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Marcella Detroit |
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Marcella Detroit (also known as) Marcy Levy is in her words “the thing
that wouldn’t go away.” She says that half in jest and half seriously,
as she has enjoyed an incredible career as a stunning vocalist, a good
guitarist, one of the best songwriters on the planet and more recently
she has added to her vast repertoire fashion designer.
For the sake of this interview we are going to toss accepted writing
style out the window and dispense with referring to her by only her last
name and default to Marcy or Marcella Detroit. After all when this
writer asked at the beginning of the interview if she had a preference
she said in a mock, snooty, upper class British accent “No you may only
call me Marcella,” before saying yes it was okay to call her Marcy, and
for the record Marcy was in fact born in Detroit. This is the first part
of a two-part interview with Marcella Detroit aka Marcy Levy.
Marcy toured as Marcella Detroit on two separate occasions with Eric
Clapton and co-wrote several songs with him. She toured with Bob Seger,
Leon Russell and was the co-founder of Shakespeares Sister (with no
apostrophe) who stayed perched in the # 1 spot on the U.K. charts with
their song “Stay,” for eight consecutive weeks.
It is simply not possible to name all of the people with whom she has
worked as a session singer, but we will name a few, Aretha Franklin,
George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Al Jareau, Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach,
Leiber and Stoller and Carole Bayer Sager. Her songs have been recorded
by Chaka Khan, Belinda Carlisle, Al Jareau and Philip Bailey.
She also recorded the duet “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” with Sir
Elton John, as well as recording duets with artists such as Alice
Cooper, Robin Gibb, Jimmy Ruffin and Johnny Lee.
Marcy grew up in Detroit, Michigan and her father loved to play his
ukulele. They would also sing together. Singing was always a part of
Marcy’s life. In school she sang in school choruses, choirs, duets,
trios, quartets and quintets from the time she was five years old.
“I can remember
getting up in front of people in my classes and doing all of the talent
shows. I just loved music and my father encouraged it and when he took
me to see Fantasia I was just
eight. I was awestruck with that movie.
I loved the music and I loved Tchaikovsky. I loved all of the
animation that went along with it.
We saw it on the big screen when it came out.
When it was time to take up an instrument in school I picked up the
violin and I played that for four years. I became frustrated with it. It
really sounded bad, because I couldn’t get a vibrato going and no matter
what I tried, I just could not do it. I couldn’t get the technique and I
felt like my teacher wasn’t really helping me with that. I just thought
ehhh. I do (however) appreciate violin and cello. I love string
instruments and I love guitars.
Marcy continues,
“I loved The Beatles so much that my parents gave me permission to go
see them with another friend of mine named Marcy and we went to downtown
Detroit to see them play. I was completely awestruck and if you would
have told me that I would meet every single one of them except for John
later on in my life I would have thought you were nuts. I would have
thought no way that could never happen.
I have always loved music and I have always been drawn to it. I decided
to make it my career when I was eighteen and I had just come out of a
very physically abusive relationship. I always turned to my music for an
emotional outlet. I remember singing in this park, because I was a big
hippie back then. I was singing away and I realized how much comfort my
music gave me. I remember looking at the sky and saying out loud, this
is what I am going to do for the rest of my life. I just pinpointed my
laser beam focus and that is what I did.”
Marcella Detroit (Marcy) grew up in Detroit surrounded by Motown music,
which was in its heyday and those influences were evident decades later
when she released her 2013 album The Vehicle.
She talks about that, “That was a conscious decision. I wanted to get
back to my roots and do something. Growing up in Detroit I was inundated
with the Motown sound. It was all over the radio and my parents always
had the radio playing in the house. At school in the cafeteria it would
be blaring out with The Supremes and The Temptations and Aretha,
although she wasn’t signed to Motown I don’t think (Editor’s Note:
Aretha Franklin was signed first
to Columbia Records, then Atlantic Records and Arista Records). She
is still my favorite singer of all time. I was really influenced by it
and every time that I feel like what I am trying to do is sounding a
little bit contrived I revisit my Blues or my Soul roots. I wanted to do
an album that was more soulful and funkier. I love real funky music. I
love old R&B, but current R&B sounds a little too slick to me. I like it
raw. I like to revisit the raw stuff, like old James Brown and a
multitude of other artists that I love.”
