April 13–20, 2000
music issue
Soul Side
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Famous flame: Bobby Byrd |
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interview by Gregg Foreman
Bobby Byrd is a brother that should need no introduction. In the world of funk he is one of the godfathers; as a singer and piano player in The Famous Flames he was James Brown’s most valuable appendage. Byrd’s family sponsored Brown’s parole in 1952, thus forming the alliance that would become Funk! Throughout his career, from the Flames (which became Famous as Brown’s backing band) till his flight from the JB coup in 1973, Bobby Byrd did it with style and soul.
Gregg Foreman: You began as a gospel singer in Georgia, and your relationship with James Brown actually started when you two crashed into one another on the baseball field?
Bobby Byrd: Well the way it was, when we ran into each other, we talked and he told me that if he had a place to stay and a job he would be able to get out [James was in a work camp]. So he got with my mother, and my mother got with her people and they got him out of the camp.… Then he came to my hometown, which is Taccoa, Georgia, and joined our gospel group [the Starlighters].
Most people don’t know how vital you were to the R&B/soul we know as the James Brown sound. But you were probably the most important piece at the get-go. And at what point did it go from your band to James Brown and the Famous Flames? And why?
BB: We went from the Gospel Starlighters, to the Flames.… The Famous part came later. We had a lot of controversy about the famous part. People would say, "Famous, how you gonna be famous, you just from right up the road," [laughs].… But James and his manager, after [their first single] "Please, Please, Please" was cut, decided to change the name to James Brown and the Famous Flames.
As the main man in the Famous Flames, you saw a lot of member changes. I read that it was up to you to keep the new members up on all the routines and things like that. What was that about?
BB: Aw yeah, as far as the new players were concerned, I had to get together with them and teach them the routines. If a new horn player or bass player came in, I’d have to get the arrangement, and get with them one-on-one and show them exactly how things went… or they’d miss something, so I was always the one that had to take care of all of that part.
How did the sound go from that sort of hyper-soul, blues vibe of the Flames, to the funk-soul of "Ain’t It Funky Now" or "It’s A New Day"? I mean, that’s a definite difference.
BB: Oh, yeah, it came from our new drummer, which was Clyde Stubblefield.… He came with this drum beat, and everybody listened to it, ya know? Now the first person who actually had the beat was a young man named Melvin Parker [Maceo’s brother]. He came in, and we heard his, and his was a little light. Clyde Stubblefield came in and we heard that, and that was it. So we reset everything — syncopations, everybody playin’ a different part and joining that part together, which became very funky. We looked back and said this was it. We thought it’d change everything, and it certainly did….
What was the best of all the Flames or JBs lineups?
BB: My personal favorite was Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, St. Clair Pinckney, Clyde Stubblefield (of course), Jimmy Nolen (on guitar) and Wayman Reid. I think that was the best sound. The reason why I say this is you could look at someone and just motion, or sometimes not even motion, and bam! They’d know where to go… bam! Be right on key… bam! And the groove still stayed there.…The Famous Flames, though, we had our routines all by number, number 39, 69, 12, 3, etc.… So if [James] called number 39… bam! You better be right on it.
I heard sometimes during a show, James would call on different people within a song, I mean alternate drummers, etc., during a groove and you’d have to be ready to pick it up?
BB: And the groove better not change! [laughs] Why he did that was he didn’t want to wear the drummers out. The shows were long… so you had to stay up on it so you didn’t work one to death, cause you could in his show.… So that’s why we had two drummers. At one time, we had three! We always carried two of everything.
How do you feel about people sampling your records?
Vicki Anderson [a.k.a. Vicki Byrd, Bobby’s wife and a onetime Brown backup singer]: I’m honored. I only wish we’d get the financial dues, which we never get….
BB: Yes, my manager, my former manager, the last time we spoke said my voice has been sampled on over 137 albums… and I’m honored… but I think you should give us credit, and of course the money part of it too….
VA: I think they give the money, it just doesn’t get to us.
BB: All of the stuff goes to James.
On the other hand, how do you feel about bands like The Who or The Stones emulating you and getting very popular while at it?
VA: I think they opened doors where we probably couldn’t go.… They may reach a crowd who’d otherwise be like "Who’s Bobby Byrd?"… That’s what they did for us.
Were there any live or studio disasters, ’cause the image never hints at any flaws, yet there’s gotta be something.
VA: Everything was always pretty good. You had one take. If you missed, then it was too late!
BB: Yeah, you’d prepare if you had a chance to, you had to be professional enough! It’s like getting on the stage and starting, and if the people don’t move, you gotta be ready to switch that to something else.… Nothing ever really went wrong, and if there were mistakes, it always seemed like part of the show [laughs].
Do you still communicate with James or the JBs?
BB: Oh yeah, indeed. [James] was thinking of doing a reunion of the whole JBs!
And everyone would do it?
BB: Oh yes!
VA: But our money would have to come directly to us!
What about the future?
BB: The King Queens album and tour [featuring most of the JBs’ singing ladies and Bobby Byrd] and my new record called It’s in My Blood.
Thanks!
BB: I want to say thank you and that you are a very polite and well prepared and stylish young man!
