LEROY burgess latest return to public awareness is a double-headed affair ? first as co-writer, with his regular partner Sonny Davenport, on the new single from Intrique (he also wrote their 1985 debut, "Fly Girl") which is entitled "Together Forever" and released on the Cooltempo label while, secondly, he teams up with his two old buddies the Aleem brothers for their new album together on Atlantic entitled "Love Shock". Aleem aside for one moment ? something that is a bit too easily done on the new album for my liking ? the Intrique project is a classic example of how Leroy has used his wealth of experience and talent to keep his name buzzing around the R&B scene to good effect for such a long time.


I LIVE in Harlem, I've lived here most of my life. I prefer it here because it is easy to tap the people's pulse, to capture the street's atmosphere. When I work, I use the studios 'at large' so to speak because, of course, there is such a thing as cost. But I also don't want to be diverted in my creation ? I like to make it difficult for people to track me down. "But when I'm not working, I keep myself relatively 'incog' ? it's easy to get around that way. I can come home and be anonymous again but, like, Freddie Jackson . . . Freddie and me used to be neighbours ? he lived in the adjacent block to me. But when it all happened for Freddie, it was too much. He lives in New Jersey now".

For a man who likes to remain 'incog', Leroy Burgess has a pretty high profile. The last eighteen months or so, most everything his hands ? and tonsils ? have touched seems to have turned to gold. A track that bares the foot note 'written by or 'produced by' or 'performed by' Leroy Burgess is certain to send tremors through any self-respecting record store as the race is on amongst its punters to pick up the latest sound from a sure-fire regular.

LEROY's latest return to public awareness is a double-headed affair ? first as co-writer, with his regular partner Sonny Davenport, on the new single from Intrique (he also wrote their 1985 debut, "Fly Girl") which is entitled "Together Forever" and released on the Cooltempo label while, secondly, he teams up with his two old buddies the Aleem brothers for their new album together on Atlantic entitled "Love Shock". Aleem aside for one moment ? something that is a bit too easily done on the new album for my liking ? the Intrique project is a classic example of how Leroy has used his wealth of experience and talent to keep his name buzzing around the R&B scene to good effect for such a long time.

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"Allen George and Fred McFarlane I got to know personally when they came in to produce some Aleem stuff for us", says Leroy, referring to the two equally stalwart figures who are Intrique's, among many others, producers. "It was those two who approached me and Sonny with the idea and we put together the concept of Intrique. It has taken some time to get out there, but it's out there now!" It is the sort of liaison that has kept Leroy Burgess a busy man for a while now yet although he is certainly seen by many as one of the few with a genuine 'golden touch', Leroy, like the great longdistance runner he is, has learnt how to pace himself. "Having now dealt with it so many years, I can make a decision 'yes' or 'no'. I try to take on as many projects as I can, as long as I'm keeping busy, but I'm aware of spreading myself too thin all the time. "I don't like to throw things together. I like to take time on music, take time on an artist. I feel you can tell if a thing has been rushed and even if it is successful, I don't get the satisfaction."

AS YOU'LL have established from this, Leroy is, he admits, "a bit of a humanitarian, always sharing with different people," but, in his own words again, he has "decided it is time to get just a little selfish."This is to manifest itself in two ways. "Well, I'm just working on the details now for Lee Rock Productions ? an official company under my supervision through which I'll be able to channel all the things that previously were done here, there, one project at a time ? no plan. "Naivety used to say, like, hey, who needs all this business shit but I can see now that it is the rubber stamp I need to put on my work. "Already I have some things in the fire ready, like Caprice, who are from the neighbourhood, and a guy called David Brown and another, Daryl Ray, who has this great track "Killer Body". "I'm also in the studio now with a young gent called Tyrone Williams, who is just coming off the road as one of Juice's (Oran Jones) backing singers. He's just finished Juice's new album, too. "Now it is pretty much a case of having ideas and finding the right places to push them through."

SO LEROY goes legit as a producer, which is great as far as it goes, but the best news is yet to come for everyone who not only gets off on Mr. Burgess's contributions from the sidelines, as such, but also at the front microphone.
"Well, I still like to give the Aleem thing a lot of my attention but, by the end of the year, I shall begin to do my own solo album. "I've been scrutinising material, being very meticulous, and I already have five tunes in 'pre-production'. I'll keep some of the dance stuff but I shall lean away from it a bit, like with eight songs on the album, most will be mid-tempo and ballads. "The album's title will be "At Last", which is a song sung by the likes of Billie Holiday and Stevie Wonder before me, and I see that as so appropriate."For this album, I'm just going to take my time. After all, it's been eighteen years in coming so I don't wanna go rushing it now". B&S Nov '87