Questlove Supreme: Bernadette Cooper

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Ladies and gentlemen. What's up? This is Quest Love and
this is another episode of Quest Love Supreme. We got
the Team Supreme with us right now, the one and
the only Sugar Steve Yo Yo. How goes it to?
Oh wow? Oh you're your shock that I actually care
about your well being?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yes, but no, I'm feeling good. Everything's good. So glad
to be here with Team Supreme and Burn Yeah, gonna be.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Great, uh Fan Ticolo, North Carolina. Yeah, man, I'm good,
brother O bit chill fighting for his uh, his his
rights and his masters and listen or as we call
it in the music business, Wednesday, whatever I feel you,
I feel you, uh, and and our our diva that

(01:00):
he's left to. That was my f's going.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
It's good.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
I'm mad we ain't doing no roll call because I'm
just we were doing right now.

Speaker 6 (01:15):
I would really quill this.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm just I know, man, we're gonna but by the time,
hopefully someone will invent a system that will you know,
fix all the latency problems or you know, for roll
call h Ladies and gentlemen, I will say that speaking
of Diva, our guest today is probably I mean, she's

(01:37):
beyond diva, she is beyond queen, she is beyond legend.
She just is. And I'll say that, I know it's
hard to imagine. I'm not trying to sound like Grandpa.
I noticed that, like all my tales of music starts
with the like we're back in my day. But you know,
it's really it's really hard to imagine, like a like

(01:58):
a time period in which being in a band like
wasn't like a novel idea. And you know, a lot
can happen in thirty five years. Yes, we're now living
in the age of the solo act, and you know
a lot of these acts are chasing perfection. We're pre

(02:19):
recorded tracks. But I mean, there was there was a
time in history where you know, where collaboration was key.
Magic came and in numbers, and it was it was
a thing to see, you know, to watch people as
a unit kick gas. And I will say that our
guest really personifies that. You know, the band that she

(02:39):
established in the late seventies, known as Climax was pretty
much you know, I'll say that kind of sort of
a nominally consisting of badass women playing instruments which you
know sad to say that again, like the fact that
that's a novelty shows you like the the sad state
of of where we are right now and music. But

(03:01):
you know this particular band, you know, the hits were
a plenty, one of the best puns in music. You know,
ment all pause, the anthemic don't mess with me anthem
meeting in the ladies room.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
Not to mention because I'm not in the mood.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, and the forever prom anthem from my era. This
sho so many hits, so many hits, the name Sexy Divas,
Need Love to and Everything. Not to mention her work
as a producer with Cheryl Lin, Paul Abdul, Pat Metler,
Shallamar and I can't wait till we start talking about
Madam X. Madame X is probably the most expensive record

(03:44):
I ever purchased on eBay. This before I knew that
you can rip songs off of YouTube. So anyway, ladies
and gentlemen, please welcome to our show the one and
only the legendary diva of all divas, Bernadette Cooper to
Quest Love Supreme.

Speaker 6 (04:01):
Hello, Hello, Hi christ Yo.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I noticed something. When a microphone is present, I cannot
whistle my whistles. I was trying to whistle when it
was just like look like I was like blowing kisses
at us. Yeah. Anyway, So the Cooper, how are you today?
How's it going.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
I'm doing Wilson honor, honor to be here with all
of you.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thank you. What what part of the world are you
in right now?

Speaker 6 (04:32):
Right now? I'm in Westchester right now. My studio is here.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Not that, not your west Chester, My west Chester.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh there's a west Chester, California.

Speaker 6 (04:41):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
I was like, yo, you're down the block.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Okay, I thought you were named.

Speaker 6 (04:47):
I got my studio out here. I'm working. Jerry Brown
told me to say hello, the.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Lesendary Jerry Brown, the engineer Jerry Brown. Yes, yes, is
it Christmas in his studio right now? That guy's name
keeps coming.

Speaker 6 (05:00):
Yeah, he told me hello. He just actually he was
here working in my in my studio, I have a
mixing room and he just did. He worked on John Legend.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, his Christmas. Yeah. Jerry's world famous for his his
Christmas decorations in the studio.

Speaker 6 (05:17):
The mood lamps and his lights and his candos and
he brings the sexy does Okay.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I've never heard his designs described as sexy, like he
always looked at the cheerful and had like when we're there,
it's like it's Christmas. I feel like I should be,
you know, bringing a gift or whatever. But exactly, yeah,
you know, Uh, of course, being on the show puts
us in the the position of always having access to

(05:48):
a lot of the acts that we grew up, one
that we feel that haven't been praised enough for, haven't
gotten that much attention. And what was weird is that
I work at Rockefeller Plaza, which I consider is sort
of like a university for comedy. That's where like Seth
Meyers and The Tonight Show with Jimmy fallon Saturday Night

(06:09):
Live and all these these legendary New York shows are shot,
and whenever Saturday Night Live is in season, I'm usually
there to watch tapings of the show. And this year
was like really something special in which just out of nowhere,
they did this really awesome sketch. Yes, based in the

(06:33):
ladies room.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
I was hoping you were going to where I could follow.

Speaker 6 (06:36):
Yes, you know what, it's actually the second one, the
first one.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Halle Berry halle Berry right right, Yeah, I totally I
remember I was laughing because it was so authentic and
so on point. Yeah, I was, you know, the audience
was laughing, but I was laughing like it was funny
and I knew the reference point, you know, whereas I

(07:03):
think half the audience, who was like millennials and gen
z would just thought like, oh, they're doing some crazy
eighties thing that we don't get the reference. And I
remember grilling Steve Higgins, who's sort of like Jimmy's sidekick
on the Tonight Show. He runs Saturday Night Live, and
I just grilled him like, yo, like you guys did

(07:23):
such a deep cut inside joke that like who who
in your audience do you think we're really remember like climax,
and the very specifics of like you know, Cecily Strong
playing the Bernadette Cooper role and Leslie playing like it was.
It was so on point. I was really impressed, and
I wanted to meet the Riders and they were just like,

(07:44):
you know, we like music too, and we go outside
the box, even though they were young riders. I was
really impressed that that they gave you guys, like really
a really good shout out for your legacy, like that
sketch is going to go you know down I feel
like that will be on their sizzle real way down
the line.

Speaker 6 (08:02):
Yeah, it was great. When I started, it was you know,
you know, I watched Saturday Night Live every night, every
Saturday night. Yeah, and to sit there in bed, you know,
you got your popcorn and all of a sudden, bam,
It's like, oh wow, it was great. It was a
great honor and.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
You didn't know it was coming that. That's awesome, isn't.

Speaker 5 (08:17):
It Isn't that good from a license and perspective too, right,
Like when they do something like that burned, that is
a good thing.

Speaker 6 (08:22):
You for real, you know sometimes you know when royalty
time comes, you know, then I would really know. Sometimes
sometimes it is and sometimes you.

Speaker 4 (08:30):
Know, sometimes it's just sparks sales people, and.

Speaker 6 (08:33):
I don't call them up and go, hey, where's my check.
I don't do that. I just I just kind of
enjoyed the moment and and you know, I'm honored.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Yeah. Yeah, I think like when when it's done in parody,
it's not the same as like clearing a sample. Wow,
they're kind of they're kind of parody laws that, but
I think they actually did meeting in the ladies. Yeah, right,
they did the Yeah, so it's just it's like a
standard payment thing. But hopefully that plant seeds with you know,

(09:03):
with an audience, and they'll do the research and record. Yeah,
and that's how that's how legends.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
Are made, and promoters will will remember that we're here.

Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yes, Oh wow, I didn't think about that.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
So many questions about that, So I would like to
know because I really don't, you know, besides like the
occasional coverage and like Ride On magazine shout out to
Cynthia Horner, I really don't know. I mean, there's not
there haven't been that much in depth interviews with you guys,
even though you guys were doing the numbers. You guys

(09:37):
were like doing massive pop hits. So I'm glad that
we finally have this chance to talk to you.

Speaker 6 (09:45):
Uh, thank you.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
We were you born in Los Angeles?

Speaker 6 (09:49):
Yes? I was born in Los Angeles, lived in Compton, Inglewood, Hollywood,
grew up in mainly you know. After after high school,
I moved to the Hollywood area and I of there
and beach Wood King and did all of that. So, yes,
Los Angeles. Then I moved to New York for ten years.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, can you tell us? Can you tell me what
your first musical memory was.

Speaker 6 (10:12):
Wow, when you say musical memory like band.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
That I know just from as a baby, Like what
like their very first musical memory as a child.

Speaker 6 (10:26):
Of course, you know, Rita Franklin was my was my
played in my household when there was happy times, when
they were sad times. So Rita was a person that
I used to listen to and follow her lyrics and
her and her vocal movements and her hooks and and
it made me a better writer by the Rita Franklin songs.

(10:48):
And then of course moving on Dio Daddo. Remember Dio Daddo. Yeah, yeah,
it was a little bit of all those guys. Jeff Beck,
you know, I really got into that scene and kind
of in the high school, junior high school era. But yeah,
I would.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Say what was your what was the family record collection,
like in your household as part of what was the
what was what was the established records that were in
your house? But then I want to know what was
the album that you purchased with your own money, Like
this is something I want out out of your parents.

Speaker 6 (11:27):
Range Areta Gladys, you know Ray Charles, that was the
songs that were be being played in my host So
what I when I went out in about were songs like,
as I said, the Theodaddo's, the I got really into
the I Cantina Turner. I really loved them. You know,
it's not really much when I look back, it kind

(11:49):
of I had a range of people that I really
really loved, Michael Henderson. All those kind of people are
the people I used to come home from high school
and listen to.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
In your household, were you like, did you have other siblings?
Like how was this music passed down? Was like older
cousins or older siblings that put you onto it? Or No?

Speaker 6 (12:07):
I didn't really have a musical household, you know, other
than the songs I just mentioned that were played, you know,
which was ata. I got more into it when I
was with the church and then my Yeah, and then
as far as playing the drums is concerned, my mom
married the preacher and he had a drum set, and
I started practicing every day. Story yeah, O drama and

(12:33):
I started practicing every day, and I taught myself how
to play drums.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Why did drums.

Speaker 6 (12:39):
Because they were there? I mean, really, it wasn't. It
wasn't like a passion or love or I want to
play the drum. They happened to be there, and I
kind of geared towards it, and my brother started playing
the bass. That we were together in the garage, practicing
every day, and he probably made me a more powerful
drummer because he really puts, you know. And then we

(13:02):
played in the church band, and that's my early beginning
musical life. Then of course, created a group called Blue Ice,
which was in junior high school with Michael Northfleet. You
know Michael northfleid.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Right, I know this name, but for our listeners, can
you tell Michael Northlee.

Speaker 6 (13:20):
He's a keyboard player, Chucky Booker, you know Chucky Booker,
Michael north Fleet. All those guys are kind of like
that same vibe. So I started a band in junior
high school called Blue Ice. Horn section had a guy
like like Mike, uh, James Brown. We won all the
contests because he was James Brown. And then we had

(13:40):
a girl drummer. Oh no, we want everything.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
So you were always in those battle the band things
in high.

Speaker 5 (13:46):
School and junior yes, yes, and you were always in
diverse bands too, like yes, one of.

