The Shivers

As most of you know I am a professional musician. ( ie. I pay my rent and all of my bills and whatever else I want from money I make singing & performing) I have my own band called the Shivers which consists of six or ten – depending on whether I have the horn section or not – men. As you might imagine it isn’t always easy to be da boss of several adult African American men musicians but for the most part we are cool. In fact troubles are few and far between with me and the Shivers. Usually any problems that arise have come from a PMS induced tizzy on my part (only a couple times in fourteen years so don’t give me no shit!) I have had the band for fourteen years. My drummer has been with me for the entire fourteen years, the rest joined up ten years ago.I started the group with only four players and the band actually belonged to a vocalist/guitarist who had to leave (with the intention of coming back) to deal with a heroin addiction. However, it never happened and I kept the name Shivers (not even by choice, the press kept it for me) We replaced him with one of the best guitarists I have ever known:  John Duich. However, he died of a heart attack (tragic tragic loss of a great musician with a knowledge of pop music like you’ve never seen before and a great friend to me personally) after about three years. Then slowly people started dropping out of the band (my keyboardist quit – he was hating it by this time and gave a two week notice via voice mail) and my bass player (who was a bit more merciful) promised to stick around until I found a good replacement. I cried like a baby when he told me he was leaving the band. He was one of my dearest friends and I was heartbroken. The Shivers floundered for awhile and I was a wreck!! I needed to find not one, not two, but three pieces of a four piece rhythm section. Thankfully Brady (my drummer and original member) stuck by me thru it all.

Anyway, miraculously it was Brady who found Ray (keys – awesome player)

and Dave (Funky assed bassist who also sings – this man never wavers from the rehearsed vocal part he takes on and has a mean falsetto)

Both Ray & Dave were in a group which included Bruno (excellent guitarist, singer, comedian all around teddy bear) – who joined up also.

Now add Michael

(saxophone, percussion and beautiful vocalist – he can improvise some lyrics like you can not believe) and finally: Isiah – the human jukebox.

I have never experienced any singer/performer like this man. He knows hundreds of tunes and sings them all fantastically. He is almost a freak in that way. It is truly amazing to watch him perform. He doesn’t have a egotistical bone in his body- just a pure soul. Then there is Colin:

talk about a Godsend! He does sound for us, acts as road manager on occasion and point man all the time. He is one of my dearest friends and talk about somebody “got yo back!!!” Add horns and you got my most treasured gift, my biggest blessing: my band. We played last night at the Green Dolphin Street and I dunno if it was the twinkling of the holiday lights or Isiah ‘s voice crooning a romantic Marvin Gaye tune but I got overwhelmed with the desire to tell everyone how much I love & appreciate my guys. I even started crying. OY!! Sometimes I get so emotional on stage. But hey, it beats a kick in the head, right?