Interesting GQ article. Alan Leeds shares advice and cool tidbits about his former bosses. Nice 'fro, too!

http://www.gq-magazine.co...nding-boss

How to deal with a tough boss

• By Andy Morris

Unless you have ever been on double date with Prince, Alan Leeds is cooler than you. He was James Brown's tour manager from 1969-1974 (pictured above, accompanied by Black Panthers) and then managed Prince during his (very) purple patch between 1983-1992. He now works for Chris Rock and D'Angelo. Here he tells all on how to work for a demanding boss:

Deal with a tirade: "Realize you can't fight back. James Brown was not going to be wrong. One day he came back from Europe and said that satyrs existed in Bavaria. You couldn't argue with him. He was just the guy who would say two plus two equals three. You'd say it was four and he'd say "Mr Leeds, that is a white man's illusion."

Always have news: "Being on call 24 hours a day, you get what I call "fear of phones". With James I used to keep a cheat sheet of ticket and record sales for the forthcoming shows in my top pocket. Firstly because he might ask, secondly because you might need something to disarm the conversation in case he started asking difficult questions."

Recognize an impossible job: "There was an attempt in the late Sixties to expand his audience and sell tickets to white kids. We were already fighting an uphill battle and then he'd come out with a record like "Soul Power". There was no way I could go to him and say it was the wrong record to release. Mainly because it was a fabulous song!"

Expect the unexpected: "Prince's aftershows were much harder on the technical crew than on the band. So we ended up having a specific truck with the right equipment and technicians dedicated just for the aftershows."

Talk tough when necessary: "You don't entirely avoid turning into a yes man if you want to keep your job, but you have to build up enough credibility so that when you do pull an artist aside, they know you're not going to waste that opportunity talking about something trivial."

Take the mick occasionally: "I worked with Prince for nearly ten years and I never saw him dress down. He once complained that no one took him seriously as a songwriter, so I suggested he go on stage in a turtleneck with a guitar. All he could say was "What? And look like you?"

Cope with nepotism: "James felt bad for one of his old friends from Georgia who'd sang as a Famous Flame in the 50s. So he offered him a job, even though he was illiterate. You had to find things for him to do, make sure you don't humiliate him and try to befriend him. We send him on the road, ahead of the show, making sure posters were up, radio DJs were playing the records and so on."

Recognize industry shifts: "In the Seventies the black music business was very much in the process of taking control of itself. I was the new breed. - the older white guys were used to an industry that was subservient to them. I recognized that it was fatalistic to align myself with them."

Dismiss divide and conquer: "Brown wasn't above playing games. Even though we were equal in the hierarchy, he'd tell my black colleague Buddy Nolan "Mr Nolan, you can never do what Mr Leeds does. He's got that school, that education. You'll never have that." And then he'd tell me later "Mr Leeds you can't be Mr Nolan. You can't compete. He's got street smarts you'll never had."

Beware responsibility: "With James Brown, if he said "use your best judgement" that would mean you'd put your own job on the line. If you were going to endorse a certain position and were wrong, it was your ass."

Socialize with your boss: "The first year I was working with Prince, we'd double date occasionally. I'd go into the cinema first and buy the tickets. We'd wait till the lights went down and then he'd sit down in the back row. It was really quite normal - apart from the fact that normal people don't wear silk pyjamas and high heels to the cinema".

Work for someone you like: "On the Chris Rock tour, there are no 20 year old knucklehead musicians who can't get out of bed in the morning. We've five grown guys who get on the plane and then fight over the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. One of the last music tours I did, early in the decade, the artist asked me 'Why do you always read newspapers?' I knew right then it was time to move on."

The James Brown Reader: Edited by Nelson George and Alan Leeds (Plume. £5.65 plus postage) is available now from amazon.co.uk. An edited version of this interview previously appeared in British GQ.