Speaker 6 (13:51):
The diverse bands. And then uh, then I took a
love in high school, I started learning how to write
because I'm really kind of a musician who play and
I create by ear and I kind of hear it
in my head and I play it. And I learned
how to play read music in high school and that's
where the early beginnings started.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
Even even back then, did you have a yearning or
did you feel that there was a need for a
band of all women, because I think by that point,
when I was a kid, the only band that I
saw that had like women playing an equal role in
the instrumentation I'm in, besides signing the family Stone, which

(14:38):
you know, it is kind of mind blowing for people
to see like a trumpet player and a keyboard player.
But I remember growing up watching there was a Philly
group called Ecstasy, Passion and Pain and they had they
had a drummer named Cookie, and I was really impressed,
like asking my mom, like, yo, girls can play drums too,
Like did they act like that was a novelty or

(15:01):
was it just normal? Because normally when you think of
a drummer, it's always a man behind the skins or whatever.
It's like very unusual for certain instruments to be played
by women. Be it like a trombone or like, it's
like things you don't see. But were people making a
big deal of that? And did you take advantage of
the fact that, And did you play any other instruments

(15:21):
as well?

Speaker 6 (15:22):
No, And what you just said is the reason why
it came to mind. But there was a void, you know.
One day, you know, just in my lower, my young mind,
I said, wow, there's not a lot of female musicians.
I said it would be great to create an all
girl band. And then watching LaBelle really really I love LaBelle, okay,
and I watched them and I saw the excitement that

(15:45):
that everybody had when these girls got on stage. And
you know, I'm one of those kind of people who
cry when I see things that you're so unusual that,
you know, and they would they would just move me.
And I said, one day, it would be great to
put together on our girl band. And I mean people
ask me this question all the time. I don't really
have an incredible answer other than that I think it

(16:07):
was meant to be. And they just kind of came
to me. And this low young girl who had this
idea started checking the yellow pages, remember the yellow paces, yes,
and trying to look for other musicians calling radio record
labels and asking them, Hey, would you guys be interested

(16:27):
in an all girl band, you know, And finally one
record company said, yes, we would be. I have an idea.
That's how it started.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Wait a minute, that's how you got into the because
we have a billion questions about Dick Griffy. But okay,
that's how that's started.

Speaker 6 (16:46):
No, No, not Dick Griffy yet. It's another label. This
was another label and another lady. It was a lady
by the name of who was the an R person
at this particular so it wasn't I forgot the name
of the record was a sous cell watched radio record label. Anyway,
she was the an R person. She says, come, I
want to meet with you about this concept that you have.

(17:07):
So we met and she says I'm interested. Her and
I together, she kind of. She and the record label
funded my idea for a while, and I started looking
for girls through the recycler paper. I started rehearsing these girls,
and I turned the studio in Inglewood, which I have

(17:28):
great stories about it.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
Yeah, because I was like them. You was a fan
and then a circle back.

Speaker 6 (17:31):
I love it, okay, yeah, yeah, And I turned the
studio and I started like she she really kind of
funded this and she, I don't know, she was coming
up with the money to help me with this idea.
And I said, I have a great name for the band.
She said, let me know what the band is. I said, Climax.
She says, I love it spelled with the k l
y m ax. She says, I love the whole concept

(17:51):
of it. And that's how you know, That's how the
seed was planted. And then from there we went on.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
A little bit because also a recurring theme on the
show Our Tales from the Ike Turner Studio UNEs from
Charlie about.

Speaker 6 (18:12):
Steve wonder So Bollick Studios.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
If yes, I could talk, Yeah, what was happening at
that studio?

Speaker 6 (18:21):
You know? I would pipe pole. He would peek in
every once in a while after rehearsals. You know, we
weren't that good, you know, we didn't really get good
too later on in life, but we were playing and
we were trying, and we were dedicated. So he would
peep in. And he had a bodyguard at that time.
I forgot the gentleman's name, but he took a liking
to me the bodyguard, and we became friends. We would

(18:44):
talk all the time. This is important. I'm gonna get
back to that these stories. Yeah, the one time that
that I finally said. He came into the studio and
he looked around and he looked at me, and then
the guy let's call him this team Okay, ok, not
sugar Steve, but she said, let's stee.

Speaker 2 (19:03):
So he says, he.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
Says, I want you to talk to you. Come in
if he wants you to into the front studio, because
you know, the rehearsal studios were on the side of
the building. So I said okay, and the girls were
kind of looking at me, and I go, I'll be back.
And I went in and I'm going to tell this story.
We're not gonna We're not gonna mess around here. So
I went in there and I came in. I was

(19:26):
holding his pipe. He was getting high, and he goes, here,
I want you to hit this right, and I go, well,
I don't do drugs and I don't drink. I don't
do any of that. He goes, I said, hit it.
Hit this pipe right, Look at.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
That Mary and Barry. That's how it happened. Go ahead,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (19:47):
And he said hit the pipe and I was like, no,
I don't do and he says, I said that. He
got really aggressive with me. He said no, he says,
you're good. He said, you're really good on the drums.
You're gonna go somewhere and he goes hit the pipe
and there's Steve said, man, leave her alone. She's a
good girl. Man leave her alone. And I listened to
him and he just excused hit me out of there.

(20:10):
The rehearsal studio.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Wow, individuals on that one. If it was the guy
was it? Was it Frau in the West Love got
to do with the movie. McBride's character Frosts. It was
like his guy. I wonder if it was him.

Speaker 6 (20:25):
He was kind of a big guy. Yeah, yeah, yes,
and he he saved me that day because I would
have been a different girl today. Wow, you know, but yeah,
but I had to tell the story the way it happened.
There's no way of sugar coat.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
In that, no niceties, know, like hey, what's your name?
And no, no, no, no, it was just like here
hit this, hit that.

Speaker 6 (20:47):
Yeah. Well, he gave me a compliment first, he told
me I was good, I'm going to be good and
all of this kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
You know.

Speaker 6 (20:53):
I guess that was the soften me up a little bit.
And I was like, no, sir. You know, I was
very respectful and I said, I no, sir, I don't.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
I don't.

Speaker 6 (21:04):
I don't do drugs. I don't, I don't. I don't
want to do that.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Thank God.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
I'm because in a twenty twenty one America like Ike
Turner would not have existed with his studio it being successful,
people going to him being able to say that to you, like.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Oh, no, what exists. It's still it's still going on.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
Yeah. I was gonna say, like, I'm sad to say that. Probably, Yes,
it's still going it's.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
Still going on. I mean, look at them. I'm just
look at all the entertainers who are dying. You know
that's true. There's still a culture. There's a drug thing.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
It is a drug call.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
We just don't.

Speaker 6 (21:40):
We just don't know it because we don't, we're not
in it.

Speaker 5 (21:42):
I'm at the misogynistic part of that, that the way
he approached you and everything like that still happens.

Speaker 6 (21:47):
It still happens.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
I was going to say, how how hard is it
to be taken seriously in a time in which the
even the idea of being a mumusician. A female musician
is such a rarity, like how are you able to
be taken seriously where it's just like, nah, I'm not

(22:10):
messing with Bernard at Cooper you know, Well, did you
have to invent that character that we we know because
you have this don't mess with me sort of stance
with you?

Speaker 6 (22:21):
Well, I do have an alter ego, you know, and
that would be my alter ego. The other the real
Bernie in the Cooper is very shy and very I'm
a very cluse and I'm really kind of like in
this character. I created this, this other character to get
me through I guess, you know, as I said, a
lot of this stuff was meant to be. I can't
really go oh. I created this character because of this,

(22:42):
you know. And it was also a shield that I
used to deal with a lot of family mental abuse
and not really sharing in my dream. So I said, Okay,
I'm going to create this character strong superwoman because I
got to get make I gotta make it to the
next day, you know. So I created this character, and

(23:03):
this character went on to work. She became the slattin girl. Yeah,
you know, and I and I look good all that stuff.
It's really about loving yourself. It has nothing to do
with physical appearance. But you have to be a diva
to understand that, you know.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
I'm just curious if you believed it at the time.
Were you just saying it?

Speaker 6 (23:18):
No, no, no, I was saying it from another from
an inner perspective. I wasn't saying I know, I'm the cute.
I was saying it because I had to find strength
and going forward in this world by myself with my dream.
So I created this character and to achieve that, you know,
and that character is still here. I'm still very cluse.

(23:41):
I'm still a very cluse.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
But they're still working together, the characters.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
We don't know that though, right, don't tell us how
the sausages made, like we exactly. So, Yeah, I was
going to ask, you know, oftentimes, especially in black households,
you know, survival, you know, hooker crook, his job one,
that's what parents think, like get something to fall back on. Yeah,

(24:06):
get a good paying job, that sort of thing. Like
we're well, you kind of answered it, but what was
your family's feelings on you pursuing this dream or was
it like like you got to the age of nineteen
to make it or else, you know, you got to
work at the post office. Like did they give you
ultimatums or were they quasi nurturing, you know? Or were

(24:31):
they church people?

Speaker 6 (24:33):
They it was a little bit of all of it.
The bottom line is that they weren't feeling it. Nobody,
and you know I was. My plan was to go
to law school and become an attorney and to do that.
And they were kind of like all behind me for
a mail car and took care of me and all
that stuff. But one day, sitting and my accounting class,

(24:54):
which was an elective that I had to take, which
I was sitting there looking at the my teacher like,
I don't want to be here anymore. I want to
play the drums. I want to be in a band.
I'm never coming back again. So I got up and
I left in my class and I said, that's when
I began my search for the all girl band. Yeah,

(25:16):
there was coped. Well you know what it was. You
have to understand that I was an honest student. So
I got out of high school fast. Yeah, yeah, so I.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Was kind of which high school did you go to?

Speaker 6 (25:29):
I went to Compton and Inglewood High School. I graduated
from Inglewood High School. I went to Compton my what
ninth and tenth, my tenth and eleventh grade, and then
I graduated. My mother moved to Inglewood and I graduated
from Inglewood.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Okay, so I gotta know what, you know, when most
of us here, especially us non California natives here about Compton,
of course we start just thinking the legend of whatever
NWA was painting about what Compton was represented.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
Yea until them patris Patrius Russian Patrisse Russianlass.

Speaker 6 (26:06):
Yeah, yeah, she was, she was. She actually was a lot,
but she was. And then Hayt was funny. They were
out during that time. They were out during that time.
So that probably influenced me a little bit too as
far as the girl concept as well.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Okay, but what what was your high school like in like?
Was it a nurturing environment? Was it more Jill Clark
lean on me dangerous?

Speaker 6 (26:32):
You know, I have to say this, And you know
I was a tar baby, a tar baby, right, that
was the the the logo was the tar baby. But
those are the most wonderful years of my life in
Compton High School with the most wonderful Yeah, and that's
when the gang started. Shooting. Finally that started when I

(26:55):
was in school. That started happening, the shooting, and then
and and what was in the shooting and what kind
of drugs was in then? Uh good? No, no no, no,
the one before that people Heroine No no, no no,
it was Angel Angel dust started everybody was. That's how

(27:15):
I got into the That's when I got into the
music class. That's where I started meeting new friends. That's
where I felt love. Nobody had nothing, so nobody wasn't
trying to act like they had nothing, you know. So
that was a wonderful place to me for me, and
then my mother moved to Inglewood and I was kind
of all alone, you know, all alone. I didn't really

(27:35):
you know, so I graduated from high school early and
I was able to, you know, go to college.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Yeah, not being from California, you realize how far those
two places are.

Speaker 4 (27:44):
You don't realize how far those two places are from
each other.

Speaker 6 (27:47):
What Inglewood and Compton.

Speaker 5 (27:49):
Just as culturally, it just seemed like yes culture, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
I think to an outsider though, like I would think
that the schools were more closer to Joe Clark's Lean
On Me, where you might not live the end of
the school day. But was it that dire or is
that just Hollywood?

Speaker 6 (28:09):
No, during that time, it wasn't that dire.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
P she pre that. I me remember.

