| But
seriously, folks...Slim's hometown is Baltimore, MD. His first
musical memory? His Dad, the Slim Poppa, took him to see a
movie "The Five Pennies", starring Danny Kaye and...Louis
Armstrong. When Young Slim saw Louis sing and play, Slim Boy
decided, at the tender age of five, that that was his Life's
Calling.
Young Slim studied
trumpet for ten years, and taught himself how to play piano
and guitar as well. Slim Boy's first gig? He was in fifth
grade, and he played guitar and sang a few Beatles songs
for the sixth grade graduation. Since that time, he has
worked himself up from nothing, to a case of extreme poverty.
While in his
teens, Slim Dude kept studying music, at Peabody (a school
for mostly classical music, where Slim studied piano, theory,
and harmony), and privately, studying singing, and jazz
piano.
His
First Big Break came when he went on a trip to NYC to meet
a publisher who expressed some interest in Slim's Songs.
When Young Slim got to NYC, he found out that the publisher
dude had other interests in mind, and left the meeting disgusted
yet determined. He went to a phone booth and started calling
publishers.
A few hours
later, he was in the office of Roxanne Gordy, Motown publishing
executive and niece of the famous Berry Gordy. Motown eventually
signed Slim Man as a songwriter, and one of the first tunes
he wrote made it onto Angela Bofill's first CD, "Angie".
Based on the
success of that CD, Motown offered Slim Dude a recording
contract. Slim Man spent the next year writing, arranging
and producing a CD that is very similar in style and substance
to his current material. Slim Man recorded the CD with legendary
music producer Carl Griffin, a guy who has discovered artists
from Evelyn "Champagne" King to Diana Krall.
With the album
finished, Slim Man was waiting for a release date when he
was invited to a party for Stevie Wonder's new CD, "The
Secret Life of Plants". The party was at the Bronx
Botanical Gardens, and it was a lavish affair. Slim Man
actually met and conversed with Stevie, who had helped Young
Slim on his Big Motown Debut.
Later on, while
in the men's room, a Motown executive informed Slim Man
that the vice president in charge of Slim's CD had been
fired, and all of his projects (including Slim's Debut Album)
had been put on the |
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shelf.
AARRGGHH!
Undaunted, Slim
decided to get out of his contract with Motown. He started
writing rock songs, something Motown had no use for, and
was later released by Motown. But, as luck would have it,
there was a label downstairs from Motown's NYC office, a
label called "Stiff Records". Stiff had Ian Dury,
Lena Lovich, and a bunch of other eccentric artists on their
roster, and Stiff expressed interest in the Slim Songs,
and named the project...BootCamp.
BootCamp
had considerable success. It was one of the first bands
on MTV. They did shows with the B-52s, Squeeze, Split Enz,
The Tubes, and a bunch of other bands. But most rock bands
don't stay together long. BootCamp was no exception, and
they disbanded in 1986.
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