Click here to read why Nik Cohn believes Prince is rock's greatest ever natural talent

• Published 07 Dec 2011
• Online editing by Kevin Perry
• Photo Credit: Alan Leeds

Fabulous. Thanks for posting.

awwwww

apart from the fact that normal people don't wear silk pyjamas and high heels to the cinema".

2 be a fly on the wall................

Alan Leeds is really missing in Prince world.

What on Earth can he be doing 4 D'Angelo?

Graycap23 said:

What on Earth can he be doing 4 D'Angelo?

Well....you´ll never know how things would have been if he WASN´T with D´Angelo.

squirrelgrease said:

Fabulous. Thanks for posting.

Hey, no prob...

KoolEaze said:

Graycap23 said:

What on Earth can he be doing 4 D'Angelo?

Well....you´ll never know how things would have been if he WASN´T with D´Angelo.

Making sure he puts the crack pipe down and turns up at the studio instead of block booking a studio for 3 months and not showing up once despite the band being there, electing to smoke crack instead (this actually happened).

Mong said:

KoolEaze said:

Well....you´ll never know how things would have been if he WASN´T with D´Angelo.

Making sure he puts the crack pipe down and turns up at the studio instead of block booking a studio for 3 months and not showing up once despite the band being there, electing to smoke crack instead (this actually happened).

Very sad state of affairs.

KemiVA said:

Interesting GQ article. Alan Leeds shares advice and cool tidbits about his former bosses. Nice 'fro, too!

http://www.gq-magazine.co...nding-boss

How to deal with a tough boss

• By Andy Morris

Unless you have ever been on double date with Prince, Alan Leeds is cooler than you. He was James Brown's tour manager from 1969-1974 (pictured above, accompanied by Black Panthers) and then managed Prince during his (very) purple patch between 1983-1992. He now works for Chris Rock and D'Angelo. Here he tells all on how to work for a demanding boss:

Deal with a tirade: "Realize you can't fight back. James Brown was not going to be wrong. One day he came back from Europe and said that satyrs existed in Bavaria. You couldn't argue with him. He was just the guy who would say two plus two equals three. You'd say it was four and he'd say "Mr Leeds, that is a white man's illusion."

KemiVA said:

Deal with a tirade: "Realize you can't fight back. James Brown was not going to be wrong. One day he came back from Europe and said that satyrs existed in Bavaria. You couldn't argue with him. He was just the guy who would say two plus two equals three. You'd say it was four and he'd say "Mr Leeds, that is a white man's illusion."


Take the mick occasionally: "I worked with Prince for nearly ten years and I never saw him dress down. He once complained that no one took him seriously as a songwriter, so I suggested he go on stage in a turtleneck with a guitar. All he could say was "What? And look like you?"


Dismiss divide and conquer: "Brown wasn't above playing games. Even though we were equal in the hierarchy, he'd tell my black colleague Buddy Nolan "Mr Nolan, you can never do what Mr Leeds does. He's got that school, that education. You'll never have that." And then he'd tell me later "Mr Leeds you can't be Mr Nolan. You can't compete. He's got street smarts you'll never had."

These three

Damn, I wish Alan would come out with a book!! It'd be busting at the seams with great stories and info on all of his time with JB, in the Purple Camp, D'Angelo, and then Chris Rock!!! All the things he's done, witnessed, and experienced would be on terrific read and probably a good lesson for a lot of these young, new cats coming up in the business today.

Mong said:

KoolEaze said:

Well....you´ll never know how things would have been if he WASN´T with D´Angelo.

Making sure he puts the crack pipe down and turns up at the studio instead of block booking a studio for 3 months and not showing up once despite the band being there, electing to smoke crack instead (this actually happened).

I heard about that. It's so freaking sad to see him go the Sly Stone route and destroy himself with drugs. It's even worse because he's a real musician/songwriter. Raphael Saadiq once asked the audience to pray for D'Angelo during a concert. Nobody can help unless he's willing to help himself, unfortunately

Great read. Very nice.