Welcome to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kaye. Hello, how are you today? I hope your answer is just awesome. Well, one guy who definitely answered that question in the affirmative is this week’s special guest.
He’s singer Jerome Little Anthony Gordine, who was born in New York in 1941. While at high school, Jerome formed one of the first ever doo-wop groups. I wonder if you remember this song, released back in 1957.
You don’t remember me, but I remember you. T’was not so long ago, you broke my heart in two. Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart, caused by you.
You. Little Anthony became known for that high-pitched voice, and his group, Little Anthony and the Imperials, has enjoyed one of the longest career runs of any doo-wop group. In fact, they’re still around today, and Little Anthony is now 84 years old.
Hello. Hello, how are you? I am very well, considering I had some challenges that we all get when you become a senior. Well, you’ve just come off the road.
You’ve been touring again. You’re amazing. I just did one of the longest tours I’ve ever done since I was 24.
And it was in 1965 with the Dick Clark tour. Myself and Dionne Warwick and the Drifters, we kind of held our own, and we just kept selling records. If we could start anew, I wouldn’t hesitate.
I’d gladly take you back, and tempt the hand of fate. Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart, caused by you. That was the last tour I did.
I just sent a link in to a Facebook thing where they showed a picture of me. And Fabian and myself were sitting in the front seat, Dick Clark was to the right. So I hadn’t done a tour like that.
And I was a young man then, 24. Everybody was concerned about, wow, man, you sure you can do a tour like that? Eh, it’s only 47 days. But what happened was they kept adding on and adding on.
And it’s a very popular thing. It’s the Turtles and the Cowsills. It was a huge success, but this is not good for guys my age.
In fact, Gary Puckett was on there, and Gary and I were the oldest two. That’s the Happy Together tour that you were on. Happy Together tour.
And they just keep packing them in. But the artists are getting a little bit older, a little bit older, a little bit older. And so you have to make a lot of adjustments to that.
And we live about maybe 85% on a bus, which is a luxury bus. It’s great. It’s got everything you want in there.
It’s not like you’re sitting in some chair like we used to do back in the day. You’ve got your own berth. We called it racks.
And I was across from Mark Vorman of the Turtles. Mark and I kept talking to each other during the night. He had issues, and so he had me watch this thing.
But other than that, if I were to do it again and they asked me, I said no. The age factor, even for a young person, it’s a challenge. 61 cities.
We did almost the whole United States. Where we are, that’s not a good thing. So I had to make a real family decision.
Everything I do is with the family. And we all decided, nah. I think even my doctor said, He said, you know, you’re a very healthy dude, but I don’t think you should do that.
You’re pushing the envelope. I’m glad I did it, because it was fun when we were so tired. It was pretty cool.
The people in the world They are a boy and girl Boy meets girl and love begins Oh, what a feeling you get from within For I should know, cause I’m in love I’m the boy who told the girl all the stars above Little Anthony, how does it compare to when you first did a tour like that in 1965? You mean in the Stone Age? Of rock and roll? Man, there’s no comparison, because we used to sit in seats. They had a bathroom in there, but it was a bus seat. You lived in those seats.
All your stuff was up in the top. And I remember the one tour I was on with Jimmy Reed, the great blues singer, who did You Got Me Runnin’, You Got Me Hidin’, You Got Me Runnin’. I don’t know if you guys, but it was pretty big in the States and around the world.
But he had a problem. He had a drinking problem. And he would forget to eat.
And, you know, the Platters were on the show, on that bus. These are the kind of people on that bus. Joe Tex, the Platters, Laverne Baker.
I can’t remember everybody, but myself, Little Anthony Imperials. And you’re sitting in this chair, and you’re young. So you have all this energy to compensate for any challenges you might have because of the conditions you’re in.
So, say today, people say in their 40s, 50s, 60s, could never do that. You just can’t. You have to be in your 20s where you just can bounce back.
You know, we didn’t have all the antibiotics and things you could take. When a guy got a cold on the bus, everybody got wiped out. But when you’re young like that, Sandy, you don’t think about that.
You’re so excited about being who you are and being on stage and performing. It’s just, you know, I think I was back in the streets hanging out about a day and a half later. I mean, that’s youth.
Now, today, no. Even though it was comfortable in there, all these provost buses here were mostly country singers started doing. And at one point, they got kitchens and TV.
You got everything you need. Satellite television. So you got everything.
But it’s still hitting the road now. Buses still bouncing, and you’re still in your 30s. No, there’s no comparison, Sandy.
Sitting in a native hut all alone and blue Sitting in a native hut wondering what to do Along came a native girl, did a native dance It was like in paradise, put me in a trance Going shimmy, shimmy, go, go, bop Shimmy, shimmy, bop Shimmy, shimmy, go, go, bop Shimmy, shimmy, bop Joined her in her dancing spree Felt my smile tingle Held her tight and close to me Man, I’m glad I’m single Then she showed me what to do First I was amazed Soon I learned the step to put me in a dance Going shimmy, shimmy, go, go, bop Shimmy, shimmy, bop How did you first start out? Like any kid. Even the kids today are kids. They’re living kids.
They’re rappers and all that. Urban kids living in the hood. We were listening to groups like the Wario’s and the Raven’s and the Inkspot’s Mills Brothers and they were all sort of going I wish I could do that.
Then other groups started showing up the Moonglow’s on and on and on. It was a group thing. They had no name for it.
It was called street corner singing. On the street lamp. It was really rhythm and blues really.
That’s where every kid of my age at that time wanted to be like that. So I ended up doing that. I’m kind of breaking it up but it’s pretty cool.
Once I got involved with it and started singing with groups in my neighborhood and in my school I was just singing. I didn’t know I was good. At least everybody told me I was.
I didn’t really realize. I don’t think any singer knows that. You just know that every time you open your mouth everybody goes Like Pavarotti.
When they were singing Frank Sinatra Flamingo Dave Nelson. So you don’t really know. We as artists it’s something that Mark Goldman said that The Turtles made a whole lot of sense.
Very profound. He says this is what we do. So we just looked at it that way.
Have fun and there was plenty of girls and life was pretty raunchy. I mean you really you burnt the candles on both ends. I think I used my youth up.
But the grace of God I’m still here. It was a good time. Wishful thinking We could start anew Wishful Wishful Wishful Those things we used to do You do with someone new You don’t confide in me But I confide in you Wishful thinking We could start anew Once I did that and then other groups I had some menial hits local, regional hits.
You recorded a single in 1957 called Prove It Now and the group you were with I think it was one of the first doo-wop groups around. There was no such thing as doo-wop. Doo-wop label came in 1973 I believe by a disc jockey his name was Gossage.
He was very big in New York City and someone had asked him how do you call that kind of singing these groups are doing? And he didn’t remember the thing the Elegance did one of the street corner singing groups out of Jersey they did a song called doo-wop-a-doo-wop-a-doo-wop-a-doo-wop-a-doo-wop He said, look, this is doo-wop. And it stuck. Well, that was 1973 but at the time it was R&B it was just singing.
