October 2002

David Lasley:
The Best Singer
You Never Heard Of

by Carlo Wolff

David Lasley is a paradox, a walking contradiction, a backup singer with a lead singer's heart. You could say he sings like a girl. You also could say he sings black, though he's white. You might know of Lasley if you follow off-stream Detroit rock. You're likely more familiar with him as one of the key backup singers for James Taylor for the past 25 years. Lasley's also was the voice of various disco hits including Bionic Boogie's "Paradise," Teddy Pendergrass' "You're My Choice Tonight" and, along with mainman Luther Vandross, most of Chic's smashes, like "Everybody Dance" and "Le Freak." He sang all the group vocals on the Ramones' second and third albums, Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, earning $200 for the first, $300 for the second. That's the kind of work Lasley can talk about. There's more.

"I had a rap song in 1984," Lasley says. "I ghosted records I can't talk about. If I say what they are, I'd get murdered."

All of Lasley's solo CDs, except Raindance, have been reissued either domestically or in Japan (these include his Rosie albums, recorded for RCA in 1976 and 1977). Among his most recent releases are the domestic version of Expectations of Love, a collection of songs assembled for presentation to other artists, and Back to Blue-Eyed Soul, a retrospective dating back to 1966, the year he and his younger sister, Julie, and a friend first recorded as the Utopias for Fortune, the Detroit label that waxed their "Welcome (Baby, To My Heart)" (by label owner Devora Brown) and "Good Friends Forever." Lasley sang high, Julie lead, Linda Goff (and later, Joanie Hughes) bottom. The group only lasted for two years.

"There's a man and a woman in my body vocally, and there's also a little boy who's worried about his mom getting the shit kicked out of her by his alcoholic father," says Lasley, who came out as a homosexual in 1985 "because a boy I liked a lot died because of AIDS and nobody knew what he was about. I didn't fit in as a child, I didn't fit in at school. I fit in with black people, I fit in with cows. I fit in at the slaughterhouse where I was a slave for a dollar an hour in Michigan."

Born August 20, 1947 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Lasley grew up northeast of Grand Rapids, near the black resort of Idlewild and the townships of Peacock, Webber and Yates. He won't say just where because "I think it's dangerous," only that the place was tiny, three miles down a dirt road off U.S. 10. The five Lasley children grew up in a house with a dirt floor in the kitchen.

Lasley's father, Roy, was a construction worker, part-Cherokee or part-Comanche, "a little bit black." His mother, Bernice, came from Mennonite stock and graduated high school at 14. His parents met in a saloon, where Bernice played piano.

"Mom always had music around the house," he says. "Dad relived the war every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We were kind of like migrant workers. Mexicans would come up in the summer to pick fruit. We would pick cherries or strawberries for 50 cents a lug, and we sang all the time."

In 1965, Lasley graduated from high school in "this little town near black resorts." His class was half-black, half-white; the area was rife with interracial marriage and "a lot of the kids were very old for their age because their parents had come up from the South to start a better life."

Lasley's older sister, Judy, who died in 1998 (he dedicates Back to Blue-Eyed Soul to her) taught him to dance and turned him onto music by Frankie Lymon, Bobby Freeman and Little Richard. "I liked rhythm 'n' blues," he says, "and we played Billie Holiday on the Victrola." In addition, his older brother Dean, who Lasley says is "25 times more talented" musically than he is, had a group. So David, Julie and their friend Linda - the B-Notes - sang acappella versions of Ray Charles tunes behind Dean's saxophone.

Although it was the Vietnam era, Lasley avoided the Army, earning a 1Y classification because of a burn scar he got when he climbed on the stove as a little kid. His mom was cooking oatmeal and he got scalded on his stomach and below an arm. "It was just what it was, a burn," he says, "but that somehow has something to do with the way I sing, and because my father was abusive to my mother, somehow I gravitated to female vocalists like Dionne Warwick."

Eventually, David, Julie and Linda decided to try their luck in Detroit. "All the labels let me come in and audition," he says. "I went to Fortune, to Jack Ashford at Sidra, to Cody Black at Wheelsville or D-Town. I went to Magic City. I went to Revillot to see LeBaron Taylor, who became the president of CBS later. I went to Golden World. I went to everybody who listened, and basically, everybody wanted to sign us. But then Linda's mother made her quit, and by the time I got back, the only one who would sign us was Fortune."

