1 100 2 https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/1ca827ca8e174aaf63a15de8e7bc8474.pdf ef468a34407354438fc3a413f2ab5e7f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Jesse Cutler Collection Alternative Title Cutler Collection Language eng Curator Cravero, Geoffrey Description Collection of digital images, documents, and oral histories depicting the life and work of Jesse Cutler. Cutler has spent an illustrious career, beginning at age 12, as a musician, composer, actor, producer, and entrepreneur. Starting in New York City in the 1960s and then in Los Angeles from the early ‘70s through the late ‘90s, Jesse performed with his bands and in the original cast of Godspell on Broadway, made records that saw Billboard’s Top 100, formed his own companies and appeared on TV and radio and in national print. Subject Music--Florida Winter Park (Fla.) Godspell (Motion picture) Type Collection Coverage Winter Park, Florida Los Angeles, California New York, New York Digital Collection <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository Personal Collection of Jesse Cutler External Reference "<a href="http://cityofwinterpark.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">City of Winter Park</a>." City of Winter Park, Florida. http://cityofwinterpark.org/. "<a href="http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WINTER PARK HISTORY</a>." Winter Park History Museum, Winter Park Historical Society. http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/. Cutler, Jesse. "<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/268957223" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starlust : The Price of Fame</a>. Garden City, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing. 2008. Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/140" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Central Florida Music History Collection</a>, RICHES. Moving Image A series of visual representations that, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Oral Memoirs of Jesse Cutler (Part Two) Alternative Title Oral History, Jesse Cutler (Part Two) Subject Music--Florida Winter Park (Fla.) Godspell (Motion picture) Description Part Two of an oral history of Jesse Cutler conducted by Geoffrey Cravero at Trevor Colbourn Hall at the University of Central Florida on February 23, 2024. Cutler has spent an illustrious career, beginning at age 12, as a musician, composer, actor, producer, and entrepreneur. Starting in New York City in the 1960s and then in Los Angeles from the early seventies through the late nineties, Jesse performed with his bands and in the original cast of Godspell on Broadway, made records that saw Billboard’s Top 100, formed his own companies and appeared on TV and radio and in national print. Some of the topics covered include getting starstruck meeting Marvin Gaye in the R & B Room of the Shrine Auditorium at the Grammy Awards, repackaging his album and forging a relationship with Quincy Jones, putting a band together and touring the West Coast, composing new songs, beginning a new romantic relationship, and developing Disco Diet, meeting Richard Simmons, creating and distributing the Eddie Rabbitt Mask, recording with Alice Cooper’s and Aretha Franklin’s Bands, forming his childhood band, The Young Executives, being managed by his father, performing for celebrities, signing to Mercury Records, charting a single, being on television, experiencing success and the breakup of the group, attending preparatory school in Queens and becoming involved in the Broadway musical Godspell, leaving Godspell, finding a manager and the importance of management and agency to a successful music career, repackaging his music and re-releasing it, moving to Winter Park, recording an album inspired by the city, getting re-married, recording a 12-album set of music inspired by astrology and marketing it through eclectic sound pallets, advice for aspiring entertainers, running a marketing company, writing his autobiography and finding a publisher, his closing remarks and future goals. Table Of Contents 0:00:00 Getting starstruck meeting Marvin Gaye in the R&B Room of the Shrine Auditorium at the Grammy Awards 0:03:12 Repackaging his album and forging a relationship with Quincy Jones 0:08:51 Putting a band together and touring the West Coast 0:09:35 Composing new songs, beginning a new romantic relationship, and developing Disco Diet 0:13:57 Meeting Richard Simmons 0:15:14 Creating and distributing the Eddie Rabbitt Mask 0:18:07 Recording with Alice Cooper’s and Aretha Franklin’s Bands 0:20:40 Forming his childhood band, The Young Executives, being managed by his father, performing for celebrities, signing to Mercury Records, charting a single, being on television, experiencing success and the breakup of the group 0:24:11 Attending preparatory school in Queens and becoming involved in the Broadway musical Godspell 0:26:37 Leaving Godspell, finding a manager and the importance of management and agency to a successful music career 0:30:46 Repackaging his music and re-releasing it 0:33:53 Moving to Winter Park, recording an album inspired by the city, getting re-married, recording a 12-album set of music inspired by astrology and marketing it through eclectic sound pallets 0:40:56 Advice for aspiring entertainers 0:41:39 Running a marketing company, writing his autobiography and finding a publisher 0:46:05 Closing remarks and future goals Abstract Oral history interview of Jesse Cutler. Interview conducted by Geoffrey Cravero on February 23, 2024. Type Moving Image Source Cutler, Jesse. Interviewed by Geoffrey Cravero, February 23, 2024. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a>, Orlando, Florida. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> QuickTime</a>. <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a> Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/227" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jesse Cutler Collection</a>, <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/140" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Central Florida Music History Collection</a>, RICHES. Coverage The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California New York, New York Highland School Preparatory, Jamaica, New York Winter Park, Florida Creator Cutler, Jesse Cravero, Geoffrey Publisher <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> Date Created 2024-02-23 Date Copyrighted 2024-02-23 Format video/mp4 application/pdf Extent 6.49 GB 345 KB Medium 47-minutes and 20-seconds video recording 20-page digital transcript Language eng Mediator History Teacher Music Teacher Provenance Originally created by Jesse Cutler and Geoffrey Cravero and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a>. Rights Holder <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> Accrual Method Item Creation Curator Cravero, Geoffrey Digital Collection <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> External Reference Cutler, Jesse. "<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/268957223" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starlust : The Price of Fame</a>. Garden City, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing. 2008. "<a href="http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WINTER PARK HISTORY</a>." Winter Park History Museum, Winter Park Historical Society. http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/. "<a href="http://cityofwinterpark.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">City of Winter Park</a>." City of Winter Park, Florida. http://cityofwinterpark.org/. Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="https://youtu.be/Qj4TGWAxw68?si=fKLUNGakZRycjgm3">Oral History of Jesse Cutler (Part Two)</a> Transcript Cutler Alright. I’m ready. Cravero This is Geoffrey Cravero and I’m conducting the second part of an oral history with Jesse Cutler . The interview’s being conducted in Trevor Colbourn Hall at the University of Central Florida on Friday, February 23rd, 2024. Mr. Cutler, thank you for coming back and speaking with us again today. We left off with a story about meeting one of your heroes, Marvin Gaye . I believe you were just about to introduce yourself to him if you’d like to start off there. Cutler Well, what happened was I was at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. And, uh, a friend of mine, who happened to be, uh, the mistress of Berry Gordy , who had four children for him, seemed to be like the princess of the area. And she goes, “Who do you want to meet in the R&B Room?” And I went to her, “Anybody?” She goes, “Yeah. Anybody.” “I’d love to meet Marvin Gaye.” And she literally walked me over. I had, uh, two or three of my vinyl albums on United Artists under my arm. And she goes, “Marvin, this is Jesse Cutler. He’s a recording artist, too.” And I looked at him. And I went like that. I got starstruck. And that was the only time in my life that I ever—he was a lot taller than I thought, also. And, uh, I go, “Marvin, this is an honor. And I’d like to give you one of my albums.” And I pulled a sleeve out, which on that particular album, I had top musicians. Lee Ritenour , Jay Graydon , people from Steely Dan . I mean great backup singers. And, uh—and it was produced by Joe Renzetti , who won the Oscar for The Buddy Holly Story , which I happen to be in, uh, the last ten minutes. I’m in the band at the end. Uh [taps table], Marvin looked at me and I pulled a sleeve out and it read in the liner notes, “This album is dedicated to Lord God my Creator, to my mother and father, and to Marvin Gaye.” And he looked at me. He goes, “You put me next to God and your parents?” I go, “Well, Marvin, you’re Marvin [laughs].” And he hugged me. And—and—and I could look around the room. I—it was Diana Ross , Lionel Richie , and, uh—and Smokey Robinson . They all kind of giggled because I acted like [imitates himself] —like this. And, uh, my friend, who introduced us—and she goes, “You know you’re blushing, Jesse.” And, uh, you know. And he hugged me. And, uh, he said, “Would you autograph the