I love her, love her, love her so And I’ll never, never let her go One thing is certain She’s mine, all mine She’s mine, she’s mine All of the time I’ve got a girl named Ram-a-lam-a-lam-a-lam-a-ding-dong She’s everything to me Ram-a-lam-a-lam-a-lam-a-ding-dong I’ll never set her free Cos she’s mine, all mine Was it true that you got your first record deal after you performed at the Apollo in New York? No. The DuPonts, we didn’t make the first cut and that was very discouraging but I don’t feel too bad because Johnny Mathis also didn’t make the first cut When we all were there to get on that show I didn’t know who he was He wasn’t anybody then He was just Johnny Mathis A young kid out of California And he didn’t make the cut We didn’t make the cut But that didn’t mean you weren’t there You just wasn’t ready for the prime time And they said, well, try again Bring something else So by that time, I left the DuPonts and I ended up with my guys that I really lived with in the neighborhood in Fort Greene Project in Brooklyn Clarence Collins, Ernest Wright Daniel Rodgers, Tracy Lower And we were a bunch of kids They were really good singers And I ended up going with them because they sounded really good and they wanted me on there That’s when things started to happen And in Clarence, what did they call the Imperials then? We would call the Chesters That was changed And finally we met a man A man by the name of Richard Barrett Who at that time was really like Barry Gordy today at that time He was that guy Because he had discovered Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers He discovered the Dubs He discovered the Isley Brothers He discovered the Chantels And he discovered us Please say you want me to To be your love I have always wanted you To be my love With the stars up in the sky You realize Realize Realize that you belong to me I have cried so much for you For you, my dear Prior to that When I was with the DuPonts I was opening act for Alan Free They called the father rock and roll in those days He coined the phrase Before I got on the show I’ll never I was too old to remember But we ended up being the opening act with all the greatest singers at that time it was And next door to me was a young man by the name of Teddy Randazzo Teddy Randazzo was singing with a group called The Three Chuckles at the time And he had written a hit record for Steve Lawrence called Go Away Little Girl Da da dee da dee dee I can’t remember exactly what the name was It was written by Teddy He was a pretty big kid So he told me someday kid we’re going to work together Because he used to always be in the wings watching me And he said You sing, it’s not much of a voice I don’t know I write a lot of tunes too One day we’re going to work together That was 1957 And I’m not thinking about anything like that And I went to Then I switched to go with the Chesters And I meet Richard Barrett You know introduced those acts into a record company called Gone and End Records Which was very big at that time And finally I met him He said look I got this groove And I got this guy He really sings good Can we come over? He says Well the last time you guys came up with this didn’t work I hope this will work this time So no really You got to hear this guy And at that time Ernest wrote a song called Just the Kinds of People in the World But it didn’t have any lyrics really It was just Just the kinds of people in the world And I didn’t know what to do I actually didn’t know what to do Sandy until I got to the audition And I remember the song by the group called The Channels And the song was called The Closer You Are The Closer You Are And the tenor guy would go And I heard that and I go I can do that So at the audition I improvised I made it up That’s just the kind of people in the world Just the kind All that kind of stuff And I was really scared But I saw the way Richard looked Whoa! And he called in the president of the company at the time And that was how it all came together That’s it
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. It wasn’t long before Teddy Randazzo, who’d promised little Anthony some time earlier that they’d work together, came back to make good on his word.
He was with a company called DCP, Don Costa Productions. Don Costa was Frank Sinatra’s musical arranger at that time. He took over from Nelson Riddle.
And my old manager, Ernie Martinelli, one day ran into him in Broadway in New York City, and he said, Hey, do you still work with that group called the Chesters or the Imperials or whatever they’re called? Little Anthony? And he said, Yeah. He said, Well, are they under contract? And they said, No. I don’t think they are.
I was the only one who was under contract. I was under contract with a record company called Roulette Records. The very bad man by the name of Morris Levy who ran the company.
Oh, I’ve heard all about him. Reputation for season. Anyway, he was a tyrant.
You couldn’t get a release. And I remember going up there and they asked everybody, Everybody got a release? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I raised my hand and said, No.
He said, Well, who you with? I said, Roulette Records. And I remember Don Costa was sitting in the chair somewhere in this chair right now. And he did this.
Like that. I’m going, Well, they’re going to my career. He’s not going to let me get out of that.
Tommy James had the same problem with the Shondells with him. I’m out of the office. He threw me out of the office.
Get out of here. So anyway, he said, Don Costa said, Well, look, I heard you sing. And we got a song for you called Outside Looking In.
And we think that will fit this food perfectly. Your voice. And Teddy just believes in you.
And he just says, Got to work with this guy. So he said, I’ll call you guys in a couple of days. They call this back to come back.
And he’s sitting in the chair saying to you, he’s holding up this paper. He said, I got your contract. I said, You got my contract? How is that possible? That’s Morris Levy.
