Peabo Bryson: Feeling His Quiet Fire

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"When I say that (Peabo Bryson) is beginning and the end of everything you want to listen to!

---former O'Jay Sammy Strain (2003) 

Only a week into Black Music Month, five bricks from our music's mighty mortar have fallen, including Peabo Bryson. Alongside Teddy Pendergrass, Bryson represented the second wave of R&B solo male vocalists who rose to prominence at the tail end of the 1970s on the heels of soul men Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Al Green, and Bobby Womack, who defined the first half of the decade.

The antithesis of Teddy's quiet fire and ferocious virility — Bryson carved out his own lane, delivering ballads with a soaring vocal gentility and devotion, inspiring his label, Capitol Records, to brand him "The Gentleman of Soul." 

Akin to Pendergrass's coronation as Philly's R&B king, Bryson was Atlanta's crown prince. Before Larry Blackmon/Cameo, La'Face Records, Keith Sweat, and a slew of rappers migrated to ATL---the Greenville, South Carolina-born Bryson set up shop in a luxe high-rise condo overlooking the city: a seminal star a decade before the city's explosion as a sports and entertainment mecca. 

After attempts at connecting with Motown, Philly International, and Quincy Jones failed ("the producers I pursued and admired the most may have liked my demos but may not have been able to fit me into their schedules. But I couldn't wait"), a 1976 self-titled album on indie label Bang Records kicked things off. 

Entirely written and produced by Bryson, the release featured "Just Another Day" a sentimental composition recalling Philly International maestro Thom Bell's wistful Spinners production work           ( "Love Don't Love Nobody"), Smokey Robinson's poetic turn ("Tracks of My Tears") and the enduring Pagliacci clown themes used by Robinson ("Tears of A Clown"), Blue Magic ("Sideshow" and "Three Ring Circus") and the Spinners ("Living A Little, Laughing A Little"):

"I dry my tears just like a clown/when the circus comes to town,

  With a smile/forget about all my fears/a smile will hide the tracks of my tears..."

When Bryson landed at Capitol Records in '77, his timing was perfect. Attorney-turned-music executive Larkin Arnold--- Capitol vice president and head of its Black Music Division ( home to Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, A Taste of Honey, Minnie Riperton, Natalie Cole) gave Bryson free creative reign. The result was 1978's "Reaching For The Sky."  

Bryson's breakthrough album sold half a million copies in under a year on the strength of hit singles "Reaching For The Sky" and "Feel the Fire," along with strong album cuts like "Hold On To Love" and "Love Walked On Me." The album's production set the sonic tone for Bryson's next few releases: Soulful horn arrangements. Majestic intros. Heart-wrenching, passionate vocals. Lastly, there were two ingredients, categorized by writer David Ritz as Bryson's contrasting "trademarks" — "lofty strings and fatback bass." 

Earth, Wind, and Fire had Charles Stepney.  The Delfonics, Stylistics, and The Spinners had Thom Bell. Bryson would find his own gifted collaborator in Richard Evans, a gifted bassist, composer, arranger, and producer whose music pedigree included a stint with Afro-Jazz futurist Sun Ra and two decades as a music professor at Boston's Berklee College of Music, where "Reaching For The Sky" was hailed as required academic study. 

Chicago master arranger/producer Johnny Pate ("Super Fly")  would ride shotgun with Bryson for his follow-up and future albums into the early 80s. Pate's windy city horns and majestic arrangements solidified Bryson's signature pedistrian balladry that cut through the funk and disco of the day.  

Released a mere eleven months after "Reaching For The Sky" 1978's "Crosswinds" continued Bryson's winning streak. A brisk seller, the album went gold in four months on the back of "I'm So Into You," the breeezy title track ("Crosswinds"), and strong album cuts "She's A Woman" and "Don't Touch Me."

Successive albums ("Paradise," "I Am Love", "Don't Play With Fire") sold less but still delivered hits like "Let The Feeling Flow."  Bryson's profile would also remain high thanks to the positive reception of his duet with labelmate Natalie Cole ("We're The Best of Friends"). 

