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Thirty years in the music industry, and
yet he tries to imply, with a wink and a nod, that he’s just a little
over thirty. Bill McGee credits his musicianship to his roots in Atlanta,
where his mother was on the faculty at Morris Brown College. “My mother
use to chaperone band and choir trips at the college. So, I got to see the
famous (FAMU) Florida A&M University marching band perform throughout
the mid-sixties.”(Jazz great Cannonball Adderly and his brother Nat
Adderly attended FAMU) It was Dr. William P. Foster, the famous director
of the FAMU marching 100 who revolutionized the marching band concept by
playing popular songs like James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” and
“Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” instead of the traditional military
style marches. This was very important because as the son of a single
parent McGee didn’t have the influence of being around Jazz music and
musicians until he went to high school
“I must credit my high school band director, Dr. Bobby Jordan, for
setting high standards. He would constantly talk to us about learning the
fundamentals of music. I think it was that foundation and the older
students in the band that had the greatest influence on me.” One of his
first influences was William Gee, a trumpet player, who in high school
played jazz piano and wrote arrangements for the school band. Gee went on
to become music director for Marvin Gaye. Another influence was Scott
Edwards, renowned studio bass player. “Scott played trombone in the high
school band. He learned the Electric Bass in high school and was playing
with Stevie Wonder two years later.” Bill believes that the history of
his high school had a significant impact on his foundation. He graduated
from the historic, Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Ga., which
is the same high school that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Opera singer,
Mattiwilda Dobbs, Gladys Knight, Nipsie Russell, Dr. Louis Sullivan and
Jean Carn, attended. “At Washington High, we were taught that you could
be anybody or do anything that you wanted to do. They used Dr. King,
Gladys Knight and Dr. Sullivan, as examples.”
After high school McGee gigged with several local bands including Curtis
Smith and The Counts. Curtis Smith was an R&B guitarist from Alabama
who had the traditional R&B style. “Curtis was the first recording
artist I worked with. He had a single on a small label, so we performed
all over the Southeast. Curtis was friends with Roy Lee Johnson, another
R&B guitarist/song writer.“ In 1964, John Lennon decided to record
Roy Lee’s "Mr. Moonlight," which would appear on The Beatles
"For Sale" and "Beatles '65" LP's . He was the first
songwriter that I met. Keep in mind I was only seventeen. They use to sit
around and talk about the people they knew like, James Brown, Otis
Redding, William Bell, Gladys Knight and Gorgeous George. George was the
emcee for the Isley brothers, he use to tell us how Jimi Hendrix played in
his band and smoked those strange cigarettes.” McGee said, “To an
impressionable seventeen year-old, these were great stories.”
After high school Mcgee attended Morris Brown College, where guitarist,
Regi Hargis and bassist Ray Ransome, founded a horn band named
Hellaphenalia. In 1969, they asked McGee to join the group. The group
subsequently signed a deal with Tangerine Records, which in 1971 released
the group’s first recording. “I can’t remember the name of the song.
I know we recorded it in a small studio in College Park, Ga., and that we
played the horn parts in a closet, that was converted to a booth.”
