The Man Behind The Curtain

My career in TV and film was set in motion when I met Bille Woodruff that crazy day in the South Dining Hall. His ambition and drive were contagious. I remember asking him early on what his major was and him telling me “Cultural Anthropology”. I said I had no idea what that was or what he planned to do with it. He explained it was just a way to get to University of Maryland on scholarship in order to be closer to where he ultimately wanted to be… Black Entertainment Television. As matter of factly as anyone could possibly be, he said, “I’m going to be a star.” There was that clear vision. A few years later Bille was right where he said he would be. After scoring a brief internship at BET, he was able to work his way into a paying job and eventually a producer job on “This Week in Black Entertainment”. To this day I don’t know how he pulled it off without ANY prior television experience, but once he was in, he was unstoppable. While working on “T.W.I.B.E.” he was able to use his access to get opportunities to pitch labels to produce video press kits for their new artists. This turned into opportunities to bid on jobs to produce low budget music videos. In 1990, after producing the press kit for a new group called “EN VOGUE”, the group was so impressed that they asked their label to allow Bille to shoot the music video for their first single, a song called “Hold On”. Since Bille had not directed a music video yet, the label was hesitant to roll the dice with this one, but they agreed to allow him to bid on some other lower profile jobs. And with that, he was able to start his own music video production company, Ultra Image, where I would later join him. Following its release in 1990, En Vogue’s debut single “Hold On” would win Billboard’s “R&B Single of the Year”, peaking at number one on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart, and number two on Billboard’s Hot Dance chart. En Vogue would go on to earn seven Grammy Nominations over the course of their careers.

But the music business portion of my career was mostly inspired by another person I met at Maryland. Kitson Walker was a member of the Caribbean Student Association. We met when we both joined an interest group for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated after he had spent some time in the military. My hesitance to join a fraternity had gradually been won over by some impressive brothers I met along my journey of discovery at College Park. Although Kit did not end up pledging, we formed a bond of friendship that has lasted to this day. He was a business major but was interested in music, particularly artist management. At the time I still had one foot on the engineering path and one foot in entertainment. I had started helping Bille out with Ultra Image shoots, but mainly on weekends. Meanwhile, Kit had started working with music artists and had a few that were decent, but as I later told him, had none that move the needle for him. He needed a star, and he was about to meet one.

The University of Maryland Gospel choir was known for turning out talent. The black student community on campus was small, but when we were there, we barely noticed it. We were a community within a community. In fact, no one could tell us we weren’t our own HBCU within this PWI. We were a tight knit group. And the Maryland Gospel Choir seemed to draw out every person with any level of vocal talent to join. Watching them sing I could imagine any one of them with the right situation breaking out to become a big star.

I have always had what I call “music envy”. I feel it whenever I watch a live band jam out and play anything that comes into their heads in that moment, watch a bass player making his funk face, or see a talented singer effortlessly climb vocal scales or do a crazy vocal run. That thing that my cousin Claude saw long ago is still in me. But my gift, as I would come to learn, is to identify talent. I still can’t sing or play an instrument particularly well, but I can see that “it” factor in people. And the Maryland Gospel Choir had a few.

Rick Younger had a great voice and was a great entertainer. He would go on to become an accomplished comedian and still works his singing into his comedy routines. At one point we met about me potentially managing him. Although I knew he was talented, at the time I did not have strong enough connections in the areas he needed access, so I didn’t see myself as an asset to him. Over the years I have helped him in other ways including casting him in BET programs once I had worked my way up to the decision makers table at the network. But there were two other voices in the choir that stood out to me the moment I heard them.

Maurette Brown was the closest voice to Whitney Houston I had ever heard. The first time I heard her sing was at the “Miss Black Unity Pageant”. This was an annual event that reminded me of the talent shows we used to have growing up in Baltimore. The “Pageant” portion was secondary to the opportunity for anyone with talent in our small community to showcase it on a stage. Winning was not nearly as important as getting the chance to show the community your skills. And EVERYBODY came. Since events like these were the best places to catch up with the minority community at one time, it was a “can’t miss” event. When Maurette came on stage I remember noticing how tiny she was. If I’m guessing I would say she was 5’1”, but she had the confidence of a giant. I knew her from around campus and knew she was in the gospel choir so I knew she could sing at least a little. She walked on stage and sat at the piano. And then she started to play and started her verse. I remember looking around thinking “What in the hell am I witnessing here?!” In that moment I could already see her in the future collecting awards and making televised acceptance speeches. She was incredible. I have no idea how she didn’t win that day, but it didn’t matter. She had put a stamp on her ticket. Jumping forward to around 1998, Maurette Brown Clark had become a staple on Billboard’s Gospel charts and a frequent performer on the main Gospel Awards showcases. I can’t claim any hand in her success other than I knew it was inevitable. But I knew I had an eye and an ear to spot talent.

And then there was Delious Kennedy. Hearing him sing in the choir gave me glimpses of Luther Vandross. He had an amazing tenor voice that had star written all over it. Like Maurette Brown, he was on the shorter side. It was funny that the two biggest voices on the choir came from two of the shortest people. And there were others too numerous to mention including my soon-to-be fraternity brother Larry Maybin. His rich baritone voice was not only soothing but was something my line bothers and I used to save us on many dark nights while pledging our fraternity… but that is another story for my next book.

When music video work started coming in for Ultra Image, I noticed that label A&R reps and other important executives often made their way onto set during filming. It was a time when they had their guard down and were reasonably approachable, at least for the production crew. Realizing that this might be a great way to network, I started hiring Kit to work on set as a production assistant wherever possible. This gave him access to label execs and allowed him to start making inroads for later when we needed to set up meetings to pitch artists. Kit already had a couple artists he had started to manage. I remember listening to one and telling him “This guy is not bad, but if you are really trying to break into this business you need a star. This is not him.” Since Kit had already put a lot of time and some money into this artist, this was not the reaction he was looking for. Luckily, he trusted my instincts, something that would be a familiar theme throughout our friendship and later business relationship.