While Teddy Pendergrass would become the era's most dominant R&B male vocalist en route to an unprecedented five consecutive platinum albums, Pendergrass's 1980 fourth release ("TP") featured a rendition of "Feel The Fire" (featuring Stephanie Mills), confirming Bryson's influential musical impact. Bryson returned to his gold-selling ways with 1983's "Born To Love," a duet album with Roberta Flack that followed the duo's successful pairing on 1980's "Live and More." 

From '81 on R&B flirted with smoother pop-otriented sounds. Teddy Pendergrass' "It's Time For Love" album James Ingram ("One Hundred Ways" "Baby To Me" featuring Patti Austin), Atlantic Starr ("Always"), Kool and the Gang ("Cherish" "Joanna") would release crossover music alongside Michael Jackson, Prince, Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston. Bryson folowed suit---with mixed results. 

Writer and cultural critic Nelson George's 1987 "The Death of R&B" detailed Bryson's mid 80's slide:

"From 1977 to 1983, Bryson's albums sold at least half a million copies, and he became a crossover attraction. However in the age of crossover, Bryson wanted what Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie had, a white audience and he attempted to get it. A 1984 duet with Roberta Flack on a "Barry Manilow-like ballad ("Tonight I Celebrate My Love") gave him his first taste of pop success. In 1985 Bryson jumped to Elektra (home to Anita Baker) andf had a top-ten hit with another mushy ballad ("If Every You're In My Arms Again"). Bryson did not see a drop off in his album sales during this period as bad omen."

George further detailed Bryson's stylistic shift: gone were the the trdaemark white suits anf modest afro. Album covers now found him adorned sleek unconstructed "ultra-trendy English threads" and a low Afro "styled into a fade cut; high on top; low on the sides."

George found Bryison's new music "synthesized, uptempo and contemporary" while recieving the "enthusiasm of an old computer chip," plunging the singer intio the depths of career-ending ambiguity. According to George, Core fans didn't connect with Bryson adult contmeporaty sound. The abscence of a breakthrough single failed to keep mainstream fans intrested. Albums would sell less and less. 

As new late 80s/early 90s a yonger crop of R&B crooners (Keith Sweat, Aaron Hall, Bobby Brown, Big Bub, K-Ci and Jo-Jo) gentrified the Black music landscape banishing traditional Black male singers to urban contemporary market, smooth jazz collaborations and indie labels,  Bryson accomplished the unthinkable: four years after Nelson George's puragatory prediction of Bryson's crossover ambition ("Peabo Bryson---once a staple of what was left of the old R&B world has tried to leap the barrier and stumbled. It remains to be seen if he can pick himself up"), the singer rebounded with the 1991 gold-selling "Can You Stop The Rain" album along with a single of the same name.Both topped the charts restoring Bryson to past glory.

Bryson wasn't done. A decade earlier crossover ambitions slowed his momentum. Ten years later he'd become an adult contemporary mainstay thanks to a Daytime Emmy Award nominated single ("I Fouund Love") and two back-to-back Grammy award-winning duets with Celine Dion (1993's "Beauty and the Beast")  and Regina Belle ( 1994's "A Whole New World"). 

 Continuing to release albums over the next two decades while remaining a steady concert draw. Never chasing trends and content with his legacy, Bryson hooked up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for 2018's brilliant "Stand For Love"---an album featuring slick uptempos and assertive lyrics ("what I'm about to do is gonna get you ready/ freak gonna come out/ so gon' and let it") and song titles like "All She Wants To Do Is Me") that were a departure from his urbane gentility. 

While admitting that his presence on Twitter sharpened his contemporary songwriting chops, Bryson laid down a challenge for Jam and Lewis:

"Can you make me relevant in any music converstaion today without destroying whats taking me a lifetime to to achieve?' "I just put it out there. I put my ego and eveything else aside. They embraced the challenge, and they issued a challenge of their own: if we do, will you embrace it?"

Bryson would delve into theater and opera while participating in international music competitions winnning awards and presiding over subesquents events as a judge. Beyond the music, he would rebound from crippling tax problems and health challenges and continue to perform---most recently on a tour commemorationg 50 years in music. A book and a new album reuniting him with Jam and Lewis were on the horizon. 

Bryson was a true original. His commercial viability and presence  help create a occupational career pathway for like-minded solo male singers like Luther Vandross, Lionel Richie, Freddie Jackson, Alexander O' Neal and Keith Washington who echoed Bryson's brand of polished prolific classy R&B.