Another member of the original group was saxophonist and arranger James
McDuffie. “Duff had a great impact me, because I had a chance to watch
him write songs. I watched him write a song for an Atlanta vocalist
“Gina Hill” and a few months later I heard it on the radio, that was
very exciting.“ During this period black music was changing from the
R&B style of Otis Redding and James Brown to the self-contained bands
like Sly and the Family Stone, War, The Ohio Players and Kool and the
Gang. I have to give credit to the great horn bands, Chicago, Blood, Sweat
and Tears and of course Tower of Power. It was a great time to be a young
trumpet player.” After Mcgee and others left the group, Hellaphenalia
reorganized as Brick. (Bang Records/CBS)
“Atlanta in the early seventies was an exciting and eclectic place to
live, we had anti-war protestors, drugs, the civil rights movement, the
Klu Klux Klan, and Lester Maddox. I soon realized after some hard times
that the big city life was getting the best of me, so, in January of 1973,
I moved back to Virginia hoping to finish college. I moved in with my
grandparents and with their support enrolled at Virginia State College. I
remember in my admissions interview, that I told the professor my gigging
days were over until I graduated. Three weeks later, I co-founded the
group Trussel. By this time I was almost twenty-one and my experiences in
Atlanta proved to be an asset to the group. Our co-founder and drummer,
Ron Smith, was from Englewood, New Jersey, where he attended school with
Luther Vandross. Ron was also the back-up drummer to Yogi Horton, at All
Platinum records, so he also had experience making records when he came to
Virginia. His experiences were also very instrumental in setting the
foundation of our group. We later started our own label, “Bridge The Gap
Records and Tapes” and opened a record store. Trussel developed a huge
following at many of the HBCU colleges in the south. We frequently
performed in Greensboro, (The Cosmos Club) and Winston-Salem, (The Dungeon)
and in Asheville, NC., at a huge club that could hold two thousand people,
called The Orange Peel.” In the mid-seventies, around the southeast,
there was a network of clubs where bands could consistently gig. “We
played the same club circuit as The Commodores, Zapp featuring Roger
Troutman, Peabo Bryson, and Mother’s Finest.”
In 1978, Marvin Daniels, a college friend, trumpet player and leader of
the group Southern Energy, made a connection with a lawyer from
Philadelphia (John Black.) Black was the manager for a fifteen year old
girl that had a record deal with RCA. Her first single had been released
but wasn’t really moving. They needed a band to back her up and tried
unsuccessfully to get a group together in Philadelphia. “Marvin
contacted me and asked me if Trussel would be interested? I said, you must
be crazy, we‘re not backing up a fifteen-year-old brat, and I don’t
care what kind of record deal she has. Since our group was a democratic
organization, I told him I’d present it to the entire group. Everybody
but two of us voted to give it a try.”
The girl was Evelyne “Champagne” King. Her debut single “Shame”
(RCA) had just hit the Billboard Disco Chart. “The kid came in to sing
for us, we started playing a Chaka Khan cut, I think it was “Once You
Get Started,” she started singing and we all almost dropped our
instruments. I had never heard a kid sing like that before in my life. She
was a gifted child with a big, low-pitched voice and she was only fifteen.
I immediately became her biggest fan.” Marvin served as her music
director and Trussel began backing her up. “A pivotal night was when we
performed at Broady’s in New York, for the RCA staff. Label president,
Bob Summers, came with Warren Schatz and Al Garrison. They were floored by
the performance of both Evelyne and Trussel. After the show they came to
our dressing room and promised to sign us to RCA, we were on cloud nine.
We had just been promised a record deal by the big wigs at the label.
That’s the night when “Shame” received a priority from the head of
the label and from that point on it received all of the promotion
necessary to make it a #1 hit.”
Around this time the King family and Evelyn’s manager were starting to
have problems. RCA was more involved now and they had certain expectations.
It was also during this period that disaster struck Trussel. Following a
double gig at City College and a players club in lower Manhattan the
group’s equipment truck was stolen, with everything but personal
instruments inside. After six years of saving and sacrificing to put
together, sound, lights and special effects, it was all gone in one night.
According to McGee, the group was devastated, but. Evelyn’s management
refused to file charges of neglect against the hotel chain. They believed
that they could replace the equipment, since the record was now climbing
the R&B on vocals) the whole picture would change? A tall, well
dressed, gentleman came with the King family; he asked to speak to the
band. He informed Trussel that Evelyn’s manager, John Black, had been
terminated and that he would be her new manager. “That’s the night the
bottom dropped out of the floor,” says McGee. “We just stood there
with our mouths open asking, what about the record deal? What about our
equipment? What about our future?”
