Behind the Music: What You Won't Do For Love

 Singer Bobby Caldwell, famous for the song "What You Won't Do For Love",  died on March 14th, 2023 in the arms of his wife, at the age of 71. My first introduction to him was at the beginning of his career, when a "boyfriend" showed up at my house on Valentine's Day with the red, heart-shaped record that had been pressed especially for this occasion. He played it for me, I liked it, and then I broke up with him a couple of days later. I wish I still had that record now: it's probably worth a lot of money! But I digress...

Mr. Caldwell had that smooth, soulful, R&B crooner voice that I really liked. Where had this guy been hiding? Actually, he hadn't been hiding: he was being hid and there's a difference. He was born in New York but raised in Miami. He started his career playing rhythm guitar for Little Richard before he began his own career in the late '70s. The album cover for his debut album featured a silhouette of a man watching a sunset. You can't see his face. That's because the record label didn't want his race identified in that R&B market, since he was white! To this day, there are still many people who don't know or hadn't realized that he wasn't a black man. Yep: apparently at that time Miami wasn't quite ready for "blue-eyed soul". And to this day some people still believe his voice was dubbed!

Anyway, when he started touring with Natalie Cole he couldn't hide his identity. And he shouldn't have had to. But along with being a singer/songwriter of his own music, he also wrote for other people. He penned the Amy Grant / Peter Cetera song "The Next Time I Fall", among other songs for other singers.

"What You Won't Do For Love" was covered by artists such as Boyz II Men and Michael Bolton.  It was also sampled by Tupac in his song "Do For Love". Other hip-hop artists that sampled his songs included The Notorious B.I.G., Common ("The Light" sampled from the song "Open Your Eyes"), Lil Nas X and Chance the Rapper. John Legend did a cover of "Open Your Eyes" from the sophomore album "Cat In The Hat".

He transitioned into recording and performing American standards in the  1990s, including songs by Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. He released his last album, "Cool Uncle", in 2015. 

As per Regenerative Medicine LA, his health had declined after suffering severe side effects from consuming a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Such a shame...

Although Bobby Caldwell will be missed, thankfully his music will live on.

My Newest Obsession

 Ever since I was a little girl, I've always had a radio or some kind of music playing all night. I had some anxiety as a young girl and music soothed those anxieties. When I grew up, I was so used to always having music, I couldn't sleep without it.

What I listened to over the years has changed, of course. But for many years I listened to the Classical channel. Loved it! But at 4 a.m. they had to have public programming since it was an NPR station, and I found it annoying so I switched to a religious station for overnight.

Approximately two years ago, I went back to Classical and that same public programming was on! But this time I actually listened to it. It was a half hour program called Capitol Connection, followed by a half hour program called Legislative Gazette. Oy vey: political shows???? So I laid there with a mad face as I listened to these two shows.

I am not a political person, but every Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. I would wake up and these shows would be on. So I listened to these shows! And after awhile: they became very interesting to me. I knew nothing about New York politics, but boy I know a lot now. And I love it!

Dr. Alan Chartock (WAMC) interviews a New York political figure each week and what I have learned is so fascinating. I learned names and scandals and I always wondered who these nefarious people were, and I'd google them. But I couldn't get all the backstory until...I started listening to past shows! What a wealth of information, and I could put the stories and names together, fill in the blanks to figure out how scandalous these politicians were. So far, I have listened to all of the shows going back to 2014 so I know who those scalawags are and what they did. Names like Todd Howe, Sheldon Silver, Joe Percoco and many, many more became so very familiar to me. And my new hero was Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the southern district of New York from 2009 - 2017. From listening to episodes about him and how he cleaned up a lot of political messes and put the bad guys in jail: he is a rock star!

I got to know the names and voices of a myriad of reporters: Ken Lovett (NY Daily News), Yancey Roy (Newsday), Casey Seiler (Times Union), Jimmy Vielkind (Wall Street Journal) and my personal favorite: Jesse McKinley (New York Times). We are even Instagram friends and we occasionally correspond. 😊 As for guests, some of my favorites are State Senator James Skoufis, Director of the Siena College Research Institute Dr. Don Levy (I was even picked to do one of the polls!), New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal peoples-Stokes, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and UUP President Fred Kowal. The one person I couldn't stand was Nick Langworthy, NYGOP Chairman because he was always mean to Alan Chartock. Rude!

So I have gone from non-politics to all of the politics! If I can't sleep, I'll go to Capitol Connection on my phone and listen to some favorite episodes. Currently those are the pandemic, Cuomo's ouster, two interviews with Preet Bharara and any interview Jesse McKinley has done. I listen until I fall asleep. Not because they are boring: but because they are soothing and sound like the voices of old friends.

Of course I have no one to talk to about my new obsession. You know Kitty has no interest and Brie says, "Really Mother? Shouldn't you be sleeping at that time?" I should but I just want more and more of Capitol Connection.  I want to share my newfound knowledge. Yep: I'm just that nerdy!

So google Capitol Connection (WAMC) and give it a whirl. You just might get addicted too! And I know you'll learn a lot about the politics of New York State. If I can: so can you 😉