The Myth, The Legend, The Man: Joe Dallesandro Rules!

All Photos:  Alan Mercer

Joe Dallesandro is an iconic sex symbol, actor and Andy Warhol Superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Joe is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century.

Joe starred in 'Flesh' as a teenage street hustler. In 1970 'Rolling Stone' magazine declared 'Flesh' the "Best Film of the Year", making him a star of the youth culture, sexual revolution and subcultural New York art collective of the 1970's.

Many of you will know the photograph taken by Andy Warhol, of his crotch in a tight-fitting pair of jeans and featured on the cover of the Rolling Stones 1971 album, 'Sticky Fingers.'

He was born in Pensacola, Florida. His father, Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro II, was an Italian-American sailor, and his mother was 16-year-old Thelma Testman. By the time Joe was five, his mother was serving five years in a Federal Penitentiary for interstate auto theft. His parents divorced soon afterward.

Joe and his brother, Bobby, were taken to New York with their father, who worked as an electrical engineer. Both boys were eventually placed into the Angel Guardian Home in Harlem, prior to being fostered by a couple in Brooklyn. The senior Dallesandro would visit them about once a month at their foster parents' home.

Joe attended a Catholic school until second grade. He and his brother lived with the family until they ran away and were removed from the family by social services. At the age of 14 Joe and his brother moved to Queens to live with their paternal grandparents. He was kicked out of school for punching the principal, who had insulted his father.

As a teenager, Joe supported himself by prostitution and later nude modeling, appearing most notably in short films and magazine photos for Bob Mizer's Athletic Model Guild. In a later interview, Joe said: "My hustling days were more about trying to take care of myself. Having met those people kind of calmed me down. They showed me a different part of life. My attitude was that it widened my life experience... I realized later that I was looking for a father figure and someone to love me."

Joe met Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey in 1967 while they were shooting 'Four Stars,' and they cast him in the film on the spot. Warhol would later comment "In my movies, everyone's in love with Joe Dallesandro."

Joe played a hustler in his third Warhol film, 'Flesh' in1968, where he had several nude scenes. 'Flesh' became a crossover hit with mainstream audiences, and Joe Dallesandro became the most popular of the Warhol stars. New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote of him: "His physique is so magnificently shaped that men as well as women become disconnected at the sight of him."

As Joe's underground fame began to cross over into the popular culture, he graced the cover of Rolling Stone in April 1971. He was also photographed by some of the top celebrity photographers of the time: Francesco Scavullo, Jack Robinson and Richard Avedon.

Dallesandro also appeared in 'Lonesome Cowboys' in 1968, 'Trash' in 1970, 'Heat' in 1972, a sardonic re-imagining of Sunset Boulevard with Sylvia Miles, 'Andy Warhol's Frankenstein' and 'Andy Warhol's Dracula' both in 1974 also directed by Morrissey. These last two films were shot in Europe, and, after the films were completed, Joe chose not to return to the U.S. He continued to star in films made mainly in France and Italy for the rest of the decade, returning to America in the 1980s.

He made several movies without Warhol and Morrissey, and is known for his portrayal of 1920's gangster Lucky Luciano in Francis Coppola's The Cotton Club. His career enjoyed a resurgence, appearing in major motion pictures in Steven Soderbergh's 'The Limey' as a religious zealot in John Waters' 'Cry-Baby', 'Sunset' with Bruce Willis and James Garner, 'Critical Condition' with Richard Pryor, 'Gun Crazy' with Drew Barrymore, and many tv series with multiple appearances on 'Wiseguy', 'Miami Vice' and 'Matlock.'

Joe Dallesandro has a famous "jailhouse" style tattoo on his upper right arm that reads "Little Joe", and was portrayed as the hustler "Little Joe" in Lou Reed's hit 1972 song 'Walk on the Wild Side', which was about the characters Reed knew from Warhol's studio, The Factory.

My darling friend Leila Koral suggested Joe for this blog and I am so happy she did. He is without a doubt an icon and living legend. I had the opportunity to take a few shots of him in the courtyard of the hotel in Hollywood he now manages with his wife Kimberly, who is an accomplished writer and artist herself. Joe has always been a role model in the sense that he is cool. Like Brando and Dean he sizzles and simmers with raw sexuality and like Bogart or McQueen, he is the personification of nonchalance and the eternally hip "anti-drama queen." After our photo session I sat down with Joe the person and got to know him a little better.

AM: Joe, you've done so much movie work! Are you interested in making more films?