Ultimately negotiations to remain with Evelyne didn’t work out, so she
got a new band. That’s when the group was offered an option by John
Black. He would work to find Trussel a record deal. So, they returned to
Virginia and gave John Black one year to secure them a major label record
deal. It was during this hiatus (fall 1978,) that Bill did his student
teaching and completed requirements for his college degree in music
education. He received his degree, Dec. 1978. In January 1979, Evelyne’s
parents asked Bill McGee to return as her music director. “That period
was cool, we traveled all over. Both “Shame” and “Smooth Talk”
were #1 hits, so we were performing with all the big names.” While the
Trussel rhythm section worked on new material back in Virginia, the other
members of the horn section (Hannon Lane, and Lynwood Jones) joined McGee
on the road with Evelyne King. The new material included a song entitled
“Love Injection,” a jazzy song about a love connection, written by
drummer Ron Smith and trombonist/guitarist Hannon Lane. John Black hooked
the group up with a producer/manager who McGee say’s “will forever
remain nameless in my history” this nameless person brought in Fred
Wesley to actually produce the album. Bill McGee also wrote a song, which
Fred Wesley recorded on his own “House Party” album.
After leaving, Evelyne, McGee worked as a member of the New York based
studio horn section started by Marvin Daniels “Chops”, with (Trombonist)
Robin Eubanks. We recorded all of the Sugar Hill Records rap classics (before
samplers took over). I played lead trumpet on all of the original rap
records by “Grand Master Flash, The Sugar Hill Gang, The West Street Mob
and Sequence (Angie Stone) I also played lead trumpet on albums by The
O’Jays “Out In The Real World,” Leon Huff “The Right Stuff,”
Patti Labelle, The Stylistics, and McFadden and Whitehead. This was a
strange period of time for the post disco record industry. Sugar Hill
records and Philly International Records both folded, without any real
explanation as to why. So, McGee joined his friend, Joyce Irby, as tour
manager for Klymaxx (EMI/SOLAR) when Klymaxx had “I Miss You” and
“Meeting In The Ladies Room.” “The group was having growing pains
and after we completed the tour of Japan, Hawaii, and Guam, I returned
home to teach, pretty much fed up with the fickle nature of the music
industry.” In between gigs, McGee performed as a musician with Lou Rawls
and Ray, Goodman, and Brown (The Moments.)
In 1987, when the music industry turned primarily to samplers and
sequencers, Bill McGee accepted position teaching public school music in
Richmond, Virginia, where he met D’Angelo. “I first met Michael
“D’Angelo” Archer when he was in the 8th grade, he had his own band
and was already performing like a professional at twelve years old.” At
the high school where I taught, (John F. Kennedy, Richmond, Virginia) we
started a performance group that was designed to give students the
opportunity to perform with professional equipment and with a live band,
that same group has produced Mad Skillz, (Rawkus Records,) Danja Mowf
(Elektra/Gold Mine,) and VA (Dreamworks.) I remember when Michael and his
mother came to my house to discuss his options for a music career; he was
extremely focused at 15 years old and already knew what he was going to do
with his life. For five years, until he was out of high school he would
come and perform on my talent showcases.” There was a healthy
competition between my students and Michael, because he went to a
different school he would prepare all of his material on his own. When he
came to the rehearsal I could feel the tension and competitiveness. He set
the standard for how to perform like a professional.” When McGee left
Richmond, the other music teachers, Haywood and Greg McCallum continued
the showcase tradition. To his credit, D’Angelo returned as a special
guest performer the same year his #1Billboard hit “Brown Sugar” was
released.
Bill McGee left teaching in the public schools and accepted a position at
Elizabeth City State University, (a University of North Carolina affiliate,)
directing the school’s unique Music Engineering and Technology program,
while at the same time pursuing a Master’s Degree in administration at
Norfolk State University, in Norfolk, Virginia. After receiving his
Master’s degree, he accepted the position of Director of Instrumental
Music at the esteemed Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. “My
experience at Morehouse was great, I have never seen a finer group of
young men anywhere. The young men who attend Morehouse and the faculty are
so focused on excellence that it’s scary. Everyone should visit
Morehouse College, just for the experience of seeing this campus full of
focused young African-American men, all striving for excellence.”