Speaker 5 (28:14):
And it's funny if you watch I don't know if
y'all when you watch them, that was them, right. They
came out over the COVID where they showed Compton before
Burnard death generation when it was like white folks, just
straight suburbs.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
Know, it was it was cool, you know, I think
I think there was one gunshot nextwreaked everybody out. That's
why my mother moved to Inglewood. Yeah. It just drugs
angeled us. That's pretty much it. And the rest of
it was like a great experience for me. I had friends.
You know, you're talking about a loaner who made friends.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
You know, I lived in Compton for one year as
a baby, but you know, I don't have any memories
as a two year older. But I do have a
photo of me at a crypt meeting.

Speaker 1 (28:56):
Because all my cousins, so.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
I had a bandana and the Derby.

Speaker 6 (29:01):
On you could have been a clip. I could have
been you.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
Know, no, I was, I was you know, they were
trying to crip me up. Yeah, brought me to the meetings.
Can you tell me what the audition process or at
least what were you looking for in the audition process
that basically brought like Joyce and Lynn, Lorena and Sheryl

(29:28):
and uh well, Robin Robin.

Speaker 6 (29:31):
There were a lot of different versions of Climax before
I got to thank you for saying this.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, I was going to say that. I think there
were seven women on the was down with the hot
air balloon the first one.

Speaker 6 (29:42):
I mean, even before that, and I was I was
still in the narrowing down process. Yeah, I mean even
when we you know, before Climax, all the Climax, it was.
I was smart enough to know, and I don't know
how I got this knowledge that the girls had to
be certain kind of girls in order for radio dis

(30:04):
Jock with the DJs to play on music, right, So
I was looking for sexy, I was looking for femininity.
I was looking for girls who could play and now
you know, and we had a camaraderie, so you know,
First it was Cooley, who I found from another band,
and she was playing with a band with her boyfriend,
and I talked to her and too joining us. And

(30:25):
then it was Lynn Marsby. They came a lot of
them came. It was a people called the Recycler where
you could put an ad in for twenty five dollars
or however much, and then people would respond to and call, hey,
I play guitar, you know. Then we had Jeannie Cunningham
was the first guitar player. Then came show Coolly actually,
and then how we arrived at the climax that we

(30:48):
are now, It was show on first, and then it
came Lynn came in through an audition. I believe she
came in from the Recycler paper. Then there were the
couple other girls in the group who I knew from Compton,
who I eventually, how can I say, I eventually let

(31:09):
them go and I found new girls. Joyce Soby didn't
come into the group until after our first album, and
we had a contract style we already had a recording
deal when she came into the group. Because I fired
the bass player. Now why I fired the bass player,
I can't exactly remember the reason. It was a conga
player and a bass player got rid of them because

(31:29):
for some reason or another, and mister Griffy came to me,
he goes on. This was after you guys want to
get to that point.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
No, no, we take your time.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Don't take you time. Love stories stories you never told before.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
So yeah, I mean mister Griffy. You know me and
mister Griffy. Oh, I loved him. He was a wonderful,
wonderful gentleman. And I mean yeah, I mean to me.
I don't know anybody else's experience, but he gave me
my first opportunity as a writer a producer. And you know,
without him, I would not be talking to a quest
luck Okay, bottom line, bottom line, Okay, this man would

(32:05):
not only that, he would take us out to dinner
and teach us about wine and my first taste aid escargo.
He was a wonderful guy. He would call me up
and talk to me about the band. He was a
wonderful guy. And he called me up. He goes, you know,
why'd you fire the bass player? I really loved the
bass I thought the bass player was cool. And I go, well,
because for this reason, He goes, well, we're gonna do now.

(32:27):
So we talked about it and he said, hey, I
remember this girl, uh In Fayevielle, North Carolina, who keeps
you know, kept giving me. Yeah, who kept giving me
a tape. Who kept giving me a tape and all
these things, and I go. He goes, I'm gonna bring
her out here, and I want you to let me
know what you think. So I said, okay. He brought
her out. She seemed cool. Everything was good, you know,

(32:48):
she played the bass, He came to rehearsals. She was
a nice girl, everything was cool. He says, what do
you think? I said, can we just try her out
for a little while. He goes, no, we need to
move forward. We got the contract. I can't. We got
to get somebody stable in the group. So that's how
Joyce Sophie got signed, right, Yeah, yes.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Sir, did you know thatte Oh yeah, oh yeah. When
I was a kid. Now, when I was a kid,
I mean, I don't know her from Fairville. I was
like five, but yeah, but I remember like all the
stations around the station we used to listen to when
I lived with my grandparents back in Robinson County. They
would always like when they played climax joints, they would
shout out Joyce and they was like, shout out yeah,

(33:32):
they she got mad love, yeah yeah.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
And then Lorena came in one day from a rehearsal.
She was on her way to by word of mouth.
Someone said, hey, they're looking for a lead vocally. She
came in and blew me away, and she got hired.
She got hired on the spot, and she became the voice.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Climax is is it always? Okay?

Speaker 6 (33:51):
Now?

Speaker 2 (33:51):
I mentioned that you you know, you said you fired
the bass player. But because it's such a rare, it's
such a rare to get memory fired is.

Speaker 6 (34:02):
Such a harsh word. Let's just say it didn't blend
in with the concept. Okay, so I fired her.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
But I just meant, was there always a concern or
fear that if you let a member go the amount
of work that you got to put in to find
someone that really fits a very specific criteria that will
make the band work? Like, is that always concerned?

Speaker 6 (34:26):
We were young? I was young. I didn't You didn't
think about those kinds of things when you're young. But
you know, I just I don't know. I wasn't thinking
about that. It's just the concept. It just wasn't blending in. Uh,
And I didn't think about it. I just was like,
it's not working. And then mister Griffy was like, well,
what are we going to do now, you know, and
we figured it out.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Did you start to develop your own band.

Speaker 6 (34:49):
Rules as you Oh, we had rules, Yes, we had rules.

Speaker 4 (34:53):
Come on me a good one.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
God, you guys are asking me that. I gotta think
way back. I mean, you know stuff, you know, you
know X amount of dollars fifty two dollars, five dollars
if you get the ban rehearsal late. You know, you know,
you know, you're fine, fine, fine, you know you know
we this is pre Joyce because that's another you know,

(35:19):
the original band, which was Lorena Show Coolly, Lynn Mars,
Robin Grider and myself, we struggled. We were such a unit.
We were so dedicated in the vision and trying to
achieve this recording deal. You know, we we starved. I
was kissing the the the rehearsal studio owner, trying to

(35:42):
get more studio time. We were doing whatever we needed
to do this.

Speaker 5 (35:48):
These lyrics are okay, we.

Speaker 4 (35:53):
Just just a kiss and get.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
You more, all right, kids, I kiss got is two hours?

Speaker 5 (36:02):
Yes, about okay, I get it.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
Those were they were really pecks. They were.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (36:16):
He was the older cancel guy, mister Cooper, mister Cooper,
and you know Uh. Yeah, I don't know how that evolved.
I don't know how that happened. One day he just said, hey,
you know, and I was like, okay, can we get
some studio time?

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Sometimes you got to you what you got?

Speaker 6 (36:38):
Two pecks got his four hours?

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Okay, wait, you you mentioned uh the legendary uh President
Solar Griffy. Can you can you describe because I also
know that those nightclubs, like the Total Experienced Nightclub and
all those spots that are on Crenshaw was rather legendary

(37:03):
for a lot of those developing acts. Could you basically
describe what like black LA nightlife was as far as
like seeing bands and interacting with other bands and just
in general, Like I came up in a time my

(37:24):
time period of LA, pretty much the center of all
the action was in West Hollywood on Sunset which I
was told that was never happening like before, like nineteen
ninety five where you had to go. So if it
is nineteen eighty one eighty two, where am I going

(37:44):
to see like the bands I like? And where y'all
hanging at?

Speaker 6 (37:48):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (37:49):
If you're not on Sunset Boulevard, Like, were they open
to black people then back then?

Speaker 6 (37:55):
Or I'm sitting here trying to search the name of
this club that was in Compton. It was a club
that Easy and Then performed in and they showed it
on their movie in the beginning. Yeah, I can't remember
the name of that club, but you know, I popped
in here and there. There wasn't any particular clubs. I

(38:16):
think the Roxy. Every once in a while you'll get
a good deal a band happening in like in West Hollywood.
Let me think, I'm trying to think where did we go?

Speaker 2 (38:26):
But were you part of the Total Experience night club?
Or was that like more of a seventies mid seventies thing.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
It was the seventies and eighties, But I was just
kind of like, you know, into my my thing. I
didn't really do a going a lot of going I
which I did go to the Total Experience. I saw,
you know, I saw the dramatics. I saw the dramatics
wo Experience.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Yeah, and then how big is that nightclub?

Speaker 6 (38:48):
It was? It was a nice size, maybe about five.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
Hundred people, so establish acts was that the House of
the Blues? The House of the Blues? Was that sort
of the House of Blues of its day?

Speaker 6 (39:00):
Yes, it was.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
Okay, so no act was too big or too small.
You can see Rufers and Chaka Khan at the Total Experience.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
And then Maverick Flats Okay remember that. Yeah, people used
to go there dance. Every once in a while there
will be a band or two, you know. Yeah, and
then you know you you went to the Forum and
then you went to the the all the who was it?
The San Diego Jazz Festival? That was That was the
thing I used to enjoy going to and seeing.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
How did the deal with so our Records come to be?
How did you get the attention of.

Speaker 6 (39:37):
A We did a we did a demo and the
demo was sent to many record labels, and one of
the labels was so Lark Records. And the lady there
Margaret Nash. Margaret Nash got a hold of the demo,
which to mister Griffy, she was, what's the guy I

(39:59):
can think I can see cleaning now? She was Johnny
Nashley's ex wife. Okay, she worked at Solar. So she
went to Dick Griffy and said, hey, you gotta hear
about these girls. You got to see these girls, you know,
you got to check it out. She came down to rehearsals.
Saw Ius went back and told Dick with me. Next
thing we know, Dick Griffy was walking into rehearsals. I

(40:21):
see he walked in and he said he looked, he
saw we were playing. Oh there's freaky good. Oh he
was smiling. He left and he says, uh. Before he left,
he says, I'm gonna sign your go for a record deal.
That's it.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
You were fine with that? Like so I seemed like
a logical.

Speaker 6 (40:42):
Spot for you to Yeah, no one else was asking,
you know, and it was the first thing. And that's
what our attorney said. Hey, not the best deal in
the world. What other deal do you have? You know,
you get in, you make it happen, which is the
famous run swinging. You get in, you make it happen.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Moron Sweeney was your lawyer.

Speaker 6 (41:01):
Yes, we were his first client.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
What Yeah, legendary wyn Sweeney.

Speaker 6 (41:07):
Okay, Legendary Sweeney. And he said, what else do you have?
He said, you get in, you get a hit record,
and you make changes when that.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
Happens to renegotiate then, was it was it easy to
renegotiate with once we got a hit?

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Yeah, I mean, I just not not that I'm fishing
for stories. But it's just just like depending on who
comes on our show, there's various degrees of Dick Griffy's stories.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
And she says she got stories.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
I guess I could say that. I'm led to believe
that he was sort of like the the proto Sugar
Knight of his day, no groom, Sugar.

Speaker 6 (41:52):
Sugar was his bodyguard. That's how I met Si Knight.
Sug used to be Digri's bodyguard. No mist you know, listen,
I don't know if anyone else's experienced, you know, with
mister Griffy. I can just tell you that he was
kind to me, and he was kind to us, you know,
I mean, did we get this or that? I don't
I'm not quite sure. But he he he was there.

(42:16):
We were at every meeting. We talked about things, we
discussed the men all paws, and we did it. He
didn't want to do it at first, you know, he said,
I'm not doing no song about mental pause.

Speaker 5 (42:26):
And then the Lord he gets real complicated.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yes, my mom too thought you guys were thinking about menopause.