So David and Julie and another friend, Joanie Hughes, recorded for Fortune and Devora and Jack Brown's other label, Hi-Q. The Utopias also performed in area clubs like the Twenty Grand. Joining them on stage was Twenty Grand house pianist Roger Keith Bass, a black journalist who'd written for the Detroit Free Press and Billboard and became one of Lasley's key early collaborators. Bass also worked sessions for Motown, Lasley says.

"We were known as these white kids who were real soulful who couldn't get a record as good as their talent," Lasley says. In addition to working in the Utopias, Lasley also sang background on various Fortune sessions; that's him behind Nolan Strong and the Diablos on "Ali Coochi"; he thinks that might even be him on trumpet.

"There was a rumor that Mary Wells used to go to Fortune when she needed money," Lasley says. "It wasn't a time of major royalties. It was a time of just trying to stay alive. It was not so much about credit and it was definitely not about making money. It was just knowing in your heart you had a shot at the big time."

When the Utopias disbanded in 1968, David and Julie Lasley put together Justice, "kind of a Fifth Dimension group," which Tetragramatton, Bill Cosby's label, wanted to sign. That never came together, but Lasley got a song recorded by Maxine Brown: "Just Give Me One Good Reason" came out on Epic in 1968 and marked his debut as a songwriter. Credited to "David Lapsley," it surfaced on Brown's Out of Sight album, which Lasley says is being reissued in England.

In 1969, Lasley heard Motown planned to start Rare Earth, a label for white artists for which he auditioned. "They wanted to cut oldies on me and wanted me to be this sort of Frankie Valli," he says. "I wanted to write weird-ass stuff, very Laura Nyro." His older sister, Judy, told him not to sign; he followed her advice. That same year, Lasley put together enough money to go to New York with his friend, Roger Bass, and audition for John Hammond at CBS and the pre-Eagles, pre-Geils Band Bill Szymczyk at ABC Paramount.

Lasley, who also was doing demos for Motown at the time, didn't take Hammond's offer. Why not? "I think it was fear," he says. "When I used to speak to him, he kept asking, 'Are you going to come to New York?' I probably jerked around for eight or nine months and they lost interest. Szymczyk didn't offer anything concrete."

The specifics of his Motown time are vague - apparently deliberately so. "What would happen is, people would get sick, lose their voice and they'd need three lines sung in a song. 'Can you match this quality?' the producer would ask," Lasley says. Not only does Lasley refuse to say whom he subbed for - "When you go in to sing for somebody like that, it's like a blood oath" -he won't identify other such stand-ins. All he would say is that Tommy Rogers, who had a local hit called "Pass the Word" in Detroit in the late '60s, used to ghost for male singers at Motown. The man with the inside dope on this shadowy parallel world was Lasley's friend, Roger Bass, who died in 1991.

Lasley's career began to solidify in 1970, when - again at the behest of his older sister, Judy - he tried out, successfully, for the Detroit troupe of Hair (his audition tune, there and for John Hammond months earlier, was Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child") and he hitched up with the touring company. Joining him in the Detroit production of that hippie musical was Meatloaf.

After Lasley left Hair in 1972, he moved to New York to perform in the Broadway musical Dude and several off-Broadway productions. When Dude closed that November, he returned to Detroit, hooking up with producer Johnny Powers to cut Goffin-King's "One Fine Day" and Lasley's own "Merry Go Round."

In the liner notes to Back to Blue-Eyed Soul, Lasley says that "One Fine Day" features him and friends from Detroit on vocals, guitar overdubs by Sandra Rhodes, drums by Donna Rhodes and string arrangements by Roger Bass. "After an unsuccessful two and a half year search for a label, Johnny took the tapes to Philly Groove in Philadelphia," the notes say. "They added drum overdubs by Earl Young or Charles Collins, released it as an early disco record, and it made the Billboard charts in August 1973. As a side note, to end the confusion as to whether this record exists on vinyl, it does, it's on Philly Groove's Red label, Orange label, and White label, and it is rare, although not as rare as a Utopias record."

Lasley says "One Fine Day" got airplay in many markets but was pulled - fast. "I believe in my heart they found out I was white and said 'No, no, no, there will not be any white boy on Philly Groove,'" he says. "What was so fascinating was they used Earl Young to put on that backbeat. I think they freaked out; I really think Johnny didn't tell them I was white." In any case, when Johnny Powers' public relations man sent a press kit to Philly Groove with a picture of Lasley, "suddenly my record wasn't played anymore."