The conversation segues back to the moment that Marcy knew she wanted to
pursue a lifetime in music, “When I looked up at the sky and I said this
is what I am going to do for the rest of my life I asked how am I going
to do this? I used to listen to this really cool station in Detroit
called WABX and they had a weekly or maybe it was daily ad thing and
they said advertise here. I called and I said girl singer looking for
Blues band. That is how it started.
I got a call from this band that was called The Bad Luck and Trouble
Blues Band. That was my first experience playing with bands. I moved out
of the house and I moved about 45 minutes away to Ann Arbor (Michigan).
My parents were flipping out, because I was moving in with a bunch of
guys. At the time I was not interested in guys at all, because I had
come out of that abusive relationship. I was scared and I was petrified
of men and in particular this man who beat the living crap out of me. I
was just interested in music and I didn’t have a lot of money. I was
living on Twinkies and these guys were all macrobiotics, so it made for
some interesting conversations (she laughs). We did gigs locally around
the Detroit area.
Then I did Jesus Christ Superstar.
I auditioned for the musical. It was a touring group that toured all
over the Midwest for about nine months. I was the understudy for Mary,
but damn that girl would never let me sing that part. One time she had
the worst laryngitis and I was ahh and my mouth was watering (while)
thinking, I’m going to get to do it tonight, but damn she eked out a
voice. She was really good and I never got to do it. I had one big line
(for her character) “See my hands through a mass of blood,” (She sings
the line). After that I got back
into working with bands.
After Jesus Christ Superstar
I joined this duo with this weird older guy and I was singing songs like
“The Shadow of Your Smile,” and all of these beautiful Burt Bacharach
songs. We were playing in downtown Detroit at this really dodgy club.
One night I was wearing this pink, high neck blouse and this crushed
velvet cranberry long skirt. I am in the middle of a song when this
weird guy comes in with a gun. The guy I was working with said get down,
so I got down behind the bar. Luckily the guy never actually shot
anyone, but it was really frightening. I stopped working with the guy,
because I thought this probably wasn’t going to get me anywhere. He was
not very nice and he said oh you’ll never do anything.
I started auditioning and I heard about this band called Radio King,
which was a Soul band. Then was a band called Loki and I worked with
this guy named Luke Smith who was a great R&B / Soul vocalist, who I
invited to come and work with me when I was with Bog Seger, but I will
get back to that in a minute.
I ended up working with the band Julia after a friend of mine told me
about them and I went to an audition then they hired me. A great guy was
leading the band and his name was Bill Mueller. They were a good bunch
of guys and they did a lot of covers. Once in a while Bill would write a
lot of stuff. The band was very good and they were very into The
Beatles. That is why they were called Julia (after the song). I joined
them and there was another girl who joined the band for a while and we
sang backgrounds. We toured
all over the Midwest, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana (as well as)
New York.
Because we were well-known and getting a lot of gigs we were asked to
open for David Bowie at the Fisher Theater and I think it was ’72. It
was pre Bob Seger. I loved David Bowie. David Bowie was one of my idols,
so I was completely awestruck. We did our set, Bill Mueller and I heard
our beautiful song echoing through the Fisher Theatre. It was a gorgeous
theater with incredible acoustics.
We were asked to leave the backstage when we finished our show, because
David didn’t want anyone backstage. I was okay that’s a shame, because I
really wanted to meet him. You know what, because I am such a rebel I
snuck back there. I said I left something in the dressing room and they
let me pass. I saw him in the dressing room and he was looking in the
mirror. I was blown away. We went out front and we watched him. It was
one of the highlights of my life.
Bob Seger’s manager “Punch” Andrews was looking for a band for Bob and
when he saw us (at a gig) he asked if we were interested. We were
invited to jam with Bob and after that we were all hired.”