Speaker 6 (42:35):
So did he?

Speaker 2 (42:35):
That was like, do you not know what a pun is? People?

Speaker 4 (42:38):
Particularly?

Speaker 6 (42:39):
So did he? We broke it down and I was saying, no,
it's the men all paused. When I walked into the room,
he started smiling. Next thing, you know that the record
was on the album.

Speaker 4 (42:50):
I see when did the when the.

Speaker 6 (42:54):
Beginning? And it became our first hit. We didn't even
know it because by that time, you know, there was
a couple filled albums. We were trying to figure out
what we were going to do with the next phase
of our life. You know, we were I'm going to
go back to school.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Ahead, can I wait? I don't want to glide by
those two records because it's two portant well one important
factor with you guys working with Jimmy and Terry. But
what I want to know is, you know of the
acts that were on the label, between Lakeside and Midnight Star,
Carrie Lucas, the Whispers and whatnot, they like the common

(43:33):
the common factor or the common denominator of most of
those acts that were hip makers of Solar was the
production of Leon Silvers. Yes, and I was shocked. I
came aboard on meeting in the ladies room, and then
eventually I found out that you guys had two other records,
and then I went and brought those and you know,

(43:54):
I saw like Otis Stokes and you know, the cats
from from Lakeside, and I always wanted to know, like,
why didn't you guys work with Leon Silvers who was
clearly giving everyone out, you know, handing out hits like hotcakes.

Speaker 6 (44:10):
At the time, Leon didn't want to work with us,
and it could be because he was so busy, you know,
or he didn't really express an interest in working with us.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
You know, did you guys ask him?

Speaker 6 (44:26):
I'm sure something, probably, I'm not quite sure I didn't
ask him. You know, I don't know if Dick, I'm
sure asked them. You know, I don't think he you know,
we passed him every day we saw him in the studio.
He didn't really have an express an interest in wanting
to work with us, so he brought in Oldest Stokes,
which was like working with Oldis and then was cool,

(44:48):
but it just wasn't the direction that we wanted to
go in. We were more independent. We were young girls,
but we were like really independent and fun. Oh just
kind of wanted to put us in a box of
you know, of your typical I'm your woman and you're
my man, and I'll do whatever you want me to
do kind of thing right, And we were like, no,
we don't really know. I'm not doing that. I'm not

(45:10):
gonna do that. So, you know, it took us a while.
Didn't take us. It took us. We had to get
with Jimmy and Terry to find a voice. That's when
we found our voice. They encouraged that.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
So can you describe what working with Jimmy and Terry,
you know and like for for the second album, The
Girls will Be Girls record some really like great songs
on there that just never really got the push.

Speaker 6 (45:35):
And I'm kind of glad. I'm glad, kind of glad
because it wasn't us. Yeah, well you know up into Jimmy.
Do you have Jimmy and Terry? Yes, yeah, no, they
came in with they didn't do Girls were good. There
was there was Odi Stokes.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Well I meant the album. I know that they they
wrote wild.

Speaker 6 (45:56):
Girls right, Yeah, Okay, that's when they came in and
they came in. They were sneaking away from friends and
they were like, you know, it was all they were doing.
So we were the first band that I think they
worked with, either us or the S O S Band.
I really don't remember you.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Guys, were technically first.

Speaker 6 (46:16):
Yeah, we were in the room when Prince called and
fired him found out they were working with us. He
called her up and they came out the room. They said,
we just got fired. Well, oh, I guess we can
start our new career now, you know. But yes, yes,
and no. Hey, it was wonderful. It was like a

(46:38):
breath of fresh air because here are these guys who
praised the mistakes. Okay, you know, we're going to keep that.
It's a mistake, We're going to keep it, you know.
And I was the one who was always writing songs,
and they fell in love with all my songs. They
were like, let's do burning that Cooper songs, you know,
telling Dick you should be doing these songs. These are
the songs you should be doing. Because all of that,

(46:59):
I know I'm looking good. That's the way we used
to talk on a daily base. I walk into the studio,
I know I'm looking good, you know. And they wanted
to put all of that onto tape. And that's what
they started doing. They were taking a lot of my
songs and putting on the tape and encouraging us to
write the things that we really feel and we really love.

(47:21):
So that's what they did.

Speaker 4 (47:22):
That's good.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
So when we got introduced to y'all, we was getting
introduced to y'all for real.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
Everybody else thought they knew y'all.

Speaker 6 (47:28):
When when Networker came out with meeting in the ladies
room in the mental pause, I mean, because we kind
of went to school with wild girls. That was I mean,
that was Terry Lewis. That was them kind of experimenting
with us, trying to help us find our sounds, and
they got it. It just didn't hit, that's all, you know.

(47:50):
But by the time they moved on and Jick was
he was he was available. His ears were available at
that time to listen to the things that we really
had because La Jimmy I hit Keeps Down and everything.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis encouraged him to open his
ears and listen to the tracks that I was writing
and the other girls were writing, and he was open

(48:10):
to us, so we were giving him. He just kind
of gave us free rain. You guys, go do this
album yourself.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
By that time, were you there for the infamous Jam
tells the story about the I asked about a certain
engineer that they had to fire because of them destroying
the Heartbreaker song. It was like a punch in doing

(48:37):
the mixtown. The engineer had a race like one of
them I'm such a mess thing, and then they just
fell down a rabbit hole of trying to fix the
edit that was previously erased.

Speaker 6 (48:51):
No, I don't remember that.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Okay, you never knew that story.

Speaker 6 (48:55):
I wrote the song and I was there, but I
don't remember that story.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Oh okay, Yeah, basically, like one of the I'm such
a mess lines got heartbreak, I'm such a mess on
the Heartbreaker song, the the engineer was trying to punch
in make an edit and accidentally erase some of the
background and yeah and yeah, jam I was asking about

(49:22):
like a time when things went awry, and he just
talked about accidentally erasing like some of the background vocals
on Heartbreaker and them trying to fix it. It's yeah,
Well they fired the engineer, and I guess they kept
that from you guys, so now you know forty years later. Sorry,

(49:43):
But with meeting in the Ladies Room, well, first of all,
just as the band Dynamics one, how did you whittle
it down to the six members that we got to
know on meeting in the ladies.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
Room through you know, being in the band. You have
the girls, and certain things happened. I think they were
went down from it was eight and then it went
down to six, and that's the group that you know.

Speaker 5 (50:13):
Now.

Speaker 6 (50:14):
There were two other members. I can't remember why they
left the group or why they weren't involved in the
group anymore, but it was a decision that was made
and then we were left with the six core members
of the group. And I think that was the reason
for our success. So I think it would have been
successful with those other two members or any other members. Now,

(50:34):
I think it was these are the ones that were meant.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
To be so move forward, did you so?

Speaker 5 (50:39):
Do you remember the rules from that point? They kept
y'all together, They kept you from having like petty arguments,
They kept y'all from some of the things that other.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Groups how decisions made.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Yeah, well, you know, well.

Speaker 6 (50:52):
You know, it became that group thing where you know,
the vote, the whole group vote, which you know, which
was very stifling you know to me at points, you know.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
Because it's your group.

Speaker 6 (51:03):
Not so well, I just had more forward ideas and
I sometimes you know, when you have an idea, you
see things and people don't don't see it. Then you
got everybody kind of raised in their hand, and that's
very stifling for a creative person, you know. So it
was a majority rules.

Speaker 5 (51:21):
That's interesting as you had the same hand as everybody else,
because even I mean I even think, I guess that
in the roots, like a mere hand in a turikan
is different than other hands, right.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Like, But was it? But that's why I'm asking, was
it a real democracy or was it like the idea
of a democracy?

Speaker 6 (51:38):
It was, okay, let's say this. It was all good,
and then when Joyce came in the group, a little
bit of a power struggle started because for whatever reason
she you know, she came from a military base and
she you know, so that's when things kind of started changing.
From the group that we had that was all for one,

(51:59):
one for all. Things started like everything became a vote
because the the vision, the vision had gotten interruption, I interrupted.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Very good. So would you say that Joyce was sort
of the because she was the last member to join,
kind of the outsider in a situation where there was
already an established rapport with the five of you.

Speaker 6 (52:25):
Yes, and she definitely had her own way of seeing things,
you know, which is not bad in.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Her own opinions.

Speaker 6 (52:31):
Yeah, and that was her voice, right, And I was
always you know, you know, one for all. We hadn't
even got to a point of an ego yet, you know,
we were we were. I was about, Hey, whatever's good
for the group. You know. That's how I lost control
of the name, because you know, Joyce came and said, like,
I think we should all be a part of the

(52:51):
name of the group. And I was like, sure, no problem.
I wasn't you know, I wasn't savvy. I wasn't savvy,
and I was just kind of like, well, the band
and we're gonna be together, We're gonna make things work.
And that's why the name is so out of control.
You know, right now, I wish I would have known
better and had trademarked that.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
You know, So, could you tell me how your personal
life changed. Let's let's let's say two, let's say three
months after Men All Pause comes out. Oh my goodness,
where you guys? Were the songs on the radio killing
it and you're on you know, the videos being played everywhere.

Speaker 5 (53:32):
And because I don't even know where Men on Pause
across from meeting in a lady's room, they kind.

Speaker 6 (53:35):
Of just they listen, listen. We were preparing to go
back to school. Lorena, you know, she's always wanted to
be married. Everybody was playing in their life because we
mister Griffin, you know, he stuck with us through all
those Felt albums. We were all in the car following
each other. I don't know where we were going, but

(53:55):
I think there were two cars one two. Maybe we
were all in the same car. Mental Pause came on
over the Christmas holidays. You know how everybody goes on
break during the Christmas holidays. After that Christmas holiday, Mental Pause,
the Mental Pause was ahead and the record company says,
you guys got to hit record. DJ's were playing, they

(54:16):
were going crazy, and that's when our lives went on.
Things changed drastically. First video, that was the first video.
I mean, we did the Mental Pause first video. Then
the Mental Pause came meeting in the Ladies fool right
and with God Louis Silence put me into the studio

(54:36):
with tave Mo and we remixed the Leader and that's
when I added the you know, I had to leave
my condo to come to this, you know, that's when
I added that, right, Yeah, and we did. That was
the remixed version that became the big.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
Even though it was a little bit. I mean, I
was twelve thirteen, and again, like there weren't many end
depth interviews with the guys back then. I'm certain that
there had to been comparisons like, oh, you guys are
like a female time and you're kind of like a
mar state. Was that bothersome to you or not at all?

Speaker 6 (55:12):
And Terry used to always call me they used to
compare me because my personality was such like a Morris Okay.
They used to call me burn to day, you know,
and they wanted to write things like character because I
didn't really know much about the time, you know, they
were just doing the first time I heard seven seven
ninety eleven in the studio, you know, and I didn't

(55:34):
really know much, so I couldn't really pattern myself after him.
But after after seeing his character and how much we
favored there's so many ways. It was like, that's what
the answer of when Jigglos need Love to I wrote.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Yeah, I didn't even know I divas.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
Yeah, divas came from an answer that was like an answer.
You know, I'm in the process right now. I'm working
on the song, hoping to get more on it. I
just I just think that would be such an odd concept.
He and I have talked to please call him and
tell him. He and I have talked about it. I've
sent them tracks and he's like, man, okay. I called

(56:13):
him up, Morris Morris, So I have this track that
I'm working on right now that I'm going to send
to him because I just think it's beyond beyond. It's
beyond just a song. It's about being entertained and how
the public would love that. Yes, a personality from a
girl band and the girl band and the time. Yeah,

(56:34):
that's great. We're opening up the ground is.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
With that, miss, But I want to ask what you
say you're working on tracks? What equipment and like software
are you using now to work on your music?

