I am a hardcore EWF fan, and I never knew this....would be interesting to find out why he was involved and why he never stayed part of Maurice's group....

"....Most people my age would know the deep musical history of St. Louis and all of the jazz greats that have come out of that area,” Bailey said. “And the deep love that people have for music and great musicians. People from St. Louis are able to appreciate music from a whole different level, and it’s always a great experience for us to perform there.”

Part of that rich St. Louis musical history intersects with EWF’s. The angelic first tenor tone of St. Louis’ own Donny Hathaway was the featured vocalist on the EWF demo tapes shopped to record labels that landed the band a deal with Warner Brothers after it was co-founded by Verdine and Maurice White in Chicago in 1969.

Few vocalists can match the lasting impression Hathaway leaves on listeners, but Bailey rose to the challenge with his falsetto. High notes and improvisation on EWF classics such as “Devotion” and “Reasons” have allowed Bailey to become one of the most identifiable voices in music....."

http://www.stlamerican.co...03286.html

[Edited 6/16/11 12:02pm]

Now....if I recall correctly, from the Eagle vision EWF DVD, Maurice said that he never wanted to step out front and sing,

He envisioned Phil being the lead, while he would stay behing the scenes at his drums....but that he subsequently realised that the results would be better with the contrast of his vocals with Phil...and so was born the line-up..

So "maybe" Maurice who didnt want to sing simply had Donny supply the vocals instead????

Allnall said:

Now....if I recall correctly, from the Eagle vision EWF DVD, Maurice said that he never wanted to step out front and sing,

He envisioned Phil being the lead, while he would stay behing the scenes at his drums....but that he subsequently realised that the results would be better with the contrast of his vocals with Phil...and so was born the line-up..

So "maybe" Maurice who didnt want to sing simply had Donny supply the vocals instead????

I don't think Phillip was on the Warner Brothers albums. I thought he joined when they went to CBS.

There was a first version of EWF that was different from the second and the most famous version that featured Philip, Verdine and the others who were apart of the band in 72-73 up to 83.

The first EWF was a collection of Chicago session musicians who recorded on Chess, Vee-Jay, Curtom and other Black record labels in Chicago, so the Donny Hathaway story makes perfect sense. They were more like a jazz band and they were featured on the score of that Melvin Van Peebles movie.

thatruth said:

There was a first version of EWF that was different from the second and the most famous version that featured Philip, Verdine and the others who were apart of the band in 72-73 up to 83.

The first EWF was a collection of Chicago session musicians who recorded on Chess, Vee-Jay, Curtom and other Black record labels in Chicago, so the Donny Hathaway story makes perfect sense. They were more like a jazz band and they were featured on the score of that Melvin Van Peebles movie.

So true....the line-up did change....and yes, Phil was not in the original EWF line-up in 1969...

Just was a surprise to me as an avid fan that I had never seen in print before that Donny was in some way involved in EWF....and as I am one of those many music fans who love Donny Hathaway, this was a pleasant surprise....

Now...to hear "those demos"...hahaha...would be really interesting if they still exist somewhere......

[Edited 6/16/11 13:32pm]