album?” Marvin Gaye is asking me to autograph my album. I go, “absolutely.” I pull my pen out. “To—to Marvin. My musical hero. Jesse Cutler. Blessings forever.” And he looked at it. And he hugged me again [knocks table]. And I went like [imitates himself] [laughs]. That was a great, great moment. And that was at the Grammy Awards . And they—they had private—they had the Rock and Roll Room. And the R&B Room. And the Country Room. Said[sic] literally, if you were on the inside you could walk into those rooms and meet the biggest stars in every genre. So that was—that was a good—a good feeling. And then—and—and by the way, I repackaged that album, which was released by United Artists . Uh, I, uh, took possession of it. And I renamed it Soul Wood. And these are trees. The—these are guitars like trees growing in the forest. The forest of guitars. And, uh, I wrote on it, “Every guitar has a soul waiting to be mastered.” Because, as you know, anyone who’s listening or watching, when you play an instrument, if you’re really serious about it, you want to master that instrument. You want to become the master. And eventually, what you’d probably like to do if you wanted a career in music is you have to create your own sound. And your own style. And your own melodies. That’s the bottom line. After that, uh—that great experience, I was lucky enough to meet Michael Jackson and Mar—and, uh, Barry White . I lean personally—I don’t know particularly why, but I lean towards R&B. And, uh, because I was still a rock musician, I played, you know, electric guitar. Uh, like my Stratocasters and my different more rock-oriented guitars [knocks table]. I always liked the sound of strings. Violins and cellos coming in to smooth it all out. Even though it had a rock sound on it. So, I left New York when I was 22 years old. I had a contract with Fabergé . They opened up Brut Records . I was the first artist. It was me, Michael Franks and Robert Klein , the comedian. And so, I was seduced by Quincy Jones’s daughter . “You belong in L.A. Not New York.” Well, I—I challenge myself, eh, whether I made the right or wrong decision. But when I got out to California, living in Quincy Jones’s house, not realizing Quincy was like at the top of the top level in the music business—in fact, he was the first Black executive in the music business for Mercury Records . And it was at some time I was in China at a private party with my girlfriend at the time. I’m in Beijing and Quincy’s there. And I walked over and put my arm around him. Gave him a little kiss. I go, “You know, you stole my music.” He goes, “What are you talking about?” I go, “Well, you called up my contractor for my album for UA . And, uh, all the musicians on my album ended up on Michael’s first solo album called…” Uh, uh, what’s it called? The—I can’t think right now. It was his first album. And the reason why was because I came from New York with a more New York rock sound, but an R&B twist to it. And that sound, he transferred on to Michael. Because he wanted Michael leaving the Jackson 5 to cross more into the white audience. So my sound was perfect for him. And I said to him, “You know, Q, you stole my music.” He goes, “Oh. It took you that long to figure it out?” I go, “No. The contractor called me up and told me you called them up and got everybody off my album.” I go, “Well, in a way it’s a big compliment.” But, you know, Off the Wall was the title of the album. Off the Wall, that was Michael Jackson’s first solo album. So, when I met Michael at [taps table]—at some point, it was really amazing. Because my birthday is August 28th, and Michael’s Jack—Michael Jackson’s birthday is August 29th. So, in a way, I was absorbed into him through Quincy Jones. And because I was on that level, I got the privilege of meeting everybody. I mean anybody I wanted to meet. And I always leaned toward the Black artists. When Quincy met me, I had a big afro. And it kind of looked like, uh—it kind of looked like that. It was even bigger than that. And, uh, uh, when Quincy met me, he goes, “What’s your blood?” I go, “What do you mean?” He goes, “What are you?” I go, “Well, I’m actually 100% Sicilian.” He goes, “Sicilian? The Moors invaded Sicely from Africa. You Black.” And he went like this with my hair and hugged me. And his daughter got all happy that he accepted me. And, uh, on the way out of his house, uh—he lived in Bel Air at the time with Peggy Lipton from the Mod Squad . She was the star. And I was thrill—I was a little starstruck meeting her. She was very pretty, quiet, and only four years older than me. So that means I was 22, she was 26, and Quincy was 40 at the time. Nonetheless, on the way out of his house, he goes—he whispers in my ear. He goes, “If you didn’t have the blood, I’d kick your ass out of the house.” I go, “But, Q. All your wives are white.” He goes, “Well, that has nothing to do with it.” [laughs]. So, I’ve had interesting experiences. I didn’t marry his daughter. We were too young. I was 22, she was 21. It was a little too early. And I stayed in LA for about a year. I actually put a great band together. And I ended up starring at the Whisky a Go Go , the Roxy , and all the top clubs. The Ice House. And I—I toured up and down the West Coast. And, uh, I’ll never forget the owner of one was a really, uh, popular big bar area with a stage. He came over to me. He goes, “You guys aren’t a bar band. You’re a—you’re a—you’re a concert act.” I mean that was a compliment. He goes, “You could finish playing here, but you—you belong in a concert arena.” I thought that was odd for a second I—that he said that to me. But that’s what I kept doing. After about a year and a half in LA, I went back to New York and went down to see my family down in Hollywood Beach, Florida. And every day, I went to the piano. I’m really a guitarist, but I can play pretty good. And I wrote maybe 30, 40 new songs. And I was motivated to go back to LA. I go back on Valentine’s Day in 1976, and I stop at a recording studio that I met the owner. And his wife said to me, “Uh, you like busty girls?” I go, “Well, who doesn’t?” She gives me a phone number. I get to my friend’s condo. I’m outside with two guitars, two suitcases, and a briefcase. And a girl comes walking down the block with two guys. And she goes, “Do you need any help?” Remember it’s Valentine’s Day. I go, “That would be nice.” So, she takes my briefcase, the guys bring my luggage, and I take my guitars. And we get in the elevator. I go, “What’s your name?” She goes, “Oh. Randi.” I go, “That’s funny.” I pulled a slip of paper out that the girl from the studio gave me. I go, “What—what’s your phone number? Is this your phone number?” It was a million to one sh—billion to one shot that I get in an elevator a few miles away, and I’m holding the telephone number of the girl that the woman at the other studio told me I should meet. And there she was, standing in an elevator again. That was the best relationship I ever had. Within six, seven months uh, we live—we moved in together. Uh, because of her—she introduced me to somebody. I got my contract with United Artists. And from that point on, I did that album, I launched music, uh—I launched, uh, Disco Diet. I had a concept. And this is where I’ll lead with that. I saw in the late seventies that people were getting more into exercise and working out. And I came up with the idea of, uh, Disco Diet. Because disco was big at that time. The late seventies. It was called Disco Diet: Dance Yourself Slim. And I was—I sat in somebody’s office for five days at the anteroom when you walk in the door. I sat there. I had breakfast, lunch, and dinner right there every day. And the owner, whose name was Cecile Barker , would walk by me with his accountant named Doug Dick. That was his name. With two checkbooks. And he’d be walking back and forth. And then, on a Friday, the fifth day, he looks at me. He goes, “You’re not leaving. Are you?” I go. “I’ll give you ten minutes.” I went into his office. And I said, “Mu—in the eighties, it’s going to be all about exercise. Working out. Walking. You know? Running. Jogging. And I have a great idea.” When I left his office, I walked out with a check for $175,000. And that’s from s—which means that whatever idea you have, you—if you pursue it and believe in it, it will attract and magnetize someone who will tune in with you. And you’ll be fortunate enough to get the financing. So, bottom line, that was one project. And we—I ended up hiring Young & Rubicam in, uh—in, uh—in L.A. Their office in L.A. And we bought full-page ads in People Magazine, T.V. Guide, Diet and Exercise, Slimmer, Playboy, Playgirl. That’s full [taps table] page [taps table] ads on [taps table] every newsstand [taps table] coast to [taps table] coast. And it was very successful. At my post office, when I went in to get it, we had bags full of orders. And we—we grossed millions of dollars. And during that time, a good friend of mine said, “You know, somebody wants to meet you.” I go, “What’s his name?” “Well, he’s—he’s got an exercise studio here. Um, he, uh, helps women in Beverly Hills. He’s got a salad bar.” His name was Richard Simmons. Now, you might have heard of him. But, uh, he loved my Disco Diet, which was a beautiful package. A box that opened up like that. It had a 28-page diet and exercise booklet. It had three giant posters that you would put up on the wall and follow it. And—and, uh, the music. I hired Chaka Khan’s band, Rufus. And they were great. And a—and an arranger named Barry Fasman , who got famous doing Melissa Manchester re—records. She got pretty big. Melissa Manchester. Anyway, [sings] “Don’t cry out loud. Don’t want to be…” That was [knocks the table] her big hit. Anyway, he did a great job. And, uh, Richard Simmons begged me to talk to his manager. So, he picked my brain. And next thing you know, Richard Simmons became the guru. But it was really based on my Disco Diet at the time, and the amount of uh, exposure I had. So, uh, now, remember I’m with the girl that I met in the elevator. We—we’re living together now. I did [taps