JD: Not really, not anymore. I would do something if I could shine in it, but not just to work.

AM: I also get the feeling that you don't have a lot of interest in your past.

JD: Not too much, no. I'm to busy living in the now.

AM: You come from this mythic past with Andy Warhol, but you never got caught up in it...

JD: No...and whenever I'd do interviews I always told the truth unless I told the writers to make it up and then they may embellish something or add an extra marriage for my father or something like that. Nothing that really phased me much.

AM: Have you noticed an increase in your popularity since you got on-line?

JD: Not so much an increase but now I'm more interactive with the fans who want to talk to me.

AM: Do you enjoy it?

JD: Yeah it's fun.

AM: Can you tell me a little about this documentary that was recently made about you?

JD: I got a little upset because I asked for certain things to be cut out of the film entirely and they were just shifted around. The people that made it with me were close and they knew that I'd never watch myself in this.

AM: Why not?

JD: It was hard enough just talking at length about different stories. They knew I wasn't going to sit down and watch the whole thing. That would bore me to tears.

AM: But you have seen it?

JD: I watched it once and never again. But when I asked for something to be cut I assumed it was going to be done. When I found out later on they had just moved it to a different spot....that upset me. Then Paul Morrissey got really upset by a couple of things I said in the movie. I don't need to be upset and have Paul upset and go on with this documentary. If everybody's upset then let's just shove it. It's done. We had a couple of screenings in some festivals and that was enough.

AM: Will it ever be made available?

JD: No...but it could change. I'm getting ready to have a discussion with Paul about things that were supposed to happen over the years but never happened. If he doesn't behave the way he's supposed to then it's time for me to go and do what I feel like doing.

AM: Do you like receiving a lot of attention?

JD: Everybody does...to a point. I don't like my personal life interfered with. If I'm sitting down to dinner I don't want anyone coming over and interrupting me mid-bite telling me how much they are a fan.

AM: It's never gotten old for you?

JD: No I've always had a great relationship with the people.

AM: People really 'LOVE YOU,' love you.

JD: I know. I know!

AM: You're an icon. Did you ever imagine this?

JD: No. I always understood when Paul Morrissey used to tell me that the films I was making would be around forever. I understood that because of Andy's involvement with it. Most of the people that got to see these films are older than me now.

AM: Did you make money working in them?

JD: See that's the problem now. I have five percent of Andy and Paul's share and now all the films have reverted back to Paul. Whatever they got, five percent was supposed to be mine. Then when I went off to work in Europe for ten years Paul never put anything aside and said this is for Joe. Remember his big successes were the films he made with me.

AM: Well I hope that gets worked out to your satisfaction.

JD: It would be nice.

AM: Well life in 2011 has you living and running this hotel in Hollywood.

JD: When I first moved in I was only going to be here for a month then I realized I was paying very little for rent and I thought I don't need to work again. With what I make on residuals I could live here. So the month turned into a long time.

AM: How did you end up running it?

JD: They kept getting managers that didn't really care about the building. It was starting to decay and we had terrible people moving in. Nothing ever got fixed in the building. Nobody cared so when they were looking for a manager I said I'd love to do it. I've been running it for eight years now.

AM: Is it in your heart?

JD: Oh yeah. I love doing it and I love taking care of the older people here. It's not in my duties to do that, but I enjoy it.

AM: How do you relax?

JD: Science fiction and cartoons. I love to escape.

AM: Any specific cartoons?

JD: I love them all. I love all the movie cartoons and I watch them over and over like a child. I love 'Shrek.' I love all the new ones that are out.

AM: Have you always liked cartoons?

JD: Yeah.

AM: Have you ever made a science fiction film?

JD: No, I never did. There's always a possibility that something might come up. I would love to do something like that or even some kind of children's movie. Something completely different than anything I've ever done.

AM: That would be great.

JD: I like children and they like me because when they are around I become a child like them.

AM: Are you more child-like now or have you always been this way?

JD: I think I'm this way more now then back when I should have had one.

AM: Do you think that's why you are enjoying a childhood now because you missed it back then?

JD: That's a good possibility. I had to grow up real early. I thought of myself as an adult at a very early age. I ran on a lot of wrong information for many years. Now I have fun with my older age.

AM: Aren't you glad you are here at this time to have fun?

JD: I'm so happy...yes! You know the mention with my problem with Paul is not a big deal. If nothing ever comes of it, I'm not chasing him down.