After that, Lasley and fellow Hair alumna Lana Marrano formed Rosie, which recorded two albums for RCA. The Rosie songs, "Roll Me Through the Rushes" and "I See Home" were recorded later, respectively, by Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle; in the latter days of Rosie, Lasley began to collaborate with Allee Willis. In addition, he began to work all kinds of backup gigs and write with everyone from Luther Vandross to Peter Allen to Felix Cavalieri, Gary Wright, Sophie Hawkins and Boz Scaggs.

In 1980, he signed a six-year deal, with a $20,000 advance, with Geffen Records. "I was really like the hot guy in town, one of the most famous background singers in the world," known for his work as backup singer and lyricist on Scaggs' "Jojo" and as one of the writers of Jennifer Holliday's "I Am Ready Now." But things foundered over songwriting differences and Geffen's inability or unwillingness to ally Lasley with the appropriate producer (according to Jimmy McDonough's Shakey, the biography of Neil Young, Geffen in 1982 signed million-dollar deals with Joni Mitchell, Donna Summer, Elton John and Neil Young; all the Geffen debuts by these artists stiffed after they'd been successful on their prior labels, McDonough says.)

Eventually, Lasley cut three tracks for Geffen with Scaggs producer Joe Wissert and Scaggs engineer Tom Perry. Among the musicians: pianist David Benoit and Rufus bassist Bobby Watson. Geffen and his people didn't like the cuts; Lasley grew tired of the label's indecisiveness and bought himself out of the contract, returning his $20,000 advance and paying Geffen $29,000 for recording costs. Geffen "was never mean about it," he says. "It was very business."

After making his solo debut with the Rondor album, Demos, Lasley folded some of the Geffen material into what became his first record for EMI, where Gary Gersh signed him. The two-album EMI deal covered the great Missin' Twenty Grand and the more dance-friendly, less artistically successful Raindance. But Lasley never toured behind Missin', though his management company, ICM, wanted him to co-bill with Rickie Lee Jones. Lasley was then, and remains, scared of lead performing.

On Easter Sunday 1987, Lasley, long a southern Californian, performed in Santa Monica. The club was called At My Place. "I did the show and I had enough brains - this is a guy with the self-esteem of a turnip - to get new teeth and have a little more sun in my hair," he says. "The show was great. I did a second show that May 1, opening for Billy and the Beaters. I kicked ass, I kicked major ass."

His last solo performance was May 14, 1991, a "very excellent show. It was like 'my leaving the business' show." Lasley is about a third of the way through creating an album with Philip Ballou, who was in the gospel group Revelation with Arnold McCuller, Lasley's co-backup for James Taylor. The album, which began as gospel, is turning into "songs my mother taught me," Lasley says. It includes gospel songs like "How Great Thou Art," "Softly and Tenderly," "Jesus Is Calling," and an old tune Lasley used to sing in church, "Open My Eyes That I May See." It also includes Lasley's own "Save Mama."

Lasley also is working on several other projects, including an album of Broadway and theater tunes, tentatively called Drama Queen, as well as an album of Laura Nyro songs. He hopes to tour with Taylor this year and next, behind what he says is Taylor's "incredible" new record.

"I want to paint pictures, I want to finish this book about my childhood, I want to be good with my family," says Lasley, whose website is www.davidlasley.com. "Hopefully, I'll be singing for many years to come. I never think of myself as not being a songwriter. I never think of myself as stopping, or even of that as a possibility. I don't think it is."

May 2002

Performing Songwriter's extensive profile of James Taylor includes several sidebar interviews. David, Kate Markowitz and Valerie Carter are featured in the sidebar at right that says, "We asked JT's backup singers, 'What Are You Listening To?'" See enlargement below.

December 2001

Hired Gun: David Lasley by David John Farinella

It is impossible to list all of the artists David Lasley has supported over his 30-year music career. He's added his falsetto backgrounds to songs and tours by James Taylor, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ringo Starr, and Aretha Franklin. It's a crazy list, to be sure, but Lasley is not resting on his resume. Indeed, the singer has also just released Back To Blue-Eyed Soul, a retrospective collection of recordings from his first bands and some of his better-known original work.

