BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1980

Born Dennis Hardy (“Fergie”) Frederiksen on May 15th, 1951 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Fergie started out as a musician and by 1964 was already performing with musicians much older than himself in nearby clubs. His singing came as a natural progression of performing with local bands. By the time Fergie had graduated high school he realized that he wanted to pursue a career as a singer, not as a musician.

Old friend and guitarist Tommy Shaw recommended Fergie as his replacement in the Chicago based group MS Funk, when Shaw was leaving to join another Chicago outfit, Styx, so Fergie moved across the lake to the windy city in 1975. His stint with MS Funk was as brief as the groups career. In less than two years the group was gone. While with the band he met pianist Patrick Leonard, (also from Michigan), the two formed a friendship that turned into the formation of Trillion. Fergie recorded the groups debut album with Leonard in 1978 (Epic Records)
before leaving to pursue a solo career. Leonard continued for a second album with Trillion before later scoring hits for Madonna, Jody Watley and Elton John, among others.

To further his solo career Fergie moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and began session work. This session work would lead to his meeting producer Jacques Morali and becoming “David London.” In his role as David London he first appeared in 1980 on the soundtrack of “Can’t Stop The Music.” His contribution to the soundtrack were two tracks, both of which appeared on a promotional-only Casablanca 12″ single. “Samantha” a tribute to the Valerie Perrine character in the movie, and the opening-credits track. “Sound Of The City” was the best thing on the album. It’s rousing big band, horn blaring, cymbal crashing feel good atmosphere made it one of the year’s club favorites.

The songs were written and produced by Morali and Henri Belolo. Given the climate of music, particularly the death of disco, and the fact that Neil Bogart (head of Casablanca Records) was trying to distance himself and the company from it’s “disco” image are probably two of the main reasons there was not another David London 12″ single. He did release a 1981 “David London” album, but it failed to chart. Hiassociation with Morali & Belolo spilled over into his contributing vocals to the Village People’s 1981 release “Renaissance.” He can also be heard on the additional soundtracks of “Best Little Whorehouse In Texas,” “All American Traffic Jam” and “Executioner’s Song.”

SIDE A:
Samantha (Extended Version) 5:07

SIDE B:
The Sound Of The City 4:31

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint (company sleeve)

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Casablanca Records – NBD 20215 DJ
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1980
Genre: Funk / Soul
Style: Disco
Credits:Arranged By – Horace Ott
Executive Producer – Henri Belolo
Producer – Jacques Morali

NOTES:
From the Casablanca Soundtrack album
“Can’t Stop The Music”

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 24bit/96kHz and16bit /44kHz using iZotope RX Advanced 2
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi