Smitty: How did you meet Boney?
KE: I met him through a group of musicians, actually through Curt Bisquera, who is just a wonderful drummer who plays on a lot of records, and back in that day he was in a fusion band with Boney and a couple of other players and he asked me to join, so we started playing together in this fusion band and then I asked Boney to join my band. We were all playing with each other anyway in different formats, so when I started doing gigs, Boney came and started playing with me and then he got his deal and that’s how I got involved with Paul Brown because Paul was producing Boney’s record.
Smitty: Yep.
KE: And then he came and saw me and then he offered to work with me and we both made our first records right at the same time.
Smitty: Oh, cool. In fact, your self-titled album, Kiki…
KE: Yeah.
Smitty: Paul produced that one, right?
KE: Yes, he did just a few years ago.
Smitty: Yeah, there are some great songs on there too.
KE: Thank you.
Smitty: I particularly love “Say A Little Prayer.”
KE: Oh.
Smitty: Wow, did you nail that song!
KE: Oh, thank you.
Smitty: Wow! I mean, that’s the kind of song that will either make you just jump with joy or cry, you know?
KE: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was Paul’s suggestion to do the song and I felt the same way, like oh my gosh, that’s kind of a heavy—that’s a hard song to sing, very hard melodically, but with his arrangement and he has a great touch as a producer, he’s great producing vocals, you know, so I felt very comfortable with him.
Smitty: Yeah, absolutely, and speaking of that, there’s one track on there, “Missing You.”
KE: Mm.
Smitty: And your dad wrote that song, right?
KE: Yeah, yeah, he wrote that, and I didn’t find the track until after he passed away. It was written for a musical that he had co-written with another gentleman named Zeke Manners and it never made the cut. It was sort of in a bag of songs that just never got cut and never got used for anything, and the original recording was a bit different than the one I recorded. I sort of, again, put my own little slant on it and added a solo section and whatnot, but it’s a beautiful song. It gets a lot of great, great feedback every time I play it.
Smitty: Yeah, it is a beautiful song. You had an opportunity to do that song during a tribute to your dad.
KE: Right. A&E did a biography on my dad and I was interviewed along with my sister and I sang a bit of the song and they used it in the show in the back towards the end, and it’s pretty cool. I was really happy to be able to do that. My dad always wanted me to sing jazz standards when I was younger and I was such a rebellious thing and I didn’t want to do it, and of course in the end he turned out to be right because it’s actually a format that’s great for my voice, so they always win. Parents always win in the end, you know?
Smitty: Yes, they do. They always know what’s best.
KE: Yeah.
Smitty: That’s for sure. What were you thinking when you were—was that sort of a joyous thing or was it mixed emotions when you were doing that song at his service? Because your dad’s picture was in the background and…
KE: Yeah, that was intense, I’ll tell you what, because what it was, it was a public service for my father at the Recording Arts & Sciences building in North Hollywood, a big to do, and let’s see, Dick Van Dyke was the host. He was sort of bringing on different people to talk in honor of my dad and, of course, there was Donna Douglas and Max Baer and Fess Parker and all these great people, and they showed a documentary that my dad had produced on his own life and right before he passed away they had released it, so they showed his whole life, it was a two-hour thing, and I was to come up at the end and sing, and it was to track, and I got up there to sing and I got through the first couple of lines and the track stopped.
Smitty: Oh.
KE: We were on stage with no track and so it was like, okay, we’ll start it again and the track stops again. Okay, I’m not digging this at all. (Both laugh.) So I went, “You know what? I’ll sing it a capella.” And the place is packed, there’s probably a thousand people there, and I go “I’ll sing a capella.” I start to sing it a capella, the track starts.
Smitty: Oh!
KE: So there’s something going on and they do say that people in the afterlife can affect the electricity or something like that, so we just sort of laughed it off as being a little something from the other side and my dad was involved. (Laughs.)
Smitty: Oh my goodness.
KE: Put me on the spot, wing it, but we eventually got through it. It was pretty intense to sing in front of everybody, especially with all that, but I’m a trouper.
Smitty: Yes, you are. Wow. Was your dad really into the arts as far as jazz music?
KE: Oh yeah, he loved it, loved it. His favorite band was The Chicago Six and, of course, he loved and had every Charlie Bird record ever made.
Smitty: Wow.
KE: And just loved really old, old school jazz and being a hoofer, a dancer, he just came from that old school and he really appreciated jazz and standards and great musicianship.
Smitty: Yeah, how cool. Well, I must tell you, he was my mom’s favorite. (Laughs.)
KE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was really special. He really connected with a lot of people.
Smitty: Yes indeed, yeah. So now, when you’re out doing your gigs, do you reflect back sometimes on some of those things that he taught you and some of the things he talked to you about as far as music goes?
KE: Oh, yeah, I mean, what he liked to do was instill us with these sayings and laughters and he would say things like “Never turn your back on enthusiasm” and “Every day is a new ballgame,” and he was very much—he had seen a lot of hardship in his life before he really took off. He had success as a youngster. Well, as a 20 or 30-year-old, and then tried to reinvent himself after he came back from World War II and was shunned basically by Hollywood and told to quit and all that, so when he sees us in our careers going through ups and downs, it’s just there’s no question but to press on and he gave us that Calvin Coolidge quote. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but it’s “Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” So he gave that to us as a message for our life and our career, and that’s really stuck with me in anything I do.