What's the secret to music business longevity?
I wonder if there is one (laughs). Not to sound pompous, but the obvious one is that you have to have a certain amount of talent to start with. Then I think a dream, in a way. I just remember being a kid and wanting to do it. Then having that blind faith. I think the main thing is just really wanting to do it and hanging in. It pays off in the end. So, I guess talent and having a little bit of a business head.

I would imagine that comes with experience.
Exactly, you learn as you go. Unfortunately.

What has been your biggest music business lesson?
As a writer, I would say my biggest lesson has been to, if you can, hold on to as much of your publishing as you can. Even though you might really be in a situation when you're starting out where you're very desperate or need money to finance future demos of songs. As a singer, I think patience is the main lesson. First, I absolutely love singing background. I love the creative part of it. The lesson is not to expect too much and keep your ego out of it if you can. As a background singer you have to walk in and say, 'This is not my record, number one.' And, "What can I do to make this really great without sticking too much of my thing in?" You certainly have a style all your own, that's why they hire you, but there's this boundary that you don't realize you're setting. But you have to give as much as you can without going over the top.

What do you do to keep your voice healthy?
I sing to old records, favorite oldies. I sing in the car. I pretty much sing the way a lot of people talk. I mean, I talk, too, of course, but I actually sing. It's just such a part of my make up and I think that strengthens my voice. I don't get up in the morning and put on a tape. Those kinds of things tend to make me more hoarse. So, I have to be careful not to overdo it, either warming up or studying. I think lessons are good for some singers and I know a lot of singers where it just did miracles. For me I found it very awkward dropping my tongue and shaping my mouth the correct way. I found that my sound didn't come out.

So many singers that I interview talk about not being able to emote if they haven't written the lyrics. Do you experience that? How do you glean inspiration to sing a song?
I could relate to that if they are talking about not being able to use their truest voice or their big voice. A lot of times your job as a background singer, say like with James, would be to not pull out all of the stops, to be a member of the group and to support the sound of a specific song you're doing. I would say all of the kids that sing with James have vocals of another style that is probably never heard in the context of a James Taylor show unless we riff or do a step-up. We're not really stepping up to the mic and doing a solo song. It would seem like Shawn Colvin, who was a background singer for Suzanne Vega, never got to use her real solo voice because whatever her vocal job was in the context of Suzanne Vega's show. I think that is frustrating, but I don't feel that is true with me with James. I feel very into the show and very into the singing when I'm doing it.

Are you in the studio between tours or are you resting?
I'm definitely in the studio with other people or writing my own songs and doing demos.

Do you prefer one or the other?
I think that if I had to make a choice I would probably choose the studio, because it's so creative. I have lucked out in that I have gotten a reputation not only as a background singer, but also as a vocal arranger. That's what I love to do.

Is it important to be a fan or at least familiar with the singer's past work before you go into a session?
I think it helps, but honestly, I don't think it makes it any better or any worse. I've worked with a lot of singers that I didn't know much about. In some cases, it helps, but in others, it could tend to make you extremely nervous. I lucked out and got hired to do one session with Joni Mitchell in '81 for Wild Things Run Fast. In that case, just because it was Joni, it made me nervous. It could help you maybe not knowing what to provide or what was right, but you would know what was wrong.

Did I read right, you suffer from stage fright as a solo performer?
You did.

And this is after 20 years performing as a background singer.
Isn't that odd? In the early, early days I didn't have it as much. I think one of the reasons I formed vocal groups, even though I was the lead singer, was because I had other people up close around me and had vocal notes being sung around me so I didn't feel alone. Ironically, it came right when Missin'Twenty Grand came out and I had a hit single on the charts. Maybe that scared me in itself. I finally broke through that in '87 and did a great show. I wouldn't say I have a fear of it right now.

Blue-Eyed Soul is an interesting release because it brings together your entire career.
Right. I wanted to do a collection -- there were so many different kinds of songs that I had done for solo records and with groups, movies, and theater that I wanted to put together in one collection.

Do you feel that singing backgrounds is a good way for a younger musician to learn the ropes?
That's a tricky question, because I have two theories. I think yes, it can teach you the technical ropes in the studio. But there's sort of a syndrome you have to be leery of like Luther Vandross, Patti Austin, David Lasley -- singers that become known as famous background singers. Somehow, then, there's kind of an unspoken word that you can become a solo singer but you're still a background singer. I think you have to be very cagey, especially as far as the critics, because the critics are going to jump on that and say that this is yet another background singer that is trying to break free of that stigma. People think like you're in the background because you're not good enough to be in the front ground. In fact, it's usually because you have some part of your voice or some notes that can help some other singer or record have a quality that it wouldn't have without you on it.

I can say this, and it's kind of a contradiction, but I will say it. If I had it to do over again and I desperately wanted to be a singer/songwriter star maybe would not have gone down the road of being a background singer.

Ultimately, even though it's your livelihood, it supports you, you learn a lot and you meet a lot of people and it inspires you, I think it possibly holds you back from being taken as seriously as you would have liked to have been taken. I'm happy with what I did both making solo records and singing background. I guess that's the best of both worlds and that's the way I like it.

Any advice for younger singers? Advise them to take a background role?
Absolutely, yes, especially now that the business is kind of a wash of everything. I would say, "Dive in and know where your heart is heading." Like Elvis Costello said, "My aim is true." If your aim is true you'll probably do okay, but I would say be a little bit selfish. Try to get the advice of people and probably read magazines like Gig and try to learn as much as you can without giving the pie away, especially if you're a writer. Then be prepared to suffer the consequences if you do. Advice is a hard thing, but following your heart is the best.

Equipment:
Firehouse single driver ears w/ Shure PSM 600
Mic on current James Taylor tour:
AKG 535
Mic of choice for solo work:
"anything by Shure"

David has toured as a background vocalist with:
James Taylor (since 1977)
Melissa Manchester
Todd Rundgren

David has sung live (in a one-concert event, on television, etc.) with:
Bette Midler
Bonnie Raitt
Shawn Colvin
Rita Coolidge
Libby Titus
and many others

February 18, 2002

SONGWRITER PROFILE DAVID LASLEY Pouring Ivory into Expectations of Love by Dan Kimpel

David Lasley’s story is a 30-plus-year epic. He has had hundreds of covers by artists including Anita Baker (“You Bring Me Joy”), Maxine Nightingale (“Lead Me On”), Patti LaBelle (“Come What May,” “I Don’t Go Shopping”), Aretha Franklin (“There’s a Star for Everyone”), Boz Scaggs (“Jojo”), Bonnie Raitt (“I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again,” from the Grammy-winning Nick of Time) plus a lengthy list of others, including Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Dusty Springfield, Natalie Cole, Phoebe Snow, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick, Al Green and the Oak Ridge Boys. But Lasley’s demos are so formidable that potential artists have sometimes been dissuaded from covering his songs. “Publishers would say, ‘We send it to people and they think its already been recorded and it’s too soon to re-record,’” Lasley says. Fortunately, David Lasley fans can now hear these demos on Expectations of Love, a collection of 13 songs written by Lasley with notable collaborators including Marsha Malamet, Roxanne Seeman, Kathy Wakefield, Philip Bailey, Robin Lerner and Michael Kamen. This collection comprises a stunning suite of neo-soul, with Lasley’s exquisite falsetto searing his indelible stamp on each of the impeccably crafted songs.

Lasley expresses a certain ambivalence about the business of songwriting. “I’ve had success, but I didn’t own my publishing,” he notes. “Now, writers have co-publishing, administration, advances. People are talking about songs reverting to them. I think ‘Get it back? I never even had co-publishing.’ I’m not being bitter, but the rules have changed. And it’s changed the value of the dollars.” But, he notes, there’s an empowering upside these days. “What’s great now is that writers can make their own CDs. The lines have blurred. In a mom and pop way — even if a guy burns it at home and does his own artwork –– it all blends together. It almost takes it back to when Laura Nyro records cost $30,000 to make.”

Lasley, originally from Michigan, formed a teen vocal group that included his sister Julie. The Utopias recorded their first singles in 1966 and performed in Detroit. “Me and my sister were ‘ofay.’ I mean we had it all down,” he admits. “People don’t care how bad you think you can be and how black you can act and how yellow you think you ain’t. In Detroit, when black kids were hanging with white kids, that was the statement right there. I was singing in all these black night clubs and I wasn’t killed.”

