AL BOYD of IMPERIAL WONDERS

(part two)

Interview 23 December 2002

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We left the last session in about 1970, maybe 71 and the Gamble Huff situation and when things went pear shaped with that and the Young hearts thing. What did you do next and this time, both in your personal life and musically. How long did it take to recover from this. What did you all do at this point. There was a 'power struggle', where were you in all this and what was that all about? Tell me about the Musicor period

The group decided that we were going back to Cleveland. We were homesick and we just couldn't keep Jelly out of trouble. Also Jelly's wife was having medical problems and he had his kids to consider. Me myself, I was doing fine back home. I had no car but had friends and girlfriends with wheels. I fell back into the fast lane life that I was introduced to by Jelly. Everywhere I went I had an acoustic guitar handy to write a song or entertain friends with small gatherings or big parties. Leo Green had gone back to L.A. to sing with one of Bobby Sanders' fragmented groups called The Cool Sounds.

He later told us a horror story about how they got a deal with Warner Brothers and how the advance money was used to buy Bobby Sanders a new car and a new house. Jelly was hanging out at Saru Records a label that was signing a lot of Cleveland acts including The O'Jays. I went there one time to ask him why he wasn't making it to rehearsals. He promised me I would see him at the next rehearsal but he never made it .

He was too busy trying to write a hit on one of Saru's groups. One day Sonny Thompson saw me on the streets and asked me to fill in for one of their Rotation members who was sick. I agreed and sang at The East Town Hotel on Euclid avenue for two nights with Sonny and Archie Holloway( aka Felton Holloway). Russell Watts and Ernest Simmons( Ernest from the original Rotations who made "Searching In Vain" and "I Can't Find My Baby") were not really sick, they had quit the group.

Archie took me to where Russell was and we found a singer we knew named Willie Powell then we went and got Avaughn to reform the Imperial Wonders. Willie and Archie did one gig with us and couldn't handle the pressure of being critiqued on vocals. We went back and got Walter Chaney and recruited a guy Russell knew named Will Hargrove (aka Will Thomas who appeared on the first Kinsman Dazz LP before they changed their name to The Dazz Band).

Bobby Massey came to us with an offer to sign with a new label called Solid Foundation Records and told us that The O'Jays had some songs for us. He told us that he wasn't going back to Gamble and Huff and he would proove to The O'Jays that they were making a mistake by resigning with them by using us as proof. Will Hargrove quit just before the recording session and Avaughn suggested that we use a young guy who was dating his girlfriends' sister named James Stewart. James rehearsed two days and was ready to go in with us. We recorded "Turned Around Over You" and "You Live Only Once" which were written by Eddie Levert,Walter Williams and Bobby Dukes. The record was released in 1973 and was getting airplay locally and in neighboring cities. The gigs began to come in.

This is when the power struggle came about. It was primarily over control of The Imperial Wonders' and their money from the gigs. Bobby decided to take us away from Solid Foundation Records which caused them to release a couple of records under the name of The Four Wonders which I believe was former members of one of our rival groups called the Premiers. I say this because their manager began working with Solid Foundation Records and The Premiers had no record deal. After a couple of months Bobby came to us with another deal with a major label called Musicor Records.

They had success with The Platters and S.O.U.L. a group that I wrote a song for with a guy named Fred Butler called "This Time Around" in 1972. I wrote a song for this project called "Love Coming Down" and Bobby and Richard Shann wrote the "B" side called "My Baby". Bobby and Richard produced and arranged the 45 which did not sell or get much airplay. Avaughn and James formed some sort of pact and agreed to stick together after being voted out by the group for missing too many rehearsals.

I got a job selling insurance and did that until I got a call from Fred Butler who had relocated to L.A. and through Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams got hooked up with their producer Jeffrey Bowen. Fred convinced Jeffrey to send for me to help him with the Temptation project. The end result was "Shakey Ground" which ended up on the "Song For You" LP that sold millions.

I came back to Cleveland to try to put The Imperial Wonders back together again. Leo Green came back to Cleveland and he, Russell, Walter and myself went into the studio with our old manager Bob Davis and recorded vocals on some tracks at Agency recording that the bills had not been paid on. One was "The Gun" and the other was "She Possesses Love". They never got released as singles I guess because Bob had to pay some money to get mothers made from the masters and he did not or could not come up with the money.

