Legendary Interviews
Tomi Jenkins - Of Cameo
By the time Cameosis came out in 1980, Cameo had gained considerable momentum through singles such as "Shake Your Pants". Albums such as 1981's Knights of the Sound Table and 1982's Alligator Woman saw the band playing up their eclectic style.
However, by the mid-1980s, Blackmon and crew were ready to move on. With Alligator Woman in 1982, Cameo stripped down to "five main members", still keeping a full band for shows. Then Gregory Johnson quit, making it a quartet: Blackmon, Tomi Jenkins, Nathan Leftenant, and Charles Singleton; keyboardist Kevin Kendricks would later be brought more into the creative fold .Tomi Jenkins, who released his self-produced CD The Way in 2005, is writing and recording his follow-up EP. He is also the music supervisor/producer on the film Icemosis, the story of a 1970s fictional funk band. The film is in music production and they hope to have the film released in 2013. He is also the author of a murder mystery entitled "Crime, Love and Honor" which he is autographing and selling at concerts.
Bow Legged Lou- Of Full Force
​The group produced and wrote music for UTFO, Doctor Ice, Samantha Fox, Patti LaBelle, Jasmine Guy, The Force M.D.s, the R&B all-female groupEx Girlfriend, Britney Spears, James Brown, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, La Toya Jackson, and Selena. Full Force produced UTFO's "Roxanne Roxanne" (1985), a record that led to several answer records, most notably one by Roxanne Shanté. The group produced Rihanna's 2005 hit "That La, La, La," which appears on her debut album Music Of The Sun. The Black Eyed Peas' worldwide hit "Don't Phunk With My Heart" was also written as a collaboration between Full Force and will.i.am of the Peas. Full Force wrote and produced most of the singles from La Toya Jackson's fifth studio album La Toya, including "You're Gonna Get Rocked!" "You Blew," and "Such a Wicked Love," as well as Patti LaBelle's track "I Got It Like That," for which it also provided prominent background vocals from her 1989 album Be Yourself.
Full Force provide backing vocals on two Bob Dylan songs recorded during sessions for Infidels: "Death Is Not the End" (released on Down in the Groove (1988) and "Tell Me" (released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991).
Although not included on the soundtrack, Full Force's track "Ain't my Type of Hype" was the track used in the dance battle scene with Kid'N'Play.
Full Force's biggest hit (production-wise) from the 1990s was the Backstreet Boys' hit single "All I Have to Give." Full Force worked with Prince's ex-wife Mayte on her album Child of the Sun. However, the songs were all produced by Prince, so they remained unreleased. Full Force also contributed to the production on Blaque's 2002 unreleased album, Blaque Out, and was then featured on Lil' Kim's 2003 release, La Bella Mafia, on her song "Can't Fuck with Queen Bee.
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Chris Jasper - Of The Isley Brothers
is a former member of both the Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley. He is also a successful solo artist and record producer, recording a number of his own solo albums, and producing artists, for his New York basedrecord label, Gold City Records. His keyboard and Moog synthesizer work was a primary ingredient of the Isley Brothers sound of the 1970s and 1980s.
Jasper is a classically trained musician and composer. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and received a degree in music composition from C.W. Post, Long Island University, New York, where he studied with the jazz pianist and composer, Billy Taylor.
After having jammed with neighborhood teenagers Ernie and Marvin Isley,[2] and being added on as a brother-in-law after Isley Brothers memberRudolph married Jasper's sister Elaine, he was added to Ernie and Marvin's older brothers' band, The Isley Brothers, in 1969.
Jasper's first appearance on an Isley Brothers album was 1969's It's Our Thing. In 1973, Jasper, plus Ernie and Marvin Isley were officially added to the group. Jasper's keyboard work played a pivotal role in Isley Brothers hits such as "Fight the Power Pts. 1 & 2," "For the Love of You Pts. 1 & 2," and "Between the Sheets."
In 1984, Jasper and the younger Isleys left the Isley Brothers to form the splinter group Isley-Jasper-Isley. Jasper sang lead on the group's biggest hit, "Caravan of Love."
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