The SSO will be joined at Symphony Hall on Saturday by the vocal quartet Spectrum, which has twice packed the Springfield hall.
The vocal group Spectrum will perform on Saturday with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.
Nothing heats up a cold February night like a blast from Motown’s past, and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra has the rhythm and blues you need to warm you until spring.
The SSO will be joined at Symphony Hall on Saturday by the vocal quartet Spectrum, which has twice packed the Springfield hall.
With tight, ringing harmonies, slick moves, and an utter commitment to the joy of the music, Darryl Grant, Pierre Jovan, David Prescott and Cushney Roberts recreate the sound of The Four Tops, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, The Drifters, The Miracles and other R&B sensations.
Darryl Grant was bitten by the recording bug at age 12, when he sang into an amusement park recording machine. “I don’t remember what song I sang,” Grant recalled, “but that little record in my hand made me realize that music would be my life.”
From his native Oakland, Calif., where he honed his craft, landing a record deal at 17, Grant departed for two tours of Vietnam as a member of the U.S. Navy. Upon his return, he toured stateside, performing with the Rolling Stones, Eddie Kendricks, and Major Harris and Blue Magic, etc. Grant relocated to Las Vegas in 1999, met Roberts in 2000, and began performing with Spectrum.
Chicago-born Pierre Jovan developed his own unique sound and style and earned a Masters Degree from Columbia College Graduate School in the windy city. He arrived in Las Vegas as Musical Director of a touring production and remained there, perfecting his performance and production skills.
Jovan brings keyboard and guitar abilities to Spectrum in addition to his vocal mastery.
First tenor David Prescott began singing at age 4 in Rochester NY, growing into a family quartet and later the Sounds of Motion. The latter group won second place in a competition at Harlem’s world famous Apollo Theater, riding on the fame from this accomplishment to open for such headliners as Chubby Checker and Donny Osmond.
After the Sounds of Motion disbanded, Prescott formed a trio called Hey Lovers and eventually made his way to Las Vegas, where, as good fortune would have it, he joined Spectrum.
Roberts began making his musical living as a 9-year-old boy soprano in a church choir in East Orange, New Jersey, then added the trombone and guitar to his artistic tool-belt and began playing neighborhood parties with his own singing group. He earned a degree in Engineering and Business Management from Princeton University, and worked for a decade as a corporate engineer, though he never left music far behind, moonlighting from Chicago to Dallas as a solo singer.
The decision to move to Las Vegas and pursue music full time paid impressive dividends. Roberts expanded his resume to include Broadway shows, motion picture appearances, openings for – among others – Tony Bennett and Doc Severinsen, and the foundation of Spectrum, which has taken him and his colleagues around the globe.
Roberts referred to Motown music fondly as part of the soundtrack of his life.
“I actually came to my first prominent interest in popular music with the British Invasion of The Beatles,” he said, “and the first songs I sang with a little group I had that played around the neighborhood were Beatles and Rolling Stones songs ... but I guess as a black guy I wasn’t going to get many jobs impersonating Paul McCartney – there was more opportunity to impersonate Levi Stubbs (of The Four Tops).”
The lasting power of Motown, according to Roberts, resides in its connection with people in the era in which it was popular. “It ties people to the events of the period,” he said. “Motown was one of the major forces in the music of that era – it was new, fresh, people could dance to it. The songs often told little vignettes that people could relate to. It takes people on a wonderful nostalgic trip.”
“For us to grow up having some of our heroes be some of the groups that we are now making a living covering the music of – that’s pretty thrilling!” Roberts concluded.