• Home
  • About
  • Classes
  • Research
  • Events & Seminars
  • Transfluencers
  • Hot Links
  • Contact Me

TransactionalPR

~ Community-Identity-Communication

TransactionalPR

Category Archives: Music

Nick & Jerry made music and history

24 Wednesday Aug 2011

Posted by metagcarstarphen in Music

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Black Music legends, cross-cultural, Jerry Leiber, Nick Ashford, R&B

This week, we lost two musical giants, literally within a beat and a song between them.  One was Jerry Leiber, who was part of the musical team of Leiber and Stoller.  Jerry was the one who created lyrics to Stoller’s music, and their list of hits runs long.

The 78-year-old artist had more hits than I have listened too, I confess.  But, he is the man behind one of my all-time, favorite songs, Stand by Me.   The 1986 soulful version sung by Ben E. King is the ultimate anthem of loyalty, and love.

The other loss was Nicholas Ashford, half of the Ashford and Simpson team that rocked the charts with hits for artists like Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye.

Like Jerry, Nick was the poet of his team, the one who found just the right words to fit the right beats.  For me, and millions of his other fans, the song that just sums up the Ashford & Simpson magic was the one they recorded, Solid As A Rock  This is a grown-folks love song that tells you what it takes to keep a relationship going after the thrill of the chase is a memory.

When Jerry shared his background in interviews, he told his story of a Jewish kid who loved Black Music  and grew up in a poor African American neighborhood in Baltimore.

Nick grew up in Michigan and grew up in the Black Church, with the power of gospel music as his inspiration.  He found his way to Harlem where he met his future wife, Valerie, and together launched a successful career and marriage.

Jerry and Nick came from two different worlds but they shared a love of musical styles that came from the same alchemy of blues, rhythm and pop and African American traditions.  Their hits made devotees out of listeners all over the globe,  crossing boundaries with each ton 10 hit they created. Our debt to their combined talents is enormous.

Sometime soon, treat yourself.  Listen to some of their hits with a glass of something sweet and hopefully immersed in even sweeter memories.

That’s what I’m doing tonight.

Share this:

  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Google
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Dr. Meta G. Carstarphen

Professor
Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication
405.310.9081
mcarstarphen@ou.edu
**Check out my personal blog about learning, life, and engagement at http://metaprof7.wordpress.com

Poll

Become a Facebook fan

Become a Facebook fan

Follow me on Twitter

  • RT @TheBlackSchlr: How W.E.B. Du Bois Meticulously Visualized 20th-Century Black America hyperallergic.com/476334/how-w-e… 4 hours ago
  • RT @BleacherReport: LaMelo Ball says on Facebook's 'Ball In The Family' that he plans on playing college basketball and has talked to USC &… 4 hours ago
  • RT @tylerperry: This picture was taken in my library with @BarackObama in 2015. I bought these chairs at auction. They were once owned by A… 4 hours ago
  • RT @NatGeo: Divers encountered this 26-foot long pyrosome—which is not one, but up to thousands of individual organisms called zooids https… 4 hours ago
  • RT @DavidBegnaud: Regarding the millions of water bottles that FEMA left on a tarmac in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria (so they… 4 hours ago
Follow @DrMCar

Blog Topics

  • Conversations
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Ethnic Media
  • Film
  • Food
  • History
  • Identity
  • Influencers
  • Literature
  • Matters of Faith
  • Media Relations
  • Music
  • Observances
  • Politics
  • Public Relations Campaigns
  • Uncategorized
  • Volunteerism
  • Women's Words

Archives

  • June 2015
  • March 2015
  • July 2013
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011

Calendar

February 2019
M T W T F S S
« Jun    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728  

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,234 other followers

Blog at WordPress.com.

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: