When you hang out with Mike Calhoun, you can’t help but catch his infectious enthusiasm about music and life. Not only is he an accomplished writer and musician, he is also a founding member of the Grammy Award Winning "Dazz Band". Having been in the music business for close to forty years, he will be the first to tell you that “it’s not all glamor and glitz.” He stresses that you must be on top of your game and to always remember “it’s a business, not just music,fun and games”
Watching him play the guitar, you get the feeling that each of his fingers have a mind of their own. My eyes are glued to his hand as it dances up and down the fret board. Miraculously it always lands on the perfect note. “Forty years ago I prayed to God and asked Him to make me a guitar player. Be careful what you ask for.” He winks at me and starts on another precise riff.
It is obvious that his prayers were answered and some! Looking back on his career you see God’s hand everywhere. He started out in the seventies with Isaac & Michael Wiley to form“TeleFunk"Then 'Kinsman Dazz” named after their home venue. As "TeleFunk"They started drawing big crowds and eventually got discovered by William 'Sonny"Jones, and Ray Calabrese. When they became 'Kinsman Dazz" Mike wrote "Makin Music"This put them on the golden road to Hollywood where they worked with Marvin Gaye and then Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire fame.. After that they were introduced to Joe Simone who helped them get signed to Motown with the help of a song "Invitation to Love" written by Mike. It was also the title of their first Motown album.“My days at 20th Century Fox and Motown were something, the golden moment of my career was when Marvin Gaye told me that I was the glue of the band.He had us all play our parts solo,and single me out as the glue of the band. And when Jerry Lee Lewis compared me to Chuck Berry(I did his duck walk and played a few riffs) at the topping off ceremony for the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Imagine that!” he shakes his head, “That was something else.” There was also the Billboard number two hit “Let it Whip” and the smash “Joystick.”
Mike Calhoun is living proof that hard work must accompany talent with prayer, and he emphasizes the importance of drive: “You must be ambitious and self motivated to make it in the business, and if I had the chance to do it all over again I certainly would and not change a thing!!”
To flip the coin, I have to ask him what he thinks is the biggest hardship of the business “let me share a Hunter S. Thompson quote given to me by Sammy Free: ‘The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There is also a negative side.’ Yep” he nods still agreeing with the quote.”I’m glad to be doing gospel music now. Much less rats in the race!”
Through the years Mike has been a mentor to many aspiring musicians and writers. “My advice to anyone starting out today is this: learn the business.” This is advice that he obviously takes himself.
With Mike, the future is always brighter and he gets very excited talking about his upcoming projects. “My album will be released this summer(God willing)on ‘RubyRose/Fontana/Universal Records’ A label fronted by Mr.Kermit Henderson of Bone Thugs n Harmony fame.He is the only person who still believed in me enough to sign me and give me another shot at the charts.He has over 90 plus #1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 singles and album charts and countless other awards and accolades ,so he knows a thing or two about the business to say the least,and he is also and old friend.Look out for my first single ‘God’s Got My Back.’ Looking back I can tell you this; He sure does!”
Mike’s overall message is 'Unto thine own self be true" one that he holds dear to his heart. “He is Able” is also a track on the upcoming disc co-written by yours truly.
After spending time with Mike Calhoun, I feel encouraged and ready to work hard. As an aspiring author myself, I think that I will follow his example and ask God for more talent, and a whole lot of drive. After all, Thanks to him I heard a song that I co-wrote on the radio. It is a good thing that I was not driving or I would have driven off the road. What a moment!
Thanks for reading,
Suzy Levi
Also check out the Calhoun/Levi-Whelan smash song "Back Home at myspace.com/suzyleviwhelan
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