Harold Melvin, in my opinion, was a great entertainer. I had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions. He was a dear friend of my uncle, Vinny Martino, and on the night that the Son Of Sam was caught, I was DJ'ing at the Chateau Pelham with Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes as the musical guests. Teddy Pendergrass was already persuing his solo career and the lead singer, Dan Ebo, was superb.
R.I.P. Harold. You will be missed
WHERE ARE ALL MY FRIENDS, are they with THE LOVE I LOST? Or is it simply BAD LUCK! I can joke with those titles only because everyone knows them. We are all aware of the many,many huge hit records that HAROLD MELVIN and The BLUE NOTES released. The question I put to you is, Was Herald Melvin and his Blue Notes the FIRST so-called DISCO group? Certainly they were one of the first groups, their name recognition provides us that. But were they THE FIRST? I can tell you they didn't think so. Harold once told me that they are a "Rock n' Soul" group. He compared himself and the Blue Notes to a "sixties-Motown" type group. That they were, but in our DISCO world, they were one of the first DISCO bands as well. WAKE UP EVERYBODY, Harold Melvin was one of our pioneers, he came out with one hit record after the other in the early seventies, when DISCO was young. He played all the clubs in Philly, and New York, and I spoke to him all the time in the seventies. The last time I saw him, it was in a DISCO in North Bay Village, Florida. He was much older, leaner and looked ill. But when he performed, it was like he was a young man once again. The energy and emotion was still there! He nurtured one of DISCO'S great voices, TEDDY PENDERGRASS, and imagine how hard that must have been. To maintain two huge egos, and talents,in one group, and never lose control is amazing. Harold wrote most of these songs as well, did you forget that? I could go on and on talking about one of my favorites, but I am going to go play DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY! Love ya Harold, GOD BLESS YOU!!!
New York Disco DJ, remixer and Godfather of Chicago House answers questions about his DJ career and friendship with Larry Levan. Read more...
Live Retro Disco Show In NYC
Saturday, January 31, 2009, 8pm
with The Trammps, Tavares & Carol Williams
Get out your bell bottoms, platform soled shoes, gold lame and polyester leisure suits because Disco is back for one night only with the Trammps and Tavares!