Nobody leaves Morris Levy. And he said, Yeah, I got it. Don’t worry about the contract.
You’re released. We’re ready to go. I didn’t think much of it until several months later.
And we were rehearsing. And I don’t know how the conversation got in there, but I probably asked him, Hey, Teddy, you don’t have any time to get that. Don, hold that contract.
How’d he get that contract? He said, You didn’t know? No. How’d he get it? He said he put in the call to Frank Sinatra. And he got you out of it.
Frank Sinatra called his people. Simple as that. My whole career was now re-embedded all over again.
I’m on the outside looking in And I wanna be, and I wanna be back on the inside With you You are with somebody new And I don’t know what to do Cause I’m still in love with you In love with you I’m on the outside looking in I don’t wanna be, I don’t wanna be left on the outside All alone Well, I guess I’ve had my day And you let me go my way Now it’s me who has to pay The very first song Teddy Randazzo wrote for me, called Outside Looking In, Teddy was one heck of a singer himself. He was very successful. He said there’s something about your voice, you got a lot of emotional things going on in you that comes out.
And when you sing, he says, it’s something you do like Sinatra do. You have a grasp of lyric. You know how to sing it and make a story while you’re singing it that people can become involved in it.
And everything that happened with Teddy was really his life experiences with his first wife. He knows how the songs are written. I’m on the outside looking in.
Him and his wife separated. I’m going out of my head. They got divorced.
Oh, I wanna be back with her. I’m hurting so bad, hurt so bad. Gosh, I wish she would just take me back.
You see the pattern? I know you Don’t know what I’m going through Standing here Looking at you Let me tell you that it Hurts so bad Hurts so bad It makes me feel so sad Hurts so bad It makes me hurt so bad To see you again Like needles and pins People say You’ve been making out okay Little Anthony, when it all started happening for you, your life must have changed incredibly. Can you give us a picture of who you were before and how? Let me try to. I was in high school at the time we did Tears in My Pillow.
I was 17 years old. I had to go to summer school because I messed up during the regular year in order to graduate from my class. And it’s hot.
And there was no air conditioning in schools in those days. And I hated having to go, oh no. My mother said, you go there.
I didn’t want to face my mother, that kind of thing. It won’t work. My mom, no, no.
You don’t cross mom. Anyway, I went against, I didn’t want to, but I went instead of my mother. And when I was there, we actually recorded Tears in My Pillow at the same time during the weekend.
And when it came out, it was just the Imperials. It just said the Imperials because the name was changed from the Chessers to the Imperials. And when it came out, I was actually sitting in class.
And in those days, they used to have these little radios called transistors. And you could put that little radio up against your ear. And I’m sitting there in class, wishing I was somewhere else.
And these little girls are going. And they said like this. And they were playing Tears in My Pillow.
You don’t remember me? But I said, oh my goodness. I got to hit records. So I said to myself, I’m not going to go to no school.
I don’t have to go to school no more. I’m going to be a star. True story.
I didn’t go back. I didn’t receive my diploma until many, many years later, maybe 35, 40 years later. What did your mom have to say? Well, she, like any mother, she’s carrying on her son.
I mean, this is a woman living in the hood, went before doing projects. Nobody’s going to basically come out of there being brain surgeons. You know what I mean? Like, this is tough living, you know, the streets.
And all of a sudden, the butcher, all the people that see those are going, oh, I heard your son, my daughter played this record. And oh, oh, and she’s starting to get a lot of attention. So like any mom, she’s going, well, I mean, he’s successful.
Those happy hours I spend with you, that lovely and true. Most of all, I miss you so. Your sweet caresses, each rendezvous, your voice so soft and low.
Most of all, I miss you so. Mom, she was a gospel singer. She took me everywhere with her.
So she was really the one that got me going as a kid. They knew I had some kind of talent. My mother was a heck of a singer.
And maybe deep in her heart, she wanted that. See, my dad was also a musician. He was a musician all his life.
