About Me
Black Ivory: A short historyWhat the Ink Spots were to the 1950's and the Impressions were to the 1960's, Black Ivory was to the 1970's. All were three man singing groups, and each made a significant impact on the music of their decade. ...And Oh!... What beautiful music!!!Black Ivory burst onto the scene in the early seventies when singing groups with a high falsetto sound, such as the Delfonics and the Stylistics, dominated the radio airwaves. Their slow sexy love ballads burned up the charts generating Top 10 hits, "Don't turn Around", "You and I", "Time is Love" and many others, not to mention driving the ladies wild with their youthful good looks. Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe and Russell Patterson are the original members of Black Ivory, and after nearly forty years in show business,, they have come back together to do what they do best.It all began for these New York natives while still attending high school. One of the groups most memorable performances during these early years was winning a talent show held at Roosevelt High School in The Bronx. After winning several other talent contest and performing for neighborhood block parties in their Harlem community, Black Ivory realized that they had what it took to achieve their dreams of musical success.From the beginning Patrick Adams, an aspiring producer and songwriter, managed the groups career, even securing a spot for them as Kool and the Gang's opening act. He recognized a valuable potential in Black Ivory; not only were they gifted vocalists, but they also had exceptional songwriting abilities. This was particularly true of Leroy Burgess, the group's original lead vocalist. His skills as a composer, arranger and producer have spawned an incredible array of hits for many noteworthy artists including Rick James, Jocelyn Brown, Eddie Kendricks and many more, earning him the title of 'the king of boogie'.Adams collaborated with the group to produce a demo and after shopping it around, Black Ivory signed with Today records in January 1970.With Today, Adams produced a string of regional hits garnering them the title of number one in Washington D.C. for two years in a row. What made this distinction even more special to Black Ivory was that they were more popular than the most popular group in the world at that time. . . The Jackson 5.When their contract with Today records expired the group realized it was time to move. Their experience with Today was great but the record company had limited distribution capabilities and after three years was unable to give them what they wanted most. . . a national hit. The group signed with Warner Bros. records and had a hit with "What Goes Around, Comes Around", resulting in Black Ivory's only appearance on TV's ever-popular dance show Soul Train. They then signed with Buddah records and the first release, "Will We Ever Come Together", took them back to the Top 10. But, it was the release of a disco record, one of the few uptempo releases of their career, the Burgess penned "Mainline" that achieved classic status. It was an instant favorite in the dance clubs. Unfortunately, it was their last hit at that time because, in 1981, after touring with greats like James Brown, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye, Black Ivory decided to take what they thought was their last ovation.Burgess continued to excel as lead vocalist/composer/producer for a number of groups including Aleem, Convertion, Logg and the Universal Robot Band, as well as on his own solo projects, achieving worldwide cult status before returning to his original group in 1995.Thankfully with the renewed interest in classic soul music Black Ivory is back... older, wiser and still making beautiful music.
