Roger St. Pierre
Music business veteran Roger St. Pierre worked on the last ever Bill Haley tour and the Jackson 5’s first visit to the UK. As PR and promotion man for James Brown, BB King, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Wilson Pickett, the Drifters, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Slade, Glen Campbell, George and Gwen McCrae, KC & The Sunshine Band, Junior Walker, and many others, he had the inside track on the record industry through the 'Sixties and 'Seventies.
His Funk Funktion operation worked on six number-ones, including M’s ‘Pop Music’, Althea & Donna’s ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ and JJ Barry’s ‘No Charge’ – which he happily admits was one of the worse records ever made. The company also held the UK promotion contracts for such seminal labels as Ember, TK, reggae’s Studio One outfit and disco hit factory Solar.
Roger additionally ran his own Now! And Energy labels, with releases by such artists as the O’Jays, David Soul and The Valentine Brothers (with the original of ‘Money’s Too Tight To Mention’). And, in 1969, he was co-promoter of the historic ‘Peace For Christmas’ concert, which headlined John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band – and outfit which included that night Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, George Harrison, Billy Preston, Alan White of Yes, Delaney & Bonnie, the Manfred Mann Band’s Klaus Voorman and, of course, Yoko.
But above all else Roger has been a prolific editor and writer. His first of many articles for Blues & Soul appeared in issue six, back in 1967. For many years, he was a prolific contributor to the pages of New Musical Express and, under his Peter Kent pen-name, Record Mirror and Sounds. He was launch editor of both Disco Mirror and Disco International & Club News and over his 40 year music industry career he has written well over 1,000 sleevenotes – ranging from T Bone Walker, Brook Benton and Stan Getz to Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Delius, from Freddie & The Dreamers to Dinah Washington.
Roger was the main writer of the NME Book of Rock and the subsequent Rock Handbook – the biggest selling rock music encyclopaedia of all time. He also co-wrote the best-selling The Encyclopaedia of Black Music and penned books on such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Bon Jovi, Ike & Tina Turner, Ah-Ha, Bob Marley and Madonna.
As a broadcaster, Roger worked on pirate radio and subsequently Solar Radio, currently hosting a weekly two-hour ‘Rhythm & Blues Revival Show’ that is broadcast across Europe on Sky Digital and around the world via the internet. He wrote the narration for Horace Ove’s award-winning TV and cinema documentary Reggae and in recent times has completed several series of six half-hour documentaries for BBC Radio Two – on Atlantic Records’ soul heritage, the life stories of Count Basie and Chuck Berry and the saga of blues giant Robert Johnson – for which projects he carried out all the field research, conducted the interviews and co-wrote the scripts.
List of articles in the library by artist
Al Green: You're Never Alone With Al
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1971
THERE WAS no chance of Al Green getting tired of being alone when Decca Records welcomed him to Britain with a turkey and Christmas pud ...
Albert Hammond: Moroccan Strip Clubs To All American Boy
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1973
DESPITE THAT rich, drawling brogue and songs like 'It Never Rains In Southern California', Albert Hammond is no American. As it happens, he was born ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: The Man Who Twisted Himself
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1974
COVER VERSIONS have long been the bane of the rhythm and blues field of music. During the 'Fifties, the major record companies kept their ears ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1972
WITHIN a year of its composer Bill Withers taking it high up the American chart, 'Ain't No Sunshine' has become firmly established as a soul ...
Bloodstone: The Bloodstone Sound Spectrum
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972
THERE'S BEEN a growing flood of black American artists to these shores over the past few years, and more and more of them have decided ...
Bloodstone, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield, Bloodstone: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972
WITH THE Curtis Mayfield/Bloodstone show, the Rainbow Theatre proved conclusively that the Albert Hall has lost its place as the capital city of bad acoustics. ...
Brecker Brothers, The: The Brecker Brothers: Everythin's All White
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1975
...
Brook Benton: Brook's No Hero Of The Past
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Record Mirror, April 1976
LIKE RAY CHARLES, Fats Domino and precious few others, Brook Benton's pulling power as one of the father figures of black American music continues despite ...
