"I Want To Know"

In 1967 when I first started living at the Hollywood Studio Club in Los Angeles, the equivalent to the Rehearsal Club New York, I didn’t know one single soul except for a high school classmate, who lived in Bel-Air and my uncle, whom I had never met before, who lived in Santa Monica.

The studio club was a spacious rooming house for young actresses, dancers, writers, basically young girls, trying to get into the business. Unlike the other girls, I didn’t know anything about ShowBusiness, but I was a songwriter, and the studio club had a beautiful Steinway Grand Piano and a very small parlor grand in a separate room, where artists could work and practice. Many famous names had lived at the studio club over the years -from Barbara Stanwyck, Kim Novak, Marilyn Monroe to Farrah Fawcett to name a few.

My formative composing years there consisted of working with a couple of artists at the club, writing songs, then pounding the pavement and banging on music publisher’s doors. In those days we could just walk in off the street and sit down at the piano and play our song. It was pretty simple.

I was searching for a direction when a vocal prodigy, Lydia Marcelle, a teenage popstar from New Orleans, who had just been signed with Atco, moved in. She was temporarily living at the studio club when I met her, & I was so stunned by her 2 1/2 octave range (Many people compared her to Judy Garland) that music ideas started percolating in my head immediately - I’d never heard anyone sing like her - Her NO hit records had all been bubble gum and teenage pop romance, but I was going for a bigger challenge - something that could really show off her voice-but she had to like what I was writing. I had to convince her she was going to be the next vocal sensation with my songs.

The unifying connection that put us all together was the great jazz orchestrator. Arrange Producer from New Orleans, Harold, Battiste, Jr.. Having moved to Los Angeles to work with Sonny & Cher he signed me as a composer to his publishing company, and he and I and Lydia started to produce and record a series of songs.

The first song, "I Want To Know," started off as a straight arrow pop song - we did all our recording in Hollywood at a little hole in the wall studio called Hollywood Central. Basically, Harold put together a rhythm section (Bass, rhythm guitar, percussion) I played piano and and Harold usually added vocal harmonies and Brass.

In those days you never put down your tracks and added your vocals later -we did everything live. Lydia was a true professional. She could do a song in one or two takes. "I Want To Know" was no exception. We were laying the foundation for a more advanced arrangements and orchestrations. If we generated interest with a song, we would try to get a contract with one of the big studios. This is how it all started.
And we were on our way!!