STANDING
OVATION
Bowlegged Lou on Full Force's greatest hits
(and hairstyles).
As told to DONYA FLOYD
Published: June 18, 2008
Courtesy of Full Force
Me, Paul, and my brother B-Fine started performing at The Apollo's amateur show back in the early 80s, late 70s. We won four weeks in a row and got to appear on the theater’s professional show with Joe Tex. Then, we got together with three of our cousins and called ourselves Full Force. We started performing locally and sometimes competing against people like Teddy Riley, Keith Sweat, and Johnny Kemp. It was my college friend and our co-manager Steve Salem's idea for us to start producing people, because we'd be sending tapes and just keep getting turned away. I was against it, because I never heard of a group producing people. Of course, I was dumb for thinking that.
We produced a song for UTFO called "Hangin' Out." One day, my brother B-Fine said "let’s make a B-side" and told UTFO to go write a record about a girl named Roxanne. DJ Red Alert started playing "Roxanne Roxanne" first. We went up to the station and said “Red, you're playing the wrong side. You gotta play the song 'Hangin Out.' He goes, "I heard 'Hangin Out,' I don't like it.' I said, "Well, Red that's the A-side." [imitating the conversation] "No, I like the B-side," "Red...” "No, I like the B-side." So, he played the B-side.
We had 26 answer records to "Roxanne, Roxanne" from "Roxanne's Revenge,” to “Roxanne’s Dog,” “Roxanne’s Parents,” and “Do the Roxanne." And we even jumped on our own bandwagon by bringing out a girl called The Real Roxanne. It was Roxanne craziness. I was working at Lee Dynasty Jewelry at the time, and when I started hearing it on the radio, I was like “shit, I don’t wanna be working here too much longer.”
When we did Lisa Lisa's "I Wonder if I Take You Home," it wasn't a hit yet. We got our own record deal and went out to England to produce Samantha Fox. When we came back to the states, the Lisa Lisa record was on fire. We were blown! We had to rush up to do an album, because it was only supposed to be a single. You know, it was just exciting.
We all write, but we always split everything six ways. Even if only 2 people do a song, it'll always be Full Force. Paul Anthony spearheaded the writing on "All Cried Out." He was talking to a friend and she's upset about a messed up relationship like "I'm all cried out." And Paul said, "what did you say?" And he wrote a song just like that. It was one of the best things he's ever written.
I've had many female friends who were single mothers where the guy just leaves them or whatever. So, I said there's not been a song like this. I got my good friend Cheryl "Pepsii" Riley, and she did "Thanks for My Child." It was #1 for like a full month and was controversial at the same time. That song touched a crazy nerve! Whoo, Lord!
>>NEXT: Those damn Jheri Curls
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