In 1970, Lasley joined the cast of Hair. He moved to New York in 1972 and formed Rosie, a group subsequently signed to RCA. In Manhattan, Lasley worked extensively as a background vocalist; as a part of a quartet that included Luther Vandross, he sang on hits including Chic’s “Le Freak” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” This songwriter’s background work has continued: he has toured with James Taylor for over 23 years in addition to working live and in sessions with Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Jimmy Buffett, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr, Cher, Chaka Khan, Teddy Pendergrass, Elton John, Julio Iglesias, Boy George, Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville, Brenda Russell, Janet Jackson, Shawn Colvin and Jewel.

In 1982, Lasley released his solo record, Missin’ Twenty Grand, with guest appearances by Raitt, Taylor and Pete Townsend. Two years later came Raindance, produced by Don Was. In 1990, Soldiers on the Moon, with guest turns by Vandross, Rita Coolidge and David Benoit, continued the thread.

Today, the Internet affords a global market for all of Lasley’s music especially Japanese CD reissues of his vinyl recordings. Ironically, rare singles from the Utopias now command over $4,500 in the U.K. market. In 2000, Back To Blue Eyed Soul collected a vast encyclopedia of Lasley’s past work –– everything from Detroit doo-wop to an Aunt Jemina jingle –– alongside obscure singles and B-sides.

Lasley seems remarkably comfortable with his past, entirely open with his present, and always moving toward yet another musical future. “I guess you just have to hang in and keep reinventing yourself,” he muses. Above all, he’s a zealous fan and an ardent champion of pop music. But, he notes wryly, “Britney Spears hasn’t done anything for me that the Shangri-Las didn’t do.”

Thursday, July 26, 2001

Taylor's Backup Singer Has
West Michigan Roots
by John Sinkevics

Forget that raucous, on-the-road, rock-star revelry.

On the James Taylor tour, it's safe to say there won't be any all-night parties with TVs tossed from hotel windows.

With his concerts depending heavily on crisp vocals and smooth harmonies, most band members are likely to hit the sack early after guzzling a spot of tea.

"We're not very wild," conceded Taylor's longtime backing vocalist David Lasley, 53, who grew up near Ludington in Mason County.

"Being singers, you have to really, really protect your voice. Sleep is absolutely imperative, or you're going to lose your voice. We've had drivers leave us because we're not party animals."

So, instead of whiskey and water, it's honey and hot water (plus vegetable juice, distilled water and milk) for Lasley, who's carved a solid solo career as a singer-songwriter and made a name for himself as a background vocalist for everyone from Taylor and Jimmy Buffett to the Ramones and Chaka Khan.

Lasley returns to his home state this weekend as part of Taylor's 12-piece band, which plays a sold-out show Sunday at Grand Rapids' Van Andel Arena.

"I've played there once before. The sound is great," recalled Lasley, who performed with Taylor at Van Andel three years ago.

As in that show, fans can expect two long sets totaling more than 21/2 hours of Taylor's old hits, such as "Carolina In My Mind," and new material, including "Raised Up Family."

"He'll give you your money's worth," Lasley said in a recent telephone interview from Martha's Vineyard during a short break in Taylor's current "Pull Over" tour. "He's very strong. He's in wonderful shape, and vocally, he's probably in the best voice he's ever been."

Lasley, who began his musical career as a teen-ager singing with his sisters in the group, The Utopias, which played Detroit venues in the mid-1960s, described Taylor's current stage show as more theatrical and high-tech than previous tours -- but with a down-home feel.

"It's very visual with lots of projections, and yet it's peaceful," he said. "It's something all ages would appreciate."

Lasley, whose distinctive, four-octave vocal range is augmented by Taylor tour veterans and back-up singers Arnold McCuller, Valerie Carter and Kate Markowitz, has found much of that same diversity among fans of his own solo albums and past work with the group Rosie.

That's partly due to the success of his Web site, www.davidlasley.com, which over the past two years has reacquainted music lovers with much of his work, including 1982's "Missin' Twenty Grand" and the more recent "Back to Blue-Eyed Soul," a retrospective of three decades of Lasley's soulful music, which ranges from pop to jazz to R&B. Over the years, Lasley-penned originals have been recorded by Anita Baker, Patti LaBelle, Bonnie Raitt, Aretha Franklin, Boz Scaggs, Tina Turner, Phoebe Snow, Al Green and the Oak Ridge Boys.

And Lasley even has earned a bit of stardom in England, Germany and Japan, where many of his albums have been reissued.

"My visibility is getting a little bit higher because of the Web," he acknowledged. "We've heard from so many people. It may create a vehicle where I can sell a few more CDs."