Marcy talks about the Bob Seger days, “After we were picked up by Bob
Seger we started touring all over the country. It was the first time
that I had flown on a jet. We went down to Florida, stayed in a nice
hotel and did gigs. I swam in the ocean for the first time and I nearly
drown, even though I was a great singer, but thankfully I was saved.
Anyway, I digress. We were touring all over the country.
About halfway
through my stint with him (Seger) and I believe it was for about a year
that I had worked for him he fired the rhythm section from Julia and he
just kept Bill Mueller and me on. He hired all of these Jazz musicians
and they were from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The drummer was named Jamie Oldaker,
the keyboard player was named Dick Sims and they hired a congo player
named Sergio Pastora. They were amazing musicians and they really
changed the whole sound of Bob. What we had before was great and I loved
the guys in Julia, but I guess Bob wanted something different.
I toured with Bob for another six months and I was a little fed up with
it. One night I was not having a good day and I was feeling frustrated
and so was my boyfriend who was on the road crew. We were stuck in a
hotel and we weren’t being paid, so I decided to leave. I left the band
and I went back home to Detroit. About a month later the band from Tulsa
that toured with Bob called me and said come to Tulsa and we will start
a band of our own. That was the next step.”
A new chapter was about to be written in the life and career of Marcella
Detroit and she explains, “Leon Russell was one of my musical idols and
I had pictures of him all over my bedroom. I had every one of his
albums. I had album covers all over my room. My parents thought I was
nuts. My mom would say what are all these album on your wall? I said mom
I’m going to sing with him one day. She said oh yeah and she laughed.
Every time that he came to Detroit I would go and see him. He was part
of the Mad Dogs & Englishmen
thing and I didn’t (realize) that he was also part of The Wrecking Crew.
All I knew was that he was this amazing artist and he was an incredible
keyboard player. He brought this Gospel sound to what he did and he had
these incredible background singers. Every time that I saw him I said I
want to do that! I would go to every show that he did in Detroit and
once I went to his hotel where he was staying. I waited for him to come
in and I rode up the elevator with him (she laughs). I was like a
groupie. I told him that later on, but he didn’t remember me from that.
I looked pretty strange. I was way ahead of my time and I was Goth. I
had shaved eyebrows. What do they call that, emo? I was way ahead of my
time compared to everybody else.
I moved to Tulsa in ‘73 and we had a great band. We were like the giant
fish in the little pond. Tulsa was a hot bed of great music, Leon
Russell, Shelter Records, J.J. Cale and you name it there was so much
good music coming out of there. There was also Country music, but I
wasn’t interested in Country. My goal was I have to meet Leon and I have
to sing with him. We would play and all of these people would come and
sit in with us, J.J. and Leon when he found out about us he would come
and play with us. Carl Radle who was with Derek and the Dominos with
Eric Clapton heard about us and he came to check us out.
When Eric was looking for a band after Derek and the Dominos,
Carl said come and check these guys out.
When I was living in Tulsa, before we were discovered by Eric that is
really when I started writing more (songs) and more and more, because I
had this great band and I wrote new stuff, so they would be yeah, yeah,
yeah that’s great, let’s play it. We would do a lot of my songs. We
would do our covers and then we would do a set when we would do all of
our original stuff. Sometimes Dick Sims the keyboard player and I would
write stuff together. When I joined Eric I had more opportunities to
write and on a bigger scale.
Jamie and I were both asked to join Leon Russell’s band, but Jamie went
off to join Eric Clapton. I was asked to join Eric Clapton as well, but
because of my desire to work with Leon and my love for him, I chose to
work with him and joined everyone else with Eric Clapton after my tour
and my relationship ended with Leon.
Back in the day Leon would always have one girl as the solo singer and I
got to do that (you can still hear the excitement in her voice). I was
so beyond excited. My dream came true and I really believe that you can
do what you really want to do. You just have to want it more than
anything in the world. If you want anything in the world you just focus
on that and you can make it happen. I did that and the tour ended nine
months later and so did my relationship with him.