You did something with Bobby Massey for a Cleveland singer named David Peoples but that fell apart and led to Truth yes? Tell me about that, what came out of it with particular reference to Larry Hancock. How successful was this. Is there still any stuff in the can - can you get your hands on it? You toured with the Ojays but got ripped off again? But you did get a cut on a big selling Ojays album?

Walt Chaney got married and quit the group which left us looking for at least a fourth member. Thats when Bobby Massey approached me with the David Peoples project. David had enough money to pay for his own album project but, he did not like the songs that we came up with for him so he passed after we had begun the project. He still regrets that til this very day. Bobby suggested that I get my fellas together and add Larry Hancock formerly of The Intertains and former member and lead vocalist for S.O.U.L. He also suggested that we change the name to Truth so that Larry would not feel like he was joining his rivals The Imperial Wonders and so that he could control ownership of the name.

This union brought forth one of Cleveland's strongest strongest vocal groups and songwriting team Al Boyd and Larry Hancock. Larry had a gift for melodies and I had the lyrics. We went on a recording frenzy not only doing the tracks written for David Peoples but, other songs as well written by the O'Jays and others. We had our first release under Sounds Of Cleveland Records(aka S.O.C. Records) a label created by the O'Jays to follow up their then defunct Shaker Records label. I have copies of some of the things that we did at Agency Recording Studios on cassette. There were at least fifteen songs from those recording days. The first 45 that The O'Jays released on us was called "Come Back Home" written by Walter Johnson ,Bobby Massey and myself and "Excedrin Headache #24" written by myself. This song began to get airplay because of the O'Jays association with the release and because of the O'Jay sound which Larry and Leo mimicked so well. The O'Jays took us on their 20th anniversary tour with them and got us on SOUL TRAIN with them and Al Jarreau.

We were on tour with such acts as The Whispers,Johnny Guitar Watson, The Soul Children, GQ, Carrie Lucas and of course The O'Jays themselves. We toured for five months and when the tour was over we were supposed to get our money that was supposedly deposited into personal bank accounts set up by our managers Bobby Massey, his wife Barbara Arnold and Ted Williams. The money went elsewhere and the O'Jays were furious because they knew who took our money and told them they were wrong. After the tour was over Larry Hancock and I decided to go to New York to try to place some of our songs on other artists. We found out that The O'Jays were at Music City and we found out they were staying at The Hilton. We stayed there with them went to the show that night and were invited to go to Philadelphia with them to show Gamble and Huff some songs they were interested in recording.

Tell me about Nickel Shoe? Be good to hear some of that- I am not familiar with it. You did something with Dennis Edwards but I understand even that didn't come out as planned, and then you quit Truth?

This resulted in "Take Me To The Stars" being on their "So Full Of Love" LP which sold over a million copies. After that Larry and I got gold LPs from The O'Jays and later we got platinum LPs from them. We decided to take Truth to Philadelphia but when we got there we heard that Gamble and Huff would not take us because The O'Jays told them that if they did they would leave the company. So we wound up running into Stan Watson, former producer of The Delphonics and owner of Nickel Shoe Records. He took us to Alpha Studios and recorded six songs on us. He had a staff of young producers, Eugene Curry and George Bussey who produced the tracks.

Only one twelve inch single came out on the Nickel Shoe Label and that was " I Wanna Thank You Girl" and "What Direction ?" both written by Larry and myself. The record was never was promoted because at the time it was released, the industry decided that Disco was dead and "I Want To Thank You Girl" was straight Disco. I have a copy of the twelve inch in my possession and am looking through my tape collection for the other four songs.

When we got back to Cleveland to wait for the release to come out, Bobby Massey had run into Dennis Edwards who was staying with his cousin in Cleveland after he had exited the Temptations. Bobby planned for Truth to back ground him on tour and for me to write some songs with him and Dennis. Truth did one show with Dennis in St.Louis at The Cadillac Club for two nights. After the gig was over Bobby and Dennis fell out and Dennis took one of the songs that we wrote back to The Temptations with him. He of course forgot to put Bobby's and my names on it and put the other members of The Temptations names on it instead. Bobby got an attorney from New York to represent us in a suit however, I have not seen any money from this yet. Bobby decided to take the tracks that he was going to release on Dennis and have Truth do the vocals.