Speaker 6 (56:44):
You know, I'm protus and I write on the n
PC x A okay, yeah, yeah, because I'm a PC
sixty n PC you know two thousand, two thousand X.
I know the MPC, So I grab see because there's
so much you could do with it, when I could
travel with it. You do vocals on another even though

(57:04):
I haven't even used half of it. So I write
a lot of my tracks which I don't really like
to write tracks that much anymore because I'm lazy, and
you know, I'm always questioning if the right snare or
if if it's gonna sound right. So I focus more
now on lyrics and melodies and content and vibe. You know.

(57:25):
I just did something with old.

Speaker 4 (57:26):
Slat Oh wow, okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 (57:30):
Call believe in us, dropped it off, dropped it in
on the UK, and I'm focusing on that. So I'm
taking a lot of tracks from people that I know
or old things that I have. But right now, actually
the track that I'm working on is an old Solati track,
but I rearranged it, you know, so that it would
fit me in more. So I'm working on concept now.
I just think that would be such an entertaining thing

(57:51):
that's gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
I love man, that's so.

Speaker 6 (57:54):
Do Yeah, you work together. Me and I was a
lot of a curl.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
Can you tell us go ahead at something? What? Why
did you guys pivot to Constellation mc A like, were
you still technically under the umbrella of Solar or like,
what did you officially leave Solar to go to Los

(58:19):
Alas and MC it like?

Speaker 6 (58:20):
Was no solo records? Did a distribution deal with them.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Okay, I never knew the story of.

Speaker 6 (58:26):
Yeah, Solar, we're on Solar, and Solar did the change.
We didn't make the change. We kind of got over
there cause Solar. You know, once the success of meeting
in the ladies room and Climax became this big oh
my god, after I miss you, it was over. Lynn
Malsby wrote that, by the way, you know, that's the
biggest climax song ever. Yeah, that was. That's a big
that's a huge that's on music, baby, Okay, go yeah,

(58:50):
so she you know, they wanted us, So Dick did
a jill, you know, and we went over to Constellation.
Constellation was his ill that he made. Yeah, I guess
a distribution.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Okay, yeah, I didn't know, so he owned that.

Speaker 5 (59:10):
I was just going to ask you drop two names,
and I wanted to know when you circle back and
finally met them, what was it like?

Speaker 4 (59:14):
And that was Morris Day and Patrice Russian.

Speaker 6 (59:18):
Patrice was just a high and bye and I admire you.
It wasn't a deep conversation like Tina, Me and Tina
and Okay, yes, a lot of stories so more. Sometimes
you have to bear with me because I gotta think
I got to but More's day, you know, I see
More's day. We do. We do a lot of touring together.
I see him in and out. And the last time

(59:40):
I saw him, he were in we were in Florida
and I went up to him. I said, we got
to do a song together, Morris, I said, we got
to do it for the people. That would be such
an interesting I'm coold send me tracks, all right, So
I sent him a couple of tracks. He was like, man,
you know, but this one's really hot. And even if
it's not this one, somebody got to give us a
track and we got to do a thing together because

(01:00:02):
that could be such a great in.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Lewis have to do this, they do.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
I was gonna say that there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Must be a four minute monologue at the end with
you two trying to each other. You know what.

Speaker 6 (01:00:15):
That's the song that I'm writing, So you know, we'll
see how it comes up. I'm gonna have to reach
out to jam and Lewis and let them kind of
hear this and maybe somehow, if it's not this, they
can come up with something. We got to do.

Speaker 2 (01:00:28):
Let us manifest this.

Speaker 6 (01:00:29):
Yes, I'm going to leave it up to you quest
to make that happen.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Yeah, the people want it. I want that. I definitely
want that.

Speaker 6 (01:00:37):
Yes, that would be so and I envisioned it. I
envisioned it with the girl band and that's on one
stage and time when we bottle it, wouldn't that be hot?

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Yes, and burn the jette for for a couple of pecks.
I'll mix it for you for free.

Speaker 6 (01:00:55):
You know what, don't try me.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
I come out to all it once in a while.
Give me some sugar. Steve Steve. Steve is a legendary engineer. Yes,
she knows.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
I gave him the intro.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
Okay, I'll drumb on this ship. I want to see
that happen. Yeah, I'll do it for free. I'll do
it just with the calt.

Speaker 6 (01:01:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
I really believe that in my heart, and by being
a so called or a visionary, I can kind of
stay around corners sometimes. I just think I have always
felt that's a very strong concept and the people would
be like, oh my god, you know it would be
great for the demographics as well as the new generation.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Right. So I'm curious to know with the success of
where the Climax record was at the meeting in the
Lady Ladies Room. What was your family's reaction to it?
Was it sort of like, Okay, you made it, good job, you.

Speaker 6 (01:02:01):
Know what question. I don't really have a happy story
to tell you regarding that. I didn't really have a
lot of Yeah, I didn't have a really good family motivation.
I'm very self motivated, and that's kind of beauty of
one of the beauties of my success is I'm very
self motivated. I really didn't have my family behind me.

Speaker 4 (01:02:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
Because I also wonder once you found your voice and
people realized it was so strong and maybe anti with
a lot of these other female singers or groups are
singing for somebody else, you know, writing or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
How long did it take for somebody and now tell
you to shut up?

Speaker 6 (01:02:38):
You know, I don't know. It's just it's kind of
like I just moved forward and I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:02:45):
Right, So you really persevere throughout all this what I'm saying,
like no family support and a strong female you know,
whole mission and lyrics.

Speaker 6 (01:02:53):
You know, you know in the beginning, God, I got
some stories. I remember when Dick Griffy send me out.
There was a woman by the name of Kat Miller.
I did my first song called beat My Face that
Drick Griffy is like you, here's twenty five hundred dollars
go on. And I got this girl named Cat Miller,
and I think you'll be really really good with a

(01:03:15):
producing her, you know, and she's out in Tennessee, so
I want you to go to Tennessee and work on
her song. So get the song. Went to Tennessee and
the engineer laughed. He would refuse to work with me
while I was there when I first walked in the door,
but when I left he became best friends. I think,

(01:03:36):
I think, I think when people see the talent, you know,
it's kind of like you can't you can't deny the talent,
you know, you can't, you know, And it's kind of
like the passion and the talent. And I know what
I'm doing and I enjoy what I do, so I
think once you get a hold of that, by the
end of the session, we were cool. He respected me.

(01:03:56):
He didn't have it, you know. I would tell him
what to do. He didn't want to do it at first,
but by the end of the session he was doing
it proudly, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:04:04):
So that's his excacted you to be probably in the booth,
not at the book exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:04:08):
So that's he moral, That's that's the way my life
has gone, you know, dealing with male males in the studio.
Whatever I think when they see the talent, they become,
we become, everything becomes really really cool in their appreciative
that had been in my space and I enjoy being
in their space.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Wow. So you're saying that them offering their two cents
of what they think it should be and getting unsolicited
advice where it's not even asked for.

Speaker 6 (01:04:37):
Listen, I have a clear vision, a clear vision of
what I'm doing. If I wrote it, I know the
way it sounds. Now. My thing has always been as
your vision or if you come up with something that's
better than mine, I'm receptive to it. But if it's not,
you know, I don't really like to compromise. That was
one of the reasons why it was difficult for me
to be in Climax, because I just felt stifled because

(01:05:00):
the compromising is very difficult for a person who who
was creative.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:05:06):
No, yeah, I just.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Thought about something I did read once was Penny Ford
in the original No.

Speaker 6 (01:05:16):
Plenty four suits Lorena Lorena. Lorena was with child. Okay,
she got clear and we needed someone to take her
place because we were going on the road. And during
that time, I did not believe as the leader of
climax Set there was a positive image for girls that time,
at that time, in the eighties, okay, in the nineties.

(01:05:39):
Now now women are doing it. But I just you know,
that was that just wasn't you never saw.

Speaker 4 (01:05:45):
That tradition following tradition.

Speaker 6 (01:05:47):
Yeah, yeah, so, and it was it didn't seem like
we had little young girls, you know, who were following us.
So you know, you know, it's right right, rightfully. So
she was married or she you know. But so Penny
was working for Ron Sweeney, that's the second as the secretary,
and Royn Sweeney was like, you guys really need to
take Penny for what she could sing. So Penny four

(01:06:09):
came in and she blew the house down and she
went on the road. I loved it. Okay, Yeah, we
talk all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Yeah, you know, she's uh. For those that don't know Penny,
it is probably best known as the the voice of
a snap I Got the power. Yeah, and amongst the
other things that you know, she's been sort of ghost
singing on.

Speaker 4 (01:06:37):
An her right now. She wanted shacka babies.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
She was, well, yeah, I think the story was that
uh Shaka Khan was actually supposed to do I got
the power and kind of. She admitted that she dropped
the ball just tole Penny go.

Speaker 6 (01:06:54):
I just did it. I just dropped another UK track
and with Penny Ford all over it. I love Penny
Penny Is. There's not many vocalists who can sing like
Penny for It. Penny Ford. It cuts, it cuts, you know,
And I always say with these with these female singers,
it's not about what your capable of doing is, but
how you make me feel, you know. And like Aretha

(01:07:15):
made you feel, you would pull over to the side
of the road and I got to find me an
angel and you would cry. Right. I'm sure you've had
that experience right well, either she made you feel. These
singers nowadays, they can sing and the apparatus is good,
but it's about what makes you feel good. And Penny for.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
There's there's a question I always wanted to know the
answer to for the next album, the self title record,
the Climax album. Did you guys work with Rod Temperton
or did he just submit the man size love song.

Speaker 6 (01:07:56):
No, we worked with him.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Please tell me what was like.

Speaker 6 (01:08:00):
We're going with Rod Temperton, you know, Carol bear Fager.
I remember it was all after after that the album,
everybody was coming, you know, we were going up and
smoking a joint with Carol beer Feger and you know
and all of them and Rod Temperature had man sized
lovel chould have been a huge hit. That's the biggest

(01:08:21):
pop that right. And he he had his come in
because he wanted to audition who was going to be
the lead vocalist on it. And of course I'm not.
I don't consider myself pious. I was just there, okay.
But Joyce. He didn't want Joyce Joyce what No, he
wanted Lorena.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
That's Iran. And considering that Joyce's voice, his voice is.

Speaker 6 (01:08:45):
Very specialized, it's very Michael Jackson. Ish Jackson wouldn't have
been able to sing man sized love. I need you
know you needed a man sized voice. That was that
was the difference between and I had my That's what
made Climax incredible. And and another thing that made Climax

(01:09:06):
incredible was we all knew our space. We know, I
knew what I brought, you know, and Joyce knew what
she brought to the you know, Lorena knew what she brought.
So it was like we just really step on each
other's toes. We were like, okay, you come in here
with your voice. It was really a cool thing in
the beginning. And Rod Templeton heard Lorena and He's like,

(01:09:27):
I want that big voice on it. So he chose
he chose Lorena.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Was that initially on the Running Scared soundtrack?

Speaker 6 (01:09:34):
Yes? Yes, okay?

Speaker 4 (01:09:37):
So?

Speaker 2 (01:09:37):
And also, I mean you worked with Dick Griffy, No,
Richie Rudolph, Well.

Speaker 6 (01:09:45):
He wrote Massized Loves with Rod Templeton.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Right right?

Speaker 6 (01:09:50):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I didn't see him. I met
him later at Tenda Marie's house, but I didn't see
him there at the session.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
I was going to say, when you became established, did
you did you have a clique, Like who in the
industry was like your did you have running buddies were
you cool with? Like who were your best friends? Like
who did you vibe with that were artists?

Speaker 6 (01:10:13):
Tina? Let me see, I would love to say bet Midler,
but that wouldn't be a true right I on one song? Yeah,
but we were you know, she just loved the song
and she did it. Let me see who did I
hang out with a lot?

