Leo Graham was a singer/songwriter who came to Brunswick as a songwriter in 1970. He was a good lyricist, who often worked with bass player Paul Richmond. Richmond played on many of Leo Graham’s songs and also helped develop the songs musically. When Graham later began producing records at Brunswick/Dakar, he turned for advice to his college teacher James Mack. Graham has paid tribute to Mack’s response: “He was a very, very smart guy and he helped me a whole lot in the early part of my career.” (Soul Express Online). Mack also agreed to write arrangements for most of Graham’s songs!
Graham wrote many songs for Tyrone Davis and later for the Manhattans. In 1973, he took over production duties for Tyrone Davis’ recordings, co-writing “What Goes Up (Must Come Down)” with John Sibley and producing the song along with Richard Parker, which rose to number eleven on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart in the summer of 1974.
In 1975 Graham came up with an idea for a song called “Turning Point”. He developed the song at Phil Upchurch’s studio and then took it to James Mack. It was finally recorded at Paragon Studios in the autumn of 1975 by Tyrone Davis, with a studio band that included Phil Upchurch (guitar), Quinton Joseph (drums) Bernard Reed (bass) and Tennyson Stephens (piano), with the Kitty Haywood singers providing backing vocals. Leo Graham was producer for the recording, which went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart.
When Tyrone Davis left Brunswick/Dakar, soon after “Turning Point” rose to the top of the R&B chart, he took Leo Graham with him to Columbia. Further hits soon followed, including “Give It Up (Turn It Loose)” (1976) and “This I Swear” (1977). Leo Graham also began working with the Manhattans, another Columbia act, when their producer Bobby Martin moved away from secular music. The group came to Chicago to meet Leo Graham, who quickly brought them another hit in early 1980, co-writing and producing “Shining Star” for The Manhattans. The song was recorded at Universal Recording Studios in Chicago and received a Grammy Award for “Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” in 1980. The single also became platinum-certified according to the RIAA on 25th September 2001. James Mack was credited as associate producer and arranger on the track. It spent twenty-four weeks on the singles chart, reaching the Top Five on both the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The single was included on the album “After Midnight”, which was gold-certified by the RIAA.
In the early eighties, Tyrone Davis moved on again, signing for a number of smaller labels; Leo Graham was working with him still. Then the Manhattans also moved away from Columbia, and Leo Graham continued working with them too.
The last significant top five single that Leo Graham produced for Tyrone Davis was called “Are You Serious” from the self-titled album “Tyrone Davis”, released in 1982 by HignRise Entertainment Company, based on the West Coast in Los Angeles, California. Surprisingly, the single charted to number three on the Billboard Soul and R&B Singles Chart week-ending 27th March 1982. The entire studio album was recorded at Universal Studios in Chicago with sound engineer Stuart Walder, who worked with Graham on many occasions.
This particular track was mid tempo and completely different from the last major hit he produced for Davis at CBS with “In The Mood”. Graham used some of the same session musicians as before, such as Morris Jennings (drums), Paul Richmond (bass), Byron Gregory and Danny Leake (guitars) with James Mack playing keyboards and Theodis Rodgers, and Geraldo De Oliveira on percussion. James Mack wrote the arrangements for a small horn section comprising four men. No strings were used on the track; it is very different in style to the track “In The Mood” (1979) which was more lush with a large bass section. The track starts with a lead guitar riff instead of strings and horns. As the track progresses, the bass is introduced with the steady beat of drums played by Morris Jennings. Richmond plays a funky bassline throughout the song. The song’s arrangement by James Mack certainly reflects the style of music that was popular during that period in the early 1980s. This song also demonstrates very clearly that Leo Graham was able to move with the changes in musical style, away from lush strings to a sound based on keyboards, percussion, bass, guitar and a small horn section. This was last time that Graham produced a top five track on the Billboard Soul and R&B Singles Chart.
Leo Graham was one of a trio of alumni of Crane Junior College who came into the music industry thanks to their teacher James Mack. The other two are Willie Henderson and Tom Washington. Together with James Mack himself, they have left an amazing legacy in the form of the songs that they helped to create.