AM: So you genuinely liked those people you worked with?

JD: I never had a bad word to say about them. I had no designs on being an actor. I never chased it. It was Paul Morrissey who pointed me in that direction. He directed me on where to go with my career. He even brought me to Europe so that I could go over there and come back as Clint Eastwood.

AM: You did have an amazing ten year run in Italy making films. Was film-making different over there?

JD: No, they did have some big budget films going on but I never got to participate in any of those. I worked on a bunch of smaller 'shoot em' up' style pictures that we shot like they do television here.

AM: Are the fans different in Europe?

JD: Oh yeah.

AM: Were they aware of your work with Paul Morrissey?

JD: Not in Italy. That's what was so great about it. My films were banned for many years. I remember when Paul was trying to sell them over there they told him they didn't have an audience for them because this kind of stuff doesn't happen in Italy. This was the movie called 'Flesh.' I thought it all began there! (laughing)

AM: Did you ever suspect you'd be a sex symbol?

JD: It's not something that I tried to do. I've never said that. It's always other people who tell me who I am.

AM: I find it interesting that culturally speaking you are as big today as you've ever been.

JD: There were years that I was better known. When I used to walk around New York people would recognize me all day long. I always had posters all through the city.

AM: Were you able to be out in public?

JD: Yes because I always said it was my brother. He's much bigger than I am but we looked very much alike.

AM: How does it feel to see all these images from when you were so young? Are you proud and loving it?

JD: Oh yeah, but a lot of photographs taken of me always looked so much better than what I really looked like.

AM: Well that's what a good photograph does. You have some amazing photographs of yourself.

JD: Over the years yeah. It was nothing that I did. I never saw myself the way other people did. Paul worked on me a great deal to help me not get a big ego or believe everything people were saying about me. He always said, "If you believe the good stuff you gotta believe the bad stuff too."

AM: Last question...what are you going to do with the rest of your day?

JD: Today is my day off so I'm going back to my room and spend as much time as I can watching my cartoons. (giggles)

Joe with his wife Kimberly

To learn more about Joe Dallesandro check out his web site http://www.joedallesandro.com/

R&B Music Legend Maxine Brown

Celebrates Black History Month

All Photos:  Alan Mercer     Make-Up:  Rudy Calvo

Maxine Brown began singing as a child, performing with two New York based gospel groups called the 'Angelairs' and the 'Royaltones' when she was a teenager. In 1960, she signed with the small Nomar record label, who released the smooth soul ballad 'All in My Mind' which was written by Maxine. The single became a hit, climbing to number two on the R&B charts , and it was quickly followed by 'Funny,' which peaked at number three.

Maxine was poised to become a star and she moved to the bigger ABC/Paramount in 1962, but left the label after an unsuccessful year despite several singles to sign for the New York-based uptown soul label, Wand Records, in 1963.

Maxine recorded her best work at Wand, a Scepter Records subsidiary, having a string of sizable hits over the next three years. Among these were the Carole King/Gerry Goffin songs 'Oh No Not My Baby', which reached number 24 on the pop charts in 1964, and 'It's Gonna Be Alright', which peaked at #26 the following year. She also recorded duets with label-mate Chuck Jackson, including a reworked version of an Alvin Robinson hit, 'Something You Got', which climbed to #10 on the R&B chart.

All backing vocals for Maxine's records were performed by Cissy Houston and the Sweet Inspirations, the same group that backed Elvis, plus emerging writer-producers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Hoping to increase the line of hits for Maxine and her singing partner, Chuck Jackson, Ashford and Simpson took their song catalog to Scepter Records looking for a deal. When they were turned down, the couple approached Berry Gordy at Motown Records who immediately hired them. Songs that were penned for Maxine and Chuck became blockbuster hits for Ray Charles, such as 'Let's Go Get Stoned', as well as Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough.'

In 1969, Maxine left Wand for Commonwealth United where she recorded two singles, the first 'We'll Cry Together' reached #10 in the Billboard R&B chart and also made the lower reaches of the Hot 100. Despite her seeming lack of visibility, Maxine Brown is acknowledged as one of the finer R&B vocalists of her time, able to handle soul, jazz, and pop with equal aplomb.

I was lucky enough to take the photos for Maxine's latest release, 'From The Heart.' I really fell in love with the person behind the music. It was the legendary make-up artist Rudy Calvo who introduced me to Maxine and did the make-up and general styling for these photos. I spoke with Maxine over the phone this past Friday as we talked about some of her biggest hits!