Speaker 5 (01:10:34):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (01:10:35):
It was Tina Marie mainly Tina, mainly. I didn't really
have a lot of friends.

Speaker 5 (01:10:42):
Please Tina, please tell us, because she has been gone
for so long that please just tell people something about Tina.

Speaker 6 (01:10:48):
And I don't know how we became. Tina had a
lot of people around her all the time. You know,
she was the people person. So our times together were
very kind of solemnon with her and she come over
to the house, We smoke a joint and we talk
about life. She was so deep. Tina was no joke, okay.
And we would talk about her past, her life and

(01:11:09):
the things she was going through and relationships and all
of those things like that. And then one day she
called me up, Hey, come down to the studio. I
want you to be on this record. Okay. I'll be
down in an hour, okay. And then I called her back, Hey,
I got this song, come down. I want you to
be on this record. Now when I call somebody and
go I want you to build a record. Well it's

(01:11:31):
ten thousand dollars. You know, bad people call your people,
so you know further moment, Hey, let's go to Chicago, okay,
you know those days you could go buy your ticket
at the counter, right, and San Francisco, let's go hang out.
You know, it's not really not a bad story, it's

(01:11:52):
just really wonderful memories.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
I don't want any bad stories.

Speaker 5 (01:11:55):
I wanted great memories or things that we didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
You know, because so early we never just got to
know her.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
She was just, she was just you know, Tina became
my friend before I really went to any concerts of hers.
When I went to go to a concert, I was
blown away that this girl was my friend. All right.
I was getting out in the audience and she got
up a play guitars. She came out and the people
I didn't realize how massive Tina Marie was. And then

(01:12:25):
afterwards I said, wow, you're really something special, right, and
we laughed about it and it was it's all good.
It was. There's no really bad stories of me.

Speaker 5 (01:12:34):
Gotta be something made about her life, like she cannot
be forgotten.

Speaker 4 (01:12:38):
It's just very interesting. You know.

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
I can't really share a lot of things, you know,
because she you know, I can't, you know, but all
wonderful memories I can't really think of anything that stands
out that that I should speak about.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
I know, I know around this time you started doing
like production work on your own for other acts, and
I gotta know, like you're the history of you forming
Madam X My God, of which no, I'm telling you
I loved. I was like, ah, not not like why

(01:13:16):
did you give the song away? But just that type
of girl to me could have been just such a killer, killer,
killer climax song.

Speaker 6 (01:13:29):
I didn't write it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
Why did you give that song away? Oh? You didn't
write that.

Speaker 6 (01:13:33):
No, I didn't write it until I was you know,
I had moved forward.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Okay, So it wasn't like you had that song under
your hat before.

Speaker 6 (01:13:42):
No, that was a last minute song that was written
by you know, I was. I was working on the album.
I created the concept in my mind. First of all,
let's talk about the beginning of these three girls. I
still have a concept right now. I just don't understand
why we don't have a three girl group right now.
I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:01):
Group.

Speaker 2 (01:14:03):
Why is the only guys? What's the group?

Speaker 6 (01:14:06):
Where's the band? Where's the two guys and one girl?
Where's the female migos? I don't get it. I'm not
grabbing onto right right right had a climax. That's a
climax exactly, you know. You know. I came up with
this concept of the girls and I didn't even have

(01:14:26):
the group yet, and I met with Sylvia Roan. Sylvia
Rome was interested in the concept, so she came down
to out to l A and she met with me.
I told her about the concept. I want to do
this in a way I want him to look and
this is how I want him to do. She says, great,
I'm gonna sign it the concept. I said, okay, So
we did the deal with Ron Sweeney and negotiator. Ever,

(01:14:49):
I learned a lot from Ron, you know, and uh
then I started formulating the group. I got the three
girls who were came to be Metal Max started working
on the project, and I needed this last song, Okay,
I need Okay, it's just I'm listening to the album.
I just don't hear I don't hear a clear big

(01:15:12):
single and Cornelius Mims bass player, Yeah, yeah, okay, Cornelia's
hit me up. I got this track baby, come on over.
And you know I got this thing, baby, I think
you go dig it. So I'm like, okay, come on over.
I'm at the studio. I'm at studio masters. He came by,
he played this, he played this track, which was actually

(01:15:34):
a back it went. He was working on the song
and the song went backwards. What Yeah, he was working
on the track and something technically happened and the song
started playing backwards. That's the track. That's just that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Type of girl. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
Mistakes, Okay, Yeah, shout out to bad engineers man all.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
Over the world.

Speaker 6 (01:16:00):
On all my song's mistakes. I don't do I don't
do the perfection thing all the time. You know, if
it feels good, it's staying, you know. But so you
brought me this backwards track and he says, baby, you know,
it was a mistake. It went backwards, and I'm like,
I love it. I love it. So I took it.
I said, leave me a track, and I took it,

(01:16:20):
and I wrote the lyrics.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
I got to tell you like it's I meant for
nineteen eighty seven. It was a very unusual sounding song.
Very shocked that it hasn't been sampled or I still DJ.
I still played to this day on my DJ sets,

(01:16:43):
and I'll say that at least thirty to forty percent
of the time someone will think that I'm playing something
like new like it just it doesn't. It didn't sound
like anything that was in the marketplace at the time.
How come that project was short lived? Like? Did you
manage the band as well? Lord?

Speaker 6 (01:17:05):
You know, you know everybody's equal in poverty and that
that statement comes from mister Dick Griffy himself, who I
had a chance to visit right the day before he
passed away, and I was able to thank him for
my career, okay, And everybody started pulling at these girls
when I when I created that, you know, and a

(01:17:26):
certain manager, I don't want to say any names, but
a manager came in who I really was told not
to work with. And the next thing, I know, the
girls that went by my back and signed with this manager.
And Sylvia was not happy with it. And there was
a clash, all right, and things got really out of
control and things got crazy, and that's what happened to

(01:17:48):
Mane Max pretty much. And they they didn't want to
you know. And I'm gonna tell you something. Plus a
lot of women don't like to do this is with
other women. A lot of women don't want other women's
telling them would to do. They would rather a man
tell them the wrong way than the woman to tell
them the right way.

Speaker 5 (01:18:04):
And now call that trauma, generational trauma.

Speaker 6 (01:18:09):
And get I even get that to this day, women
don't want other women in control of them, you know,
and then they.

Speaker 5 (01:18:16):
Want a man, right, they want to manage it.

Speaker 6 (01:18:22):
So it became this thing where they you know, the
guys were pulling them and then you know, I'm gonna
give you a solo deal and I just said, go,
I'll put another group together. And you know, it became
a big It became a very big, a misunderstanding and
a horrible thing. And the manager who pulled them away,
Sylvia wasn't happening so happy with it. So it was

(01:18:44):
a It was a horrible thing. So I tried to
go forward with one of the other members who now
is passed away but passed away from cancer.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
Which which one passed away?

Speaker 6 (01:18:54):
That was there were Dickie, there was Iris, and there
was Alisa, Alisa Alsa, the.

Speaker 2 (01:19:03):
One that did the athlete.

Speaker 6 (01:19:06):
Ye I see once again, once again, I love the
beauty of finding your strength, your strength, your strength together.
We got a band because everybody can't do the same thing.
So we had we had Valerie who was that uh
you know that Grace Jones kind of vibe. You know, man,

(01:19:27):
you know, did we have Iris who had a more
jazzier vibe that we had Alisa who had who could
saying sing the same thing? You know, Yeah, it's the
same same sing. So I tried to do a project
with Alisa, but it did the vibe was all gone.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
Now.

Speaker 6 (01:19:43):
But that's what happened to Madame Max. That's a problem.
There was no that's it. That was it. That's what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
What was producing other acts, like a pleasurable experience for you,
like working with Sherlynn and w you know, look, you know,
I'm not even gonna fall down that rabbit hole, but
this is not the first time I've heard that sort
of response.

Speaker 6 (01:20:10):
You know, every everything has their stories, you know, and
I have, you know, with Cha Lynn. I enjoyed Chaolyn.
Cho Lynn had to manager. We just for whatever reason
didn't really take to me. So I just remember Jerry,
Jerry was an engineer. That's when I first met Jerry
Brown Brown. He was with Cha Lynn and he says,
I'm working with you, and then you know, Pebbles told
him he was working with pebbles, and pebbles says either

(01:20:32):
Bernadette or me. He says Bernadette, So Jerry and I
have been together every since, you know, but that's what
I meant, So cha, Lyn, you got you know, every
every story has a little thing that comes up out.

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
I've heard the stories, you know people I.

Speaker 6 (01:20:48):
Did Peoples and when she was dating Howard Hewitt, right,
and I was doing this song called the Empty Sex
that I wrote, which was which was a big which
is a big voice record, you know, and once again,
I have specifics of how I wanted that song to
be you know, performed, and she had her ideas.

Speaker 4 (01:21:10):
So she didn't really have a big voice though.

Speaker 6 (01:21:14):
You know what, if you listen to the song she did,
we did a heck of a job. She cried and
you know how you would came in telling me, well,
I didn't know what I was doing, and but you know,
you know, but I got the best out of her.
You know, every every there's been a lot of situation.
Once again, the man, so.

Speaker 2 (01:21:34):
You're are you? You are you demanding when it comes
to your your art and the people that you work with? Yes, yes, okay,
I can respect that.

Speaker 6 (01:21:44):
Demanding in the sense of I already see when you
write the song. You have a clear vision, right, you
know how the melody goes, you know how it should be,
you know what it should sound like from that perspective.
I'm not mean or difficult, you know, I'm just the
man on trying to get the best out of you.

Speaker 5 (01:22:03):
I'm just curious if you've talked to I mean, it's
only a few. I don't want to say it's a
few of your peers. It's it's a lot of women
behind the scenes making music throughout the years. However, have
there been some peers that you've you've spoken to and
had like these similar experiences. Because I'm listening to you
and I'm thinking, I wonder how Missy you know Elliott, Yeah,
like from her beginnings and earning her respect and then

(01:22:24):
getting getting telling other women and other men what to do.

Speaker 6 (01:22:27):
You know, Missy Missy was probably she came up with
that hip hop world and she was who was the
person who was? Was it Diddy whom? Yeah? So you
have what you got Kimberland behind you. They much, you know,
But I was used by yourself. Yeah, I was by myself.
So with Timberland is saying, hey, this is missus, She's
gonna tell you what you do?

Speaker 4 (01:22:46):
Who are your peers in that way?

Speaker 5 (01:22:48):
Then Bernie that like, who are the the other sisters
that have been through the the same thing?

Speaker 6 (01:22:52):
I don't know. I don't know, you know what. I
got a story when I was forming Climax, I asked
Cheeria be in it? Okay, why said only if as
Sheila and Climax.

Speaker 4 (01:23:02):
Well, I mean, y'a drummers, but you know she wanted
to be.

Speaker 6 (01:23:07):
Yeah, you know what, you know what she's bad? Okay,
I give my props to Sheila. Okay, yeah, but that's
just a story, nothing bad about it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:18):
It don't have to be bad, right, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:23:22):
You guys want you know, you just want the good stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:23:25):
We don't want.

Speaker 6 (01:23:27):
No. I got a lot of stories, but I'm just
so like a protective of a lot of people, and
I don't want to say too much. But there's a
million stories, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
So I kind of say this not for last but
because I never knew, even though I know that that
v H one thing was on the air, I didn't
see exactly what went down. But I do not know.
Have you guys Climax employed it?

Speaker 6 (01:24:01):
You guys, you guys, have you got anybody were a
that recient Billboard article about you, about you anybody right
now if you want to google it Billboard and climb
actually see what just happened.