He played alto and tenor. He played with the Buddy Johnson Orchestra. I mean, he was playing with the big bands, and he didn’t see a life like that.
I mean, he was on buses before I ever thought what a bus was. You know what I mean? He was traveling, and he didn’t want that. He wanted a son that could be a doctor, lawyer, draftsman, something that you could say, yeah, you know.
But what I could do, and I didn’t really realize it, every time I opened my mouth, I could sing. This gift from God is I could sing. You went off solo for a little while, but then you came back to the Imperials.
Because prior to that, my mother had me in acting classes and all kinds of stuff. She was like stage mom. We never had anything.
And now all of a sudden, I’m independent. I’m walking around with $200 and $300 in my pocket. Nobody in the hood is walking around with $300 and $300 in their pocket.
So now I can do things that anybody else can’t do. Well, the girls knew that. Woo, we can go to the best movies.
Yeah, I mean, it’s natural. And I knew there was something different singing and what was happening to me. But still, I didn’t get my handle on, this might be your career.
I just was taking it as far as I could. I didn’t have any agenda at all. I just wanted to sing.
And everything else was happening. The next thing I know, when I was turning down the Apollo for the first time, boy, the Apollo couldn’t wait to get us both, OK? I bet. All of a sudden, I’m Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Chantels, and Paul Anka, and Frankie Avalon, and on and on.
I’m starting to become friends. It’s like overnight, I was in this hood. And the project’s really, where am I going, you know? To possibilities.
And I didn’t have the intellect nor the being smarter or older or more experienced to know how to operate in that world. So I made my mistakes like everybody else. Wine, woman, and song.
Rock and roll. Drugs, rock and roll, and song. I didn’t take it seriously.
I just did it. And I did it so well that I started getting good at it. And there were people that came in my life that helped me along the way.
Take me back. I’m begging, please. Take me back.
I’m on my knees for you to scold me, hurt me, hold me, darling. Take me back when you belong to me. I have a jealous mind.
Too late, I learned that you were not the cheating kind. Take me back. I’m begging, please.
Take me back. I’m on my knees for you to scold me, hurt me, hold me, darling. Take me back.
My jealous eyes have learned to take a look or two. They were too blind to see that I was losing you. Moms Mabley, Red Fox, Ruth Brown, Bo Diddley became really parents on the road.
They kind of looked out for me, get me out of trouble the best they could. They did a pretty good job, though. So I had all that kind of mentors.
They saw something in me that I didn’t see in me. Hey, you open your mouth and you see him, you get paid. It’s a good deal.
Sounds like a brilliant deal to me. Most writers write about their experiences, most. Smokey Robinson, everybody.
Jerome Curran, they all do. So how did you manage to infuse those songs with so much emotion given they weren’t about you? Part of my acting training that my mother put me through, I had a natural ability to act and speak and talk and communicate. Something out of the hood, man.
Most everybody, for some reason, I loved English. Two of the most strongest subjects I had, everything else I was a disaster, was English and history. I’m a history buff.
So when I sing, Sinatra, that’s what he was doing before me. He had the grasp of lyric. When he didn’t sing, there were a lot of singers.
A lot of singers are better, technically, than Frank Sinatra. But they didn’t have a grasp on the lyric that he did. When he sang a song, you go, huh.
But you can understand emotionally what he’s trying to tell you. And now the end is near And so I face the final curtain My friend, I’ll say it clear I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain I’ve lived a life that’s full I’ve traveled each and every highway And more, much more than this I did it my way Regrets, I’ve had a few But then again, too few to mention I did what I had to do Saw it through without exemption I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway And more, much more than this I did it my way You’ve got the same. That’s what Don Costner told me.
He says, I work with all the greats, Anthony. He says, I love working with you. I’m going to teach you how.
I’m not disrespecting you. But I’m going to give you everything I know and show you how to sing and utilize what you already have, develop it from you and get the maturity out of you and get it into your voice and be able to explain it. And we actually did that.