James Brown: He Ain't Slowing Down
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1973
SOUL BROTHER Number One leaned back in his chair, adjusted his robe, and expounded: "Back in 1969 King Records didn't want to know. They said ...
Jerry Butler: The Iceman Cometh, Yet Again
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Black Echoes, July 1976
IT WAS deejay George Wood who originally tagged Jerry Butler "The Iceman" because of his on-stage cool and it's still an especially appropriate nickname, not ...
Jerry Butler, Allen Toussaint: Jerry Butler and Allen Toussaint: The Spice Of Life
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, October 1972
IT'S NOT so long since soul albums were merely collections of singles, plus a few make-weight tracks. ...
Chi-Lites, The: The Chi-Lites: The Windy City Sound
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, June 1972
IF ANY outfit holds serious aspirations to usurping the Temptation's crown as the world's leading soul group then it must surely be Chicago's Chi-Lites who ...
Merry Clayton: The Triumphant Acid Queen
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1972
MERRY CLAYTON is the girl who stopped the show at the London Rainbow performance of Pete Townshend's rock opera Tommy earlier this month. Even the ...
Sam Cooke: Who Remembers Him Now? Sam Cooke
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1972
"NOT 'ALF Sam Cooke's been an influence on me," Rod Stewart was saying in his NME interview last week, adding that the inclusion of 'Twisting ...
Lou Courtney, Howard Tate: Howard Tate and Lou Courtney: The Blues and Dance Men
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, September 1973
TWO ARTISTS of widely different appeal, Howard Tate and Lou Courtney both deserve inclusion in this series because although only modestly successful even in the ...
Cornell Dupree: The Boss Guitar of Cornell Dupree
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1973
CORNELL DUPREE's name will mean nothing to the general public, but those who scan LP sleeve credits will recognise him as one of America's busiest ...
Exciters, The: The Exciters - Dark Clouds Over the Black Country
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, June 1975
INTERNAL DISSENSION IS the bane of any cult, and though the Northern Sounds soul movement might seem healthy from the outside, in reality it's torn ...
Roberta Flack: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, February 1973
MAJESTIC, CERTAINLY, with a voice as clear as crystal – but I'm afraid to say that Miss Roberta Flack, in concert, is something of a ...
Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1972
THOUGH IT HAS received wide critical accalim Aretha Franklin's latest album, the double set Amazing Grace, is far and away the least commercially orientated she ...
Garnet Mimms: The Mysterious Fade-Out Of Garnet Mimms
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, NME, October 1973
JIMMY HELMS has a fair rendering of 'I'll Take Good Care Of You' competing in the chart stakes right now, but soul freaks who can ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1975
POSTING HER way to a real left-field hit is Gloria Gaynor with 'Never Can Say Goodbye' which sounds like a revived 45 but isn't. ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Beat Instrumental, December 1971
WITH AL Green's 'Tired Of Being Alone' Decca's subsidiary London label has notched its first chart entry in more than 18 months. It's quite a ...
Al Green, Bill Black Combo, The: Al Green: Now Green Smashes The Big Memphis Monopoly
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, October 1971
MEMPHIS HAS long been accepted as capital city of rock 'n' soul, but to the casual fan this means just Elvis on the rock side ...
Isaac Hayes and The Platinum Pirates
Report by Roger St. Pierre, Record Collector, January 1972
BOOTLEG RECORDS have become a familiar part of the music scene in the past few years but a far more serious problem for record companies ...
Isaac Hayes: A Man Of The People
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Beat Instrumental, April 1973
ISAAC HAYES certainly lives up to his 'Super-star' title. During his recent British visit the Black Moses spent £38,000 on jewellery and another £30,000 on ...
Isaac Hayes: The Day Moses Came To Town
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, West Indian World, February 1973
THE LONDON Hilton's high-speed lift whisked me up 27 floors into the super-soul world of Isaac Hayes, the original "Black Moses". ...
Isaac Hayes: The Man They Call Moses
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, February 1973
IMAGES DON'T come much heavier than that surrounding Isaac Hayes. But take away the dark shades, the heavy chains, the robes, the immense mink coats, ...