Speaker 4 (01:24:13):
It just came out.

Speaker 6 (01:24:15):
Well, so it's probably last month, two months ago. Did
you hear about Climax being inducted into a woman's house
songwriting house of hall?

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
Sounds familiar?

Speaker 6 (01:24:27):
Okay, we heard. We heard about it too when it
was And then I'll get back to the VH one thing.
But let me started the VH one thing because it's
a prelude to this. Okay, during this particular time, Go ahead, I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:24:40):
Sorry, no, no, I just I want to know what
the straw that was that broke the camel's back that
led to the breakup of the group or for you
to leave because another group went on without you, like
good Love and whatever the other songs were. But you
know what was it like to leave the band that
you started?

Speaker 6 (01:24:59):
There was power struggles and when you is difficult for
individuals to say. And this would be a better place
if we were able to do this. I'm jealous of
the fact that I put in equal amount of work.
Is you all right? I've been in this band at

(01:25:19):
the same time in you, but all people want to
do is focused on Bernidad Cooper. It's very very I'm jealous,
I'm angry about it, and I'm mad as hell. Okay,
at that point, we could talk about it and we
can get through it. But what happens with people is
they start to nitpeck, and they start to get in
groups and go against you and all of those kind
of things like that, which makes me, being from a

(01:25:42):
family of women who have attacked me, when I'm in
a corner, I come out fighting for survival. So I
kind of felt like there was nothing big major blow
upers fight other than the fact is I got frustrated
with half I need to compromise my creativity for people

(01:26:03):
who really didn't want me to be successful or wanted
me to move forward in life passed them. So I
made a decision after being I would say at sometimes bullied.
I was feeling bullied that I didn't no longer want
to be in this situation and there was the biggest

(01:26:25):
move in my life. But I just asked you because
I wasn't happy and I had to move forward. That's
pretty much it. And I tried to stay, but it
was this particular member in the group was the treasurer
of the group, and I said I would stay if
we got a real treasure and not you know, we've gone,
we've gotten bigger, and this particular treasurer of the group,

(01:26:46):
I would like in the outside treasure. I'll stay if
I get my money and my things individually, because I
don't want this particular person to handle.

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
And they were like, no, wait, I have a question.
So at this point in your career where there's platinum
singles and YadA, YadA YadA, you guys are still operating
on that sort of level where like I'll collect the
payment at the end of the gear, Like you don't
have a business manager.

Speaker 6 (01:27:15):
Or what we had, but we had a treasure in
the group, and I didn't feel good about this particular situation,
and I was like, no, we need to go to
another level, because it's about levels, and it's about vision,
it's about growth. Everybody doesn't. Sometimes you just simply out
grow a situation. That's pretty much what it is with claiming.
I just simply outgrew the situation where it's like a relationship,

(01:27:38):
you're married, do you want to go back to your
ex wife? No? You know, because you guys are going,
you know, because you've out growth the situation, you know,
it doesn't mean anything other than that. But yeah, we
were still operating on that level, and this particular individual
ended up being the problem who's still to this day

(01:27:59):
is collect thing royalties that we don't know about. Now
let's get to the VH one situation. So the group
had expanded it for a while, and you know, Joyce,
you know I had to say, hey, let's get the
group back together. No, no, no, I don't. I wasn't
feeling that if everybody was going to make that first move,
I felt that it should be me. So I didn't
go forward with that. And I never got a call

(01:28:21):
from this person at all. And next thing we know,
she was trying to trademark the name and it got
we found out about it and it stopped it. But
that's when the VH one came in. And then after
the VH one story came in in the in the
when I saw how people were still very very much

(01:28:42):
focused on climax of wanting to do things and shows
and things like that, we decided to move forward to
do some touring. Okay, here we are twenty twenty one.
If you will read then we got to.

Speaker 2 (01:28:56):
Yeah, I mean I'm reading it. Yeah, the headline is
clan don like the look. Okay, you want to say
the name, Okay, I want to say member.

Speaker 6 (01:29:06):
Well, it's up to hear whether you want to say it.
It's in billboard.

Speaker 2 (01:29:10):
Yeah that was your quote.

Speaker 6 (01:29:13):
But you know, so this individual has been doing all
these and savory things, bringing the bringing our brand down
to your typical band that plays at the local UH
food mart for for five hundred dollars, you know, using
the name. So we tried to get her to stop,
and she admitted that she would stop, and that she

(01:29:35):
would only go out because you know, as sure Cooley
for formerly of Climax or client. We have that on tape,
all right. So then I get a call one day
that all of our all of our publishing on Asktap
and on aspaps specifically, had been changed. Our publishers split,

(01:29:57):
including Rod Templeton, including a bunch of people, the publisher,
all the splits, all the splits, all the writers shared
have been changed into Show Cooley's name.

Speaker 4 (01:30:08):
How can you do that legally? That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:30:11):
Nobody turn away from the farm and listen.

Speaker 6 (01:30:16):
Listen. People are not paying People just weren't paying attention.
You know, So anyway, let's move forward. Sony gets involved
because they own half of that publishing from the Post,
so they get involved. There was Sony an ascap trying
to figure out how this person got in and changed
Jimmy Jams publishing read Writers splits Climax not just us,

(01:30:43):
Roy Templeton, all of these people come, yeah, sure COOLi
So anyway, moving on. We called them, I said them
a letter. They fixed it. She changed it back somehow.
Then we got we woke up to wow, Lorena said,
because Lorena and I we speak all the time. Shout

(01:31:04):
out to Lorena, who's recovering from a cancer scare. All right,
we just did a project together us. Really good. So Lorena, uh,
she goes, hey, you got you know, look at this
article and an article states a Climax Climax will be inducted
into the Women's Writing Hall of Fame. All right, and

(01:31:27):
we were honored. We finally came together as a group
as being honored. Oh my god, I don't you know,
we don't get along, but oh my god. So we
waited around, you know, a week or two. I said
a letter, thank you, We're honored, Linsen. The letter thank
you Joys said it wow, no response. Finally, finally we

(01:31:50):
got a hold of the people and they were like, well,
we're given the honor to Ryl Cooley. So we were like,
wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait
a minut and it I you know, in kind wrote
a letter, No this Climax's group. No, you have to
show us who owns the name. Shore was telling people
that she owned the name. And and apparently this individual

(01:32:12):
who's over this has some connection with Cooley and she
was dead set on giving Koly this award. COOLi does
a right right, I put a name on I put
Cooley's name on Heartbreaker just because we're in the group.
We didn't write none and so.

Speaker 2 (01:32:31):
But yeah, and it looks like you guys are abandoned,
right right, and this situation. To get out the.

Speaker 6 (01:32:39):
Situation, the one song that we did was never undermestigate
the power over woman Shoe Cooley and I did that,
excuse me, the very first song. But other than that,
cho Cooly is just not a writer. I'm not saying,
you know, she's not a hit writer. Let's put it
like that. And if you look at if you look
at all the names, so she she happily went up

(01:33:02):
to accept this award. Right, So it was on such
a big platform of Billboard being announced. People were calling me, Hey, congratulations,
and I'm like, okay. So I called bill Board and
I'm like, you guys have to give us a chance
to respond to this, because you know it's not right.
You know, they didn't say we're given award to climb

(01:33:24):
sure a coolie of climax. They said climax, and that's
that's a big coming from So Billboard we did a
you know, we responding, We responding and Billboard, you know,
to try to set the record straight to make people understand.
And also, you know, Billboard grabbed onto that astap story

(01:33:45):
because that was a big story with all the changes
being made. So that's it. So I just sent out
to see sent assist and hopefully, you know, because she
was intent on going out as Climax and the original climate.
You're not the original Climax, you know, So let's just
that we can at least, you know, with the Truth
and Music Act, you can go out and you can perform.

(01:34:06):
Nobody's trying to stop you, but you gotta play fair,
and playing fair is climax. That's what you and Music Act. Okay, yeah,
are you familiar with that?

Speaker 4 (01:34:16):
I wasn't until you said that. I feel like I
should be there.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
Yeah, I think I heard about this with Dennis Edwards.

Speaker 6 (01:34:21):
Well, Mary Mary Mary Mary Wilson of the Supremes, she
helped to enact that law. That is, if you are
a an individual member of a group that was successful,
you have the right to go out using their name
to make a living. Yeah. Yeah, but you have to

(01:34:42):
be original member, you know. And and that's why you
see so many groups kind of like, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:34:50):
Going so many different versions of groups, like a lot
of climaxes on the internet.

Speaker 6 (01:34:57):
There's a lot of climaxes on the Internet. I'm trying
to separate that now and I'm really evolving into Bernadette
Cooper and putting out music. But you know, I can't.
It's synonymous. Bernida Cooper is pretty much synonymous. So I
can't escape it. But it is what it is. There's
nothing that can be done about it.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
Presents the climatic divas, right.

Speaker 6 (01:35:18):
Right, you know, so and when we go out, you know,
climax is much bigger than just Bernadette Cooper. Climax is
coming with the hits so Bernida Cooper has a whole
the whole other album drama. According to Bernadette Cooper, yeah,
it's it's you know, so yeah, so Joyce is going
out with her concept. Shout is going out of a concept,

(01:35:39):
and you know, everybody's allowed to do it. And the
main thing is we're doing the hits and people are
it's keeping the hits and people's memories. So that's the
way I look at it. I'm not tripping about it
no more.

Speaker 2 (01:35:52):
There's just no ice cubes chance in hell that this
can come to a place where you guys.

Speaker 6 (01:36:01):
We'll just I'll say never, say never. But I have
a clear vision of where I want to go with
the second with the second half of my life, you know,
talk about it, which includes because when you go back
into the group scenario, it becomes that whole compromise thing.

(01:36:21):
I don't want to compromise at all. I don't want
to compromise anymore. My you know, life is short. I
want to be able to do it my way and
at the end of the day, go, oh, you know,
Frank Sinatra, I did it my way, you know, and
it kind of like no disrespect, but you know, that's
that's the way I feel about it, and I don't
want to shed you know, history is history, and everybody

(01:36:44):
has history, and everybody has things they say about the
members of the band and all of that. But I
would never It's all good. We had a great run,
we created history. We should be honored.

Speaker 4 (01:36:57):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:36:57):
I don't understand how they could do these rock girls
alive and girls listen.

Speaker 4 (01:37:02):
I was curious. I was like, did Beyonce ever come out?
Does she know?

Speaker 5 (01:37:06):
Because the whole girl band that she had going on,
I was like, I'm curious.

Speaker 6 (01:37:09):
If she knew the the girls in the band. No
woman who play instruments. Okay, that's what matters, you know,
But you know, not to you know, not to come
off vain or egotistical or any of those things, because
you know, I'm just I'm pretty even, but I'm cool.
I'm cool. I just want to move forward. And the

(01:37:32):
girls are entitled to use the name. And if anybody
is out there and you go see Climax, teacher and whoever,
and if we're all playing fair enjoying the music, you know,
because yeah, so when I'm long gone, that music could
still be going on, you know, yes, And that's pretty.

Speaker 4 (01:37:51):
Much it's like interview themselves.

Speaker 6 (01:37:56):
And I'm going to ask myself a question.

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
Yeah, yes, I'm just.

Speaker 6 (01:38:00):
Playing with you guys. I mean no, no, no, I'm no,
I'm good. I'm just you know, just moving forward. That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:38:12):
That's beautiful.

Speaker 6 (01:38:13):
Didn't we didn't talk about drama? According to Bernie that
Cooper was.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
I'm about to go there.

Speaker 4 (01:38:18):
That's a question. No.

