"love Is Comin'down " Rising Star Ronnie McNeir

In music circles Ronnie McNeir is what is sometimes called "a man for all seasons" - the possessor of a truly extraordinary number of talents, each honed to a state of near perfection. He sings. He writes both music and lyrics. He produces. He arranges. And he plays a myriad of musical instruments, including organ, piano, mellotron, synthesizer, bass, drums, and, in fact, all the rhythm instruments.
All of these talents are fully demonstrated on his new album, just released on the Motown label - Love Is Comin' Down. It follows the lp Ronnie McNeir (on Prodigal), which made considerable noise on the national r&b charts and included no less than three hit singles: "Wendy Is Gone," "Sagittarian Affair," and "For Your Love."
Like its predecessor, Love Is Comin' Down is pure Ronnie McNeir- McNeir plays all the instruments, and he does all of the lead and backup singing as well. Once again he proves himself a bright, inventive composer, doing hot, up-tempo rockers, moody ballad-types, and lots in between. The new LP also contains several potential hit singles, with "Selling My Heart to the Junkman" already in release and "Funky Situation" as a sure-thing follow-up.
McNeir was born in Camden, Alabama and carne to Pontiac, Michigan with his parents when he was a year old. Like most black musicians, little Lewis Ronald McNeir got his start in church. He excited the local congregation with his singing when he was just a toddler, and in the ensuing years he cultivated his vocal abilities and mastered one musical instrument after another.
The first big break for Ronnie came in 1965, when he was in his mid-teens. He competed in the WCHB Talent Show, an annual event of great importance to young Detroit pop music artists, sponsored by black radio giant WCHB. That was just about the same time that the Motown Sound was entering its golden era and Ronnie, like every youngster with show-business aspirations, was influenced by the dynamic output of the Motown brigade. He had his own style, though, and he won Second Place honors for his performance that afternoon at the Fox Theater, bringing home $250.00 in the process.
"Suddenly I felt rich and famous," he says, but the contest showing didn't prove to be the springboard to instant stardom that he had naively expected it to be. As a direct result of the talent show, he did sign on the dotted line with a succession of three local record companies. But, for a variety of reasons, he reaped little more than disappointment and "experience."
In 1971 McNeir went to Los Angeles to look for better possibilities, soon coming to the attention of former Motown songstress Kim Weston. Weston was impressed enough to have Ronnie record in her studio. Material was heard by RCA talent scouts, and by 1972 it was available to the public in the first album called Ronnie McNeir. In 1973 a single called "In Summertime" was pulled from the album and it was an r&b success, remaining Number One in Detroit for a month.
The success of "In Summertime" made it possible for Ronnie to headline in many clubs in the Midwest with his own Instant Groove Band. Serving as musical director for Kim Weston, he also performed in Europe and all over the states with such artists as the Ohio Players, Rufus, The Supremes, and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. He was also seen with Ms. Weston in the movie Wattstax and performed with her at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
Ronnie found that 1974 was a time to reflect on developments to that point and to lay plans for the future- which is exactly what he did, in collaboration with Harvey and Jean Morrison and Walter and Justine Moore, subsequently forming Instant Groove Productions and the Setting Sun record label. The single "Wendy Is Gone" was released on that label, and its immediate success in the Motor City attracted the attention of Barney Ales, President of the newly-formed, Detroit based Prodigal record company.
Prior to creating Prodigal, Ales had been a Motown executive and had been a primary force in the rise of that company into something of a hit-making empire by the late 60's. Prodigal wanted to distribute "Wendy" nationally (which Setting Sun could not do) and sign McNeir to a recording contract. Any apprehensions he had were dispelled when recommendations of Ales and Prodigal carne to him by way of such as Eddie Kendricks, Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops, and Kim Weston.
Ronnie had the talent. Prodigal had the ways and means. Out of their combination came the second Ronnie McNeir album (which was a hit in itself) along with chart-climbers "Sagittarian Affair" and "For Your Love." And at the same time these songs were getting over, Motown was convincing Ales to return and run the company. The result was that Prodigal was purchased by Motown when Ales took over, and Ronnie McNeir became Motown's hottest new property.
They got an especially good deal in McNeir because, besides being a dependable hit-maker, he likes to record most of the instrumental and singing tracks on his records himself. He jokes, "You save a lot of bread this way, because you don't have to pay all those other musicians' studio time."
Ever since over-dubbing was invented, countless artists have done recordings on which they play all the instrumental parts. It's interesting, though, that the only two who seem able to pull this off without sounding stiff or gimmicky are both with Motown: Stevie Wonder and Ronnie McNeir. Like Wonder, McNeir sounds good even on multiple overdub because everything he does has excellent taste and a certain warmth (soul, if you will) that always manages to come through. The only flaw in the sound of the Prodigal LP (also done with overdub) is a little too much funkiness and looseness in the recording mix. The new LP, done at Motown's million-dollar facilities in Los Angeles, is clear, full, and pretty.
Another thing about McNeir that reminds you of Stevie Wonder is his ability to cover so much ground - he deals with a wide range of human emotion in a sensitive, straightforward way that touches, and moves, people. And he understands exactly what he's doing. "I've given my whole life to music and I love what I'm doing," he says, "and I don't feel that I'm just rhythm and blues, I'm kind of in the middle, between r&b and jazz. The people are always able to get into my music."
Another refreshing element of McNeir's stuff is a cheerful, healthy sense of humor - it's apparent in the Prodigal LP in background goofing by buddy Andre Moore that Ronnie left on the tape; and he brings the humor out front on Love is Comin' Down, in both "(Trying To Get Out of This) Funky Situation" ("That's why I'm making this record," he interjects) and "Have You Ever Seen Them Shake," a happy, inoffensive number about anatomy-watching.
But, make no mistake, McNeir is very serious about his art- and, true to his Sagittarian nature, ambitious to no end. "I always like to have at least one record in the National Top Ten," he says, "and I want to win some Grammys. I would also like to win an Oscar for film scoring . . . actually, I want to do it all."
It could be that McNeir has enough talent and energy to do whatever he wants. After all, he's already come a long, long way-almost all by himself- and it shouldn't be long now.