I got to outside looking in and Teddy said, you’re going to be my voice. You’re going to explain to the people what I can’t do in my voice. And I did.
And I can remember many times I would be in the recording studio in New York City in Bell Sound and I would look up in the booth and I would see Don Costner. Whenever I would do something that just rocked his world I knew I did something good. He’d always do this.
He’d start rocking in his chair. Rocking, yeah. That’s the guy, you know.
So, Anthony, what was your process in order to elicit all those emotions? How did you get to that? Part of it is your training in acting and because my mother said when I was a little boy and I’d be in a room by myself and she had worried about me because it sounded like there was five or six people in there. I actually changed my voice and played different characters. That’s why she knew there was something about me.
She had to find out what that was. Through the 60s, it’s hit after hit after hit record. You couldn’t put a foot wrong.
How did that feel for you? I didn’t go with the attitude that I’m going to have a hit record. No. I was more excited about what I was seeing because when I went with Don Costa, all of a sudden, we went from a five-piece band in the days of Tears in My Pillow into the 60s where we had 42 pieces of the same violin section Sinatra used, the same drummers, the same everybody.
I was at awe at the quality of the studios. That got me. I was more enthralled in the business itself, the creative level of it.
That’s now gone. I told you earlier in the room, my mother said there’s six or seven people in there. That’s how I look at things.
I’ve done voiceover. A lot of people don’t know I’ve done commercial voiceovers. It was me.
I hear it and I can transfer it. How was the whole social side? Was it part of the business to have to hang out with everybody and socialise and wine and dine with everybody? The business hasn’t changed, but there’s a price for stardom. People don’t realise the heavy price.
This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. A lot of artists, they get a lot of these handlers around them, and it reminds me of something I read about Rome, during the Roman government.
Whenever Caesar would win a battle or something, and he’s coming back to Rome, they would have a big parade. He’d have all the people he conquered, the slaves in chains, bringing them in. And it was a little guy, usually a dwarf.
And his job was to sit up and tell him in his ear, You are king. You’re the greatest person in the world. Oh, this is wonderful.
You’re Caesar. Same thing. That’s what a lot of artists say.
Unfortunately, by the grace of God, I came through that. In fact, I was talking to George Benson about it. We were just talking about the days we knew each other, and how you get into that trap.
Judy Garland went to Hollywood. I mean, she was an innocent young lady. The studios kept giving her uppers and downers.
They keep on making like nine movies a month. She never had a life. And then they killed her.
I can go on and on of these tragic stories of artists. And I could have went the same way. I was heading that same way.
But people came in my life that got me to your trap. But a lot of artists like Frankie Lama was my best friend. I get a call from him.
He’s in the Army. He says, Meet me, man. I got furlough.
And the next thing I know, my wife is picking me up at the airport at that time. And she had a look on her face and she said, He’s gone. He’s gone.
Frankie’s dead. Overdose. Power.
It’s like that little guy telling you how great you are. Hey, you got the best seat. Sit over here.
Oh, look at those girls. You can have anything you want. You are great.
You are this. That little guy in the Caesar in his ear in the chariot saying, You Caesar, you are God. Why does the rain fall from up above? Why do fools fall in love? Why do they fall in love? I had other influences that care less.
And when they get their money, they get it because I’m buying drugs. They don’t care. How did you manage to keep yourself on track then? Was it because of all the mentors that you had? Because of all the mentors and my mom praying and my aunts were very faith people.
And that trend, believe me, carried me through. One of the saddest stories that I knew, and I knew Sam Cooke before I started out. I knew him when he used to be with a gospel group called the Soul Spirits.
Sam used to stay at my aunt’s house. Then he became Sam Cooke. You send me and all the good stuff.
You send me. Honest, you do. Whenever I’m with you.
I know, I know, I know when I’m near you. Honest, you do. He was a handsome devil.
He was just a great looking guy. He could sing like that too. And it’s like Marvin Gaye.
Same thing. They both met tragic ends. Because maybe they didn’t have that mentorship.