Another highlight of his return to Atlanta was being there for the
Centennial Olympiad and performing for one of the Olympic events. “We
played for one of the girls basketball games, afterwards Lisa Leslie and
Cheryl Swoops gave me a small Olympic basketball, now that was cool and I
still have the ball, of course.”
Even while in Norfolk and Atlanta, Bill McGee was still collaborating and
running a label with former student from Kennedy High, Danja Mowf (Danger
Mouth.) In 1996, they released the solo album by Danja Mowf (Danger Mouth)
“Word of Mowf.” On Funtown, which includes one of the best remakes of
Billye Holliday’s “Strange Fruit” ever made The album was favorably
reviewed in every major hip-hop magazine and was featured in the popular
do-it-yourself book “How To Make and Sell Your Own Record” by Diane
Rappaport. Bill McGee returned to Richmond from Atlanta to accept a
position as an administrator with Richmond Public Schools. “My
grandmother always gave me that old school wisdom –You got to have
something to fall back on.” So as the industry has flipped and turned
over the past thirty years, I’ve worked in the music industry when the
work was available and at other times I’ve used my education to make a
living and pay my bills. That’s why I went to college in the first place.”
Bill McGee has continued to mentor and develop hip-hop artist. Especially,
The SupaFriendz, (Mad Skillz, Danja Mowf, and radio personality/rapper
Lonnie B., at Richmond’s Power 92) In 1999, the group had a smash hit
with Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody – Remix.” McGee says, ”It
was real cool because we got to fly to New York, to perform the song with
Aaliyah, Missy and Timbaland. She was such a nice down to earth young
lady; it’s a real tragedy that she died at such an early age. I’ll
always cherish the picture I took with her.” The SupaFriendz, as a group,
have been very close to having a major record deal several times. “
Most recently Bill McGee was the co-executive producer on the title song
“What’s The Worst That Can Happen” by The SupaFriendz from the movie
by the same name featuring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito. He also
co-wrote and co-produced two other songs that were featured prominently in
the movie and on the soundtrack.
With a hint of regret, Bill McGee acknowledges that since 1987 he’s been
behind the scenes, still active, but not out front. With the release of
his first solo album “This One’s 4U” that’s all about to change.
“I’ve always been what people would call a sideman; a member of a
group, a supporting musician, or business/production/technical person,
someone who is pretty much incognito.” The musicians, the recording
engineers, the arrangers, the background singers, the producers,
songwriters, the accountants, art designers, they all play a significant
role in the process; these are the people who really drive the
entertainment industry and they’re all usually incognito.
“As for me, I feel that the time is right for me to step up and do my
own thing, so to speak. I’ve worked behind the scenes for years helping
other people get to the next level. I’ve played on so many albums where
my name isn’t even mentioned; I don’t even remember the names of all
the songs. So, I needed to do something for myself. You know, like when
you go out a buy a new suit, or treat yourself to something really nice.”