Speaker 2 (01:38:19):
I was going to ask when when when you finally
got to that came out in nineteen ninety, I believe
you got the drama, Bernidette Cooper, How liberated did you
feel and in it falling on you and like being
your own artist, being your own voice, Oh my gosh,

(01:38:41):
Like was it was it a breath of fresh air?
Or that can that much freedom can also be scary?
So for you, what was it like?

Speaker 6 (01:38:50):
Freedom? You know, it's a r I equated very much
to what's happening today, even though a lot of people,
I mean, we're able to put out music freely, you know,
put it on you know, CD baby or whatever and
put you music out. But back then it was freedom
to me, you know, being in a band. And you know,

(01:39:10):
probably that's why the album was such a cool album,
because it was my first taste of freedom.

Speaker 2 (01:39:17):
Wow, Okay, I agree him and a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:39:20):
Of people was on that album. Lenny Kravitz, Uh, there
was a Paulino Dacors. A lot of people played on
because Jerry Brown was bringing in all those major musicians.

Speaker 5 (01:39:33):
That funny because as Lenny Kravis and you went back
from the the scene of being in California back in
the day, because I know he was a little younger,
but I know he was out and about before he
was supposed to be too.

Speaker 6 (01:39:43):
Yeah, I met him through Tina. He used to hang
out at Tina's.

Speaker 4 (01:39:46):
You said, you was gonna give us a Tina story.

Speaker 6 (01:39:48):
What they come to me? I know, I met him,
you know, through Tina. He would hang out at Tina's house.
You know he was he was dating Lisa Burnett at
that time, you know. So I asked him if he
would playing. He came and playing, but but he didn't
immediately got to deal with Version Right Records, and he
told me he couldn't. He didn't want me to credit him,

(01:40:11):
so you won't see his credit on the album. But wow,
yeah he played on it. He played on Let's be
the screen about it. That's Lenny pull funky guitar.

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
Yeah, okay, now I got to revisit that. Okay, yeah, wait,
can you explain? Okay, have the set a long long
time ago? The Howard Hughes song. Can you like the
way that your mind works? Like how do you even go?

Speaker 6 (01:40:46):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:40:46):
What was I know that the whole that album elevates
your your personality and even more. But like from the beginning,
like who was the who conceptualized that record? It's far
is really bringing your character to life?

Speaker 6 (01:41:04):
I did? I remember I had the free I had
the freedom to do that and taking things from a
song by a song by song bassis and living and
looking at what I had and what I needed, you
know too, Yeah, I just took it. You know. I
would listen to the song that Jerry and I. Jerry
and I did a lot of that, talking about it

(01:41:25):
and conceptualizing what's needed. Oh you need something really funky?
Now okay, let's see the street about it. Mini Cravis
is coming. Okay, what do I need? I knew something
about a woman who's just you know, who's looking for
a wealthy man, because that's the reality of the world.
You know, women, women love to be they love the security.
So that's how Howard Heels sitcom came up. Yeah, that's

(01:41:48):
how that came up. There wasn't some experience. It was
putly from you know, just thinking about what's missing and
what's needed.

Speaker 2 (01:41:56):
Well, you also mentioned Lou Silas, who you know, of
course has had major success and has left us. But
what was he like as an executive?

Speaker 6 (01:42:08):
Oh my gosh, Lou. Oh going out on the road
with him the first time. He was a point person
who would take us around to the radio stations and things.
And he got a fixation on Lorena, so you know,
uh so we would go out on the road to
deal with that all the time. And he was very

(01:42:31):
very he had he had great vision and he would have, Hey, Bernadette,
come come on down to the studio. I got a
concept and I want you to put a concept on this.
I think, you know, just talk and put the microphone
in from you. He was very good at bringing people
together and as a businessman, you know, Loul signed me
as he signed me as a solo artist, so he

(01:42:53):
was wonderful. He was at MCA he says, you're one
of the first acts I want to sign, and he
signed me.

Speaker 2 (01:43:00):
That's what I was going to say, Like I know, like,
was he more of a suit or was he really
a music guy?

Speaker 6 (01:43:07):
He was a music guy. He had ideas, he had vision,
he knew how to bring the right people together in
order to achieve a certain song, a certain thing on
an album. Because you know, after I did the mental pause,
he says, Okay, you got to come back with that
same thing on Meeting in the Latest Room because that

(01:43:27):
was so popular. That was one of the things that
people remember, I need that same thing on this particular album,
Meeting in the latest film. So we went to Lara
Bie and he turned the mic on and I said,
I had to leave my condo to come to this,
you know, And that's how that happened to him.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
Yeah, you know exactly. Wait how did you How did
you even know? Uh, it's so weird because you know,
if you really look at the character that you built,
I mean, it's so it's such a precursor to what
hip hop became ten years later. Like you are probably

(01:44:11):
the first person I ever heard name drop like Versace
name Yeah, names I never heard of before that rappers
would start just I became their birthright ten years.

Speaker 6 (01:44:22):
Later, and in Tiva. In Tiva, I was fearless. You
have to understand. And I was and I was in
and I was in too close and they started sending
me close and I just kind of like, I just
kind of spoke my mind. I wish I really allowed

(01:44:42):
myself to have. You know, now you have to be
a little bit more resolved because everybody is so sensitive
and the things that you say.

Speaker 4 (01:44:49):
You know, but that's what age was for, so you
don't have to do you know.

Speaker 6 (01:44:54):
You know, I even think about it, you know, I
even think about my demographics what they want to hear
from me, you know, they you know, and I don't
want to continue and be a caricature of my old self,
you know.

Speaker 2 (01:45:05):
So I was going to say, do you get tired
of having to turn it on in a snap like
other days where you just wish like you never had
to invent that character too?

Speaker 6 (01:45:17):
You know, I'm naturally a comedian, so I'm always that
comes very easy from me. The character is easy. The
character is more easier than me being myself. You know. Yeah,
I could bring the character, and I'm much more comfortable
on stage than I am anywhere, you know, so I

(01:45:37):
don't struggle with it at all. I don't struggle with
it I I'm working on now in the product that
you hear me putting out is kind of the the me,
the evolution of Bernadette Cooper and me who has evolved
into the woman, and kind of like slowing down a
little bit so that I can perform my song was

(01:46:00):
way until you know, I get older and older, my
songs will be able to And I wish I could
do a song on an album on Janet Jackson is.
I think she would be good at doing that so
she doesn't have to get up and do rhal domnation
and all of those things. That's a lot to be
dancing and all that. You know, now's the time to
kind of slow it down and go into the new

(01:46:21):
you and your and your demographics will follow because they
they're there too. They're there too. There's train age, you know.
So that's what I'm doing right now with the projects
that I'm that I'm working on.

Speaker 2 (01:46:33):
You know, one more thing, It just hit me. Did
you at any point did you ever consider, uh, the
the sort of going down the acting lane because you
were so charismatic, you know, I never you should have
done movies.

Speaker 6 (01:46:55):
You know, I've had many people come to me. I've
even gone to auditions. I flupped. Oh my god, my
mouth one more. It's not for me. That's somebody.

Speaker 4 (01:47:05):
The audition.

Speaker 6 (01:47:06):
I'm just like, you know, panic, that's for somebody who
has who has studied. I've gone there and live literally
couldn't read the lines. My mouth wouldn't move. I was
so afraid. I said, this is not for me. I
don't have I don't have up to get I don't
want to support. But you know what I have a
passion for, and that's coming out. And here's here's a

(01:47:27):
commercial that I'm gonna drop that I'm doing audio books.

Speaker 2 (01:47:32):
Okay, yeah, I doing.

Speaker 6 (01:47:34):
Fiction and I'm doing the characters with soundtrack and all that. Yeah.
Yeah's really really episodic adventures. It's really really going.

Speaker 4 (01:47:45):
To love that transition.

Speaker 6 (01:47:47):
Yes, and I love it. I love it a couple
the newest one where I've written. I've written several books.
I haven't released them because I'm creating the audiobook from
these concepts. But the new one, The Strokes, is coming
out probably in Jerry is mixing the last song, probably

(01:48:10):
maybe December, if not December, first of the year. And
it's really really cool. It's because I'm looking at the
our demographics and women now being a majority of the
bread winners. But we're busy. We're taking the kids to school,
we're going to work. Then we got to get off work,
and we got to go pick up the kids. Then
we got to come back home, and then we got
to cook and get them to bed. We don't have

(01:48:32):
time to read a book. So these episodic adventures are
things you can put in that you can listen to
on your way to soccer practice. You know it comes back,
and they're so funny and exciting. The first one is
The Strokes. It's a racial thing about a woman who's
transformed by a a racist white woman who's transformed. Something

(01:48:53):
happens to where she has to be transformed by a
black woman who's in her proximity, and she changes for
the best. And they're all situated into a nursing home,
and you also get the characters. And because if you
ever go into a nursing home, which I've been in
a lot of them, because I've been dealing with my
grandmother and my mother's health, there's some old souls in there,

(01:49:16):
some unresolved souls, And if you listen to those people
who are ninety years old. They're putting these racist white
people in with black people, and there's a lot going
on in those songs.

Speaker 2 (01:49:26):
Interesting, but it's.

Speaker 6 (01:49:28):
Interesting because you learn about the souls and the things
that they've gone through. So this, this particular this sourst
Out of Your book kind of explores that you know
that pretty much, if you don't take care and resolve
those negative spirits and those spirits in the inside of you,
now they follow you until the rest of your life.
So that's what this book is about. Yeah, Yeah, it's

(01:49:51):
really I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:52):
I like that.

Speaker 6 (01:49:54):
Yeah, I've been talking to you. I've been you know,
I've been talking to some heavy hitters about it, you know, HarperCollins, Oh,
talk about it. Yeah, and Patrick Ovid Harper College. We've
been discussing it for for a while. And it's just
so it's such a new concept. It's not your typical
audio book that he doesn't know what to quite. We're

(01:50:16):
trying to fit it into it because the beauty of it.
Quest is also the soundtrack is.

Speaker 2 (01:50:22):
Available, right, Okay, Okay, Wow, I'm glad to know that
you're still having dreams and you're you're you're still manifesting
it and the fact that you know, you allowed us
to you know, gave us the honor of being your

(01:50:44):
audience to to really learn of your story and your history.

Speaker 6 (01:50:48):
And thank you, you.

Speaker 2 (01:50:50):
Know because again, like there there weren't platforms like this
when I was a kid wanting to know of my
favorite groups that I saw on television. And you know,
like if you weren't in right on magazine, it wasn't
like Rolling Stone was going to take the time out
to give you guys the same building that they would
give like the Go Gos.

Speaker 6 (01:51:07):
Or that's exactly exactly. Yeah, absolutely, wow, absolutely, But I'm
honored to to be here really yet and you invited
me onto your show. This is like really a cool
thing for me.

Speaker 2 (01:51:21):
Wow. Well I'm glad you did it, you know. Yeah,
Ladies and gentlemen, the the the Immortal Burnon de Cooper
or in Quest Love Supreme. I thank you very much
for coming.

Speaker 6 (01:51:32):
Thank you girl band.

Speaker 2 (01:51:37):
Uh, Sugar Steve and Ficolo you have to say on behalf.
Can we say goodbye for ourselves? Look, dude, this is
my love piece and soul dude all Sugar Steve Yeah
and unpaid Bill. You got any last words, sugar Steve? Yeah? Anyway,

(01:52:00):
We'll see you on the next go round. Yo, what's up?
This is fante. Make sure you keep up with us
on Instagram, at QLs and let us know what you think.
Who should be next to sit down with us? Don't
forget to subscribe to our podcast, all right peace?

Speaker 1 (01:52:24):
What's Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. For more
podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Laiya St. Clair

Questlove

Popular Podcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Crime Junkie

The Brothers Ortiz

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Questlove Supreme: Bernadette Cooper