Isaac Hayes: The Aloof Mystique of Isaac Hayes
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1972
...but he's part of the people in his gold-plated Rolls Royce ...
John Holt: Reggae In The Moonlight
Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, February 1975
ETHNIC REGGAE'S TRADITIONAL image has been of rough raw-edged sounds, but Jamaica has always had just as strong a strain of ultra-smooth ballad-styled sounds. ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1972
TOMMY HUNT is a name you'll be hearing a lot of if the best laid plans of the entertainment business don't go astray. More than ...
Jackson 5, The: The Jackson Five: Five Pranksters Puppets
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1972
TAUNTS THAT the Jackson Five are nothing more than carefully manipulated puppets just aren't borne out by the facts. Five minutes in the company of ...
Jefferson Airplane, Papa John Creach: Papa John Creach: Papa John Makes It With Rock
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972
THE ONE-TIME phenomenon of young white rock musicians playing on records by old black blues musicians has become a commonplace thing. ...
Report and Interview by Bob Fisher, Roger St. Pierre, NME, April 1975
From the great lost soul label of Atlantic it came, writhing with synchronized funk, its many black heads chanting and wailing. Nothing like it had ...
Leiber and Stoller: Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller: By Royal Appointment
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, February 1975
THE SCENE IS the Dorchester Hotel, one of the last vestiges of Britain's Imperial splendour and we've just been refused admission to the restaurant for ...
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1974
SOUL MUSIC and the blues have boundaries which are largely indefinable — a factor which has allowed many artists to straddle the two. ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1975
STUDENTS OF the currently emergent Miami Sound will have noticed the proliferation of album credits, both as writer and musician, for one Willie Hale. ...
Curtis Mayfield: Where He's Been And Where He's Going
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Let It Rock, October 1972
AFTER SUCH COMMITTED, socially conscious compositions as 'This Is My Country', 'Mighty Mighty, Spade and Whitey' and 'Choice Of Colours' Curtis Mayfield believes the time ...
Meters, The: The Meters: Funk From The Crescent City
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, October 1974
THERE'S ALWAYS been something unique about New Orleans music, whether it's the jazz of Louis Armstong, the boogie-woogie blues of Champion Jack Dupree, the lopping ...
Michael Jackson, Jackson 5, The: Michael Jackson: Schmaltz or Genius?
Comment by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1972
In his day perhaps they thought Mozart was a hype ...
Moments, The, Shirley & Co.: Shirley & Co. and The Moments: The Carpenters Are My Real Faves
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1975
Al Goodman, A & R man for All Platinum label. So what are you doing on the Soul page with Shirley & Co., Al? ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1973
IT'S EASY TO detect a strong jazz influence in Billy Paul's vocal on 'Me And Mrs. Jones'. The reason is simple enough. Paul, now 35, ...
Ann Peebles: Will Princess Ann Be Queen
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, 1972
ON THE distaff side, soul music has produced a long run of superb girl singers and these soul sisters have found it far easier to ...
Pioneers, The: The Pioneers: 'Longshot' Never Let Them Down. Will 'Ramases' Do The Same?
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Record Mirror, January 1970
'Long Shot, Kick The Bucket' brought pop fame and a trip to Britain for the Pioneers; 'Poor Ramases' is their latest disc and to give ...
Billy Preston: God Planned It Good
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, September 1973
AFTER YEARS spent as a session man for an astonishing roster of star names the Beatles, the Stones, Barbra Steisand, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Sam ...
Billy Preston: The Busiest Soul In Showbusiness
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, September 1974
THANKS TO his prodigious session-work, as well as his own tours, Billy Preston is one of the most frequent American soul visitors to our isle; ...
Otis Redding: A Legend During His Lifetime, Or Only After His Death
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1974
The former, argues ROGER ST. PIERRE, in this appreciation of OTIS REDDING, who died seven years ago this month – the Boss Man soul music ...
Otis Redding, Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers: A Rock Tragedy
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1972
WHEN BERRY Oakley died two hours after crashing his motorcycle on November 11, another chapter was added to the succession of tragedy which seems to ...
Righteous Brothers, The: The Righteous Brothers: Two By Two (MGM)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, September 1973
INCREDIBLE, They may not have been black, they may not even have been soul music (though to my mind they were), but nobody could deny ...
