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Feature Artist: SOMETHIN' FOR THE PEOPLE

By G. Horstman

The threesome that make up "Somthin' For The People," have been together for seven years. Sauce goes way back with Fuzzy to when they were growing up in Oakland, CA. Fuzzy learned his musical skills in church, since his father was a preacher. "I was in the choir, until I discovered girl, curls and baggy pants," he says. Soon after, he met Sauce, who studied sax and trumpet throughout his high school years. He also developed a reputation as hot local DJ. The two began writing together, and moved to L.A. to try for a career in the music business. Cat Daddy, a native of L.A., was a drummer and sax player in high school who later left music for a sports career. "I was a jock," says the still-powerful Cat Daddy. "But later I taught myself keyboards and started writing. Then I met Fuzz and Sauce. We were all trying to get from Point A to Point B." They got their break when producers Denzil Folster and Thoma McElroy asked the trio to write for R&B singer Samuelle. "We did demos to pay the rent," remembers Cat Daddy. "But we were honing our skills as writers and producers, and learned to work with all kinds of artists." Some of the artists they've worked with include Brandy, En Vogue, Adina Howard, UNV and Terry Ellis. After being toghether for this long, it only makes sense that the three members of "SFP" have a sixth sense about each other. "I usually know what the others are gonna say before they say it," laughs Sauce. And their still-solid camaraderie is remarkable. "We're lucky," says Fuzzy. "This is like a big marriage A lot of other groups have terrible problems. But we do fine." They've produced tracks for Will Smith on his upcoming rap album, as well as Adina Howard's latest. But "SFP" will be concentrating on taking their own music right where they intended it: to the people. They eagerly look forward to making many new fans along the way, but Fuzz, Sauce and Cat Daddy know there's only one way to keep them coming back: always keep it personal!

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"SFP - SOMTHIN' FOR THE PEOPLE"	"THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL"

Label:	Warner Bros.
Rated By:	G. Horstman

Note: See Review of "This Time It's Personal" in 9/97 Issue of AMZ.

