Tag Archives: Marilyn and Billy

As we lead to our official FOREVER 5th DIMENSION 15th anniversary next month, today as the country celebrates #Juneteenth, we bring you a major “practical” excerpt of one of many past, very special exclusive interview moments with Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. This one has much to do with the duo’s collective and individual technique as artists and interpreters…an exchange that’s not only a must for avid fans but for singers & musicians. Enjoy! ~~Robert-Allan Arno #BlackMusicMonth2022

Robert-Allan (R):  Each time we chat, we take time for our segment, “Master Class with #MarilynBilly”… 

Marilyn (M) and Billy (B):  Laughs 

R:  Marilyn taught me many years ago about what her coach Eddie Beale taught her as a teen, that “a song is a story to tell, and if people can’t understand your words, you might as well not be singing.”  Billy added to it saying, “What Marilyn was learning from Eddie as a young girl, I was subscribing to as a young guy, starting out…the lyrics were always so important to me.”  Marilyn then added that Billy was always the one to help the members of The 5th with the interpretive side. 

M:  Yes, he did… 

R:  I got emails from all over the world from artists, new and seasoned, young, old, who were so hungry to hear your take and so appreciative of your tips, so today I’m going to open our “#MarilynBilly Master Class” with a very specific question.  I find as someone who coaches voice-actors, singers still seem afraid that if they deconstruct the lyric, learn the story as Billy is talking about, something you did early on even in your 20’s with Jimmy Webb‘s work, they’re afraid it’s going to cheat the bombast, the pyrotechnics of the vocals.  Could you talk to people about how they work hand-in-hand.  So many fans comment that “Marilyn and Billy should be mentors on American Idol (or The Voice),” so thanks for gracing our forum here. 

M:  Well yeah, I know today that people just really wanna’ show off their chops, and it does sell.  So, we can’t say, “Mmm, mmm, don’t do that,”…but not everybody needs to do that.  Because if you do that without feeling it, and that’s one thing Billy always promoted–that it’s gotta come from within–and if you’re only up there trying to show off “I can hit this note, I can go up here, I can hold it this long…and oh wait till they hear me hit this top note…” 

B:  …Then it just doesn’t mean anything.  A lot of times when you do that, it confuses the audience, it gets mixed up with vocal calisthenics…and all of a sudden, the audience is saying “Why are they doing all that, why are they doing all these runs, it’s just not making sense right now!”  

M:  There’s an audience out there that loves to hear that, so I wouldn’t say that if that’s where you wanna’ go, then don’t go there.  But make sure if you’re going there, it’s not you trying to sound like Mariah Carey going there.  For instance, with Alicia Keyes, she sings and does some very interesting things with her voice, yet she still tells her story. 

B:  Exactly right, don’t let a vocal get in the way of the story of the song… 

M:  And with Alicia, she’s a musician, and her musicianship comes through her interpretation.  But it’s still true Alicia Keyes.  And I think that’s what’s most important, the artist has to be true to who he or she is.  When you’re developing your style, you may borrow something from this artist and take a little something from that artist because you like the way it sounds, and your voice sounds good doing it.  Those are all the explorations that one goes through in discovering who you are as an artist.  

B:  For example, you want to make note runs to emphasize… 

M:  …the moment!

B:  Yeah, or to increase the intensity of that word, to let it stand out because you’re saying something that’s important in the storyline.  You are a storyteller and you’re making a magical moment! 

R:  That is gold to hear that from the two of you.  Would you ever consider doing a formal Master Class? 

M:  Sure! 

B:  Yes, I think we have a little experience… 

All:  laughs 

M:  It’s a wonderful thing to take the things that we were taught, when we were coming up and then from all these years of performing.  We are so thankful that we have been able to sing for a living all these years.   

B:  Amen.  This is something that both of us dreamed of doing when we were kids.  And to be able to hold our voices together, God has been good to us for that too because we’re singing our songs basically in their original keys.  Yes, we’ve learned a few things in the process…   

M:  And to share what works for us with other younger artists coming up, or not necessarily younger artists, artists where we give and take and still learn from others.  There are artists out there, and they’ll share something with us, and we’ll be like “What…wow, I’ve never thought about it like that!” You know a classic example, back in the ’90’s…Seth Riggs…do you know his name? 