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1975
THERE'S NOTHING NEW about black anger. It's run through the whole of black music from the blues onwards, finding perhaps its most forthright expression (in ...
Nina Simone: Emergency Ward (SF 8304)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1973
LOGGING A BIG pop hit sometimes does more harm than good to artists who previously had a rather specialist appeal. ...
Smokey Robinson: Miracles And Meditation
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1973
IT'S JUST on a year since Smokey Robinson split from the Miracles to spend more time as an executive of the Motown Corporation. Now, he ...
Staple Singers, The: The Staple Singers: Soft Sounds That Burn Deep
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, June 1972
JAMAICAN SINGERS have yet to follow up their undoubted success in Britain with a similar impact in the States but neverthelless reggae is making a ...
Edwin Starr: The Thespian Anglophile And The Motown Machine
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, December 1974
EDWIN STARR has a rather special place in the British soul scene, since none of America's top soul acts can match his record of some ...
Candi Staton: Foxy Lady Of Soul
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, September 1973
RIGHT FROM the days when Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and later the ladies Holliday, Vaughan, Fitzgerald and Washington ruled the blues/jazz roost there ...
Candi Staton, Bettye Swann: Candi Staton and Bettye Swann: Broken Hearts, Do Right Women
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, June 1975
EVERY TIME I hear Bettye Swann's pained 'Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me' I'm so moved I want to go and punch that ...
Stone The Crows: Les Harvey — A Rock Tragedy
Obituary by Roger St. Pierre, NME, May 1972
LIFE AS a rock star isn't all glamour. It's a hard, gruelling existence which too often can end in tragedy. ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, April 1975
"WHERE ELSE BUT in America could a person own a Rolls-Royce, an Eldorado Mark IV, a Mercedes limousine, an estate in Long Island, an apartment ...
Temptations, The, Carla Thomas: The Temptations, Carla Thomas: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, NME, April 1972
IF ELVIS himself had stepped onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon on Friday he could hardly have created more excitement than the Temptations stirred up with ...
Big Mama Thornton: The Hound Dog Howler Who Inspired Janis
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972
IN THE DEEPEST depths of Transatlantic's Marylebone High Street (London) headquarters there's a wire cage which looks like Death Row in your favourite neighbourhood prison. ...
Doris Troy: This Little Lady Is Miss Troy
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, West Indian World, December 1971
Doris Troy is one helluva woman. Almost, she's the ultimate soul sister, big, bouncing, warm-hearted, sincere and certainly talented. ...
Dionne Warwick: Worries of the Warwick sisters
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, July 1975
WE'RE A LONG way on from 1964 and 'Walk On By' but, despite the profusion of instantly forgetable records Dionne Warwick has turned out since ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, May 1975
THE WHO, THE Small Faces, Spencer Davies and their ilk were the bands that got written up in the history books, but the true stars ...
Mary Wells, Cecil Womack: Mary Wells And Her Guy Still Making Hits
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, August 1972
IT WAS PAST five in the afternoon but Mary Wells was still fast asleep, recovering from the rigours of her whistle stop British tour and ...
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, NME, November 1971
DESCRIBING Larry Williams as a "great unknown" might raise a few eyebrows for he had a hit with 'Bony Moronie', a rock 'n' roll classic, ...
Wilson Pickett On African Soul
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, May 1972
WILSON PICKETT is back — as big and brash as ever, and if his press reception this past week at WEA Records (nee Kinney) is ...
Stevie Wonder: Audiences Will Accept New Things From Me, Says Stevie Wonder
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, January 1972
MUSICAL BARRIERS are tumbling down – that's the reckoning of Stevie Wonder, currently on another 20-date European tour. "Audiences used to have a pre-conception of ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, NME, March 1975
BETTY WRIGHT IS, as they say, a lot more than just a pretty face. She's also got a voice that's stacked with burning southern soul, ...
List of genre pieces
Comment by Roger St. Pierre, West Indian World, July 1971
"REGGAE" – JAMAICA'S own form of pop music – has made a dynamic impact on the pop scene around the world and yet an amazing ...
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