Doing this CD was therapeutic. However, Bill McGee knew that he needed to
call on his special friends to assist him in his feel good endeavor. So,
the first track on the album is a smooth rendition of The Stylistics hit
“People Make The World Go ‘Round” featuring the beautiful and
talented Shawn Chappelle, a beautiful young vocalist from Richmond,
Virginia. “Shawn is like the female voice of the SupaFriendz, I’ve
worked with Shawn since she was in high school. She use to sing backup
with D’Angelo, plus she had her own group in high school, they were
great. Shawn is also an accomplished songwriter with an album finished and
ready for distribution. Another friend featured on the album is the
venerable James “Plunky” Branch, Richmond’s top recording artist,
who opens the first verse of Track 4, “R. Kelly’s, - I Believe I Can
Fly” with his smooth tenor sax. The third verse of “I Believe I Can
Fly” features the smooth vocal style of the multi-talented Yolanda
“Yonnie” Westinghouse, a Richmond native, has a bright future in the
music industry as a producer, songwriter, studio owner and artist. The CD,
“This One’s 4U,” features a cadre of saxophonists on different
tracks and ironically all of them have the first name “James.” On
Track-10, “Day-Oh,” Bill McGee called on Richmond, Virginia native and
Berklee College of Music Graduate, James “Saxsmo” Gates to play a
blazing, soulful alto sax. Track-8 “San Diego Sunset” features the
sweet sound of James “J.J.” Johnson, on tenor Sax. Track-3 “My Girl
Sunday” a cover of the smooth jazz hit by guitarist, Cheli Minnuci,
features the exciting soprano sax of James Holden. Professor Holden is
Director of Jazz Studies and the Gospel Choir at Virginia State
University. In addition, James Holden co-wrote and plays tenor sax on,
Track-9 “Key West Carnival.” “Which was inspired by a beautiful
vacation I had in Key West.”
The CD also features the multi-talented Hannon Dexter Lane, who plays
guitar on “Day-Oh.” “Hannon and I go back twenty-nine years, when we
were both members of the group Trussel.” Hannon co-wrote the hit “Love
Injection” which Trussel recorded for Elektra Records in 1979. In
addition, guitarist, Tom Reaves plays a funky wah-wah on the title cut
“This One’s 4U.” “This was the last song I recorded, I kept
hearing this part in my head. So, I called Tom, he came over and 45
minutes later we were finished. That’s when I knew I had completed what
I had hoped to accomplish. Tom and I go all the way back to 1984 when he
worked with me at a local record chain that I managed. So I was really
happy to work with again in this capacity.”
Bill McGee is currently completing his sixth year as an administrator (assistant
principal) with The Richmond Public School system, Richmond, Virginia.
Bill says, he’s already working on his second CD, which will be released
in early 2003. “I want to pace the second CD a little better, with This
One’s 4U, I pretty much locked myself in the studio for five months.”
According to McGee, the next album will feature songs that were inspired
by the writings of great black authors, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale
Hurston, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, and others. I’m also going to
arrange a version of Oleta Adam’s, “Get Here” and Joe Samples, “X
Marks The Spot.” I really like both of those songs.
As far as his career in education, he says, “Working with children is my
way of thanking my parents, and grandparents for the love they gave, so
freely, to me. Many of the children that I work with everyday don’t feel
loved. My family has a legacy in education, I’m just trying to live up
to that heritage and at the same time use my GOD given gifts as a musician.
Bill McGee comes by both of his missions honestly. His grandfather was a
gospel music recording pioneer, The Rev. F. W. McGee of Chicago, was
recording for Victor records in the 1920’s. Rev. McGee was credited with
influencing Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Arizona Dranes.
Rev. McGee was also a pioneer in the holiness movement, as a former
teacher turned preacher with the Church of God in Christ, where he founded
the first C.O.G.I.C. congregation in Chicago. “Expertly blending lively
congregational singing with powerful preaching, the Reverend F.W. McGee
was among the most popular country gospel performers of the pre-Depression
era.”
McGee’s great-grandfather, W. E. Day was a Professor at Paul Quinn
College and Principal at Booker T. Washington High School, Sapulpa,
Oklahoma. His father, William Day McGee, was a Superintendent, his uncle
William Henry Wiggins, III, of Petersburg, Va., was a Principal for
twenty-five years, and his mother, Vivian Laverne McGee, (Va. Union/VSC)
taught for twenty years, worked for the U.S. Department of Education and
was one of the pioneer directors of the Upward Bound. His first cousin was
Dr. Sonya Haynes-Stone, Professor of African-American Studies, University
of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
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