All the guys that I had been with in the band in Tulsa were working with
Eric. After doing 461 Ocean
Boulevard and they were about to do another record down in Jamaica,
so they asked me to come down there to join them. I went and five days
later I was asked to be in the band. I was in his band twice, the first
time from 1974 to ’78 and then again in ’84 until ’85.
During that time Marcella
Detroit also co-wrote several songs with Eric Clapton including the
iconic “Lay Down Sally.”
Marcy recalls how the song was written, “We were doing what would become
the Slowhand album and Glyn Johns was the producer. We would go there
every day and sometimes Eric would have a song already for us to record
and sometimes he wouldn’t and we would write one on the spot. One day he
said to me Marcy I want to write a song called “Lay Down Sally.” I love
titles. Words have a rhythm to them and they evoke a melody for me.
I immediately heard a melody and I picked up a guitar and I
started playing. It was a different groove when we first wrote it. My
idea was it was more of a Bo Diddley tune (She imitates the groove). We
worked on it all day, but we had trouble writing the verse. George
Terry, Eric and I were trying to hammer out a verse for it. We had a
chorus idea pretty much, but when it came to the verse we were stuck.
People got bored and the keyboard player left after five hours of
working on it. All of a sudden Eric starts playing the iconic groove
that it became on the record and Glyn said let’s record it now!
I got on the electric piano and everybody took their places and
we recorded it. Eric said to me go back to your hotel room now and write
the lyric. I was okay and I came back the next day with the lyric and we
recorded it. I had to write the melody for the verse too, because we
didn’t have a melody, we only had a melody for the chorus. That was it.”
As far as her songwriting process Marcy explains, “First of all I used
to write with oh I’ve got a melody and I don’t know where this is going
to go. For me it is all about being inspired. Have an idea of what you
want to talk about. Usually for me that’s a title. It has to be about a
subject that inspires me. It might not inspire somebody else, but it has
to be something that I feel is very inspiring to me or I will run out of
fuel to complete this little three minute masterpiece or whatever it
might be. It has to be something that really inspires me. Somebody will
say something or I will read something, I will hear something or I will
see a movie and I will be inspired by it and then I will think of a
title that relates to it. For me that is the most important thing to
have a great concept and one that is fueled with massive inspiration.
Make it personal. I don’t write about what I don’t know about
anymore. It has to matter to me. It has to be honest. If it doesn’t
matter to me who in the hell else is going to want to hear it? I have
more of a chance of it being relatable to others if it is honest and I
believe it. If nobody else believes it why bother? I usually start with
a title and then I create the chorus first, because that is the most
difficult part of a song.
The chorus is the most important thing, every song and every book has a
title and a concept. What am I trying to say? What is the message that I
am trying to get across? Why am I interested in this message and why is
it my mission to create that? Once I have that concept then I have to
decide what the background of it is going to be. What kind of musical
genre is it going to be? It just depends. Even if I write with other
people I can get into their brain, but I still have to draw from my own
personal experience. When I first started out I just made stuff up. I
made stuff up and I drew from my own experience. It was not really
personal, but I think it has to be personal. It can be personal no
matter what you write about. I write about social injustices and things
that affect me that are going on in the world. That shows up in my music
a lot. I feel it is important, because everything has a concept no
matter what, art, music, film, theater. Everything has a concept and
that is what you are trying to convey. You are trying to share an
emotion.
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During
that time my dad also taught me how to play the ukulele, so I got a
ukulele songbook and I played. I figured out all of these chords and
melodies and because I could read music I was able to figure out
melodies for some really complex songs. One beautiful song was called
“Poor Butterfly,” which I believe Ella Fitzgerald did way back in the
forties or something (Editor’s
note: also recorded by numerous other artists including Sarah Vaughan
and first recorded in 1917 by Edna Brown aka Elsie Baker). It is a
gorgeous song and I still love it to this day. My dad bought me a guitar
when I was about eleven. It was a twelve-string and then he bought me an
electric guitar when I was twelve, which was very cool. I couldn’t
believe that he bought me an electric guitar (she
laughs lightly). I must have hounded him,” she says, as we jokingly
talk about how brave her father must have been to buy an electric guitar
for his daughter who was on the verge of becoming a teenager.