Among the site's most popular features is Lasley's "Tales from the Road," which he updates regularly with inside information about life on the Taylor tour.

"So many people ask me questions about what it's like to be on the road, and I discovered there's so much they're not privy to," he explained.

Although Lasley makes his home in Los Angeles, his brother still lives in Michigan, and Lasley comes back to visit relatives and friends "at least three times a year."

He fondly recalls growing up near the Pere Marquette River and attending a small grade school in Mason County that held just 26 students. Immersed in music at a young age, with a deep interest in the girl groups and R&B songs of the day, Lasley also found inspiration in the music of his sister's brother-in-law, a Michigan legend: Del Shannon, aka Charles Westover of Coopersville.

And almost every weekend in high school was spent in Detroit, performing with his sisters at clubs such as Twenty Grand or The Roostertail, where they once opened for singer Paul Anka.

"It was so slammin'," Lasley said. "I learned to rock 'n' roll when I was 7 years old and never stopped."

And since 1977, he hasn't stopped touring with Taylor. Lasley remains intensely proud of his association with the legendary pop troubadour.

"He's an interesting man. Of course, he's a great star and a great writer," Lasley said. "The sound of our voices just pleases him. He's aware of what you do and what you're capable of, and he brings stuff out of you sometimes you don't even know you can do."

June 18, 2001

Musician's E-Journal Expands His Fan Base
by Mike Wendland

A Michigan entertainer has found a new way to communicate with his fans through a behind-the-scenes Web site that chronicles life on the road on a national music tour.

Longtime Detroit-area music scene troubadour David Lasley is a background vocalist for singer James Taylor's cross-country tour.

Every two weeks, Lasley files reports on his Web site (www.davidlasley.com) that describe his experiences during the four-month, 54-city tour.
Lasley grew up near Ludington in western Michigan's Mason County and has been working as a backup singer for Taylor for more than 20 years.

In between he's been part of the national touring company of the musical "Hair," has produced several CDs of his own and become a headliner in Europe and Japan.

And now that his Web site is drawing fans, Lasley says he's building new audiences, who click on RealAudio files to listen to his music.

"I'm absolutely blown away by how powerful the Internet is," Lasley said in a phone interview last week during a tour stop in Baltimore. "The other day I went out in the audience and people were coming up to me saying they were reading my reports on the Web and listening to my music. I love it."

Lasley's music, described by critics as "blue-eyed soul," began getting noticed in the mid-1960s. Although he possesses a four-octave range, he mostly sings in a passionate falsetto, sounding almost like a female soul singer.

His first group, the Utopias, patterned itself after '60s-era girl groups. Signed to Detroit's Fortune Records, Lasley got lots of exposure on area radio stations and Channel 9 in Windsor's old "Swingin' Time" television program.
Lasley's songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Patti LaBelle, Boz Scaggs, Anita Baker and Aretha Franklin, among many others. In 1977, James Taylor brought him aboard as a background vocalist and the two have been together ever since.

The current Taylor show, which will hit Detroit July 23 at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston, started last month. "I got the idea to do the stories from the road because people seem really interested in what it's like," Lasley explained.

"The site's response has convinced me to put together a tour of my own," he said. "I don't expect to be a superstar here or win a Grammy from this, but the Internet is creating a whole new image and following for me. Who knows where it will end?"

June 26, 2001

ARTS & TV in Brief
View of JT From Off to One Side

Travel story lovers and James Taylor lovers, here's one for you. Taylor backup vocalist David Lasley will keep fans informed of his travels on the road with a "Tales From the James Taylor 2001 Tour" column on his Web site, www.davidlasley.com. Lasley will report on his performances, fan meetings, tour stops and such during the four- month, 50-city James Taylor Summer 2001 Tour. - ADAM SMITH

May 22, 2001

E Living section
Follow James Taylor's Tour Virtually

James Taylor brings his tour to Chastain Park Amphitheater on June 4 and 5 but you don't have to wait that long to see how his road show is going. Taylor's backup vocalist, David Lasley, is chronicling the tour on his Web site, www.davidlasley.com, beginning May 31.

The biweekly "Tales From the Road: Reports from the James Taylor Summer 2001 Tour'' will follow the four-month, 50-plus city march and include guest reports from other Taylor band members. Also included: Plenty on Lasley (it is his site).

Click HERE to read an interview with David
on the James Taylor Online web site.