Scribbler's Throwback of the Week: The Nutty Professor Quartet, Part 1

For anyone that's a fan of Eddie Murphy's classic and hilarious remake of The Nutty Professor (1996), you may remember the part where he goes through his CD collection and says, "Lillo, Peabo, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass...TEDDY P!"  Hence, the reason for the name of this particular series of my "Throwback of the Week" installation.  Now if you're an avid R&B fan, you might just know all four singers; however, if you're just an average R&B fan, then I'm positive that you know nothing about the first name.  Let the learning and fun part begin...

Of all the great R&B singers of the world, I'm sure that many people wondered why Brooklyn-born Lillo Thomas would be the first name out of Eddie Murphy's mouth.  Well, the answer is quite simple: he toured with Murphy in 1985 as his opening act.  (Prime example that no matter how successful you may or may not be, your name will always be on a person's lips if you leave a meaningful impression.)  So here's his career in a nutshell...he started his professional singing career as a session vocalist for Evelyn "Champagne" King, Melba Moore, Kashif, James Ingram and George Benson.  He also collaborated notably with producer Paul Laurence and R&B crooner Freddie Jackson--for whom he vehemently insists that he's not merely his background singer and that, in fact, Jackson sang background for him before his big solo break in 1985.  (Though he said that he wasn't throwing shade specifically at Jackson, I still thought that was funny.)  Before striking out on his own, Thomas was an accomplished track-and-field star that set the world record in the 200-meter dash at the age of 16 and qualified for the 1984 Olympics, but a car accident in Brazil dashed his hopes of competing.  Once that faltered, he signed to Capitol Records as a solo artist and released three albums: Let Me Be Yours (1983), All Of You (1984) and Lillo (1987).  The latter of the three was his most successful and produced three top ten R&B singles: "I'm In Love", "Sexy Girl" and "Wanna Make Love (All Night Long)"--the featured song of this post.  So there's your lesson about the unknown man in The Nutty Professor Quartet.

Now for my funny personal story...I remember riding in the car with my mom sometime around 1992 or 1993 and hearing this song on "The Original Quiet Storm" on WHUR like, "Hey, I remember this song, but who sings this?"  Of course, she didn't know; most people don't.  So I went on thinking, "Hmmm, dude kinda sounds like Jermaine Jackson, but I don't think it's him."  Then I heard it again months later and was like, "Hey, there goes that song again!"  However, I tried to listen out for the singer's name, but because it was late at night when I heard it, I ended up falling asleep waiting for them to say it.  Then I heard it again in 1994 and finally got his name...Lillo Thomas.  Totally didn't ring a bell, but that's all I needed.

I immediately went to Tower Records the next day and looked through the Muze information kiosk--yeah, looooooooong before you could Google everything--but I was unsuccessful because all of his albums were out of print.  (First time I was rudely introduced to that concept.)  I could've gone to Roadhouse Oldies in Silver Spring to see if they had it on wax, but I had no turntables at the time.  However, I later found it on Kevin "Slow Jammin'" James' compilation, Slow Jams: The Timeless Collection, Vol. 7.  Yeah...I purchased that ASAP.  To the torment of my mother and brother, it was one of many songs that I "ran in the ground" until I graduated from high school.  I later purchased a greatest hits album that featured the other two hits from the Lillo LP and instantly got nostalgic...hadn't heard either song since I was seven years old because, simply put, the radio stations down here don't show much love to Lillo like Sherman Klump.  So as you can tell from my determination, I really LOOOOOOVE this song...and it's as simple as that.