I was just a Jr. High School student in Texas when I first bought a piece of sheet music written by Otis "Return to Sender." Even then, the name Blackwell stood out. Back then I was not sure why, however, it was destined I would later meet this amazing man.

   I had somewhat of a blessed life when I first came to New York City. I met many of the working class of Broadway at that time. It was a normal way of life for me to meet Dionne Warwick on the corner, hang out with Jackie Wilson, and go over songs with Tommy Hunt at his house that was then just blocks from Harlem.

   I found friends in the jazz world in similar fashion, ( Tony William Award winning drummer, who by the way made me want to put up my drum sticks and stick to the keyboards before I realized that he was rated the No. 1 drummer in America). I also connected with Jackie Byrd (bassist), Jackie McLean (Sax) and Lamont Johnson (pianist who later became co-owner of a record company with me). I would also talk to Tony Scott (who I had a special fondness for because he played the first wind instrument that I learned Clarinet).

   I was also introduced to Record company owners like Florence Greenberg (Scepter Records Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson, the Sherrills, and many more hit artist of the day), Juggy Murray (Ike and Tina Turner, Maxine Brown,plus others). I also met and sometimes worked with artist produced by Bobby Robinson Flame/Furry records (Lee Dorsey, "Sitting on my Ya Ya, Wilbur Harrison "Going To Kansas City" Gladys Knight and The Pips who had numerous hits including “Here Comes the Mail man" King Curtis "Soul Twist").

   I remember hearing the record "Crying in the Chapel" when I was in elementary school. It was playing on the outside speakers in the local record shop. Almost every time I passed by that record shop going to or coming home from school I would hear that song. I would have never imagined that years later I would be playing drums on that song with the singer "Sonny Till".

   The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat were evident as I met the two competitive opponents after the court decision awarded Florence Greenberg the total assets of the losing company because of a copyright infringement on "Shep and The Limelighters" songs "You're a Thousand Miles Away and Daddy's Home".

   Why did I just trip through memory Lane? Oh yes, to say this, all of these people were very impressive and influential to me as a teenager thrown into this fantastic sphere of celebrity convoy. However, I was constantly reminded I was in the game and not in the audience; therefore, I soon became a part of the convoy. It was then that I saw the true nature of my co-worker and competitors.

   I realized that most of the people in my newly found world of entertainment were not ruled by their knowledge, but by their pride and ego. These two guys (pride and ego) were very costly in more ways than the above average reader would ever imagine without experiencing the lifestyle for themselves.

   Boasting, flaunting, dreaming and hoping became the way of life for many. The need to prove something to one's self and to the world became the new slave master for many of these early stares. They were people loved and adored by the world because of the joy, peace and love that they brought to it; but at the same time haunted by their inner self due to a lack of joy, peace and love in their own lives. This was the driving force that brought both success and failure to many entertainers.

   When I first met Otis, I assumed that he would be like the rest of the people I had come to know and by then even identified with. Yet, there was something about him that made it hard to imagine that this person had wrote songs like "Fever" by Peggy Lee, "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis and most of the early Elvis hits.

   His approach was not one of struggle or striving to prove anything to anyone. He simply saw each day as another day of work. His dress code was not flashy (I only saw that attitude in one other artist, Chuck Jackson, "I salute you Chuck"). Otis did not spend time bragging about yesterdays accomplishments or tomorrows expectation.

   I watched him spend hours listing to the same old song in numerous mixes trying to find the perfect one. I would hear the song ten, twenty, thirty or forty times before he would even take a break and clear out his ears. He would remember every good thing that he heard in each mix and every thing that he did not like about each mix. This would go on for days before he went back into the studio to remix. I have talked to engineers who told stories of studio horror about Otis spending hours on a mix to only complete it and then splice it and do a literal rearrangement with razor and splicing tape. To Otis this was all in a days work.

   I remember Otis telling me one day how he achieved success. He made it clear that there was no silver spoon or gold spoon in his mouth when he was born. He talked about hard times as an unknown writer. He described the conditions that I saw and knew too well. He talked about the times when two or three people would have to share pennies to get food to eat. He then said how out of necessity his success arose. He called his concept "Cheaper by the Dozen". It was very different from the pattern with which I was familiar. I knew the old "Ten Pan Alley Hustle" which was to write a song and sell it out right, giving up rights to clam ownership for the sake of a few immediate dollars.

   I had devised a plan to write ten songs a day and sell them to make $200.00 per day. I would then take the money and buy other merchandise that I could market on the streets. There was obviously no future in that plan, because the time it took to carry out the plan did not allow for growth.

Otis' plan was to take twelve songs to a publisher and not sell any of them, but instead to ask for an advance for the twelve songs. He would then guarantee that any songs the publisher could not place with a singer after a reasonable period would be replaced with new material until that publisher had placed twelve songs with artist. He would then take the songs that were returned and place them with a different publisher. The result was that he had forty or so songs on the top two-hundred chart and was recognized as a writer that got results.

The best result for his efforts was he maintained ownership of his songs and eventually established Blackwell Publishing. I saw the result when Elvis Presley died and the royalty statement to Otis was twenty-two million dollars.

I was even more impressed when I saw Otis was still the same person. He still dressed like an ordinary worker. He still met with his friends who were mostly other songwriters and singers. He still spent hours going over mixes.

When I suggested he allow me to release one of his recordings after finding potential customers, or allow me to produce a TV show for him, or build a recording studio in his name based on his past fame I got the same answer: No!

So, what do I remember most about Mr. Otis Blackwell? He was always down to earth, never boastful, never prideful, always dedicated to a days work. Otis was a great writer, but he was much more than a writer. He was set apart from everyone else in the industry. He knew hard times and never forgot them therefore he was open, friendly, and ready to help others. He worked in his company the same way he would have worked in any other job (Imagine this guy working in a cleaners in Brooklyn "more than trees grow there, huh"). He shunned publicity and invited industrial challenge. He lived and exemplified greatness through humility. Legally blind and running from sympathy, he never had a seeing-eye dog and was not one for canes. Otis we thank you for great music, joy, peace, love and for being a living example of what humanity is truly all about.