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Johnnie Edwards plays song from a heart – Herald

January 21, 2012

BENTON HARBOR – Johnnie Edwards is in demand.

In a past few years, a drummer, bassist and vocalist has corroborated Niki Haris during Coming Home, Coming Together; Leo Nocentelli, guitarist for a mythological New Orleans despondency organisation The Meters; as good as internal low-pitched stalwarts Marcus Robinson, Charlene Jones-Clark and Dawn Yarbrough. That’s in further to his possess rope Johnnie Edwards Co., a favorite of a summer festival circuit and venues such as Czars 505 in St. Joseph and The Livery in Benton Harbor.

“I never mislaid that passion for music,” says Edwards, who plays Saturday during The Livery underneath a name Johnnie Edwards Friends. “I was innate and lifted around a low-pitched family. My mom, Martha Childs, was a recording artist in a ’60s and ’70s. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides were musically and artistically inclined. we only never let go of it.”

The 46-year-old Benton Harbor native, who creates his vital operative for Benton Harbor Area Schools, might be a upkeep male by trade though he’s a musician during heart. In 2005, he combined to his internal prominence by penning a strain “Would a Real Benton Harbor Stand Up?” The RB balance perceived airplay on Benton Harbor’s low-power FM radio stations, 105.3 and 96.5. It also led Edwards to form Johnnie Edwards Co. with his comparison hermit Andre Edwards and a rotating list of area musicians.

“Most of a people who know my family, know that we adore music,” he says. “So I’d get calls from time to time to do things. we did 15 years of Miss Benton Harbor pageants. we sung a inhabitant anthem during Benton Harbor High School. That got me a small bit of internal fame, though it only wasn’t enough. That’s when we motionless to start a band.”

Edwards, who is a fourth of 6 children, says he initial became meddlesome in posterior strain after examination his eldest brother, Terry Edwards, sing and play a bass.

“He was really one of my purpose models in a family,” Johnnie Edwards says. “That’s because a drum was a many successful instrument for me. we schooled that initial and after that it was only perplexing to collect adult everything. The drums came second and afterwards we started messing around with a keyboards.”

After graduating from Benton Harbor High School in 1983, Edwards attended Lake Michigan College and spent dual some-more years in Grand Rapids, where he sang and available with a Bethel Pentecostal Choir and Truth Ministries Records. In 1989, after a record association folded, Edwards returned to his hometown.

“I schooled a lot about a strain attention and recording,” Edwards says. “I started essay and producing and started a gospel group, Vision AD.”

Since then, Edwards has achieved each possibility he’s had. He sings during weddings and corporate events, plays drums in a Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church band, and will still, on occasion, uncover adult to internal venues on karaoke nights.

“Oh, we adore karaoke,” Edwards says. “I still strike a karaoke spots each once in a while only to stay sharp.”

It’s seemed to work.

On Saturday, Edwards will do what he does best, personification a brew of originals and RB and gospel classics with a small jazz twist. He’s certain to sing some Stevie Wonder and lift from a Michael Jackson catalog – consider some-more “Rock With You” than “Man In The Mirror.” There will also be his originals “It’s Over,” that he describes as “a strain about a chairman who only cannot take your adore serious,” and “Ride,” that is about his possess adore of immeasurable low-pitched styles.

“We don’t have any limits,” Edwards says, “and we take a lot of requests.”

The “we” in this box refers to a lineup that will embody Gary King (bass), Cameron Diggins (drums), Brandon Chase (keyboards), Lawrence DeFrance (keyboards) and James Jones (saxophone). Edwards says he might even be means to remonstrate his long-time crony Marcus Robinson to join in a set.

“I’m not certain if Marcus is going to play that night, though he has an open doorway with me,” Edwards says. “I consider he feels a same approach about me.”

For Edwards, that doorway doesn’t seem to be shutting anytime soon.

“People might tell we to do it this approach or that way, though there’s no manners when it comes to music,” he says. “When we do something out of your heart, we do a lot for others.”

jbonfiglio@TheH-P.com

– WHO: Johnnie Edwards Friends

– WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday

– WHERE: The Livery, 190 Fifth St., Benton Harbor

– HOW MUCH: $5

– CONTACT: 925-8760 or www.liverybrew.com

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