A flop and a lesson

Denroy Morgan knew very early that I'll Do Anything For You was a hit, but it was the view from a high place which really brought home to him just how much the song connected with club goers.

He was invited into the control room of popular nightclub The Garage and "I see some people in the club a gwaan a way ... I had not seen anything like that before". I'll Do Anything For You was played for 15 minutes - unheard of in a setting where rapid changeover of songs is customary.

There was another club experience, though, that was not so good, although it taught Morgan a lesson. Soon after I'll Do Anything For You hit, he had three shows on one night; one at "a little club in Brooklyn", the other in New Jersey at the Zanzibar and the big one for the night at Studio 54 in Manhattan.

star of the night

At the last, Morgan said, "I was performing with the Main Ingredients, who had a band. I used tracks and I had one song and I was the star of the night".

Before that, though, At Zanzibar, the stage was around a corner from the DJ's booth and there was a delay in the sound as well, so Morgan was hearing the music at a slightly different time from the audience. The result was "I performed out of time with the music".

Not that he realised the gaffe until he had come off the stage, although Morgan had seen the initial enthusiastic response fade as he progressed further into I'll Do Anything For You. He was told soon enough, though.

"I'll never forget," Morgan said. "I go into the limousine and ask Burt 'how did I do?'. He said 'you should be riding on the subway, 'bout you in a limousine'." So, Morgan said, on the way to the next venue "I got my stuff together".

At Studio 54 "the place jam", he hit the mark and tells The Sunday Gleaner "that was one of the sweetest performance I ever enjoy". Another standout delivery of I'll Do Anything For You was at the Santa Monica Civic Centre in California, where Morgan's set included Bob Marley and the Wailers' Jammin. It was so good, Morgan said, "the booking agent asked if I could do another show".

He did.