table] United Artists. I did [tabs table], uh, Disco Diet. And then one day, I meet a woman who made masks. And I called her up. I saw a picture of theses masks. I call her up. And I was lucky enough to call the manager up of, uh—of, uh, what’s his name? Eddie Rabbitt. He managed, uh, Dolly Parton , Eddie Rabbitt, Leif Garrett. And I convinced him to let me bring them to this girl to make what they call “death masks”. In other words, they put—they lied down, and they put this stuff on your face. And they literally lift up this mask. And they make a mold. And I go to a factory. And I made 10,000 Eddie Rabbitt masks the first time around. And we would sell them l—like t-shirts or hats. It was the first time masks—so you could be in the audience looking at your favorite star, wearing his mask. So that would be a trip. I remember heading[sic] Barry, uh—Barry White. I met him on a plane going from, uh, L.A. to New York. And his manager was sitting next to him. And his wife, Glodean . And, uh, uh, I told him—I showed him an Eddie Rabbitt mask. He goes, “You mean I’ll be sitting at the piano, [sings] Whoah. Doing that. And everybody out there was going to have my face?” “Well, it could happen. But you get a percentage of all the sales. Like t-shirts and, uh, merchandise.” So, uh, we did that. And I was on my way to New York. I ended up on the front cover of the New York Post with—on Park Avenue, with a group of people wearing Eddie Rabbitt masks. And my arm and his arm. And me and Eddie Rabbitt were like this. And the next picture was Dolly Parton at Studio 54 wearing an Eddie—walking with an Eddie Rabbitt mask. I have all that. I think you’ve seen it. Um, um, so that was kind of fun. So, we did United Artists. Uh, that album was Jesse Cutler. Then Music of, um—Disco Diet. I called the mask company “Mask”. M-a-s-q dash A dash Raves. R-a-v-e-s. Masq-A-Raves. And [taps table] the, uh—and the distributor said, “You—you should go to like Thailand or, uh, the Philippines. They can manufacture it at like 20 cents apiece. Because I was paying probably around $1.59 per mask. Says, “You can get it for like 15, 25 cents. But I was a little afraid to fly all the way to—at that time to the Philippines. Because I’d never been there talking to somebody in a factory. So, I let that go. Well, then after that, uh, what else did I do? Oh. So, because I was always primarily a guitarist, songwriter and singer, I kept going at that. Oh. And then, I had my piano. And I came up with this idea called “Rockula”. R-o-c-k-u-l-a. The o—the other day, I’m looking at the word. It’s “Rock You L.A.”. But I didn’t think about that ‘til like years later. Rockula was about the, uh—the coming of like the Christ. The new spiritual image for the youth of the world. And it was a kind of a goth-rock kind of musical. And I actually got a—a—I went in the studio, and I hired, uh, uh, Alice Cooper’s band. And they were great. Uh, not Alice Cooper, but his band. And, uh, the tracks came out great. And as while I’m talking, you could hear everything that I’m saying on Spotify, Apple, Google, iHeart Media. Just about every music platform. You could hear all this very interesting music. I have to say, I was very blessed to be able to get the musicians on the level—top level. And that’s going from when I signed with Brut Records in New York. When I walked in, the studio band was Aretha Franklin’s band. It was Chuck Rainey , uh, on bass. And Cornell Dupree on guitar. And Bernard Purdie , which was known as “Pretty” Purdie, on drums. And I got the best compliment of my life. I was 21 years old. And when we were just going through the—the three singles that I made for Brut Records. The first one was called “Sympathy”, and it would go [imitates song]. So, now we’re rehearsing it. And “Pretty” Purdie comes over to me. He goes, “For a white boy, you got perfect timing.” And, to me, that was the greatest compliment I ever had anywhere. Because all those Aretha Franklin hits, if you listen to the drums and the hits on the snare and the symbol and bass and everything and tom toms, it’s “Pretty” Purdie. And he compli-[knocks table]-mented me. You know, going back for a moment, I was born in Brooklyn, New York. And I lived there ‘til I was five or six years old. And, uh, I lived on Grove Street in Ridgewood. And I was a little boy. But when I watched TV, I got always excited seeing musical people on television. And because I pretty much was alone—I had an older sister, seven years old. So, she was in her own world. I was a little kid, and TV became my friend. And I got lost watching, uh, American Bandstand . Not knowing that my father built a house on Long Island, and that I would be living there. And by the time I was in the first year of junior high, I befriended a fellow named Rick Shutter, who’s been honored in the, uh, Modern Drummer magazine. Two-page article about him. It’s a little picture of me, too. He introduced me. I—I—I asked him to be in my band. A guy—a kid was riding down the street with a guitar, and I go, “Is that a guitar?” He goes, “No. It’s a bass.” I go, “Listen. Let me hear you play.” I put a band together. It was called The Young Executives. My father came down the basement. Now, remember I’m 12 years old. And he goes, “You guys are pretty good.” He says, “I think I’ll manage you.” Within a year, we wore derbies, custom made suits. I had a wall full of, uh, big amplifiers. He bought us all top equipment. My—my favorite Strat—Stratocaster. My Fender. Next thing you know, we’re playing parties for The Beatles , The Rolling Stones , Barbra Streisand , Anthony Newley . I met everybody by the time I was 14. And we got signed to Mercury Records. So, as a flashback, here we were the youngest band in history on the Billboard charts. Our first record was called “Everybody Do the Duck”, which was a dance—dance routine. And we were booked on all the big shows. Merv Griffin , Clay Cole Show . And we—the biggest thrill was we were on “Rate-a-Record” on Bandstand. Now, remember, as a little boy, I watched Bandstand. Dick Clark . And now, I’m watching our record, “Everybody Do the Duck”, in competition with a famous British band called The Searchers . And our record won the “Rate-a-Record”. We beat out The Searchers. I mean, this is a—amazing. And so, uh, from that point, I turned 14. And we were doing concerts. We opened up at the Commack State Stadium in Long Island for Gary Lewis & the Playboys and The Troggs . [sings] Wild thing [imitates song]. And, uh, that was life. And then one day, when we were booked on Merv Griffin, uh, the bass player, Steve Wagner, his father says, “Oh. Steve can’t make it. He has a dentist appointment.” And my mother goes, “That’s it. That’s the end of the band.” She couldn’t believe that he would make a deal out of a dentist appointment when we were ready to break out in front of 25 million people on the Merv Griffin Show. That was the end of that. And so, I turned 14. I was put into a—a—a yeshiva. A Jewish—very expensive Jewish prep school in Jamaica Estates in Queens, Long Island. Eh, well, Queens. And, uh, for the next three years, I became the head of the music department. And I put on the shows at the assembly. I got to play my guitar again. But I was back in Normalville. I was in the normal zone. And then, when, um, I was in my second year of college, Rich Shutter calls me up. He said, “Somebody just walked in who, uh, wrote a play. And he’s looking for, uh, some musicians.” He says, “Bring your guitar over.” I go, “I’m not interested. I’m going to go to NYU to become and entertainment lawyer.” I thought I could help a lot of people. And that would be fun. So, I—he convinced me. I came over there with my guitar. And in walks a fellow named Stephen Schwartz . He goes to the piano and he plays all these songs. I go, “What do you call that?” He goes, “Godspell”. “What do you mean? Like gospel?” He goes, “Yeah. Something like that.” I go, “That’s guitar music.” And I’m able to listen and play back instantly. That was a lucky thing of—that I could do mentally. And I play back. He says, “Man. I was you in the show. I want you to—I want —I want you to be my guitarist.” And I told my dad about it. I go, “This guy named Stephen Schwartz asked me to be in his play.” My father goes, “Those plays close in two weeks.” Godspell ran for 12 years on Broadway. I did 8—800 shows. Eight shows a week for 18 months. Recorded the original cast album. I got my first Grammy. I was the lead guitarist, and I invented all the parts, actually. Because Schwartz put a chord chart down. So, there were all the chords. But when it came to the solos, I made them all up. And the album went to the Top 10. In the—that—number one in the world. And it’s still going. It’s still going. It’s playing in Tampa, I just read, for, uh, a week or ten days in March. Uh, into March. Like it starts late February into March 2024. Uh, nonetheless, I ended up signing with Brut Fabergé because I just came out of a hit show, and I had some managers. So, I’m going to get into the—more structure. So, at the time I left Godspell, I had e—enough of it. And I picked up my guitar and I walked around Manhattan, knocking on doors. And said, “I write my own songs. I play guitar. I’m all compact. I’m—I’m everything. I sing. I play. And I write ‘em.” And, uh, first one was, uh, somebody—they offered me $10,000 to sign with one company. But I didn’t feel right at that time. And I kept knocking on doors. And finally, I knocked on the door of one of these managers, not knowing that the partnership—one fellow’s name was Bob Bregman. I didn’t know it, and I should have known it, but his brother was Martin Bregman , who produced all the Al Pacino movies. And strangely enough, Al Pacino is 100% Sicilian, like me. And 11 years older. And I would—20. I had a good look at the time. I would have ended up in all those movies. But I—which I—whoever is watching this, think twice before you make a move. Before you leave something. Because you’ll look back and years later, that—how did I make that mistake? But I didn’t know Bob Bregman was Martin Bregman’s