FRIENDS AND LEGENDS WITH SKIP MARTIN

A conversation with Dr. Dave Tolliver — founding member of Men At Large, Cleveland kid who grew up idolising the Dazz Band — on legacy, loss, the LeVert Experience, and why music is a soul vaccination. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Dr. Dave Tolliver grew up in Cleveland with his uncle Lynn Tolliver on the radio and Skip Martin on the stage — Skip was his inspiration to start singing before they ever...

A conversation with Steph Payne — Emmy-winning singer, US Army intelligence analyst, fusion artist — on going from military intel to the main stage, why every loss is just a lesson in disguise, her father's advice that has never failed her, and the COVID project that won her an Emmy at the lowest moment. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Steph Payne grew up in Los Angeles, served as a US Army intelligenc...

A conversation with Tom Schuman — Grammy-nominated keyboardist for Spyro Gyra for 49 years, now living in Barcelona — on the music that saved a stranger's life, what it means to let the God force flow through you, and why less became his closest friend. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Tom Schuman grew up in Buffalo — son of a jazz bassist, raised on Oscar Peterson and Sarah Vaughan — and spent 49 years...

A conversation with Greg Reid — author of 157 books, dyslexic, 38 years sober, rejected by 268 publishers before his first book — on sitting on your fortune without knowing it, what Steve Wozniak said about one microchip, and why a dream written down with a date becomes a goal. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Greg Reid can't spell, can't read in the traditional sense, and was rejected 268 times before...

A backstage moment with Terri Nunn — iconic lead vocalist of Berlin, the voice behind Take My Breath Away — on new music, a new album, a new tour, and why she and Berlin are better than ever. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Terri Nunn has one of the most recognisable voices in music history. Take My Breath Away became a global phenomenon and it still stops a room decades later — as Skip Martin found ou...

A conversation with Arturo Sandoval — Cuban-born trumpet legend, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Kennedy Center honoree — on Dizzy Gillespie changing everything, what it means to teach with love, and why music is the only language the whole world speaks. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Arturo Sandoval was born in a small village in Cuba in 1949. He heard a Charlie Parker recording as a young m...

A conversation with John Elefante — former lead vocalist of Kansas, Long Island kid raised on everything from Led Zeppelin to Earth Wind and Fire — on owning your music, freeing yourself from record labels, and what happens when your fans become your record company. Host: Skip Martin Summary: John Elefante sang Carry On Wayward Son. He fronted one of the most iconic rock bands in history. And when...

A conversation with Ray Parker Jr. — from a six-year-old marching into the principal's office to avoid gym class, to touring with the Spinners at 13, to hanging up on Stevie Wonder three times, to writing the most recognisable theme song on the planet. And the secret? Never say the word. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Ray Parker Jr. has seven consecutive gold and platinum albums, a number one in 18 co...

The conversation continues — Carolyn Griffey on how she ended up in Shalamar, what it means to carry a father's legacy when he never saw you perform, why she fights for Solar Records even now, and the real reason Skip Martin plays music at all. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Part 2 picks up in the deep end. Carolyn shares how she came to join Shalamar — one show in England, a terrified perfectionist w...

A conversation with Carolyn Griffey — daughter of Dick Griffey, the first Black concert promoter in Los Angeles and co-founder of Solar Records — on what it really took to build one of the most important Black-owned labels in history, the battles nobody talks about, and why you can't know where you're going if you don't know where you came from. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Carolyn Griffey grew up a...

A conversation with Evelyn Champagne King — from singing Sam Cooke in a hallway at Sigma Sound Studios at 14 years old and getting discovered on the spot, to the losses that would have broken anyone else, to why she's still here, still bubbly, still entirely herself. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Evelyn Champagne King has one of the most powerful voices in the history of R&B — and one of the most pow...

Description: A conversation with Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray — from a producer telling him he couldn't sing right before recording the song that would go number one in 18 countries, to hosting Extra, to what keeps him showing up every night with genuine gratitude for a career built on serendipity and surrender. Host: Skip Martin Summary: Mark McGrath has sold 10 million records, hosted Extra, and fr...

She was told black people didn't want to hear Japanese music. She recorded it anyway. And it changed her life. ________________________________________ WHO YOU'RE ABOUT TO MEET Janice Marie Johnson is my sister. We go way back — two artists who came up doing the real work, playing real stages, in front of real people who showed up and gave everything back. Janice is a co-founder of Taste of Honey,...