AM: Maxine, I didn't know you wrote 'All In My Mind!'

MB: Yes!

AM: You are a great songwriter! How many more have you written and recorded?

MB: I wrote four songs for my latest CD 'From The Heart' and I hadn't written any songs to be published until then. I wrote the first number 'Keep On Keepin On' with my writing partner Rebecca Murphy.

AM: I love that album.

MB: I love 'Love Me By Name' which was written by Leslie Gore. I took it down to a jazz/R&B mix.

AM: The ability to mix singing styles is one of the things you're most know for.

MB: Thank you, I love that. I get bored doing one thing all the time. You can quote me on that one! (Laughter)

AM: I sure will. Now was 'All In My Mind' the first song you wrote?

MB: That was the first song that I even attempted to write. Do you want to hear the story?

AM: Yes!

MB: I came out of gospel and knew nothing about rock n' roll. This guy wanted me for a group like 'The Platters.' They needed a girl singer who could sing the baritone part up high. I said, "I don't know anything about rock n' roll music." He said, "I'll teach you."  He started a group called 'The Manhattans' (not the group more famous from the 70's) and everything was fine but the guys were of the age that they were getting drafted into the service. So the group had to break up. There were three of us left so we called ourselves 'The Treys.'

AM: Did you work a lot as 'The Treys?'

MB: We did a lot of under the table studio work and some background sessions. One night the leader of the group told me I never did anything for the music. He threw a song title at me literally, and told me to write a song and have it finished by the next rehearsal.

AM: He was pushy!

MB: I was so angry at him. I was sitting at home alone one night pouting and angry at past relationships and men in general. I picked up the song title and the story just popped in my head. I wrote the song and within fifteen minutes it was done.

AM: That was real inspiration then.

MB: I found out I'm an inspirational writer, not one of those writers who says, "I'm going home to write tonight." Even when I write my raps in songs it just comes to me and I go with it. Anyway he eventually asked me if I finished the song he wanted me to write and I said, "Yeah, I finished that old thing." He said, "Sing it for me then." I did and all he was satisfied with was that I did what I was told! (Laughter) We never got back to the song.

AM: When did you get back to it?

MB: Fast forward two years ahead when a friend asked me to come sing with a band, which I had never done before.

AM: Really!?! That seems unlikely.

MB: In gospel you have a piano player and that's it. So I went and sang 'Misty' and Mal Williams, the guy who was booking the club liked what I did and he asked me if I wanted to work there. So each week I got to play with a live band and I'd get a new song. He ended up taking me into the studio with that song.

AM:  Do you remember that recording session?

MB: They recorded the guitar and bass player and took so long they only had thirty minutes left for me so I recorded it twice. I nailed it the first time but we did two takes for safety.

AM: What was the next step?

MB: They pushed it to every record company and none of the major labels wanted it but this little company 'Nomar Records' liked the song immediately and they dubbed in a piano player and the demo became an instant million seller!

AM: And it's really just the demo!!! I love this story.

MB: Do you want to hear something? I'm in the business now but Nomar folded and my manager and husband at the time Mal Williams didn't want me to be a one hit artist. He took me to ABC/Paramount but then payola came around and they didn't want to get caught up in that so they didn't have any luck getting any real hits for me.

AM: How did you end up on Ward records where you had your hits?

MB: One day I walked into a restaurant on Broadway and there was Florence Greenberg sitting there with all her artists like the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. They invited me over to the table for lunch and she asked me when I was going to leave the no good company for a good one. I told her when she went over and got me I would and the next day she went over and did it. She took everything that ABC/Paramount recorded on me so they wouldn't be able to release something when she did. She started releasing a lot of stuff that ABC had recorded. I went with them in 1963 but I didn't have a hit until 1964 with 'Oh No Not My Baby.'

AM: Isn't that your biggest hit?

MB: I think so. Back in the day 'All In My Mind' was the million seller but I'm more known today for 'Oh No Not My Baby' because it was written by Carole King.

AM: Tell me about your fabulous hit 'We'll Cry Together.'

MB: That's a great song written by Rose Marie McCoy. I love it and that's a show stopper. I do it everywhere I go. I even put a rap to that one.

AM: Are you doing a lot of live performing these days?

MB: Yes I am! I also sing with a group of two other ladies, Beverly Crosby, who used to be with 'The Crystals' and Ella Garrett who is a jazz singer by rights. We got together and realized what good harmony we have. We call ourselves 'The Wild Women.'

AM: That sounds so good. I wish you would bring it to LA.

MB: I do too. It's a fabulous show. We took it to Japan and played all theatres. We just left Detroit.

AM: So you are staying very busy?

MB: Oh yes I am busy all the time. I'm also in a gospel group called 'The Healing Balm.' We're going to put on a performance later this month for Black History Month. We actually make a play out of it. I'm also getting ready to go to Spain.

AM: When are you going to Spain?

MB: I'll be there in August. I sing in Spanish sometimes.

AM: Do you know Spanish?

MB: No, not very well. 'Un poquito' but I can sing in Spanish. I've done that in South America and in Puerto Rico.

AM: Maxine, you're poised to get a lot of new fans now with the internet.

MB: I hope so! That's how people learn about everything now. How do you find the time to do all that? I need help with all that! I need a fan base, I really do!

AM: Well you're getting one now! Since it's Black History Month I want to ask you what differences you've seen in your lifetime culturally?

MB: Oh when I was a girl everyone stayed in their own place. I was lucky that my school was kind of mixed at the time. We had white teachers and everything was nice but in general we weren't doing so well, but now it has opened up tremendously.

AM: Now we don't see color.

MB: I never have.

AM: I never have either. You love the idea of Black History Month don't you?

MB: I love it. We are telling it like it was and there is a reason for the story because it was the truth. 'The Healing Balm' shows how slavery started in Africa and came to America enslaved in the south, but now we're all one.

AM: Maxine, you are a leading force in the power of love for a whole generation.

MB: Oh thank you, thank you.

To learn more about Maxine Brown visit her website http://www.maxinebrown.com/

Bob Esty Has Worked With Some Divas

All Photos:  Alan Mercer

Barbra Streisand, Cher, Donna Summer, Sally Kellerman and even Raquel Welch all want Bob Esty! He is responsible for some of their best music. Originally from Massachusetts, the famed music producer and musician has been an LA fixture for years now.

Growing up, Bob was into music like the piano and the all-male choir. He was the student conductor for the glee club. In high school he became a bass player, took up the bass drum and joined the orchestra. He then joined the Baltimore Box Society and The Lyric Opera Company of Baltimore. Bob attended the Peabody Conservatory for Music where he had enough classical music that was too stuffy. He wanted more musical variety so he moved to New York and wrote for off-Broadway plays while in college. In his New York days he hung out with people like Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester and Bette Midler.

Mutual manager Stuart Cohen suggested Bob musically direct Sally Kellerman's first tour from Los Angeles. While touring with Sally, Bob performed on 'The Mike Douglas Show,' 'The Tonight Show,' 'Merv Griffin,' and various other popular shows. He commuted back and forth between New York and LA for two years before finally making the decision to live in LA in '75.

Recently he's been going down to Key West, Florida for the past few years working with the Key West Pops Orchestra and the Key West Symphony. Bob says the most memorable experience in the past couple of years was conducting the West Australian Symphony Orchestra with his dear friend and opera star, Julie Migenes.

I remember seeing Bob's name in the credits for all these albums and always thought how lucky and talented he was to work with all these divas. I never expected to know the man, but thanks to Sally Kellerman I do know him and I'm happy to introduce him to all the readers of this blog.

AM: What are you working on today?

BE: I'm working with Scott Snapp, a guy who came into my life about three years ago. I've been helping him with his vocals and his songwriting. He got funding for his new CD and I produced it. We re-arranged all the songs he had written. Basically Scott was open to anything so he would try new things. Now we've been working on his live show based on the CD.

AM: Are you interested in producing more albums again?

BE: Oh yes.

AM: Do you prefer female vocalists?

BE: In a way because I relate to women, but I've produced several guys like 'The Brooklyn Dreams.' When they were on Casablanca they didn't do as well since Casablanca was really just Donna Summer and KISS.

AM: Did you realize Casablanca would be such a big deal?

BE: I didn't know anything about the music business at all. I had never produced anything. I was a keyboard guy.

AM: How did you end up in Los Angeles?

BE: Through Sally Kellerman.

AM: Really!?!

BE: We had the same manager at the time. He managed a lot of cabaret artists.

AM: You are a singer/songwriter yourself. Did you consider having your own performing career?

BE: Yes but I was a duo with Michelle Aller, so I didn't have time. A year into my Casablanca deal I was producing Cher.

AM: So you joined Casablanca when they were on top?

