quilates De Amor)" Best Recording Package SATIN HEARTBEAT Best Engineered Album Non Classical, SATIN HEARTBEAT COSMIC BLISS contributed and participated as follows: Best R&B Performance "My Heart's One Desire" Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) "My Lover & Friend" Along the way, SATIN HEARTBEAT was described as the 'New Romantic' AC sound element in the Easy Listening Orchestral Pop genre and style of MONTY GUY. We appreciate the sentiment. Our purpose was to use our own Dynamic Sound Engineering Recording (DSER) process for enhanced listening pleasure to create "Quality Sound That's Worth The Listening". Hopefully, our Friends, Fans, and Supporters will agree that SATIN HEARTBEAT shows that our mission is a success. SATIN HEARTBEAT Streaming Media Player with Full Length songs: