Quote:
"My ethnicity is Creole (African, Spanish, French) and Choctaw and my background is that of an artist-activist; music, poetry and politics being my mediums of expression.
Anita Porée
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It doesn't surprise me that legend, Anita Porée wasn't more celebrated as a songwriter and lyricist in the real school. There are so many innovators who for one reason or another remain unsung. While there have been small articles acknowledging her passing on July 18th 2018, for the impact she had in the music industry, it is time to present her legacy with a candid recollection.
Anita Porée was indeed a force to be reckoned with. The world was not prepared for a woman of such vision. Her gifts of creativity were not limited to songwriting but poetry, art and activism. There were so many of us who sang her lyrics not realizing the mark she had made. Not only was her work part of the real school, but can be found as her discography will show, the many hip hop and rap artists who "captioned" her work. Now that is real cross-over. (source: Discogs)
Born in Chicago September 14, 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles before she entered her teens.
She studied at L.A. City College and started her career as an actress first on stage and then on film featured as the character "Bucky" in the 1963 film Living Between Two Worlds. Disenchanted with acting, she began writing music with pianist Jerry Peters.
She made her mark penning lyrics for : Keep On Trucking, Boogie Down, (artist Eddie Kendricks post Temptations), Going In Circles, Love or Let Me Be Lonely, group: (The Friends of Distinction).
Her work gained new life in samples by "real school pre" in the hip hop music world and many of her works have been covered by numerous artists of note. After her successful career as actress and lyricist, she again switched gears. She would live out the rest of her life in Sonoma County writing for the Sonoma County Free Press and displaying her art and poetry throughout the community there.
My friend Marva Holiday worked with and knew her well. We talked about Porée, their friendship and the contributions that this very savvy woman, clearly ahead of time, had woven into the tapestry of the real school.
Marva knew Anita Porée for 50 years. She shares her memories and recollections. Sadly, we are at the point in our lives where we have to say more than just a few goodbyes. The peace comes in the recollection of the journey shared with those who became a part of a unique family surrounded by creativity and bonded through the experience with love.
There were many layers to the brilliance of Anita Porée that provide rich historical and musical trivia. So let's acknowledge this remarkable individual for everything that she brought to the culture of real school.
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Anita Porée was indeed a force to be reckoned with. The world was not prepared for a woman of such vision. Her gifts of creativity were not limited to songwriting but poetry, art and activism. There were so many of us who sang her lyrics not realizing the mark she had made. Not only was her work part of the real school, but can be found as her discography will show, the many hip hop and rap artists who "captioned" her work. Now that is real cross-over. (source: Discogs)
Born in Chicago September 14, 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles before she entered her teens.
She studied at L.A. City College and started her career as an actress first on stage and then on film featured as the character "Bucky" in the 1963 film Living Between Two Worlds. Disenchanted with acting, she began writing music with pianist Jerry Peters.
She made her mark penning lyrics for : Keep On Trucking, Boogie Down, (artist Eddie Kendricks post Temptations), Going In Circles, Love or Let Me Be Lonely, group: (The Friends of Distinction).
My friend Marva Holiday worked with and knew her well. We talked about Porée, their friendship and the contributions that this very savvy woman, clearly ahead of time, had woven into the tapestry of the real school.
Marva knew Anita Porée for 50 years. She shares her memories and recollections. Sadly, we are at the point in our lives where we have to say more than just a few goodbyes. The peace comes in the recollection of the journey shared with those who became a part of a unique family surrounded by creativity and bonded through the experience with love.
There were many layers to the brilliance of Anita Porée that provide rich historical and musical trivia. So let's acknowledge this remarkable individual for everything that she brought to the culture of real school.
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A Way With Words by Marva Holiday
I met Greg Porée in the late 60s, when I recorded four songs for GNP Crescendo Records and he was hired to be the arranger. He and I eventually became good friends and he told me he'd like me to meet his sister.
When I met Anita, the connection was immediate. I started hanging out with her, as much as I hung out with Greg. It was almost like I became an extended member of the Porée family.
I don’t remember the particulars of how “Black Magic” came about, but, at some point, Anita and Greg decided to put together a group and I was invited to a meeting at the Porée family home. I now know I was invited as a possible group member. I think this is because Greg had worked on my first recording and recognized that I was serious about a career in music.
Back then, Anita had a small apartment in West Hollywood but used her parent's large home as an unofficial office/meeting place for the group/songwriting, till she eventually got a large office space of her own.
As I learned more about the vision for the group, I was happy it was not going to be a hard-core R&B group, as I don’t have that type of voice.
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| Anita, back toward camera, Marva, Wayne Douglas, Jerry Peters, Greg Porée and "Niggy Ron" |
During the meeting and once the group thing was decided, we brainstormed for possible group names. Lots of names were tossed around, some really good and some, pretty funny. We were all black and proud and the name Black Magic just popped into my mind. So, I made the suggestion. Everyone agreed they liked it, but once it was chosen, I was advised that I did not and would not own the name, just because I'd thought it up. I was so happy that they liked it and to be in a group of talented individuals, that I could’ve cared less about that.
As I got to know Anita better, I gathered up the courage to tell her that I’d been writing down song ideas, though I was terrified of sharing them, as I was not yet confident about my writing. She was very interested, so I dug everything out, each song was in a folder (learned that from songwriter Sherlie Matthews) and showed my lyrics to her.
She went through all the songs and pulled out the ones she liked and let me know that she thought I had talent. She then took me under her songwriting wing and started teaching me how to lay out a song.
One set of lyrics she liked was a song I’d written titled “Miss Jessie.” She helped me set the lyrics to a track that Greg had written, and it became my first published song. I didn’t care that her company owned the publishing. I was going to have a song on an album. I was going to be a REAL songwriter. I was “over the moon” that some of my dreams were starting to come true.
One cool thing about Anita was that she tightened up some of the “raggedy” edges of “Miss Jessie, “suggested a word change here and there, but insisted that she not take a songwriter credit because she didn’t feel that she’d changed the song in any significant way. I’d go on to write two more songs with her, while she patiently taught me how to write the lyrics so that they would match up with the track. We had fun writing “Pershing Square,” at her mama's kitchen table and, later, "Echoes of Love."
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| Starting top left: late bassist Wayne Douglas, Greg Porée, Marva Holiday, Jerry Peters, Anita Porée and "Niggy " |
Also, thanks to Anita, I learned to observe others and document their experiences lyrically. Anita had a little VW bug she ran around town in. I was riding a couple of buses a day. While riding in her little bug, I’d tell her about all of the crazy characters I encountered riding the bus. She listened attentively and laughed along with me at some of the weird people I told her about. It wasn't long before we were recording the song "Faces On The Bus." (also covered by the Friends of Distinction).
I spent time in the studio with the group or at the family home, where we recorded the speaking parts on the LP.in their bathroom. It was large enough to fit all of us and had wonderful acoustics.
We all burned the candle at both ends in those days. “Stay up late and get up early and not miss a beat.” That's the beauty of youth. Looking back across the years, I am appreciative of those fun, carefree days we shared, before “real life” and it’s responsibilities kicked in.
I left Black Magic, when I got pregnant with my first child and Jerry's sister, Annesther, replaced me. That resulted in my image still being on the front album cover, but removed from the back one so they could acknowledge her participation. Both our voices remained on the LP.
After I had my baby, I moved to the Bay area to attend the legendary Merritt College (home of the Black Panthers) and would have stayed there, but I'd submitted some lyrics to Sherlie, who set them to music. She liked what I’d been mailing her and offered me a spot as a contract songwriter with Jobete, the publishing arm of Motown Record Corporation. I grew up on Motown and that was an offer I could not refuse. So, I checked out of Merritt, moved back to Hollywood, and enrolled at L.A City College, which had an excellent music department.
I was fortunate to have an aunt who doted on my baby and who babysat for me so I would be able to do a lot of the things that were on my heart to do. During that time, I also joined an R&B band and we gigged in the San Fernando Valley, Orange County and the beach cities.
Being back in LA, I was still in touch with Anita. We'd occasionally hang out and go to dinner or a movie, as “sister friends” do, but we also worked on new projects that she'd been offered. Many of them she worked on alone, but she was very generous in calling me up, if she felt I would bring something "extra" to a project.
Most were basic song ideas, but I recall working on a theme for a TV pilot that we just KNEW was going to be picked up. She'd also written a screenplay and shared that with me. It was the late sixties, when no one had any kind of computer, but the screenplay not only had computers, but they were singing. She showed me the screenplay because she knew I’d “get” just how cool that was. When I read the part about the computers singing, I just burst into laughter, which caused her to laugh along with me. I just LOVED the way her mind worked, her confidence in me as a writer, the sheer joy she had for writing and the fact that she knew I could and would maintain confidentiality, with regards to her projects.
Over the years, with few releases and NO hits, I returned to my day job, but continued to write with other composers and with Anita, if and when she called me up. But, even when we no longer wrote together, we continued to speak on the phone or I'd go over to her house when I needed some publishing advice. I'd set up a publishing company with another writer, who is now deceased, and we were starting to shop songs. Anita recommended various books and other resources that were a great help to me.
Looking back, I am grateful that Anita always took me seriously, gave me honest, straight forward advice, but didn't "blow sunshine up my behind" if she thought I was approaching something wrong. She'd just tell me she did not think whatever I was proposing was a good idea and why. I didn't always appreciate that when I was young.
Over the years as I matured and got older, I recognized the wisdom in being one's authentic self and not "people pleasing,” which I struggled with for a long time. Anita was very gracious, but she did not aim to "please" people. She could tactfully "agree to disagree."
Having Anita as a friend was win/win” because she understood the challenges of trying to "make it" and even after she DID make it, she still listened to and encouraged ME in my quest to do so. What I liked most about her was her confidence and the fact that she could work with me, as a woman, with no "competitive" spirit. I say that because music is not always a fun business. One runs into many individuals who are competitive or threatened by another person trying to "make it." Anita was not like that. She didn't have a problem with me getting over. It wasn’t going to hurt her in any way and she allowed me to be who I was, which I truly appreciate.
I knew she was ill for some time, as she shared that with me. However, it never occurred to me that she would not beat it. She sounded like she would. I believed it, too. Even when I was told she had taken a turn for the worse, I could not wrap my mind about her being that sick. Because I knew her to be a very private sister, I told myself, “I’m not telling anyone Anita is ill, so she could say, “Marva Jean, WHY did you do that,” when she got better. I just knew she would get better.
Our last telephone conversation was held a week before she passed. I couldn’t understand why her phone was off and emailed her nephew Emile, who told me why the phone was off, that I should contact her soon and gave me a telephone number where I could reach her.
The first time I called, she was sleeping. When I called back, I was able to speak with her. However, her once big voice was just a faint whisper. I thanked her for her friendship, told her I loved her and shared a few more sentiments.
Now, I might cry at a sad movie, but I am not a "crybaby" type. I'm the one who has always been strong for the rest of the family, when family members have died. I am the one who was raised that death is a part of her life and have told others that, “we are sad, because we'll miss the person.” However, listening to my friend of 50 years whisper, knowing she'd be transitioning out of this life soon, caused me to fight back what seemed like a river of tears. I was trying to keep my voice steady as I said all the things one wants to say to a friend so there will be "no regrets" once that friend is gone.
She could hear the tears in my voice and assured me that she was in a good space, had accepted it... and would be alright. I knew she'd need to conserve her breath to speak to others who loved her, so I said my final goodbye.
Anita clung to life for a week, and during that time I was praying for and thinking of her and what her friendship had meant to me all these years. By the time, I got the call from Greg that she had passed around 11:00 a.m. earlier that Sunday, I had accepted it and realized that she was out of whatever pain she might have been in. She'd done what she came here to do.
When I found out that she was dying, I thought about her and her spirituality. In doing so, I recalled a line in a song she'd written for Black Magic, "To believe there is a God without having to be told." The song was "Where Love Is" off the LP of the same name.