R:  Absolutely, premier vocal coach to the stars…Michael Jackson… 

M:  Yes, and Natalie Cole, Barbra Streisand, amazing people. 

B:  And you two. 

M:  Yes, and we’re honored to have our name on that list. 

So, Scott saw me doing a performance on television, and he called my manager and said, “I would love to work with Marilyn and to show her how she could hit some of those notes that she wants to hit…how to hit them in a different way.”  So my manager called me and said Seth Riggs can help you increase your range, strengthen your voice, and help you hit some of those notes you’re trying to go for and so I went to him and Robert, he really helped me.  This was in the 90’s and although I’d been singing for almost 30 years, along comes Seth Riggs to teach me something else new.  And Billy worked with Seth, too, he helped Billy to use all his vocal abilities in exciting ways and that’s why I’m saying we… 

B:  …We’re never to old to learn and to know it all!  There’s always something more to gain. 

R:  I’m truly impressed if not touched.  I ask you what you would offer as teachers and as excited as you are about the prospect of doing that, even doing a mini-Master Class in this interview, you turn it all away around and talk about you’re never being too good to learn. Now, that’s an amazing lesson for people to learn because obviously people think of Billy as one of our greatest Soul singers and Marilyn as one of our most impressive contemporary song stylists and torch singers, and people would think you have nothing to learn and here you’re selflessly saying with joy, “Hey we’re open.” 

M:  And we’re open today, we’re learning things from our musicians who we work with…of course, we’re the oldest ones there (laughs) 

B:  (laughs)…but we all have a good time with our group.  It’s not that hard to do, you just put it in your “computer” that you don’t know everything…and once you realize that you can open yourselves up to learn. 

M:  You can learn from a teenager; you can learn from a young singer…”How did you do that?” (laughs) 

B:  (laughs) “Show me that again!” 

M:  “What does it feel like in your throat when you did that?” 

R:  That reminds me of what I remind my students the great Maya Angelou said, or I think her mentor when she was a young girl, Miss Flowers told her, “If you really love poetry, say it…feel the words over your tongue.” 

B:  That’s right…savor it. 

R:  No wonder why you two never get tired of performing when you keep it fresh and open…you know, as sophisticated as you both are, you sound like joyful children talking about it…your artistic secret… 

M & B:  Laughs 

M:  So often we hear from people in our group, in our generation putting down today’s music and we felt it’s not right, that they don’t relate to it because you relate to the music that you made your memories by.  But if you listen to the music just to hear the quality of song, there’s good music out there and we felt like we should honor some of the good new stuff.  We want to deliver it the best way that we feel we can, which means don’t just try to do it like they do, do it in your own way and in so doing, people will start saying, “Yeah, OK, I guess there is some pretty good music out there!  Here’s someone doing it that helps us to understand it a little better.”   

R:  You know that brings home what you always taught me from my very first interview with you guys at the Regency here in New York City.  “You Don’t Have to Be a Star” had just hit Number One and there I was repping my college radio station in a cheap ’70’s corduroy suit… 

(Laughs.. )

R:  But seriously, Marilyn told me, rather emphatically that, “One should never rest their laurels,” as an artist.  And the other thing was, do what you need to do as an artist, as a celebrity, but make sure it’s true to you. 

B:  That’s the way we feel, keep expanding but if we’re trying to sound like something we aren’t, first it’s not going to be accepted, and it’s not going to be our best performance because we’ll be trying to mimic someone else.   

R:  And we want Marilyn & Billy…we want that sound. 

M:  We can deliver the best Marilyn and Billy that you’ll ever want!

Join #MarilynBilly at their official website for up-to-the-minute 2022 concert, TV & recording news at http://www.mccoodavis.com

(Forever 5th Dimension by Robert-Allan Arno, a production of The Soul of The Voice, Ltd., copyright 2008-22, intellectual property, all rights reserved. Concert photography courtesy of The Deniserose Torres Collection and photos from the Arno 5th Legacy Collection. Pen/Ink 50th Anniversary Sketch of #MarilynBilly by Ephraim David Udoka, Nigeria. 40th Anniversary painting of #MarilynBilly by Kenneth Green — in loving memory of Kenny.)