Back in 1985, the music world was introduced to The Family, one of Prince’s “off-shoot” bands comprised of members of The Revolution and Morris Day and the Time. Fronted by former Time member St. Paul Peterson and singer Susannah Melvoin (twin sister of Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin), the group was rounded out by sax man extraordinaire Eric Leeds, who was also a member of another Prince project, Madhouse—a funk/jazz fusion band; Time drummer Jellybean Johnson; and arguably the most iconic sidekick in popular music, the Time’s Jerome Benton. The Family brought with it the familiarly funky Minneapolis R&B flavor audiences had come to know and love, but with a level of soulful sophistication and musicality that rivaled groups like Vanity 6 or Apollonia 6. Their break out single “The Screams of Passion” from their first and only release, The Family, turned out to be a top 20 hit, and those who are diehard fans will declare that The Family’s original version of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” trumps Sinéad O’Connor’s remake hands down.
Despite the early success of “The Screams of Passion” and an impressive following, The Family ultimately ended before the group truly got off the ground. There was no follow up album, no major tour, no new videos. Susannah and Eric were effectively reabsorbed into the Revolution until its dissolution in 1989; after, Eric released a string of critically acclaimed solo albums while Susannah went on to join Wendy & Lisa’s band and to write and produce songs for the likes of Madonna, Doyle Bramhall II, and Eric Clapton. St. Paul also released music as a solo artist, and Jellybean and Jerome resumed their positions with The Time.
At the behest of Sheila E., the group reunited as The Family 2.0 for a charity concert in Los Angeles in 2007, and then joined Questlove and the Roots for a post-Grammys performance. Finally, plans were put in place for The Family to record new music and in 2009 The Family officially changed its name to fDeluxe. With the original members back together (minus Jerome Benton), fDeluxe’s long-awaited and HIGHLY anticipated new release Gaslight is slated to debut in late September 2011.
SoulTrain.com was honored to talk with fDeluxe about the new music, the roads they’ve traveled, and their enduring Family legacy.
SoulTrain.com: Can each of you share with our SoulTrain.com audience what you’ve been up to in the years since The Family disbanded?
Susannah: We all went our separate ways after the band had its moment. Although it was never completed we were all really dedicated musicians. When you’ve got that fire and you’ve got that desire to do this because you don’t have an option, you have to get out there and you have to get a gig. And so we all did. We spent years playing with other people, writing for other people, being our own “front people”, touring, and performing, and it led us up to now. When we decided that this was the thing we wanted to do, it hit really hard for all of us. We loved playing together back at the time [as the Family] and we wanted to finish it. And not only finish it, we were all seasoned enough to make another record and be a great band. We performed one night—we opened up for Sheila at the Forum for her Angel Buddy Foundation—we’d had one hour of rehearsal the day before. We got together, the band sounded great and we were like, ‘Let’s just go for it!’. We had such a good time and it was clear—at least to Paul and me at that moment—that we needed to do this again.
Eric: I quit music. I’ve been a railroad engineer for the past twenty years (laughs)! After the Family broke up I spent a few years playing with Prince, you know that other guy from [Minneapolis]. He gave me the opportunity to record my own music, so I was signed to Paisley Park Records for a few years. I put out a couple CDs; that kept me busy for a few years. I worked with Sheila E. a bunch—in the mid-90s we had a band called the E Train, did a few gigs here and there. And I do freelance jazz gigs around the Twin Cities when I can. Paul and Jellybean and I had a band called The Truth, and then over the last few years I’ve been in Europe quite a bit with a jazz keyboardist named Rad.
ST: Let’s talk very briefly about the original incarnation of the group. How did The Family come to be?
Paul: When we were filming Purple Rain, our dressing rooms were right next to Prince’s and Morris and I used to have these little sing-offs. I’m guessing this is where Prince heard me sing. When the Time disbanded, Prince gathered everyone who was left and we talked and he said, “I want to do a new band and I want you to be the lead singer”. And he pointed at me. So that was how that baby began—the dissolution of the Time and him having a creative outlet for some other songs. He put Susannah and me up front. I was flabbergasted, however old I was at the time!
Susannah: I had been working with Prince as a background singer on a lot of his side projects. When the Time disbanded, he and I had been talking off and on for a while about putting a band together. He wasn’t really clear on what it was going to be, but he knew I had been really eager to do some more work. I had left a gig with Quincy Jones to start working with Prince. I needed to work, Prince wanted me to work, but it had to be the right thing—other than me singing background. When it came time for the songs, from what I understand he didn’t have songs in the vault for us to use. We’d been listening to a lot of old Rufus records and Claire Fischer had done all the string arrangements, and I thought it would be really great to have strings on the record. So it became a real musical outlet for everyone’s ideas even though Prince went in and recorded them. Eric wrote all his own parts, and Paul went in and sang the songs brilliantly. When it came time to do overdubs and production with David Z. (Revolution drummer Bobby Z’s brother), it was clear that it really was a family. And that’s why we were called The Family. We were all involved, we were all working together, and it was a great creative time.