BE: That's right.

AM: How was Neil Bogart to work for?

BE: Delightful. He was the only label president who would play your new projects in his office and dance around. I don't know why he was so lively but he was. He would drop by the studio sometimes and it was always a good time. I learned much later that I was in a bubble and nothing was real.

AM: How did you meet Barbra Streisand?

BE: It was for 'The Main Event.' I didn't want to meet Barbra because no one wants to meet Barbra because she can be so intimidating.

AM: Ultimately you ended up working with her several times.

BE: Yes I did. Paul Jabara drove me to her home in his Lamborghini.

AM: Did Paul Jabara really trap Donna Summer in a bathroom and make her listen to 'Last Dance?'

BE: Yes in Puerto Rico. That was the good part of him. We used to call him the sales man. Just don't have anything to do with him after five. Paul was a genius at recycling his material and once he met Donna Summer he had her doing all his demos, but she never recorded anything of his after 'Last Dance' which bothered him to his dying day.

AM: You produced a couple of albums for him didn't you?

BE: Well one and a half. Half of the first one and all of the second one. He was mad at me by the time his third album came along.

AM: I love the albums you did with Roberta Kelly, especially the Disco Gospel album.

BE: Oh yeah.

AM: Do you know Roberta these days?

BE: I was just in touch with her because of facebook. I haven't seen her since a couple years after 'Gettin' In The Spirit' came out. I love 'Oh Happy Day' and also "Come Go With Me To My Father's House.' It's getting re-released this summer.

AM: Have you lost track of most of the people from that time?

BE: Yes, basically when they started burning my records in stadiums...

AM: How did that feel?

BE: Well it was sort of off putting to say the least. I had visions of Nazi Germany. Basically all the DJ's wanted rock n' roll.

AM: Ultimately they lost because dance music never left.

BE: They didn't like the fact that most of the music was coming from Europe and it wasn't American.

AM: Why was there a video for Cher's 'Hell On Wheels' song? There was no videos at this time.

BE: I don't know why. It was just a promotional tool. It played in clubs. Same as the video for 'It's Raining Men' which was at the beginning of MTV but they wouldn't play it. They wouldn't show race music videos until Michael Jackson.

AM: It seems hard to believe now. You entered Cher's career at a very important time for her. She was on a downturn and you made her relevant and current again. 'Take Me Home' was huge!

BE: Oh yes. Michelle Aller went on the road with her as a back-up singer and became the closest thing to Cher as a friend. They would go walking in West LA. Cher is a lot of fun! I took over the production of the 'Take Me Home' which was originally being produced by Ron Dante.

AM: I didn't know that!

BE: It was a very typical Cher album of the time, but it didn't fit into the Casablanca sound and profile. Neil wanted to bring her back as a Disco Clotheshorse.

AM: Tell me about that album cover. It's one of her most memorable.

BE: Now I understand it, but at the time I said to myself, "Who would take her home?" In the original photo she was painted gold. Then they had to airbrush her skin. The 'all gold' didn't read. In a way the same thing happened with the 'Prisoner' album. We had to add the song 'Prisoner' to justify the album cover.

AM: What about Miss Streisand? Is she fun?

BE: First of all Barbra doesn't understand she has a sense of humor even though she's played comedy all her life, therefore when she says something and people laugh, she says, "Oh is that funny?" And she means it. Cher is a lot more down to earth.

AM: How wonderful to work with all these divas. Another one you've worked with, who isn't really a singer, is Raquel Welch.

BE: Once again Paul Jabara made the deal and almost lost it! He called me and said he was having a meeting with Raquel Welch. He wanted her to do 'This Girl's Back In Town' and initially I thought, "Why!?!"

AM: Did you want to work with her?

BE: I had briefly worked with her in 1975 for a live show. Raquel is very funny. When we were in New York and she was meeting the musicians she arrived in a trench coat and a sweater, a hat and dark sunglasses. She leaned into my ear and said, "Watch this." She takes off all the bulky clothes and shows off her curves and goes over to the guys and says, "Hello, my name is Raquel." She was putting it on. It was very much like Marilyn.

AM: Was there anyone you wouldn't work with?

BE: The biggest name in show business, Frank Sinatra.

AM: Was it offered to you?

BE: Yes but I didn't think he should do a disco album.

AM: What is the best thing about being on facebook for you?

BE: I like people sending me links to music videos of my songs on Youtube. I haven't heard some of those songs in twenty or thirty years.