How
did you sign to Motown in 1964?
A year later I got my own group together, I kept the
name Tommy Good and the Tabs. That's when I defined my style. We were
spotted at the Duchess Lounge by Bernie Yeszin, Motown's photographer.
We were performing Jerry Butler's For Your Precious Love, I was jumping
on Johnny Ace and Tony Bennett's stuff too to widen the repertoire. Bernie
asked me if I was interested in signing to Motown. I was like, of course,
are you crazy? He said he was going to tell Clarence Paul, he was acting
as Stevie Wonder's manager and of course a fine singer in his own right.
He came along and I got up there, did my best, sang You're A Wonderful
One, Dimples, Money, The Way You Do The Things You Do, The Nearness Of
You, Leaving Here, Honky Tonk, Tobacco Road, My Funny Valentine, Over
The Rainbow, Can I Get A Witness, Maria from West Side Story. Well Clarence
went back to Motown after telling me I was signed and he brought Berry
Gordy down and that was a huge event. Berry was impressed. He had a song
already for us, he said, Bad Bad Baby. I went down to Hitsville, signed
the contract and Berry started playing Bad Bad Baby immediately. He started
working out the chords and lyrics and was eager to see how I was going
to deliver it. It had a real blues feel to it, I really enjoyed the song.
We went into the studio live, we developed the bridge together, the drummer
helped out, we were all feeling our way together. They finished the song
in New York adding the girls' voices, the harmonica and guitar. I like
the sparseness of the song, there's space in it. It's not overplayed and
I've no idea why it never came out. It sounded great to me.
|