Black Ivory

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Black Ivory is the name of an R'n'B group from Harlem, which had a number of hits in the 1970's, including "Don't Turn Around," "You And I", "I'll Find A Way (The Loneliest Man In Town)", "Spinning Around", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" and "Will We Ever Come Together" and "Mainline". The group featured songwriter and prolific disco producer Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe and Russell Patterson. They were managed by Patrick Adams, an executive at the Today/Perception record company. Burgess was the lead voice of the majority of their hits in the early '70's With Today/Perception being a small label, the promotion of Black Ivory's singles scarcely got beyond the East Coast. This lack of exposure, coupled with the rise of disco and the fact that Patrick Adams was beginning to branch out into other projects, caused Black Ivory to lose steam. Oddly enough, the group recorded several uptempo songs in the disco vein ( such as "Big apple Rock," "Walking Downtown (On A Saturday Night)", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" and, later, "Mainline" but, not being known for the style, they were unable to compete when disco became the dominant music style. While he was with Black Ivory, Burgess frequently collaborated with Adams in writing songs. He also wrote the groups' final hit, "Mainline," which was recorded after he left the group.

Following his stint with Black Ivory, Burgess joined to group Aleem, who had a hit with the songs "Confusion", "Release Yourself" and "Hooked On Your Love and continued to work with producer Patrick Adams in various studio groups designed to give Adams authenticity as a producer. In addition to the hits he had with Aleem, he was afeatured vocalist with Adams' groups Bumble Bee Unlimited, Logg, Inner Life, which also featured Jocelyn Brown, The Universal Robot Band, the Peter Jacques Band, Dazzle and M.O.D.E., with whom he recorded the song "Heaven" and was the lead voice on Much Too Much by Phreek, who were known for the songs "I'm A Big Phreek (R.U.1.2.)," and the major disco hit "Weekend," (which also became a hit in the early '80's when it was covered by Class Action). He wrote and produced a substantial number of hits for the artists as well, including "Big Time" for Rick James and Fonda Rae's big hit "Over Like A Fat Rat." He also sang background and played keyboard on many of the productions as well.

Two CD's have been released containing his work with Black Ivory, one of the first album and the second, consiting of their first two albums. Both include the songs "Don't Turn Around," and "You And I". The group has since replaced Burgess, though Bascombe does most of the leads, and appears on the live DVD The Big Show (available through http://www.doowopshoobop.com.) Their story is told in Marc Taylor's excellent book: A Touch of Classic Soul: Soul Singers of the Late '70's, Aloiv Publishing 2001.

In recent years, some of Black Ivory's work has been sampled by a number of artists. In 2005, Omarion sampled "Don't Turn Around" on the remx of his song "I'm Gonna Try (Pt. 2)" and Keze & 9th Wonder sampled "Love Won't You Stay' from Black Ivory's Feel It LP on the track "For The Record." on their CD "Spirit of '94." In addition, Brother Ali sampled "It's Time To Say Goodbye" on his track "Love On Display" on the 2004 Rhymesayers Entertainment album Champion EP. Early in their career, Black Ivory's songs were covered by other artists on Today/Perception Records, which was a common practice with the company. Label-mates J.J. Barnes, The Eight Minutes, Debbie Taylor and Lucky Peterson all covered Black Ivory tunes and poet Wanda Robinson on her album named after the group used the instrumental track of "Don't Turn Around" as the background for her poem "The Final Hour" and "I Keep Asking You Questions" for her poem "Instant Replay."

Leroy Burgess is related to Thom Bell and Kool & The Gang members Robert "Kool" Bell, Ronald Bell a/k/a "Khalis Bayyan" and Amir Bayyan, a/k/a "Kevin Bell" who was also a member of the Kay-Gees. Larry Blackmon, from Cameo, played drums on Black Ivory's "You And I."