>> [MUSIC] I have a theory. It's called the ''It'' theory.
What is it?
Well, it is that x-factor.
One it's talent,
two it's the ability to engage an audience and hold their attention.
There was a show on television called the x-factor,
that intangible factor that people have talent
that can be developed into something
that can really allow an artist to have a career.
I maintain that first if you want to become an artist,
you first have to have it.
You have to have it.
You have to have the talent.
I remember when I first recognized that I had talent,
I was managing a band called,
it wasn't a band it was really a vocal group of four guys in high school.
The name of the group was The Illusions.
One day they were trying to do a song by The Temptations
that had a great intro part by the great lead singer David Ruffin,
where he started low in a baritone voice
and then flipped into a false subtle on one note.
It was a great part. I remember everybody in
the group tried to sing that part and they couldn't.
I went up and I said, wait a minute, fellows, this is it.
I sang the part and they all looked at me and they said,
''John, you can't be the manager,
you've got to be in the group.''
I did in fact join that group.
Now, it's important to recognize that it isn't just about having it.
You can have it,
but you won't become successful unless you work it.
In other words, you have to have it and you have to work it.
I'm going to tell you my experiences in working it.
The group The Illusions performed at local events
in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
We performed at rec centers,
we perform at high school talent shows,
some organizations that had lunches and dinners
asked us to come and perform them.
We performed for free.
We worked whenever we could.
Then when I went to college,
my roommate who was a guitar player,
and I started a band called The Decade.
We had maybe six or seven juniors who were in their third year of college,
be a part of the band.
We were the only freshmen.
As we started to really work in Syracuse,
we only worked on the Syracuse University campus.
We played fraternity parties,
sorority parties, and that was the extent of it.
The senior members of the group,
the juniors who were in the group,
were really satisfied with that.
But both me and my roommate, the guitar player,
really wanted to become successful in the music industry
so when those guys graduated,
we decided to start a new band and we did.
You saw a picture of the group,
The New Decade earlier in the course.
It was a vocal group,
but it also had a band.
We went on to do some recording,
but we knew we had to work it.
How did we work it?
Well, first we went off campus to local Syracuse clubs
and we performed in the city of Syracuse.
Word started to spread to other colleges,
to other clubs in neighboring cities and we worked in entire I90,
Interstate I90 quarter from Buffalo to clubs in Rochester,
Albany, Utica New York, Rome New York.
As a result of that, we met bands who had booking agents,
who saw our band and they wanted to book us
and did in the Northeast United States as well as Canada.
We played in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Toronto.
In other words, we were building up a network we were working it.
As a result of that work,
I had the opportunity to meet the leader of the group Cameo,
who at that time, the name of the group was the New York City Players, Larry Blackmon.
We perform in the same towns.
Sometimes we come to each other's shows to check out
what we were doing that see how we can improve.
As a result of that connection,
as a result of that networking in working it,
when I moved to New York,
the first telephone call that I made was to Larry Blackmon of the New York City Players.
My goal was to really record with a group
or an act on a nationally distributed label.
As a result of working it with The Decade,
with the New Decade developing that network.
I was in the studio the first night in New York City
doing demos for the recording that we recorded about a month later.
I achieved my goal.
I made it in that respect that I really wanted to be on a nationally distributed record.
In other words, you have to have it.
But you not only have to have it,
you have to work it.
I say that if you have it and you work it,
you can make it.
[MUSIC]