brother. Because that’s—here’s my point. If you really want to be—if you want a job as an entertainer, and you want to make a living at it, and you want to write songs, make records, and go on tour, be signed to an agency, you need a top manager. I’ve said this to everybody in L.A., I—which I lived over 20 years. Tell me who your manager is, and I’ll tell you how far you’re gonna go. How does a Snoop Dogg get on a Katy Perry album? Think about it. I mean, they just pick up the phone and they go like this. “Hey, Bob. It’s John. Listen. We want to move Snoop more into the white market. Let’s put him on Katie’s album.” “Now, that’s a good idea.” That’s how it works. Just like that. So, if you’re dreaming about stardom, the only way that you could really make it and do television and videos and be on tour, remember it’s a business. It’s the business of showbiz. And it’s a business. Managers take anywhere from 15 to 20%. Although with Elvis and Colonel Parker , he had 50%. They were 50/50. But look what he did. A—agents generally take 10%. Maybe 15%. Like big agencies like William Morris or GAC . Those are the big ones. So, if you have a top manager and a top agent, you got a shot. Because the record company, if it’s that good, will promote it. And you’ll go on tour. And you’ll make money on tour. And, uh, if you have a tight little band that’s good, you’ll have a bus. You’ll be a tour bus. And you—that’s your life. And if you have a certain knack for acting, at some point, you be—you move as you get older—when I’m watching Steve Harvey on the $100,000 Pyramid —I looked him up. I couldn’t believe he’s totally bald now with a big mustache. He was a handsome guy with a full head of hair. I just saw him yesterday. But I watch that show every night. I’m addicted to gameshows. Meanwhile, my point before I end this thought: management, agency is the key to success. There’s no other way. Period [taps table]. In the meantime, as a quick review [knocks table], uh, this album, let’s see, for United Artists, which I re—redid. I repackaged. Then one day, I took the music from Disco Diet, which was really good. At the time, I put my girlfriend I—on it. And I repackaged the album. And I called it her last name: Yú, which in Chinese means “fish”, believe it nor not. And I repackaged it. And it gets a lot of airplay. Great sound. It’s all instrumental. Then at one point, I had so many tracks of sound—I made a lot of demos. Before we would go in and make a s—final album, you have to demo your stuff. So, I went in. I actually have 22 tracks on this particular album called Test of Time. And it’s a great title because it still sounds really good. And I have all kinds of musicians on here, as I mentioned, with—with Bernard Purdie and Chuck Rainey. He’s on here with me. And I have, uh, Alice Cooper’s band on here. I even have on Track 18, Live On, Don Ellis , one of the greatest trumpet players in the world that I was fortunate to meet. When we had—Randi, my girlfriend I mentioned earlier. That was Randi Pitch. After we broke up, she ended up marrying the vice president of Warner Brothers. And he went on to ma—to manage, uh, uh, the—the fellow, uh, who married, um—he was Australian. Keith—Keith Urban . Keith Urban came from Australia as a rock and roll guy. But because he landed in Nashville, they put some slide strings behind him to give him that country sound. But he’s really a rock and roll cat. He married, uh—what’s her name? Uh, famous actress. Uh, [taps table] It’s funny. I say her name all the time. But anyway, he married a famous actress with blonde hair. And, uh, Randi was married to the vice-president who went on to manage him. And, uh, I guess Randi was very lucky. Because of her—I met her on every Valentine’s Day. I would look around like, “Who am I going to meet today?” Because I met this girl named Shirley on Valentine’s Day in 2008. I met Randi, who was instrumental in connecting me with the producers with this, on Valentine’s Day in 1996. So how many year[sic] difference is that? That’s, uh, 12 years? Yeah. Is that 12 years? 12 years. I went from this to this in 12 years. And it happened again. So, I’m like in the 12 years cycle. Then I moved to, uh, uh, Orlando. And I love Winter Park, which is a great place. It’s the nicest place in Orlando. Sort of like somewhat of the Beverly Hills or Brentwood of—of Florida. And I was so taken by Winter Park and all the restaurants and the park itself—they have concerts—that I decided to make an album called “Music of Winter Park”. And I named it “Heart”. And it was a dedication album as an homage to the City of Winter Park. And it sold out. Then I got married. And my wife’s family owned one of the biggest radio stations in Orlando—I was lucky—called, uh, uh, WLOQ, which they coined the phrase “smooth jazz”. And they had all the top artists come into Orlando. And they would play in Winter Park at the park. And have a concert scene. They still do that today. And that was 1998. 1999. I met her. Her name was Elizabeth. And for three years, we had a great time. And she—and at that time I was going to go into real estate. And we got married. And I bought six acres. And, uh, she had two little kids. And I built a treehouse. And I walked around the neighborhood saying, “If you want to sell your house, call me first.” And, uh, [knocks table] one day she said to me, “You know, you should make a new album.” I go, “Who needs another Jesse Cutler album?” I go, “Let me think about that.” Saying that to me is like telling an ex-drug addict, “Oh. There’s some heroin over there.” You know? Like music to me was—I do no drugs, by the way. Music is my drug. My passion. My magic. Music completely—I listen to music. And I’m driving every day. All—all—most of the day. Everyday. And I’m—I’m blessed. Because when I have Spotify on, all of a sudden, my face pops up. And my music’s coming through there. What a gift. But that’s from hard work. That’s from really moving around. And if that happens to you, you’ll remember what I’m saying. Well, after we got divorced, I gave her the property. And I got an apartment. And during my marriage, I came up with the idea—when she said, “Why don’t you make a new album?” That was like kind of the worst thing she could have ever told me. Because after I thought about it, instead of making one album, I made [knocks table] 12 albums. I came up with the concept of scoring every astrological sign. And in my head, because I’m a marketing person, every human being on Planet Earth is one of these signs. So, the marketplace is 100% consumable. 100%. Everybody is one of these. And that means you could buy for yourself, or you could buy one [knocks table] as a birthday gift. And so, my target was Hallmark . And it—when you opened them, not only did I have music, but I had all the information about each particular astrological sign. I get to throw some of my pictures in there. And it was a—a little—little something here about me. And so, this was—this is because she says, “Why don’t you make another album?” And this was very expensive [knocks table]. That’s—that’s [knocks table] 12 albums, but I actually made 13. I made a sampler. I took one track from each album, and I made a sampler. And so, [knocks table] I packaged 78 in a—a beautiful custom box. With 78 albums. And we placed them in stores. I didn’t get Hallmark, which I—I’m s—was shocked because it was perfect for them. But I sold out. And so, after we [hits table] got divorced, I [taps table] got my apartment. And I’m thinking, “Hm.” Well, I was advertising “Music of the Stars” in New Age Retailer magazine. I was buying full-page ads to promote this. And I befriended the head of advertising. I came up with an idea. I saw all these people advertising their musical albums, so I held the magazine to my head. I didn’t hear anything. In other words, just having a picture of an album is one thing. But imagine if you could hear it. So, I came up with the idea of ESP: eclectic sound pallets. In other words, I would put 16 or 17 people on this album, and make a deal with a New Age retailer, which went to three continents, to put this on the front cover of the magazine with a poly bag around it, with a full-page color ad, and a website that showcased each—each artist with a clip and a biography. And it would connect to them. So, it’s interconnecting. I took all three things: music distribution, magazine full-page ad, and the website. Now, I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but after you do this many albums, and p—and play with that many people, and that many producers and agents [thumps table], you start to see things in a different way. This was probably one of the greatest things I ever did. And I managed to make 10 New Age albums and two albums for Latin Beat Magazine on the front cover. I even got, uh, what’s his name? Uh, the most famous conga player. I—I got his son. I can’t think of it now. But, uh—but, uh, I got a lot of top artists. Spanish. And because I couldn’t speak Spanish—Habla un poquito español—my friend, Tony, spoke fluently five languages. So, I made him a producer. And he got all happy about it because his name went on every album, and on the full-page ads. Anthony Hattenbach [taps table]. Anyway, that’s a little bit of that. I think that, uh, the bottom line is all these products that I’ve made, and all the experiences I’ve had, I’m saying to you if you’re dreaming about having a career in show business, get a—get a—make your demos. Get a manager. You’re going to need a publisher, and you’re going to need an agent [taps table]. Then you’re set. Then you may have a career. And on your tax form, it says “vocation”. You put “entertainer” [taps table]. And that’s how you do it. You set up a corporation, and that’s the bottom line. Meanwhile, these days [rubs table] I think about—at one point, I said, “You know, I should write a book.” And, uh, in 1989, I was running a big marketing company that published all these little magazines that were distributed through Walgreens, Eckerd’s, Rite Aid. Everywhere at the cash register. And I thought that was a good idea. And I sold advertising. And I became a manager. Then I became the east coast director. Then I became the national director over 38 states. But if I hadn’t done all that I’ve done, that would never have happened. Because now it’s all about communication, and channeling whatever it is that you’re doing to the right audience. Well, one day, I decided—I told my girlfriend, uh, “I’m going to write a book for the benefit of all dreamers wanting to be in show business. It’s called Starlust: The Price of Fame.” And starlust means lusting for stardom. That’s what that means. And, uh, I was fortunate enough to get Joe Renzetti , who won the Oscar for The Buddy Holly Story , to bless my book on the back cover. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote Godspell, Pippin , The Magic Show , and Wicked , signed the back cover. My friend, Ezra Kliger, who I spoke to this morning, was the conductor for Marc Anthony , Neil Diamond and just about everybody, as a top violinist. First violinist. Then he became a conductor. And I’m pushing him to write a book called, uh—what is it? I gave him some ideas. Uh, I keep pushing him. But—so, my girlfriend at the time in 1989 would drop me off at the library, starting on Jan [taps table] uary 1st, from [taps table] 9:00 in the morning to [taps table] 6:00 at night. [taps table] Five [taps table]days a [taps table]week. And [taps table] all [taps table] I [taps table] did for [taps table]seven [taps table]months was [taps table] write [taps table] every [taps table] day. You got be disciplined. On July 31st, a girlfriend of mine’s birthday—I’m godfather to her daughter—calls me up. She says, “Come meet us at, uh, Maria’s Café.” I go, “You know what? I just finished my book. It’s your birthday. So, it’s sort of a birthday for my book, too. Yeah. I’ll come.” We get—we get there. And, well, I wrote a book. But let me tell you, you have to have that—I wrote everything on a yellow pad. I had stack[sic] of yellow pads. Handwriting. I had to hire somebody to convert it into text. Which I did. Now you got[sic] to get a publisher. Well, to be honest, it took—I figured it out. I finished July 31st, 1989. It wasn’t published until 2008. So, that—what is that? 19 years? Or 18 years. It took about 18 years to finally publish it. How did I get it? Because I was in advertising, I met two fellows. I said, “Oh. Is this your company? Do you have a trademark?” I go, “I’ll do that for you. And, uh, 750 each.” So, I did two trademarks. And one of the fellows, I d—delivered the trademark. I got it for him. And I had one spot left on my advertising booklet. And I go, “Why don’t you take the last spot here? It’s fi—it's 1,500. I’ll give it to you for 1,000.” And he—he paid me cash. And after, I went to print and brought him a copy. I go, “You know, Michael. You know I could really use a partner. I have a book I’d love to publish.” And there, God struck lightning again. “[taps table] How much you need?” “I don’t know. 35. 40,000.” He goes, “Meet me at the bank tomorrow.” And it happened just like that. And my book went on. It’s all over the world. It’s distributed worldwide on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And I went on a book tour. So, if you’re listening to all this stuff that I’m telling you, it all started when I was 13 years old with my little band of Long Islands. And my father was the manager. And he was great. So, your manager, again, is the key—na[sic], but I continued on and on and on. And I’ve had my ups and downs. But I kept going. And today, my goal is to take Starlust: The Price of Fame and make a movie based on my book about the climb as a child, whose dream was to perform and make it as a star in life to the world globally. And that’s my next challenge. And I’m going back to California to do that in a few months. And that’s where I’ll leave it right there. Starlust: The Price of Fame. Cravero Mr. Cutler, thank you so much again for sharing your time and speaking with us today. I really appreciate it. Cutler My pleasure. Cravero Alright. Well, this has been Geoffrey Cravero with Jesse Cutler at the University of Central Florida on February 23rd, 2024. Alice Cooper American Bandstand Aretha Louise Franklin astrology Barry Eugene Carter Barry White Bernard Lee “Pretty” Purdie Berry Gordy III Cecile D. Barker Chaka Khan Charles Walter Rainey III Cornell Luther Dupree Diana Ross Disco Diet eclectic sound pallets Eddie Rabbitt Edward Thomas Rabbitt Everybody Do the Duck Fabergé Geoffrey Cravero Godspell guitar Jay Jospeh Graydon Jesse Cutler Joe Renzetti Jolie Jones Levine Lee Mack Ritenour Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. Los Angeles Louis-Milo Gibaldi Margaret Ann Lipton Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. Masq-A-Raves Mercury Records Michael Jospeh Jackson Milton Teagle “Richard” Simmons music music industry musician New York Quincy Delight Jones Jr. R&B music Randi Pitch recording industry Richard Simmons Rockula Roxy Theatre Rufus Shrine Auditorium Soul Wood Starlust: The Price of Fame Steely Dan Stephen Lawrence Schwartz United Artists Records Whisky a Go Go William Robinson Jr. Winter Park Young & Rubicam Young Executives https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/ff27cbb11b6b01287aef0360de95fc11.pdf d56a49575ed2f459bf103357f433a273 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title Jesse Cutler Collection Alternative Title Cutler Collection Language eng Curator Cravero, Geoffrey Description Collection of digital images, documents, and oral histories depicting the life and work of Jesse Cutler. Cutler has spent an illustrious career, beginning at age 12, as a musician, composer, actor, producer, and entrepreneur. Starting in New York City in the 1960s and then in Los Angeles from the early ‘70s through the late ‘90s, Jesse performed with his bands and in the original cast of Godspell on Broadway, made records that saw Billboard’s Top 100, formed his own companies and appeared on TV and radio and in national print. Subject Music--Florida Winter Park (Fla.) Godspell (Motion picture) Type Collection Coverage Winter Park, Florida Los Angeles, California New York, New York Digital Collection <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository Personal Collection of Jesse Cutler External Reference "<a href="http://cityofwinterpark.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">City of Winter Park</a>." City of Winter Park, Florida. http://cityofwinterpark.org/. "<a href="http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WINTER PARK HISTORY</a>." Winter Park History Museum, Winter Park Historical Society. http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/. Cutler, Jesse. "<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/268957223" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starlust : The Price of Fame</a>. Garden City, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing. 2008. Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/140" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Central Florida Music History Collection</a>, RICHES. Moving Image A series of visual representations that, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website) <a href="https://youtu.be/CX5rMcYJi-E?si=v5_qpDbQ5S33YklC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oral History of Jesse Cutler</a> Title Oral Memoirs of Jesse Cutler (Part One) Alternative Title Oral History, Jesse Cutler (Part One) Subject Music--Florida Winter Park (Fla.) Godspell (Motion picture) Description Part One of an oral history of Jesse Cutler conducted by Geoffrey Cravero at Trevor Colbourn Hall at the University of Central Florida on February 8, 2024. Cutler has spent an illustrious career, beginning at age 12, as a musician, composer, actor, producer, and entrepreneur. Starting in New York City in the 1960s and then in Los Angeles from the early seventies through the late nineties, Jesse performed with his bands and in the original cast of Godspell on Broadway, made records that saw Billboard’s Top 100, formed his own companies and appeared on TV and radio and in national print. Some of the topics covered include growing up and attending schools in New York, becoming involved in the Broadway musical Godspell, finding a manager, starting a career in the music industry and signing with his first record label, enjoying his success, purchasing a penthouse and a dog, taking his first trip to Beverly Hills, California, meeting Stevie Wonder and starting a romantic relationship with Jolie Jones, moving to Beverly Hills with Jolie Jones and meeting her sisters, starting a romantic relationship with Deana Martin, meeting Tupac Shakur, encountering interesting women and his advice to young people, performing at the Whisky a Go Go and having a dangerous encounter with Pamela Courson, reflecting on missed opportunities, signing with United Artists Records, his love for R&B music, astrology and numerology, and meeting Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. Abstract Oral history interview of Jesse Cutler. Interview conducted by Geoffrey Cravero on February 8, 2024. Table Of Contents 0:00:00 Growing up and attending schools in New York 0:03:17 Becoming involved in the Broadway musical Godspell 0:05:49 Finding a manager, starting a career in the music industry and signing with his first record label 0:08:02 Enjoying his success, purchasing a penthouse and a dog 0:11:12 Taking his first trip to Beverly Hills, California, meeting Stevie Wonder and starting a romantic relationship with Jolie Jones 0:14:435 Moving to Beverly Hills with Jolie Jones and meeting her sisters 0:17:47 Starting a romantic relationship with Deana Martin 0:20:52 Meeting Tupac Shakur 0:21:45 Encountering interesting women and his advice to young people 0:23:02 Performing at the Whisky a Go Go and having a dangerous encounter with Pamela Courson 0:28:31 Reflecting on missed opportunities 0:31:09 Signing with United Artists Records, his love for R&B music, astrology and numerology, and meeting Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye Creator Cutler, Jesse Cravero, Geoffrey Source Cutler, Jesse. Interviewed by Geoffrey Cravero, February 8, 2024. Audio record available. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a>, Orlando, Florida. Publisher <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> Date Created 2024-02-08 Date Copyrighted 2024-02-08 Is Part Of <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/227" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jesse Cutler Collection</a>, <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/140" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Central Florida Music History Collection</a>, RICHES. Requires Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> QuickTime</a>.; <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a> Format video/mp4 application/pdf Extent 4.73 GB 295 KB Medium 34-minutes and 57-seconds video recording 17-page digital transcript Language eng Coverage Highland School Preparatory, Jamaica, New York New York, New York Beverly Hills, California Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles, California Accrual Method Item Creation Mediator History Teacher Music Teacher Provenance Originally created by Jesse Cutler and Geoffrey Cravero and published by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a>. Rights Holder <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> Curator Cravero, Geoffrey Digital Collection <a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES MI</a> Source Repository <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a> External Reference Cutler, Jesse. "<a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/268957223" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Starlust : The Price of Fame</a>. Garden City, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing. 2008. "<a href="http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WINTER PARK HISTORY</a>." Winter Park History Museum, Winter Park Historical Society. http://www.wphistory.org/explore-history/winter-park/. <a href="http://cityofwinterpark.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">City of Winter Park</a>." City of Winter Park, Florida. http://cityofwinterpark.org/. Transcript Cravero Okay [smacks lips]. This is Geoffrey Cravero. And with me is, uh, Mr. Jesse Cutler . We are conducting an interview in Trevor Colbourn Hall at the University of Central Florida in Orlando on Thursday, February 8th, 2024. Mr. Cutler, thank you so much for speaking with us today. Would you please begin by stating your name and telling us a little bit about where you’re from and what life was like for you growing up? Cutler Well, my name is Jesse Cutler. Uh, I was born in Brooklyn, New York, ah, a long time ago. 1951. And, as a child, I, uh, had an older sister. And, uh, grew up. Had a little puppy. I went to a Catholic school, uh, fifth—when I was five and six, until my dad built a house on Long Island. Malverne, Long Island. And, uh, I went to Valley Stream North High School . And then I attended, uh, uh, the Highland School Preparatory in Jamaica Estates, which was predominantly Jewish. And being, Italian, well, it kind of went together. We—we all had a good time. I—there was only three Italian boys. We were branded “mafia children” because who could afford $10,000 a year to go to high school? But it was good move thanks to my—my father, uh, who wanted me to get a really good education. There were only a hundred kids in the whole school out of three grades. 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. One hundred kids. That’s very small. So some of my classes, I would have only maybe five or six kids in a class. Sometimes it was two. My French class. But, uh, that’s my early—early childhood. And after I graduated from high school, uh, I was lucky to get a, uh—a scholarship to Stanford University. And, uh, one day, I was up in the Catskills and my dad was walking with me. I had a band playing, uh, for kids during—when the parents—they were staying at the Kutsher’s Country Club , which had something to do with Ashton Kutcher . I think it might be his grandfather. Uh, we would play for the kids when the—when the parents were dining. And we would—we would entertain them. Uh, so my dad comes up to visit, and as we’re walking down, I—I go, “Dad. Do you realize I got a—I got a scholarship to uh, an Ivy Leage school? It’s like Harvard. I go, “It’s a scholarship. You don’t have to pay anything.” He goes, “Well, you know I’d really like you to stay in New York. You know? California’s far. It’s 3,000 miles away.” He goes, “I’ll tell you what. If you stick around New York, go to any college in New York. I’ll buy you any car you want.” Well, you don’t say that to a 17-year-old kid just getting ready to graduate high school. I go, “Any car? Uh, a British racing green Jaguar convertible with wire wheels and a wooden steering wheel?” “Yeah. Sure.” So, my father, in a way, changed my life. Because, had I gone the other way to California to go to Stanford, I would have ended up in law school. And I would have been an entertainment lawyer. That’s what I wanted to be. But since I stuck around New York, my good friend Rick Shutter—drummer who was in my early band at 13, 14 years old called the Young Executives, calls me up and said, “Somebody’s coming over the house. He wrote a play. Bring your guitar over.” I go, “I’m not interested. I’m going to end up going to NYU Law School .” “Uh, just bring your guitar over.” So, I go over there. I walk in. There’s a guy named Stephen sitting in a chair and getting ready to—I didn’t know who he was. He’s getting ready to go over to the piano. Ricky’s piano. And all of a sudden, he plays 15 songs. “Now that’s pretty good.” I go, “What do you call that?” He goes, “Godspell.” I go, “You mean like gospel?” “No. Godspell.” I go, “That’s pretty good. But that’s guitar music. That’s not piano music.” So, I—I have instant recall. I was blessed with that. So, I could play back some of what he played. He goes, “Man, I want you in the show.” I told my dad about it. And he goes, “Those shows close in two weeks.” Godspell not only got a Grammy for the original cast album, became a motion picture for Columbia Pictures , but it ran not for two weeks. It ran for 12 years on Broadway. And I did close to 800 shows. That’s 800—that’s eight shows a week every week for I—close to a year and a half. About 18 months. So, I was fortunate in a way to be part of that original cast. I’m the lead guitarist and singer on “On the Willows”, which is all over the world. But that’s really not where I was—originally wanted to go. And so, my life shifter from becoming an entertainment lawyer to becoming an entertainer. And, uh, that’s the beginning of that story. So, yeah. That’s a big jump from 5 years old with my little beagle, walking down the block to Catholic school. Then, walking out of the, uh, Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village. And then, uh, the bigger theater uptown, uh, in Godspell. I mean that’s night and day. Uh, so after that, uh, I walked around town looking for a manager. Somebody—the president of MGM , he was the head of the publishing company, said to me, “Listen. You—you already played guitar on the original cast album. You already played on the Columbia Pictures soundtrack. There’s nothing more for you here. You need a manager.” So, I went around town [knocks table]. I’ll never forget walking around town with my guitar. My Martin guitar. Knocking on doors until I finally connected with somebody. And they brought me to Fabergé , who launched their new record label called Brut Records . And I was the first artist. Michael Franks was the second, and a—a—a comedian —what’s his name [taps table]? Um, famous comedian, who I toured with. I opened the show with him. I’m trying to remember. When you get old, your memory starts to go a little bit. Uh, but I’ll get back to that one. And, uh, I recorded three singles for Brut Records. And they were good. And the people backing me was Aretha Franklin’s band with, uh, Bernard Purdie w—he was known as “Pretty” Purdie, Cornell Dupree , uh, uh, Chuck Rainey on bass. This is Aretha Franklin’s band on all her hit records. On a lot of other hits, too. And the reality is, the best compliment I ever got as a musician is when “Pretty” Purdie, the drummer, said to me, “You know, for a white boy, you got perfect time.” And I take that compliment knowing who that is on “Rock Steady” and all those big s—oh, the Cadillac. And all those Aretha songs. That he gave me that compliment that I had perfect time. I mean that—even—that was 50 years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Let’s see. But who was that guy? Mike—Michael Franks. I’m trying to think of the comedian’s name. Anyway, I have 101 stories I could tell of what happened after Fabergé during the three masters. Uh, I—they gave me money when I signed the contract. And all of a sudden, I got myself my own penthouse on East 51st Street. 