Because the first record featured Paul mostly on lead vocals, the follow-up record was supposed to be me singing a lot of the songs. The two of us together was to establish this relationship, and that’s why we decided to make the new record with the two of us really standing up front vocally.
ST: The music industry has changed dramatically over the decades since “The Screams of Passion” was on the charts. How do you anticipate technology and new media will impact your upcoming release and how your fans from back in the day receive you?
Paul: I think we’ve already done it! One of the things that you have to do in the music business is stay current, and that’s one of the things that has allowed me to feed my children (laughs). Keeping up with technology has been extremely important to me, not only on the recording side but also on the Internet side. It’s been so cool to involve our fans from the very beginning of this. It’s a better way to keep close with your audience. They’ve been supportive and they keep us going. This has been a long process. We took our time—we did it in a fashion so as not to rush—but this is an important record for us to make and the fans really hung with us. The Internet has done nothing but escalate our relationship with our audience and bring us closer.
Eric: I give all the credit to Susannah and Paul for handling all that. Technology for me is what I do—and that’s blow hot air through a piece of pipe! (everyone laughs)
Jellybean: Exactly! It’s definitely Paul and Susannah who’ve got the Internet thing down. Eric and I are old school.
Susannah: It’s complete mayhem in this industry now and everyone has to be a pioneer and their own musical advocate. The good news is that the industry is so not what it was even three years ago, so we can get out there and establish ourselves in any way we want to. Although it’s hard to make a living like that because it’s not corporatized or regulated, there’s nothing out there like ‘here’s a paycheck to do what you do’. As freeing as it is, there’s a lot of sweat equity in it. You’ve got to work your “A” off all the time. It’s the beauty and the baggage.
Eric: The old school business model for record companies no longer really exists and we’re all trying to figure this out on the fly. It’s fun to throw it out there and see what happens, and try to capitalize on where things are going.
ST: And what about new fans? Now that traditional radio plays less of a role in introducing audiences to new music and new artists, how will fDeluxe expand its audience?
Susannah: The good thing about fDeluxe now is that we’ve established ourselves as a different kind of band than it was. It makes our older fans feel like they’re up to date, and the younger fans don’t feel like they’re in some hokey old school scene. It’s our intention to transcend the age. We don’t want to be pigeonholed in a musical box or a musical time.
Eric: This is adult pop music. We don’t have any illusions about this music appealing to younger kids. The goal and the challenge are to get this music in front of people who will enjoy it.
Paul: I believe the music stands on its own and I’m very proud of what we’ve done. I think we have a good shot at appealing to a lot of different people.
ST: Tell us about the new album, Gaslight. Where does the title come from?
Susannah: We didn’t have a plan for what to name the record, so we were going to just call it fDeluxe. We came up with a bunch of other names but none of them worked. “Gaslight” became something we were doing a lot of remixes on. The name comes from this film in the 40s with Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. I wrote the song years ago because I was inspired by the film, which is a great psychological thriller. I think most people have had some experience with being “gaslighted”. The song itself has a great meaning and the name just fit.
Paul: We were lucky enough to find people who are as passionate about the music as we are. We found two people who really believe in this record. We’ve got Rope-a-Dope out of Philadelphia, and Art of Groove/MIG Records out of Germany [distributing the album in the US and Europe respectively].
ST: Considering where each of you began in this business, and how it has changed over the years, what advice would you give to emerging artists just starting out? What have you learned along the way that you can pass on to those coming up?
Jellybean: Believe in yourself and keep going for your dream. It’s hard, it’s tough out here, but you have to keep at it. I’ve been fortunate to be around talented people like this all my life. You’ve got to believe in yourself and believe in your dream, and don’t give up.
Paul: I’m the head of the recording department at Minneapolis Media Institute, and we’ve involved the students in the making of this record so I get this question a lot. Everyone in this band has inspired the students in one way or another. They all have that dream, and it’s all about what we tell them and what experiences we can give to them. The most important thing is to hone your craft—it really is a work ethic thing. You’ve really got to hunker down and never have any excuses. The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Susannah: Talent doesn’t matter. You could be the most talented person in the world, but if you don’t work—if you don’t sweat over this thing—it’s going to be a lot of hours where you feel like, ‘you know what? I don’t want to do this’.
Paul: The other piece of advice is you’ve got to be able to hang. You’ve got to be somebody that other people want to be around.
Susannah: There’s no room anymore for artists to not be inclusive of the people who work with them. Everybody needs everybody. It doesn’t matter how independent you are. Get out there and play, immerse yourself, and get everybody else involved and don’t have the ego to shut other people out.
For details on fDeluxe’s upcoming tour dates and to snag merch including Gaslight, go to their official website http://www.fdeluxe.com. They’re also on Facebook, Twitter, andReverbnation.
New topic
Printable
Report post to moderator
moderator
Yeah, me too. 