Maybe they didn’t have what I had. That faith. That strength that came from mother and father and a structure.
A real life of parents and people and cousins who cared about you. And they would come to you. You don’t want to hear it.
But they would tell you. And it would sort of always stay in here. It’s funny how we become more like our parents after they die.
Absolutely. We take on not only their best bits, but we take on their worst bits too, don’t we? Yes. I want to ask you, how did you get the name Little Anthony? And why did you decide to keep it? Well, that was a really freaky thing.
It was weird. After we changed the name, I didn’t change the name. There was a man by the name of Lou Galley.
He didn’t like the Chesters. And he was just looking out the window one day. And he saw Imperial Chrysler go by car.
And he says, let’s call them the Imperials. But Alan Freeh, who was considered the godfather of rock and roll that time, and then was a promoter from the record company, went in to give him the record and see if he’d like to play it. Because disc jockeys had a lot of say in those days.
They were powerful. And he loved my record. And he said to the promoter, boy, boy, that girl sure can sing.
And the promoter said, it’s not a girl. It’s a guy. It’s a guy? Wow, he must be very little with a voice like that.
That’s how I got the name. He went on the radio that evening. Ladies and gentlemen, Little Anthony.
He found out what my name was. And that’s how I got Little Anthony. It had nothing to do with my physical stature.
I was about 5’8″. You’re not so sure? No. You know, I was Little Richard.
He’s 6 feet, or was. He was a big man. Those are just nicknames.
Maybe the sound of your voice. That’s how you get it. Out of sight, out of mind.
So the story goes, you forgot I exist. You forgot I exist. My broken heart knows.
Out of sight, out of mind. You found someone new. But I can’t change my love.
But I can’t change my love. The way that you do. Sha-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da.
Sha-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba. You were obviously always very happy to carry that name forward. No, I wasn’t.
I didn’t like it because it made me feel I wasn’t really me. I was this caricature that someone created. Obviously, as the years passed, that is me.
I embrace it. That’s who I am. The whole business, I don’t care who it is in this business.
Some of the major artists, they’ll be by that name. What’s Little Anthony? Larry Clown, worked for Dick Flock for years. He always called me Little.
Hey, Little. This is it. He goes, Hey, Little.
Bobby Rydell. Hey, Anthony. Anthony.
That’s what you’d call me, Anthony. So it is a brand that’s been developed. Well, Little Anthony, you are leaving behind you an incredible legacy.
You’ve influenced so many artists. You’ve got to be really proud of yourself, are you? I’m a blessed man, Sandy. I really am.
I have every reason to be in the grave with the rest of those cats, man. In that respect, I’m very blessed. I have nine children.
I got 16 grandchildren. I got 12 great-grandchildren. And I got one great-great-granddaughter.
I’m a blessed man. Because I took it literally when it says in the Bible, go forth and multiply. I took it literally.
Any of your kids and grandkids as musical as you? A lot of them, they are. You’re blessed to have the family that you have. You’re blessed to be alive today, whereas you could have ended up like any of your contemporaries.
How do you feel about having influenced so many singers coming up behind you? That’s an interesting question because they gave us a star on the Walk of Fame in Atlantic City. And the Delphonics got a star. And James Brown, prosperously, his daughter was there to receive it.
It was a big deal in Atlantic City with the mayor and all that. And when I went to the banquet they had for all the different artists, one of the things that they kept walking up to me from everybody, they’ll come in, especially Philly groups, they’ll say, man, you’re the guy. We all heard you singing, man.
And we all wanted to be a little African. I said, really? Yeah. I was surprised.
Like, you mean that that was it? He said, you listened to some of the songs that Tom Bell did with the Philly Sound. They all were doing the falsetto parts and trying to say they were, didn’t I blow your mind now? This time, didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time? Didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time? Didn’t I? Listen. I thought that heart of yours was true, girl.
Now, didn’t I think it, baby? Didn’t I think it, baby? But this time I’m in a new, new, new girl. Oh. Don’t you know it, baby? Don’t you know it, baby? Ten times or more, yes, I walk out the door.