300 East 51st Street. And my best friend, Mark, and I hung out at the beach. He got married, uh, he had from[sic] Long Island. From Long Beach. And, uh, all of a sudden, I’m in Manhattan. I had money in the bank. And I go to any restaurant I want to go. Take anybody out. Uh, I bought a dog. And, uh, I bought a Siberian Husky. And the day my dad came to visit, we’re inside the—the dog store. And, uh, the woman goes, “Well, this is a—a championship—from a championship bloodline. The sire and dam for this dog are champions. So, you can breed this dog. So, I’m looking at this gorgeous dog—puppy with blue eyes and eyeliner. I love Siberian Huskies. Do you know that Siberian Huskies are the only dogs that have a certain enzyme in their mouth that they don’t have bad breath? I’m sure most people don’t know that. So, if you’re an Eskimo in an igloo with 12 huskies, if they had—didn’t have that you would die of asphyxiation for sure. So, they’re the only dogs. Uh, so, on the way home, I’m walking the dog and my father goes, “How much you pay for that dog?” “$600.” “$600?” I guess that was a lot back then in 1973. I go, “Look. It’s my money. It’s my apartment. It’s my dog.” Because when I had my first little dog, I only had him for about a month. I came home one day from St. Brigid’s Catholic School in uh, uh—in—in—and, uh, what was it? Ridgewood, Brooklyn. I came home. I go, “Where’s Tiny?” And my—my mother goes, “I gave him to Uncle John. But he’s got 20 acres that he could run around all over.” I go, “You gave my dog away? I don’t like you very much. That’s it. Our relationship—” I was six years old. Like that’s it. So, when I bought the dog myself years later, and I’m walking home—oh, my father kept saying, “$600. Wait ‘til I tell your mother.” “Go tell her what you want. It’s my money, my place, my dog. And I’m going to keep that—” I kept that dog for 15 years. And I loved that dog. He was—his name was Zeus. And when I walked through Central Park, New York, uh, on the weekends, different girls would come over. I used to look at him. I go, “I don’t know. Is it you or me? It’s probably you. They all want to pet you.” Like he goes, “Well, maybe it’s you, too. Ha, ha ha.” Anyway, uh, so life in New York was great. And so, I took my first trip with my friend, Mark, to Beverly Hills, and that was a lot of fun. Back in ’73. And, uh, I went and got a—I ride horses when I can. And I—I had a custom pair of riding boots made. They were $800. I didn’t care. Unfortunately, on the way back, Mark and I were, uh, in a 747, up the spiral staircase. And up there, there used to be a bar and a piano. And who’s up there? Stevie Wonder. We walk in there and I introduce myself. We’re hanging out with Stevie Wonder. And I go, “Oh, my God. I forgot my boots.” And my friend, Mark, says, “Ah. You got plenty of money. Get another pair.” “No. Those were custom made boots, man.” Two weeks later, I get a phone call. “Hi. Is this Jesse Cutler?” I go, “Yeah.” “Oh. This is Jolie . I have your boots.” “You have my boots? Where are you?” “I’m on 63rd and—and—and 3rd Avenue. 61st and 3rd Avenue in Penthouse B.” “Penthouse B? I’ll be right over.” So, I could call Fabergé up and get a limousine driver, Danny, to pick me up. I go over there. I go upstairs. The door opens up and this girl is holding my boots. Like this. Gorgeous mulatto chick. And, uh, she doesn’t really tell me who she is. And I go, “Listen. I have a limo downstairs. Let me take you to lunch.” So, where do I take her? I took her to Joe Namath’s place, Bachelors III, because he was on the contract of Fabergé, and I wanted to show off a little bit. Because when I walked in, he went, “Hey, Jesse. How you doing?” ‘Cause I met him up in the offices of Fabergé, and, uh, I thought she’d be impressed. But I still didn’t know who she was. I realized that was no big deal until she goes, “Can we go to Bloomingdale’s after we have lunch?” I go, “Sure.” We go to Bloomingdale’s. And a Black cash register—the cash lady—the cashier in—in Bloomingdale’s in the lingerie department sees her and says, “Oh, my God. It’s you. I just saw you on the cover of Jet and Ebony magazine. And I’m wondering, Who is this chick? I don’t—I—I—I still don’t know who she is. I go, “Let’s go to my place. I have a—I have my own penthouse.” “Really?” I go. So, we get to my place. And, uh, she stayed with me. And a couple day later, I get a phone call. Like this. “Hi. Is, uh, Jolie there?” I go, “Who’s this?” He goes, “This is Q.” I go, “Who? Q-tip?” And he laughed. I go—it—because those were landlines then, so it’s scratchy. I go, “It’s, uh, very scratchy. Where are you?” He goes, “Oh, I’m in Japan.” I go, “What are you doing in Japan?” I don’t know who it is. “Oh, I’m on tour.” And all of a sudden, if you saw my face, I went like this t—to Jolie. I went, “Are you Quincy Jones’s daughter?” She goes, “Oh, daddy.” She takes the phone out of my hand. And, uh, I went into the bathroom. I went—my afro then. Picked it all out. I come out. Lit a cigarette. I’m like, “Oh, so you’re Quincy Jones’s daughter [laughs]. Sauve. You know? She ended up staying with me the whole summer. And she kept saying, “I’m gonna go back to L.A., and you should come. And you—you belong in Beverly Hills. You—not New York.” And that was a big deal, looking back in time. Had I stayed in New York, Fabergé with Brut Records would have pushed me all over the place, as far as my career. But I guess I was impressed. And I was seduced to go to Beverly Hills with Quincy Jones’s daughter. And to do—and to make sure I would—came out, she took my Siberian Husky with her as collateral. And there I was with Mark, Jolie Jones, and me and my dog, Zeus, in the cage in the limo, looking at me going, “What the fu¬¬—where are we going?” You know? She walked him on—she took him onto the plane. And I stayed in New York for a couple more months. And, uh, the end of the summer, I packed up and I ended up being picked up at the airport in a white Bentley. Uh, and she was making cocktails in the back. And—and interestingly enough, she took me to a private club on the way from the airport before—before we got to the house. And as I walked up the stairs, who did I meet? I met the guy who was the star of the cowboy, uh—he was a—he was one of the TV stars. He looked at me and he goes, “You look like an interesting character. Let me buy you a drink.” And I’m trying to remember his name. But, uh, I go, “My mother’s in love with you. I—every time you’re on TV.” He goes, “That’s my man.” Like he said, “For real?” I go, “Yeah. You and a couple other guys.” But anyway. Uh, so we finish there, and we end up back in the limo. Back—back in the Bentley. And we go up—all the way up to Benedict Canyon. And we go down. And all of a sudden, we get to these gates. And the gates open up. Go into the driveway. Like a few acres. A beautiful house. We walked in there. And, um, next morning, I woke up and there were two little girls running around named Rashida and Kidada Jones , who today, you may know, you know, uh, uh, Rashi—uh, Rashida starred in The Office [taps table]. And she’s in a lot of commercials now [taps table]. She’s a beautiful girl [taps table]. Her mother was Peggy Lipton. Which I never knew that Peggy Lipton from The Mod Squad was part of the Lipton family. From the tea family. I d—I didn’t know. I could figure out why that happened [laughs]. Quincy. It turns out, like in my life, when you get a little fame, it doesn't matter how much money you have. People—women are attracted to your talent because it’s unique. And it’s—and it’s been addressed and promoted. And, uh, they have tons of millions of dollars. They don’t care. You know? So, I, uh, met Dean Mar—I was introduced to Dean Martin’s daughter at a party for the guy that created Botox from Switzerland. And, uh, my friend came over. He goes, “I’m going to change your life.” And he walks this girl over. I don’t know who she is. She goes, “This is Deana .” “Hi.” And, uh, later that night, I get a phone call. “Hi.” “Oh, this is Deana Martin.” I go, “Well, that’s a great name. That sounds like Dean Martin .” She goes, “Well, Dean Martin’s my father.” I almost dropped the phone. I go, “You the girl I met at the party on Sunset Boulevard?” She goes, “Yeah. Listen. I’d love to take you out to dinner with me. Uh, I’m having dinner with Michael Caine and Steve, uh, uh—the comedian. Steve, uh. Cravero Martin? Cutler Steve Martin. Cravero [clears throat]. Cutler I—I’d never thought of it. Deana Martin. Steve Martin. Could there be a relation? Or who knows? I doubt it. But, uh—and there I was. I had a ch—said, “Let me check my calendar.” It’s like 2 o’clock in the morning. I, uh—I went picked her up. Went up to Bel Aire. This restaurant [knocks table]. And there I am. Sitting next to Steve Martin and looking—and Deana. And looking at Michael Caine and his wife, Shakira , at the time. And, uh, like I’m back to normal. I felt back to normal. But, you know? Dean Martin’s daughter knew everybody. I mean is—you couldn’t get bigger than Dean Martin. You know? Frank Sinatra . Dean [knocks table] Martin. Sammy [knocks table] Davis . Joey [knocks table] Bishop . The Rat Pack. I mean you couldn’t get bigger than that. You could get as big, but not bigger. There isn’t any bigger at the time. Anyway. There was really, uh—Well, Michael Jackson was starting to pop. Uh, I remember one day, since I’m telling stories, uh, when I signed with Fabergé, I had a—a new magazi—Cashbox and Record World . And, uh, uh, these magazines were the—the top magazines in the music industry. And I remember opening up Cashbox and there’s my picture on the top with Richard Barry, the vice-president and the owner’s son, who is in charge of Brut Records—a picture of me and him. And right below me is a picture of Prince signing his first, uh, contract with Warner Brothers. He was 18 and I was 21. And of all the people I met, and I met pretty much everybody—I was more R&B. I always learned to the R&B music. So, when I met Marvin Gaye and Barry White , I was thrilled. And Berry Gordy . That was a big thrill. I never met Prince. I met Michael Jackson. And, um—oh, so years later, I’m sitting in Quincy Jones’s living room, and I see a guy sitting in one of the chairs with a bandana on. He’s bald with a bandana on his head. And I walk over. I go, “Shupat. Shupat Takur—what is it? Tupac Shakur .” I go, “It’s you.” He goes, “I think it’s me.” He goes, “Man.” That is the greatest night. Tupac Shakur. He—he stood up. He was kind of short. He was about this big. And, uh, we did this kind of thing. And he—he was engaged to Kidada Jones. To Quincy’s daughter. And, uh, that’s how she popped up on the, uh—the news reels. Uh, she—uh, she wasn’t really an actress like—like Rashida. But, uh, Jolie Jones married the producer of Simply, uh, Red [hums song]. They were good. They were from Ireland I think. Simply Red. But she married him. I didn’t marry her. So, uh, all these interesting women came around me. Very interesting. Susan Sears from Sears and Roebuck . She picked me up in her baby blue Bentley. A Rolls-Royce actually. They came around. I was young, you know? I didn’t think about marriage until I was more thirtyish. And I—anybody who’s watching this, I highly recommend that you do get a good education. And then, they—today’s world, you should get your master’s degree. And even go, if you can, to a PhD. That’s a great accomplishment. Anybody would—anybody anywhere will give you respect. Um, and not to get married until—for women, like 28 plus. And men should be 30. 