Happy Black History month and happy birthday to Chris Clark! Yup, February is upon us but it forgot to tell the weather to ease up, particularly in the south of England where I live. I’m beginning to think I’ll have webbed feet before the year is much older. Meantime, let’s TCB…
This makes my eyes water: Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight on the same bill. Sadly not in the UK, but rather at Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, in a show titled “Just The Two Of Us”. One night only on 25 April. According to the press release the evening will represent “some of the biggest songs in history”. That’s an understatement for goodness sake. The show marks Gladys’ return to Vegas after joining Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan and Stephanie Mills in their “Four Queens, One Stage” performance last May. Gladys, who lived in Vegas for a while, also enjoyed a run at the Flamingo from 2002 for three years, while Smokey recently performed a series of shows at The Venetian Resort during 2025. Tickets start at $69 plus fees. As far as I can see, the couple later head for the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in July. UK? No chance…..
One of my favourite ladies, Scherrie Payne, will be appearing at The Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, on 19 February, as part of the H B Barnum Presents Three Legendary Ladies…And A Gentleman. The show will also feature the brilliant Lynda Laurence and Blinky Williams, plus Miguel Herrera, and the evening’s music will range from R&B, classics, jazz and gems from the American songbook. And while on the subject, may I mention again that the Former Ladies of The Supremes celebrate their 40th anniversary this year. Yay – love them.
Let’s now move on to what I planned to write about this month. Released in February 1987 on the Motown label was a version of The Staple Singers’ “Respect Yourself” from the most unlikely of high profile celebrities. His main occupation was acting, and his role of police detective, John McClane, who survived one crisis after another, in the Die Hard franchise, was loved by adventure seeking cinema goers – including this gal who sucked up his sardonic one-liners and maverick spirit that contributed to his no-nonsense cop attitude. He was at his best chasing the nasty baddies, ending up fight weary in look and clothes. Surely Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without watching the first Die Hard and the excitement surrounding this reluctant hero or, as someone said, “he’s just another American who thinks he’s John Wayne”.
Before joining Motown, John McClane aka Bruce Willis was well known for his loud-mouthed character, David Addison, in the television series Moonlighting, in which his co-star Cybill Shepherd (Maddie Hayes), tolerated his off-beat and sometimes irritating antics. Both are unlikely detectives who solve far-fetched crimes, while finding time to argue and bicker with each other. “One of the greatest compliments I get on the show is when people say ‘it looks like you’re making everything up.’ Bruce once explained, “It takes a lot of hard work to get your work to look effortless, and the more relaxed you are on camera, the better the comedy sells.”
As an aside here, due to the fast dialogue, I gather the scripts for Moonlighting are twice as long as an average television programme, and subsequently cost more to make. It seems Bruce had been auditioned for Madonna’s Desperately Seeking Susan movie, when she was looking for a suitable co-star. That role went to Robert Jay.
However, while in Los Angeles, Bruce’s agent suggested he try for a part in Moonlighting. As it was the last day of auditions, he had no time to prepare. “So I just went in and said ‘Hi, how are you? I’m Bruce Willis, let’s do this.’ I knew I could do this man’s material because I recognised an off-beat character, who’s horsing around out there where the air is real thin. I just did this scene that’s in the plot, and said ‘thanks, see ya’ and walked out.”
Cybill Shepherd had already been cast as Maddie Hayes, and the show’s producers felt Bruce fitted the bill of her ‘real man’ co-star. She said, “The first time Bruce and I were in a room together there was a reaction. Sparks flew. He’s attractive and funny which not too many people have had. People misunderstood the chemistry thing…it’s not between Maddie and David, it’s between Cybill and Bruce. That sexual attraction can’t be faked or acted. It’s there or it’s not.”
OK, so I loved both these characters and slavishly watched the TV series where Al Jarreau wrote and sang the theme, and which spanned from March 1985 to May 1989 – sixty-seven episodes in total – but one show in particular really sticks out in my mind – and it was something I wasn’t expecting.
During season three in the Symphony In Knocked Flat, The Temptations appeared singing “Psychedelic Shack” which I’ve just watched again on YouTube. Can only spot four Tempts but the sequence is highly watchable and amusing. Cybill Shepherd really gets down. Do check it out.
Walter Bruce Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, on 19 March 1955, where his father, who married a German girl, was stationed in the US Army. Two years after his birth they moved to New Jersey, where his father worked at the Camden Shipyard, while Bruce attended the Penns Grove High School in 1969.
In a Rolling Stone magazine interview, Bruce said, “In the four years I was there we had full scale race riots. By senior year, it had really escalated. Now I wonder whether it was actually racial tension or just seventeen-year-old guys looking to beat on somebody, because I’ll go back and see these guys now and we’d laugh about it.”
He was also president of the student council, yet wondered why he was actually given this elevated position because he was a bad pupil. “It was a real ugly time. A lot of teachers came forward and invented things they said they saw me doing. So my father had to hire a lawyer to go before the school board, and this lawyer was like Perry Mason.” Bruce was found not guilty – and graduated with honours.
His first job was working at the Du Pont plant, driving trucks, but following an explosion he decided it wasn’t the job for him, as he explained: “It happened in this giant autoclave, a drum the size of a room they mixed chemicals in. They knew the explosion was coming two minutes before but they couldn’t stop this one guy who was driving a truck right by the building. They found parts of him all over the place….So I quit a week later.”
From here, Bruce joined a local group, Loose Goose, playing the harmonica, and earned money by working as a night security guard at a nuclear generating station in Delaware. To curb his boredom during his shifts, he played his harmonica over the station’s loud speaker system, then developed a lung infection, so was switched to a desk job. Bruce loathed this, so decided to study acting! I don’t know how the two were linked, but it was to prove a wise move for his future.
After studying for eighteen months, in January 1977, he appeared in a play, Heaven And Earth. His next move was to New York, as he recalled, “I got most of my experience from working onstage and off-Broadway, for no money, just working in front of house.”
Four years later he performed in Railroad Bill, a play being shown at the Labor Theatre, while playing his harmonica between performances. The leading role of a construction worker with an unhappy marriage was next. The play Bayside Boys attracted positive reviews which in turn led to his move into television via Levi 501 advertisements. This exposure helped him secure further theatre roles, bit television appearances, and the part of a reporter in the movie The Verdict. Next came Moonlighting and his whole world changed for the better.
Before Motown released Bruce’s debut album, “The Return Of Bruno” in January 1987, a unique marketing ploy was devised to promote him and the music. As it was considered imperative to portray Bruce not as an actor crossing over into music, but a singer first and foremost, the character ‘Bruno Radolini’, Bruce’s alter ego, was invented with a fictitious musical biography to match.
This mockumentary (which I haven’t seen) included some high-rolling guests, with Phil Collins, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Brian Wilson, among them, and who all claimed they were influenced by this character Randolini’s music. There’s even fake footage of Bruce Willis as Bruno playing at prestigious events through the decades, including a prestigious performance at Woodstock. The one hour HBO special was screened in February 1987.
To many, the actual idea of an actor of Bruce’s calibre signing to Motown as an artist – who openly told journalists, “I never really called myself a singer. The closest I got was that I used to shout in key” – was the joke of the year. Or was it a prestigious signing, another feather in Motown’s cap to snare a big movie star. The man responsible for the signing, company executive Jay Lasker, had the answer. “I just saw a personality on television and I knew he could sell a lot of records. This is only the second time I’ve done this. The first time was with Alan Alda on M*A*S*H and we found out he couldn’t sing at all.”
When the two men met up, Bruce told Jay how much he loved the Motown sound which was encouraging to hear. However, the intention was to only record a couple of tracks with him: “But he says to me ‘Jay, let me go, let me make an album. I can give you a hit.’ I don’t know if I’d had a couple of drinks too much but his enthusiasm was so overwhelming that I said he’d got deal!” However, things didn’t turn out too well; Jay disliked the tracks he had recorded. So, Bruce hired The Heaters, a band he had heard in a Sherman Oaks bar, and started recording again.
Motown/BMG chose to release the single in several configurations. A 12″ version appeared between extended dance tracks from Stacy Lattisaw with “Jump Into My Life” and Chico DeBarge’s “The Girl Next Door”. Only “Respect Yourself” charted. As cassette singles were a novelty at the time, and had carved a new market for sales, Bruce released two featuring the lifted singles, with a couple of album tracks thrown in “Lose Myself” and “Jackpot (Bruno’s Pop)”.
The only other artists to warrant cassette single releases were Stevie Wonder, Gary Byrd, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and Carrie McDowell. Oh, I nearly forgot: Bruce also enjoyed a CD single containing four tracks. So, to be honest, Motown/BMG used every tool available to promote the new attraction. It worked out. The album “The Return Of Bruno” attracted review comments like “surprisingly OK”, “Doesn’t quite have the conviction or skill of the Blues Brothers” or “It shows us that Willis can’t shout songs quite as well as Don Johnson.”
Nonetheless, it went on to spawn further singles like “Young Blood” in March 1987 (UK -April 1988), followed by another huge hit, “Under The Boardwalk” during May ’87 in both US and UK. This re-working of The Drifters’ classic featured The Temptations, adding power to the single. Unfortunately it did little to help sales in the US, while in the UK it rocketed to number two, later becoming the twelfth best selling single of 1987. Without Bruce’s singles Motown/BMG wouldn’t have enjoyed any UK top ten hits during 1987.
Even though the three singles were the most commercial on the album, Motown wanted to milk it further with a couple more. “Secret Agent Man/James Bond Is Back” in the UK only (top fifty hit) and “Comin’ Right Up” early in 1988. (top eighty). With all these hits, it was obvious “The Return Of Bruno” would benefit from their sales. It was a US top twenty and a UK top five hit. The mockumentary was screened around the album’s release and was nominated for a Cable ACE Award.
Apart from hitting the tabloid headlines with his music, Moonlighting and the film Blind Date, Bruce’s personal life came under scrutiny. He became well known by the Los Angeles police department as his neighbours regularly complained about his noisy late night parties, and on one particular occasion, when a squad car arrived at his home, he hurled abuse at the police and allegedly knocked one to the ground. This ended with Bruce spending three hours in jail. His hell raising antics on screen were slowly becoming a reality, which he moaned stemmed from his inability to cope with the stardom, attention and money he now had. Really?
A second album, “If It Don’t Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger” (ZL 72680) slipped out during 1989. I write ‘slipped’ as I don’t remember this at all, and I wonder who else does. Certainly there was little excitement surrounding the project by the media but I’ll mention a few tracks just in case they ignite a memory. “Pep Talk”, “Here Comes Trouble Again”, “Blues For Mr D”, “Can’t Leave Her Alone”, “Save The Last Dance For Me” and “Turn It Up (A Little Bit Louder)”. I think Bruce wrote or co-wrote several tracks, but apart from that, I can offer no personal comments I’m afraid.
Writing about this extraordinary actor, I’m reminded that during 2023 he was diagnosed with progressing frontotemporal dementia, so life for him and his family is extremely challenging. Sadly, he won’t remember being John McClane or Bruno Radolini – but we will.
Sharon Davis
