from chapter 10
Even though I was the least experience musically, I had been in the area longer than the other members in the band, with the exception of Nicky, who was a local native and had lived in Marion all his life. The past year and a half of running the local clubs and meeting all kinds of people on and off base had given us an endless list of leads into the club scene.
The word was out on us anyway, so getting gigs in the clubs was no problem at all. With Brenda up front singing the hip tunes at that time like Respect by Aretha Franklin, do right woman, and many others by Aretha, we were an instant hit on the local scene. In fact, she use to sing Chain of fools so good, people starting calling us “Chain, Chain Chain.” Brenda also did a tune called, "Tell mama", Etta James, which prompted people to nickname us "Tell mama". I was doing songs by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, etc. We did some real cool jazz instrumentals too, with Duke on organ that was un- avoidable. We played to diverse audiences that required a broad range of music to be played. We played a lot together and that allowed me to get more experience and the band became tighter and tighter.