30 plus. Just saying, um, from experience, you’d be much happier and more grounded at that point. Um, so, I went on after that. And living in L.A. I say goodbye to Fabergé. I’m at—living in L.A. I’m—I’m doing concerts. I started out at the Whisky a Go Go . I opened for Blondie . Deborah Harry . And I was there three nights. And who comes backstage? Uh, my manager brings this redhead—very pretty—backstage. And, uh, she comes over. She goes, “I think you’re great.” I was up there for two hours, and I blew that audience away. I had a great band. And my band was great. Not only was my band great but stars out of the audience—Lou—Lou—the—the—the—the horn player for Chicago came onstage. Played with us. Claudia Lennear , who sang with the Rolling Stones , came onstage. And place was rocking. So, now I’m backstage, and this little redhead with blue eyes is looking at me, telling me, “I think you’re fantastic.” “Oh. Thanks. Uh, appreciate it.” Anyway, we’re backstage, and there’s—they have like a bar back there. And everybody’s doing things. All the groupies come in. Well, anyway, I get home. It’s about 3:30 in the morning. And I get a pho—another phone call. And, uh, it’s, uh, “Hello.” “Listen. This is me. I’m the girl that told you you were great. The redhead. Are you—you wanna come over my house?” I go, “Where are you?” “I’m in Hancock Park .” That’s in L.A. That’s a nice area in L.A. “Okay. What’s your address [laughs]?” So, I went over there. And this is real. Um, Pamela Courson was her name. I didn’t know who she was at the time. So, I knock on the door. She opens up. I’m all dressed ‘cause I, you know—it was from the night I was there. I was wearing a real nice outfit. I think they had put makeup on me. Whatever. You know [rubs hands together]? And it was, uh—this was the first night we were at the Whisky a Go Go. And all I kept thinking about, going to her house, is I can’t wait to see the reviews in the¬¬¬¬—in Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Like the reviews. So, I’m sitting there on the couch next to her. And all of a sudden, I hear [knocks]. And she says, “Oh, no. It’s Ronnie.” It’s 4 o’clock in the morning. The door come—both—the door comes open, and a guy walks in with a gun. And he’s holding it. And he goes, “What you doing with my bitch?” And he hit me like this. And goes like this. Click. Uh, with a .38 caliber. So, I’m looking at bullets. Remember, all I kept thinking about is my reviews. I got to stay alive. And then, he put the gun down. I mean it was just a little something there. But he dragged her away. And the first thing I did was I—I figured out how to open the gun. Dumped all the bullets out in the cushion. I put the gun back. Well, you can’t kill me now. I’m going to fight my way out. When you’re from Brooklyn, you’re a—you’re tough. You’re just tough. Anyway, uh, uh, he—he comes out. He came in like a lion, and he left like a lamb, going like this. “Man. I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to do nothing. I mean, I didn’t know you with the Q.” With the Q. I had to think about that. And then, he—“I’m just gonna take my little gun and go.” And he left. The next thing you know, sh—this girl—I—I still don’t know who she is. This girl’s[sic] comes crawling in, and she says, “And if you weren’t here—you saved my life. I’m[sic] should take you to—to, uh—to France and hold a press conference in Paris and tell the world you’re going to be the biggest rock star.” I’m looking at her. She goes, “I have millions of dollars.” I go, “Well, that’s good.” I go, “Who are you [laughs]?” She’s, “I’m Jim Morrison’s widow. From the Doors .” Yeah. That was kind of freaky. That’s[sic] really happened. And, uh, uh, since I was there and that happened, I said, “Listen. I have the pink caddy outside.” I had this really cool Cadillac. White top. Pink Body. It was—it was a sedan DeVille. But it was like an older car. Uh, but in good shape. And I said, “Why don’t you follow me with your car to my house?” So, we get to my house in, uh, Laurel Canyon . I park. I said, “Park in the driveway.” We get up. I knock on the door. And Angel, my drummer—Steven Angel opens the door. And I go, “Shh. Don’t say anything. Jim Morrison’s widow’s behind me. Don’t—but don’t say nothing [laughs].” “Yeah. Okay [laughs].” We go in. It’s 4:30 in the morning now. And now, uh, she stayed with me for a couple days [taps table]. And—but in my mind—oh. So, the next day, yeah, we went to the s—newsstand to get a copy of my, uh—my, uh, report from Variety. And I got a very good review. I was very thrilled about that. Um, with Jim Morrison’s wife—was pushing me to go to—to take me to Paris to hold a press conference. She said, “I could hold a press conference. Everybody will come. And I’ll say this is the next big star.” That could have happened. I could have married Dean Martin’s daughter. That could have happened. I could have stayed with Fabergé. That could have—that would have happened. So, a lot of lucky, good things happened to me. And a lot of things I turned down because I wanted to do it on my own. And so, after, uh, uh, Quincy’s daughter and I split up, uh, I got my own apartment. I got my dog back. And I put a new band together. And I played all over town. Up and down the West Coast. And, um, I then, uh, actually returned to New York and, uh, stayed there for—for about six months. Went down to Florida to visit my parents. And every day, I would go along the boardwalk in Hollywood Beach and play the piano. So, I wrote a whole bunch of new songs. And when I went back to L.A., I had my bag full of new songs. And on Valentine’s Day, which is coming up in 2024 now shortly, I had my briefcase, two pieces of luggage, and my two guitars. Pulling up to my friend, Stanley B. Herman, the actor’s, condominium. And a girl and two guys are walking along. And she says, “Do you need any help?” I go, “Yeah. Oh, that’d be really nice.” We end—we end up in the elevator with my two—all my bags and guitars. We get upstairs. And this girl named Randi Pitch, who, uh—who I should have married, we connected. We stayed together. We got our own apartment. We got our own place. And she was the luckiest person, for me, that I ever met. And I’m still in touch with her. And it’s 45 years later. The reality is, I ended up getting signed to United Artists Records , being produced by Academy Award winner Joe Renzetti . And there I am in the studio with, uh, the best triple scale musicians and my dream—because I always loved R&B music. I love the Stylistics , the Delfonics , Jerry Butler , I—Marvin Gaye. Because with the R&B music, it had great beats. But it had sweeping strings and horns. And that’s what I liked. I don’t like gothic music. I don’t like [impersonates gothic music]. See? That makes no sense to me. Some of the bands are great. And the guitar playing is great. But that screaming—my—my friend who owns the uh, uh, Studio Live USA —is a very good engineer. Genius, actually. When I call him, I go, “Who’s there today?” He goes, “I have the angry people.” I knew right away what he meant. Because I can hear in the background [impersonates gothic music]. I don’t get it. You know? And I’ve figured out this. You could tell a lot about a person by the kind of music that they select. That they want to take into their brain. You could tell a lot about a personality. Not—with that. I’m into astrology and I’m into numerology. If you know about all this, you can figure people out in two seconds by simply asking what—what is the number of the day you were born from 1 to 31. All those numbers mean something. Because in numerology, it’s one to nine. No zeros. That’s it. However, there’s the next level. And here’s a cute—here’s a cute story. So, I’m sitting in Quincy’s house. And who’s sitting next to me? Michael Jackson [taps table]. And Quincy, which is know as Q, is sitting right over there. And I go, “Michael, you bleaching?” And Quin—Quincy goes like this. Did I really ask Michael Jackson that? I go, “Q. I was born August 28th. Michael, tell Quincy when you were born.” He was born August 29th. The day after me. But the difference is 28 is a ten. Two plus eight is ten. Take away the zeros. I’m one. I’m the hermit. The loner. Michael was 29. That’s 11. That’s the master number of the universe. But I was right next—I’m always next to the greatness. And I call it the “Cutler Edge”. So, if you ev—ever want to check me out, go to thecutleredge.com. And you’ll go to jessecutler.com. Anyway, Michael was very humble and lowkey and fantastic. And, in my life, I was blessed to meet some of the greatest entertainment people ever. Gene Kelly , uh, Bill Cosby , Michael Jackson. Uh, when I met Marvin Gaye, I was like a girl. I was thrilled. I was in the R&B room at the auditorium in L.A. during the Grammy’s and Berry Gordy’s mistress, uh, said, “Who you want to meet in the R&B room?” I go, “Anybody?” She goes, “Yeah. Who?” I go, “Uh, Marvin Gaye.” She goes, “Come on over.” So, we walk in there, and I see Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie . And I see Diana Ross . They’re all sitting there having cocktails. And—and there I am, looking at Marvin Gaye, who was quite tall actually. And I go, “Marvin…” [Interview cuts off due to camera issues.] Beverly Hills Broadway Brut Records Deana Martin Geoffrey Cravero Godspell guitar House of Faberge James Douglas Morrison Jesse Cutler Jim Morrison Jolie Jones Levine Los Angeles Louis Milo Gibaldi Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. Michael Jospeh Jackson music music industry musician New York numerology On the Willows Pamela Susan Courson Quincy Delight Jones Jr. R&B music record labels recording industry Rick Shutter Stephen Lawrence Schwartz Stevie Wonder The Doors United Artists Records Whisky a Go Go Winter Park Young Executives