Interview With Cat Daddy of SOMETHIN' FOR THE PEOPLE January 23, 1998

AMZ: How did you come up with the name for the group? SFP: It was like a little saying amongst ourselves. If we were out, and we saw a nice young lady who was attractive, we'd say "Oh, she's got a little somthin' for the people." So we took that saying and applied it to ourselves and our music, because we have "somthin' for the people." AMZ: When I originally reviewed "This Time It's Personal," I thought the letter and the signed CD addressed to each media person individually was a really cool idea. P.R. idea or yours? SFP: The P.R. people brought it to our attention and we said "Yeah, let's go with that." AMZ: Since you autographed the CD itself, I've asked other people for autographs and they were very surprised when I asked them to sign the CD. Apparently you've started a trend here, because they all think it's a great idea. Liner notes can get beat up or disappear, but the CD lives on. SFP: I guess we did something! AMZ: From the photos I have, it appears you have a backup band and a DJ, as well as at least 2 male dancers and a female singer that appear live with you. Do you want to include their names and what they do in this article? SFP: I think it's time to give our dancers some recognition. Our dancers are so much a part of our show, the whole show basically revolves around the choreography with them. The first dancer's name is "Make Believe" and the other one's name is "Looney Tic." The female singer is "Sy Slim." The DJ is actually one of the guys in the group. That's "Sauce." AMZ: He sings and he DJ's? SFP: Yes. He's like one of the main producers of the group, so when we do a track show without a band, he's the DJ. AMZ: I also have a copy of your video for "All I Do." Is it on the air yet? SFP: Yes it's on the air on "BET" and "The Box." AMZ:. From your bio, it says you produced "This Time It's Personal," as well as tracks for Will Smith, Adina Howard and Brandy. Is producing a long term goal for the group? SFP: Definitely. Basically that's how we got started in the business - producing other people. We also write songs for other people such as Adina Howard, Will Smith, Terry Ellis from "En Vogue," Puff Johnson, U.N.V. and To The Extreme. These are some artists we've produced for already, and some that we're working on now. One particular girl that we're working with, she's a new artist by the name of Terry Dexter. She's on Warner Bros. also. AMZ: Busy guys! When do you find time to do your own stuff? SFP: Well, it just seems to work itself out. It's a good thing when you're busy! (Laughs) AMZ: I know you've been doing these radio promo dates, but I understand negotiations for a tour are in the works. Any word on how that's going or when you'll be on the road? SFP: Not exactly. Basically what we've been doing are weekend dates, and during the week we come home and write and produce stuff for other people. AMZ: I don't see a whole lot of "Soul/Urban" groups touring. Is that just a thing they don't do? SFP: Basically there's not quite as many tours going out. The next big tour that's going out is "Boyz II Men" which is in April I think. "L.S.G." was supposed to go with them, but now it looks like they're going to do a whole separate tour. AMZ: Are you guys going to try and hook up with any of these tours, or stick with the weekends? SFP: We're gonna hook up with one of those, hopefully. It's not etched in stone, but with a little bit of luck we'll end up on somebody's tour. AMZ: Do you have any comments about your debut album I can include here? SFP: Yeah. The first album basically introduced us to the public as "Somthin' For The People" the group. We had produced a few albums under that name, but we hadn't come out as a group. So, from the first album, people got to know who "Somthin' For The People" was. It wasn't a smash or anything like that, but I think there were some good songs on there, and going into that album, we went into the whole album thinking like producers because that's what we were. We went into the studio to produce some things of our own and ended up with a whole album. It was a good album, but we didn't necessarily have a direction when we went in to do the recording. We just put 14 or 15 songs together. I guess the big difference between the first album and the second album is that on the second album, the songs that we wrote about, and the lyrical content, were personal. They were about things we went through and experienced, and that's part of the reason we called it "This Time It's Personal." AMZ: I know you're still promoting "This Time It's Personal," but are you working on songs for another album already? SFP: We haven't started yet. Right now we're focusing on the second single that's out, which is "All I Do." AMZ: When you say you're promoting "All I Do," how are you doing that? SFP: We're going to radio, and doing these radio dates. AMZ: Do you go to the radio stations and let people call in and ask questions? SFP: Exactly. Then we may do a performance in that city that night. We go to retail stores and basically promote that song, so everybody can tie the two songs together (first single: "My Love Is the Shhh!") with the same act. For the most part, singles are marketing tools to sell the album. If we have two good singles then the album should be worth buying to the general public. AMZ: What do you like to do in your "spare" time? SFP: You mean like my every day kind of spare time? AMZ: Yes. SFP: I like to start off my day with some kind of exercise and go to the gym and work out. I take an hour out of my day to go in and do what I gotta do in the gym and it kinda gets me started and it clears my head for what I'm gonna do for the rest of the day. That's myself personally. When I like to go out and have fun, I like to travel, so being in the music business kinda goes with that territory. I can honestly say I like what I'm doing because I get to travel. All three of us are movie buffs. We all like movies, particularly comedies. AMZ: Do you take them home to watch them, or go out to the movies a lot? SFP: Both. AMZ: Do people recognize you yet? SFP: Yeah. AMZ: Is that cool, or is it a pain? SFP: It's cool. Right now it is definitely cool. Being recognized for what you do is a really neat thing. I can understand getting irritated when people are at the level where they're trying to sit down and eat dinner with their family or something and people are constantly coming up to them. I can relate to that. I can see where that could be a problem or whatever, but for us it's relatively new, so I enjoy it. AMZ: What are your plans for the future? SFP: Our plans for the future are pretty much writing and producing for ourselves and others, and we want to get our own label going. Our media plans are to do a production deal or label deal with our label. We have other artists that we're working with and we'd like to get them out and get them going. AMZ: So if you start up your own label it would be one of the sub-labels under Warner Bros? SFP: Probably. AMZ: Is there anything else you'd like your fans to know? SFP: One thing we like to do is talk to our fans. I mean on a person to person level. We just try to be as real as we can with everybody. When they ask us questions about the business, we'll give them as honest an answer as we possibly can. AMZ: After you do a live performance, do you hang out so your fans can get to see you after your set? SFP: Oh, yeah. We'll go and flirt with a few girls. (Laughs) It's funny, because a lot of fans are aspiring artists, so we give them what advice we can, and hopefully they can use it to their advantage at some point in time. AMZ: Do you guys have a Web Site or something on the Internet where people can write to you? SFP: We have an e-mail address. People can write to us there and fan mail is welcome. It's: SFP103@aol.com We'd also like to say we appreciate the fan support we've been getting. AMZ: How are sales of "This Time It's Personal" going? SFP: That album's going pretty good. We're hoping we get a really good push from the second single to help us hit gold. AMZ: That would be great! SFP: Yeah! AMZ: I hope you like the article, I appreciate the interview, I expect to hear good things about you in the future, and thanks a lot. SFP: Thank You. Live In Concert! SOMETHIN' FOR THE PEOPLE America West Arena Phoenix, AZ 1/19/98

In honor of "Martin Luther King's Birthday," radio station KMJK held a concert featuring "The Isley Brothers," "The O'Jays" and "Somethin' For The People" as the opening group. For the first song of their set, "SFP" performed the first song from their debut album "SFP - Somethin' For The People" called "You Want This Party Started Right." With a pink background, and yellow lights, "SFP," and their two male dancers got the audience going right away. The crowd was really liking this and dancing and screaming - especially when one of the dancers jumped off the stage and went into the audience for an extra special treat! This wildly enthusiastic crowd, and "SFP," even made it to the 10:00 p.m. news - not "The O'Jays" or "The Isley Brothers."

Before their second number they sang a short interlude "I'm So Sad And Blue," then segued into another hit from their debut album, "With You." As well as their dancers, "SFP" also adds to the choreography on stage, and during this number blue strobes bathed the stage as one person sang and the rest danced. As mentioned in the interview with Cat Daddy, the dancers are an integral part of the group's live shows and "SFP." dances along with them. This slow love song is one that gets to you musically, lyrically and makes you want to dance with your special someone.

The next number was "SFP's" new single, "All I Do." This number is also a good slow dance song, but has more of a bouncy beat to it. "SFP" is hoping the release of this second single from the "This Time It's Personal" album, along with the video for it, will really launch sales of the album. The last number in this way too short set was the first hit single from their second album, "This Time It's Personal." One of my favorites from the album, "My Love Is The Shhh!," the song featured female vocals from Sy Slim, the backup singer for "SFP's" live shows. On the album the female vocals were performed by Trina and Tamara. After this brief set "SFP" left the stage to make way for "The O'Jays," but they sure left the audience wanting more!

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