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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Rod Temperton – You wanna talk “blue-eyed soul, Justin and Robin?” Well, he was it





Another great, and a piece of the soundtrack of my life, has gone on to his reward. The native of England, who remained in England after his touring days ended, and who used to FAX his contributions to his collaborators, passed recently. Rod Temperton was the keyboardist, and composer for one of the best groups to come out of the 70s, HEATWAVE. Go listen to Always and Forever (with the unbelievable voice of the late Johnnie Wilder, Jr.) and I dare you not to wish you’d been there with flares on!

He worked for the rest of his life creating music with and for others. You might know some of these gorgeous songs:
For his group, HEATWAVE: Always and Forever; Grooveline
George Benson: Gimme the Night
Michael Macdonald: Yammo Be There
Michael Jackson: Rock Wit You; Thriller
Lionel Ritchie: Say You, Say Me (from the movie White Nights)

And it goes on and on.

Generous, original, prolific, tempered talented as opposed to just grinding out “hamburger” because another 3-minute-long something was due a record company, he left his distinct mark on 70s funk and 80s ballads.

Justin who? Robin who?


R. I. P. Mister Temperton

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