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Bobby Caldwell INTERVIEW Featuring "What You Won't Do For Love" by Gary Baca and Lalo Alcaraz
Manage episode 312003057 series 3212053
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Hosts: Gary Baca & Lalo Alcaraz
KPFK August 2017 Bobby Caldwell Biography
Bobby Caldwell was born in Manhattan but grew up in Miami. His mother sold real estate, and one of her clients was reggae singer Bob Marley; Caldwell and Marley became friends. Growing up in Miami exposed Caldwell to a variety of music, such as Haitian, Latin, reggae, and R&B. He grew up listening to the music of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
When he was 12, Caldwell started playing piano and guitar. He was drawn to rock and roll, as well as jazz and rhythm and blues. At 17, he worked with his band in Las Vegas then moved to Los Angeles.
He signed with TK Records in Miami. In 1978, after songs for his first album were recorded, executives told Caldwell they enjoyed the album but thought it was lacking a hit. Caldwell returned to the studio for two days and wrote "What You Won't Do for Love". TK was mainly an R&B label popular among African American listeners. Executives at the label wanted to conceal the fact that Caldwell was white, so they kept his face off the album cover. When he toured with Natalie Cole to support the album, most of the audience was black, and many were surprised that he turned out to be white.
"What You Won't Do for Love" reached the top ten on the Billboard magazine Pop (No. 9) R&B (No. 6), and Adult Contemporary (No. 10) charts. The song has been covered, remade, and sampled many times. Caldwell remade it in 1998. It was covered by Go West, Phyllis Hyman, and Boyz II Men, and has been sampled by Tupac Shakur. It was also covered by Elliott Yamin during the fifth season of American Idol in 2006. The 1980 track "Open Your Eyes" was sampled by J Dilla on Common's "The Light" from his 2000 album "Like Water For Chocolate".
Gary Baca YouTube Page - Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/GaryBacaTV
Lalo Alcaraz - www.pocho.com
Email: ThePochoHourOfPower@KPFK.ORG
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