Get this thing to your head, there’ll be no more. I learned diction and how to do that. When everybody was going, you won’t get it, baby, come on.
I was saying, you don’t remember me, but I remember you. Well, I think I’m going out of my head. Everything was clear.
That’s who I am, and they said that I influenced them to be better. A lot of them told me that. Me and Johnny Matheson would laugh about it.
I said, hey, Johnny, I feel like the higher notes you’re doing. And he said, you talking about, you got my voice, no matter where you interpret. So we kind of admire each other, what we’re doing.
When Frank Sinatra sent a message to Teddy Randazzo, when I told him, could you tell Mr. Sinatra, and I said, thank you, this is what he said. I told Nancy Sinatra, his daughter, about this. She was mad she didn’t know about it, because she would have put it in the book that she wrote.
And he said, tell the kid he sings good. And right after that, he did the cover on Going Out of My Head. Well, I think I’m going out of my head.
Yes, I think I’m going out of my head. Over you, over you. I want you, want you to want me.
I need you so badly, I can’t think of anything but you. Going out of my head, over you. Out of my head, over you.
Out of my head, day and night. Night and day and night. I’m all right.
I must think of a way into your heart. Is there anything left on your bucket list that you still want to achieve? There’s always something, until I leave the bottoms of this earth. If you don’t have dreams, you’re not dreaming, you’ve just about put yourself in an early grave.
We’re designed by God to think and create and imagine. And that’s what I tend to do. I mean, my grandma Moses did her first portrait at 90.
George Burns was almost 100 years old. He was as big as he ever was. So there’s no limit on that.
There just isn’t. Only limits we do, we put limits on ourselves. Am I the young man I used to be? No, is something that Toby Keith said, but I’m as good as I can be.
You know, one of his country songs. Like I tell people, getting older ain’t for sissies. But still, when I sing, it still does the same thing it always does.
They’ll say, you sound the same. How do you do that? I say, I’m not doing that. It’s the voice of God in me because that’s who it is.
Supernatural. It’s not natural. I don’t even know.
When I open my mouth and I hit those range and those notes, I go, did I just do that? Yeah. And it still lights you up as much today when you sing as when you first started out. Yeah.
Even when we were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2009, class 2009, I’m at this big banquet. Everybody standing was anybody. Paul McCartney.
It was ridiculous. There they were in this big hall. And my publicist said to me, somebody wants to meet you.
And I turned around and it was Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones. And he went on the ground and he says, I’m not worthy. I’m not worthy.
They used to listen to my stuff in Liverpool. George Harrison was a big fan. So all these things you don’t know until people either tell you or whatever.
Temptation’s hanging round your doorstep. Yes, sir. When the cats away, some mice will play.
Oh, calling every day. Cause I’m awake. But when the flesh gets weaker, your love has got to be strong.
You got to hold on. Yeah. Just a little bit longer.
Just a little bit longer. Hold on. You got to be stronger, baby.
When your will is wearing thin, you’re feeling just like Ebony. Think of me, baby. Hold on.
Yeah. Do you have to practice? Yeah. Every other day I’ll go off the park somewhere where nobody’s going to hear me.
It won’t sound pretty. I’m doing the scales and working. You got to do that.
These are muscles. And if you don’t work them, you’re going to lose them. What do they say? Use it or lose it.
Yeah. He used to swim, do laps on the water, try to build up his lung. Everybody had tricks.
Opera singer told me how to warm up in the morning with low notes and tonations. I had a lot of good teachers along the way to kind of give me little ideas. And I encapsulated them all.
Yeah, I do that. Yeah, I do vocal arts, yeah. Little Anthony, congratulations on an incredible career.
An absolute delight to chat with you. Thank you for the music. Bye-bye.
Because it’s a beautiful day. You’ve been listening to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kay. Beautiful day.
Oh, baby, any day that you’re going away. It’s a beautiful day. It’s a beautiful day.