Remembering that lyric provided a lot of peace to me and I know that, as we all will when our time comes, she made that final peace with God. I think of that line, when I think of Anita and it gives me peace.
I'll truly miss her, because she was one of the few people, of either gender, I REALLY had a "connection" with. I am thankful for that.
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Discography
Sometimes we take for granted the creators behind the scenes and the depth of their work. When that work becomes legacy, we find so many amazing memories in it: how old we were, what we were doing, thinking and feeling.
- Going in CirclesJerry Peters and Anita PoréeKeep on Truckin'Frank Wilson, Anita Porée and Leonard Caston, Jr.Boogie DownLeonard Caston, Jr., Anita Porée and Frank WilsonLove or Let Me Be LonelySkip Scarborough, Jerry Peters and Anita PoréeGet It All TogetherAnita Porée, Sanders, ScarboroughThe Chittlin' SongAnita Porée, Skip ScarboroughOh, I'll Never Be The SameAnita Porée, B. Sanders, C. ScarboroughI Really Hope You DoAnita Porée, Jerry PetersWhere Love IsAnita Porée, Jerry PetersMama SaysAnita Porée, Greg Porée Jerry PetersBlack BottomAnita Porée, Greg Porée Jerry PetersKimuAnita Porée, Jerry PetersAunt AdeleAnita Porée, Greg Porée‘Tater ManAnita Porée, Greg PoréeFaces On the BusAnita Porée,Vacant LotJerry Peters, Anita PoréePershing SquareJerry Peters, Anita Porée, Marva HolidayBefore It’s DoneGreg Porée, Anita Porée, Stacie JohnsonEchoes of LoveGreg Porée, Anita Porée, Marva Holiday
- Just MemoriesLeonard Caston, David Van DePitte, Leroy Fleming. Anita Porée, David LeacraftFollow InstructionsLeonard Caston, Chris Martin. Eric Murray. Jamal Grinnage, Anita PoréeThe LifeAnita Porée, J. Barrow, L. Caston, M. Winans, N. Myrick, S. CombsWho’s Number One?Frank Wilson, Richard Frierson, Leonard Caston, Anita Porée , Kimberly JonesMalcomRZA, Ghostface Killah, Jerry Peters, Dennis Coles, Anita Porée , Vance BranchMaNyfaCedGodA. Poree, D. Wilson, D. Maker, J. Blake, J. Peters, M. Burton, S. Carter, Sylvia RobinsonGirl, You Need a Change of MindLeonard Caston, Anita PoréeHands High Written-By[for elements from "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind"] – Anita Porée, Leonard CastonExcalibur Written-ByAnita Porée, J. Sommerville, Leonard CastonWhy Play GamesAnita Porée, Leonard CastonGet It All TogetherAnita Porée, Bobby Sanders, Clarence ScarboroughDo It WellFrank Wilson, Ryan Tedder, Leonard Caston. Christopher Bridges, Anita Porée
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Trivia
Anita started out as an actress and worked on three films.
Targets
Other at the Drive-In (uncredited)
Other at the Drive-In (uncredited)
Source: IMDB.com
She was a contributor to the book Skin Deep: Women Writing on Color, Culture and Identity. Available on Amazon
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- Her aunt, Marva Trotter, a singer in the mid 1940s, was married to boxer Joe Louis. She was named the most beautiful woman in Harlem.
- As a vocalist, she appeared with notable bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Kay Kyster.
Her activism for national and community causes in Chicago included The United Negro College Fund (president of the women's division in 1969) and the March of Dimes (vice chairman in the 1940s.) - _______________________________________________
In essence, everything that Anita Porée brought to the table was an intricate part of her DNA. Her activism and musical brilliance were certainly part of her genealogical life print. It explains her passion, talent and creativity on a level that was deeper than any of us could ever imagine. Ms. Porée fit into that legacy with grace and dignity.
Special thanks to Marva Holiday, Emile and Greg Porée. It is truly an honor.
