Roy G. Hemmings is interviewed by Brad Henshaw on Brad’s Basement, the series recorded at the new Rockefellas TV’s studio in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
At the end of the interview, Brad even joins Roy in a pitch-perfect rendition of Jackie Wilson’s famous hit (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.
Jim Simpson of Big Bear Music, a consultant producer helping to find and set up interviewees for Brad’s Basement, explained how Roy has become one of Birmingham’s hidden gems, now living in the city’s Harborne suburb.
Simpson said: “Soul fans will love this hour-long interview with Roy, who first surfaced in the leading Birmingham soul band The Stringbeats, but really came to fame singing the 1976 hit Disco Music – I like it with the J.A.L.N. Band, produced by Pete Waterman.
“He and I are both besotted with the recording process and one night in 1982 we were talking about studio daily rates and how, when asked how long they meant by ‘a day’, some studios would glibly say ’24 hours’, knowing no band would perform for that long.
“So we drafted a cunning plan to record for a non-stop, 24-hour session at the Chipping Norton Recording Studio to produce a 12-inch, 45 rpm single called I’m For Real c/w Jump Up for Big Bear Records, which became a small dance floor hit in Brazil!
“Roy, of course, also had a fantastic career that has taken him around the world with The Drifters, including two performances for President Bill Clinton, one of them in the White House in Washington.
“And yet few people know that this soul icon still lives here in Birmingham’s Harborne suburb, one of the city’s hidden musical gems.”
In the Brad’s Basement interview, Roy tells how he eventually ended up in Birmingham due to local nightclub owner Eddie Fewtrell, who regularly booked him at his venues, including The Cedar Club and Barbarella’s.
Simpson added: “Roy talks about all that and much more during the interview, but he and Brad then really lift the roof with a fabulous version of Higher and Higher, recorded over the original backing track recorded 30 years ago by Roy, in Birmingham. It’s a real treasure to listen to!”
Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Roy left the island at a young age and lived in both the USA and Europe, creating his first band called Stax Explosion in the 1960s. He was spotted and enlisted to join the iconic Drifters, becoming the band’s longest-serving member, working alongside lead vocalist Johnny Moore for more than 12 years.
The Roy G. Hemmings episode of Brad’s Basement will air at 7pm on Thursday 12 November. Rockefellas TV is available via an app of that name, which can be downloaded to any smart device or smart television, and at www.rockefellastv.com. The interview will also appear on the Rockefellas TV YouTube page here.
Big Bear Music Group has been based in Birmingham since 1968. Its operations include Big Bear Records, probably the UK’s longest established independent record company, which is at the forefront of jazz, swing and blues, with more than 100 album releases.
Since 1985, Big Bear Music has organised the annual Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, Europe’s biggest free admission jazz party every July, bringing international bands to venues across the West Midlands. Big Bear Music also operates Henry’s Blueshouse, Birmingham’s home of the blues since 1968, with weekly gigs at Barbara’s Bier Haus on Broad Street. Henry’s Blueshouse blog and weekly Bluesletter features interesting stories, music and video from the past, present and future of blues.
Big Bear Music is also an agency forartists, booking a wide variety of acts for public events and private functions. Itrepresents touring bands including King Pleasure & The Biscuit Boys, Tipitina and Lady Sings The Blues and more.
Since 1987, Big Bear Music has published The Jazz Rag, a bi-monthly, nationally-distributed magazine of news, which was winner of the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best UK Jazz Publication.
Big Bear Music has a rich photography archive stretching back to the early 1960s, featuring some of the most illustrious names in rock and roll, jazz and blues.