He came to each of us individually and asked us to sign a new contract with Devaki Records (his Label) and Murius records. Russell and myself passed but Larry and Leo not having enough of not getting paid went on and signed anyway. Russell and I sang on one or two songs for cash out front but didn't get label credits like other singers on the LP did. Larry and Leo still haven't received a cent for that LP. They did ask Russell and myself to do a little tour in the South when they did get a little airplay in some cities but the gigs were far and few.

 Where are we now, about 1980 and you were in LA and you cut some stuff at Total Experience. What was that like and what happened, and you passed on the Gap Band. Is that regret. They used a groove of yours but I guess you got no credit, let alone a paycheck?

When the tour ended I went back to L.A. and went into the studio with the financial support of my brother Thomas Boyd who was living there at the time. Russell and I called a singer named Leroy Simmons to come and join us out in L.A. to record. We went to the Total Experience recording studio in Hollywood and laid the rhythm tracks. Lonnie Simmons who was the owner of the studio liked what I laid down with some of his musicians and gave me a contract to look at to sign. I took the contract to a lawyer who told me it was no good and to look for a better deal somewhere else.

Lonnie had asked me to leave him a copy of the tracks which was a mistake on my part because Lonnie used the groove idea to record three hits on the GAP Band. They were "Burn Rubber On Me", "Early In The Morning" and "Party Train". All three borrowed from my groove on "I'm A Hostage Of Love". Trying to sue him was pointless because he just borrowed the groove and not the melody.

You did release one single "Never Go Looking For Love" and "Everybody Can Dance" on Coldfire Records as Ice Cold Energy. What was that like, any copies available (if it's worth getting!!!!! :-) )

I went to Macola records to find out how to release my own 45 and so I came up with Cold Fire Records. I released " Never Go Looking For Love" and "Everybody Can Dance" but did not know how to get it on the radio. A promoter heard about the song and invited us to come to Phoenix Arizona to perform. He got us airplay on the local R&B station and "Never Go Looking For Love" became #1 on that station in 1980 and we went down to Phoenix to perform at a night club that sold to capacity both nights standing room only.

I have one copy of the 45 but I have the mixes for mothering in my possession. Larry Hancock originally sang lead on some of these tracks before Leroy came out but he was trying to get us to sign back with Bobby Massey and we took his vocals off of everything except the background on "Never Go Looking For Love".

You kinda fell out with Larry didn't you......

I really decided to do this after IO found out that Larry had told Eddie Levert to leave my name off of a song that the three of us wrote called "You Are The One For Me" which was recorded by a group called The Love Committee on Electra/Assylum Records. Larry and I have never written again since then even though he has approached me on a couple of occasions to reunite.

Then there was a connection with Motown via the Dazz Band - what was that all about - you put some things down, be good to get your hands on these. Were any acetates or anything cut. What were they like and was anything
released - Rockwell?.

After that I signed as a staff writer with Motown's publishing company Jobete in 1981. I stayed there until 1984 writing,producing and learning how a publishing company is really run. I did run into my old home town friends The Dazz Band at Motown while they were on their roll with a string of hits. My collaboration with them was pre-Motwn though. They laid the rhythm tracks for a few songs that we did at Agency and a few of them got credits as writers on some.

They played on one of Truth's songs called "There's Still Time" written by Eddie Levert and myself, "Let's Get On Easy Street"written by Eddie and some of the musicians,"Just Another Dream" written by Eddie Levert, Gerald Mims and myself and "You Don't Know About The Real Thang" written by Eddie Levert, Gerald Mims and myself. I have tapes of these songs too and I plan to do something with most of the songs that I have in the near future.

"Just Another Dream" a ballad Like "Never Go Looking For Love" could have been a hit if it was released on a major label but it's still sitting on the shelf. I wrote the phrase "I bolt the door real tight" for Rockwell in the song "Somebody's Watching Me" but Rockwell didn't even say thanks on the label credits. He hasn"t had a hit since then either.

You went back to Cleveland for a while? But then in 1987 you recorded "Running" and a few other numbers, but again nothing came out did it.

