FINDING out that Atlantic Starr? whose music has marked them as a real staple in anyone's black music diet for the past 9 years ? have only ever had one gold album came as a shock to me when keyboardists Jonathan Lewis revealed that very information during the course of our recent interview, held in conjunction with the forthcoming release of the group's Warner Brothers' debut, "All In The Name Of Love". You could, as they say, have knocked me down with a pennyfeather ? or some kind of feather!


FINDING out that Atlantic Starr? whose music has marked them as a real staple in anyone's black music diet for the past 9 years ? have only ever had one gold album came as a shock to me when keyboardists Jonathan Lewis revealed that very information during the course of our recent interview, held in conjunction with the forthcoming release of the group's Warner Brothers' debut, "All In The Name Of Love". You could, as they say, have knocked me down with a pennyfeather ? or some kind of feather!

But, amazing as it seems, the group who have offered such musical highlights as "When Love Calls", "Circles", "Closer Than Close" and the always brilliant "Send For Me" (which just happens to be one of my fave raves of all time) never hit golden status until last year. With their biggest hit single to date, "Secret Lovers". Atlantic Starr's album, "As The Band Turns" (their swansong to A&M, for whom they recorded six albums) is close to being a platinum seller.

His ironic indeed that after all these years, Atlantic Starr is only just getting some degree of across-the-board recognition. But as Jonathan points out, this is the kind of group that doesn't dwell on what might have happened and could have happened. They're far more interested in what's happening now!

But, Jonathan allowed there are just a few things to say about those nine years of grinding away, frequently just a split hair from a greater level of acceptance.

"We're pretty philosophical about it all," he concurs. "We think of those years as good, learning years because we learned what this business is all about and, have no doubt, we're no longer green! We got to find out more about ourselves and really what we wanted to do in music so from that perspective, the work we've done has been very rewarding.

"We got to be in the studios with some really strong people and I'd say that in particular working with James Carmichael was a chance for us to learn a great deal. I'd say he was a great mentor for us, a genius ir his own right and someone who taught us a lot."

James, who has been known to add such a little touch or two to the work of a certain Lionel Richie (and before that was at the helm of all {safm}The Commodores{/safm}' records) worked with Atlantic Starr on albums three, four and five ("Radiance", "Brilliance" and "Forever Yours").

Prior to that, the group worked on their first two albums with Philly producer Bobby Eli and Jonathan still looks on the group's first album as a major milestone. "No doubt about it, everyone was up when we did that first record, basically because we were at the start of our career Jonathan says that the group feels that way now in starting their new relationship with Warner Brothers ? but more about that shortly!

IN looking at the past few years that have led up to Atlantic Starr's current situation, Jonathan agrees that the group didn't exactly hit superstar status.

"Don't get me wrong, I think that A&M really gave us a good shot, a great opportunity when we first signed with them. But I don't know if they fully understand us or the concept we had as a group and I think that made it hard for
everyone."

In 1985, after seven years operating as a nine-piece unit, Atlantic Starr cut back to five members, the Lewis brothers (David, Wayne and Jonathan, the creative mainstay of the group since its inception) and percussionist Joseph Phillips, with vocalist Barbara Weathers replacing Sharon Bryant as female leaad. Barbara had apparently been friends with Wayne Lewis over the years and both he and David had in fact done some demos with her which included, amongst other songs, "Secret Lovers".

"When the whole change around happened, it just felt right to ask Barbara to become part of our situation,' Jonathan adds.

The cut-back wasn't simply a creative decision. "A lot of that has to do with the economic realities that you face as a group with so many members. If you look, very few people survived through the seventies into the eighties maintaining any kind of large line-up."

Indeed, EW&F virtually split up, Cameo went from eleven members to three and many of the big groups just stopped having the same kind of impact.

But with their reduced line-up, Atlantic Starr perservered, even though Jonathan admits "that period between our fifth and six albums wasn't easy," says Jonathan. With the change in personnel came in new creative thust ? the opportunity for David and Wayne to handle most of the production chores for their sixth album.

"After we finished the album ("As The Band Turns"), a lot of people just didn't believe it would do anything, including some of the key people at A&M. There were some specific folks in the field who felt like we had a great album but a lot of people were shocked when "Secret Lovers" became a hit!"

Those folks who were surprised at the success of "Secret Lovers" were probably not too thrilled that they hadn't picked up the option on the group's contract.

"There we were with our biggest hit, no longer signed to the label! Which meant we went label-hunting ? and having our biggest hit at the time, which we produced, certainly didn't hurt."

A&M apparently made a new offer as did a couple of other major labels but Atlantic Starr opted for Warners ? "because we felt that they were in touch with what we were all about. They trusted us from a creative standpoint and with the success of "As The Band Turns", they knew that we knew how to do what we could do best! It is this element of creative control which is so appealing."

THE group began preparing "All In The Name Of Love" during their '86 tour. Jonathan laughs as he recalls: "We turned some of those hotel rooms into real studios with beds against the walls and keyboards set up all over the place!"

Whilst finishing off the album, the group managed to jump into the studios to do a track with producer Maurice White for the movie, "Armed And Dangerous", an experience that Jonathan says was "great. The guy is just very professional and we enjoyed working with him a great deal."

Obviously all their pre-production work that the group did for this WB debut paid off since the album is a real demonstration of what the group is capable of.

"We have something on here for everyone. For a long time, people related to us as just a ballad group because our best selling records tended to fall into that category. But when we did "Freak-a-Ristic" on the last A&M record, people realized that we could be as funky as anyone else. So for this album we've got some great ballads, but we've also got some real jams and some hot dance tracks."

Everyone in the group agree that this has all the trappings to take Atlantic Starr to the next level of success. "We've been able to establish a real good audience out there and for instance, last year, we closed a lot of shows for folks like Luther Vandross and Patti Labelle on a major Budweiser tour we did, which was a real test for us.

"Now this year, we're ready to really headline because we're putting together a really phenomenal show, with high energy, a full-out production."

Not that British fans needed a full-out production to satisfy them when Atlantic Starr finally crossed the Atlantic last year. "We were knocked out," comments Jonathan, "because people really knew our music. They knew the songs, everything. And we didn't expect that so it was a real surprise ? and a very pleasant one at that." The group do plan to come back across the water but haven't set up any specific dates yet.

Jonathan looks to '87 as the breakthrough year for Atlantic Starr, even though he admits that being out on the road can sometimes be gruelling.

"When you've been doing it for nearly nine years straight, it loses some of that glamour!"
he grins. "It becomes more like work ... no kidding. But this year, well, with this new album and a new record deal, we've got a new lease on life and we're ready for the real big time."    (DN B&S)