Beach Music, The Answer When I first found out about East Coast Beach Music the notion of surfboards and the beaches of the Pacific quickly disappeared. This Beach Music, nurtured in the Southeastern US, is the blend of R&B/ Pop music forever embraced by the baby-boomer generation. It began post Do-Wop with the combination of the Drifters/Leiber-Stoller sound that blended the soulful rhythms with the sweet sound of strings differing from the more hard core R&B that was the trademark sound of Atlantic Records. This sound evolved into one of the most popular genres in music history, Motown. The Motown sound had mainstream appeal and even at the height of the "British Invasion" in the mid-60's, Motown flourished. When the Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band" the trend for them and the British Invasion would go deeper into hard rock. This prompted a break off of sorts and a large segment of the Caucasian audience embraced the memorable, romantic songs of Motown with a greater fervor. The artists of Motown became household names and maintain longevity even to this day. Motown set the stage for some of the greatest produced music of all time, the Gamble-Huff-Bell sound of Philadelphia International Records, characterized again by great songs. The motion picture "Saturday Night Fever" brought the East coast "disco" sound to a large national and international audience. Disco, although danced to in the clubs, with some exceptions was never a big record seller. The movie changed that for a very brief period and then disco, as was apparent before the movie, went out. By 1982 the consistent R&B/Pop sound that was in the tradition of its predecessors gradually began to disappear. The R&B sound became more synonymous with Rap and Hip-Hop. All during the 50's, 60's and 70's while this music was known as R&B, in the Southeast it had the curious name of "Beach Music". This term derived from segregated radio where the jukeboxes at the beach were the only place the white kids could hear this music. The music had a dance companion the "Shag", sort of a "Lindy", "Jitterbug". The regional bands (predominantly Caucasian) played and performed this music with a passion. Band members would go to the Black theaters where they would have to sit in the balcony to watch performers such as Jackie Wilson, the Temptations, and the Four Tops, among others. The major record companies never established a branch in the Carolinas or southern Virginia and as a result they did not pay attention to the heart of the Beach Music region. As R&B changed in the 80's, new product in the Beach Music genre was almost impossible to find. Beach Music was searched out on "B' sides of Motown, Philly and any place else the DJ's, bands, dancers or fans could find their beloved music. The region kept the music alive with their own recording industry and great artists, such as The Embers, became a Beach Music institution. In the late 80's interest in Beach Music was revived and expanded. One of the key factors was a new song by O.C. Smith "Brenda". "Brenda" was on the national Billboard charts for 3 months and became the number one Beach Music song for two years, nominated for six awards and winning five at the Beach Music Awards. Join The Embers as we celebrate this music today with their fabulous array of guest artists that include 8 time Grammy winner George Benson, whose cut, "New York City", was personally selected by the Embers to pay tribute to their country and the city where they had such a great time recording, Cuba Gooding, best remembered as lead vocalist for The Main Ingredient-"Everybody Plays The Fool", "I Just Don't Wanna Be Lonely", Darryl Tookes, vocalist, musician, writer who has performed with major superstars all over the world, the beautiful La Tanya Hall who always delivers sensational performances in the recording studio or onstage, International recording artist Coral, the young sensation from Argentina, Ronnie Limar whose voice has been stirring audiences singing Beach Music hits years before he knew what it was. We pay tribute to Beach music's all time award winner, O.C. Smith with his first #1 Beach Music hit, "Brenda" and his last # 1"Save The Last Dance For Me". "We Made Them Dance" is dedicated to him. The Beach Music audience represents the core of the desired demographic needed to infuse new life into the slumping recording industry. The same principle that started with the Jazz craze has always worked in America, and all over the world, and it always will. 100 million people want a certain type of music. Along with Embers - Bobby, Johnny, Gerald, Jeff, Mark, and Jerry: Let's give them great songs, contagious melodies, and quality recordings. Let's give them Beach Music! Charles Wallert