I left Motown in 1985 and worked briefly for Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson at Jackson records. I left there and travelled to Kenosha, Wisconsin where I met an engineer named Jeff Harmon who had his own studio through a singer who did demos with me at Motown named Ronnie Meriman. We recorded six songs which "Running" was one of them. We also recorded "The Electric Love Company", an earlier version of "Sweet Delight", "Work Of Art" and "Hour Of Darkness". Russell and I did all of the vocals on these tracks.

A few months later I produced some tracks that were meant to be for a group called The Booze Brothers from out of Milwaukee. I did a song called "It's Getting Bigger", "Hot Property", "Heaven Is On Hold", "How Do You Want To Be Loved" and "Product". All of these songs are on the shelf because Jeff thought that he was going to own the copyrights on my songs. Once he found out that I knew more about the business end than he thought I did he became distraught and withdrew with the masters in his hands. I also have tapes of these tracks too before Jeff went into overkill on the productions from what I've heard.

There really seems to be a wealth of unreleased material. This must be the case not only with you but generally as well. New tracks are being rediscovered all the time, if the masters can be tracked down.

Anything happen back in Cleveland. Lots of writing

I moved back to Cleveland from 1987 to 1989. I did a lot of fishing and a lot of writing by myself even though i was approached by a lot of people to collaborate.

Tell me about the Popular Demand project, and your Publishing Company. What were you and the guys doing in the 1990's, you went back to LA?

On July 29th (Larry's birthday) I went back to L.A. to join a project that Russell was involved in called Popular Demand. The managers Jay Gordon and Helen Grier paid for my flight and arranged for me to stay at one of their investors' residence. I met E.J. Welch and Mike Martin who were in the group at that time. I also learned two things one, that there was already a group called Popular Demand and two, that here was some more managers trying to get rich off a group by taking all the money.

We went into the studio and recorded three songs "Just Leave", "Sweet Delight"(version two) and "Time Machine"(version two). When we told the managers that we wanted to know how much we would be earning doing a performance that they booked for us instead of how much they were going to pay us they told us none of our business so that ended our relationship with them. They tried to bring "Time Machine" out in The UK without my knowing on E.J. as a solo act. It became #1 in Sheffield, England and A.S.C.A.P. wrote me a letter to ask me if I signed this song with a BMI publishing company I told them no and they reverted the publishing back to me.

I started my own publishing company called ILAHS publishing and began to put every new thing that IO recorded in it including "Time Machine".

Then in 2000 you, Russell, Darol, Avaughn and E.J. joined together to reform the Imperial Wonders. (Daroll be replaced by former lead singer James Stewart), and that's pretty much where we are now.

We began singing on the chitlin' circuit in L.A. and soon became L.A.s best kept secret. That's when I met Darol King who became a member of our new group called 4-U. Darol replaced Tony Powers, who had replaced Mike Martin who went back to his old group Seville( not to be confused with the famous group with the same name).In 1996 Darol and I went into the studio to record some tracks and later we included E.J.,Russell and Avaughn and we called the project the Imperial Wonders.

Darol has decided to sing only Gospel music now so we replaced him with former Imperial Wonder James Stewart.

Tell me about the album and how it's going down at home and abroad. What are you doing now and what's on the agenda

The CD "Time Machine" is selling pretty good in Japan where I discovered that we have a following from every since "Turned Around Over You". I also am selling CDs through three websites all around the world. I am hoping to pick up a major distributor that can help me to get airplay in major markets. I am getting some airplay on my own in different cities but I believe that "Time Machine" will be a big CD with major distribution.

I am focusing in on manufacturing a CD with some of our old songs on it. I believe that this move will help the "Time Machine" sales. Also I have plans to bring out a Truth CD with previously unreleased songs.

How's life for you right now. What kind of things do you do outside of music

Life for me right now is sweet. I have my own record label, publishing company and I am Working with three other acts besides The Imperial Wonders while I am waiting for the Imperial Wonders bookings to start coming in. I will be in Las Vegas on the 15th through the 26th working with Celebrity Images doing a Temptations tribute at the Stardust Casino. Outside of music I love to play chess, watch movies, travel and go fishing

Anything else you'd like to add

. I will stay in touch to keep you updated on the happenings with my label DYOB Records. Much love through the music , Al Boyd.

Thanks again for your time

Mike

(Amended July 2005 – Al Boyd has reviewed the interview and apologizes for a couple of statements that he had previously made in the interview that were inaccurate and have now been deleted)

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