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For the remainder of 1963 into 1964 much of that time was spent trying to get past the events in November. For The Hackneys, as well as most households with teenage or young children, the music of Motown and the early Rock-N-Roll music, which was being showcased on the weekly Sunday evening Ed Sullivan show, and the new show Saturday afternoons called American Bandstand, was a serious escape from the realities of the time. The assassination of a popular President, the Civil Rights movement was heating up, and so was a conflict in Asia people were calling the Vietnam War. Around the very end of 1963 strong rumblings were being heard on American radio stations about a group of four guys called the Beatles from London England who were tearing up the music charts with a revolutionary new sound. By the start of 1964, that sound was dominating the airwaves, the media, and the hearts of just about every young female or male that was into popular music. Especially the young females , which was going to the record shops in droves to buy the records recorded by these guys. By the time The Beatles came to America in February to debut the act on the Ed Sullivan show, the electricity of something new was so thick in the atmosphere you could cut it with a knife. The television images of the now legendary press conference at the airport when The Beatles arrived in America, and the record breaking crowd in front and around the hotel they were staying in New York City, was setting the stage for something special that was about to happen and everybody in America, tuned in or not, knew about it. This event also seemed to provide the country with the much needed diversion from domestic troubles that was so needed at the time. The Beatles

On that Sunday night in February of 1964, three of the Hackney brothers David, Dannis, and Bobby were visiting their Dad Earl SR’s house. When it was time for the Ed Sullivan show come on, Earl Sr. Announced to the three boys as he had done with the March on Washington, and the Kennedy assassination and funeral, “I want you boys to sit down here and watch this, you’re about to watch history being made” So David, Dannis, and Bobby sat down on the living room carpet in front of the big black & white television in our dad’s house and along with the rest of America, anticipated the performance by The Beatles. There were other acts on the program, but they got lost in the memory of the moment. One thing I do recall is that everytime Ed Sullivan announced the upcoming performance of The Beatles in between the other performers, the mostly girl audience would let out a loud scream that even Ed Sullivan was not accustomed to. When The Beatles finally performed, you could hardly hear the music because of the screaming girls. David, Dannis, and Bobby watched the performance in silent awe. In everything they had seen and heard in music up to that point, nothing had more of an influencing effect on the boys upon seeing four mop-top musicians who played their own instruments and also sang. They looked different, played different, and sounded different. It turned out to be everything America was expecting. The three brothers began to point to the television screen, claiming the musical positions. David like John Lennon and his shinny black Rickenbacker guitar, Dannis tuned into Ringo, and Bobby liked Paul McCartney who played bass and sang. Little did we know at the time, but that television performance plant the seeds of us wanting to become a musical band.

The very next day, instead of going to school, David went out to the alley in back of our Dad’s house and found a body of a discarded acoustic guitar, glued the front back together and took some strong nylon and made strings for it. When Dannis and Bobby saw the guitar, they began to sign and imitate the performance they saw The Beatles do, each one taking a turn on the makeshift guitar. What the Hackney boys were doing at that time is what was happening all over Detroit and America. The British invasion had come to America via The Beatles and the youth of America embraced it with all of it’s force and passion, and for the next two years, whoever, or whatever The Beatles acknowledged as being cool, became the cool thing..

The one thing that The Beatles did do for Motown and Detroit was to cover a Motown song called “Please Mr. Postman” which was their nod of approval for the Motown Sound. While most of the other artists and Record labels throughout the country were running scared and trying to re-define themselves in the light of the Beatles invasion, Motown embraced this acknowledgment by the Beatles and never looked back. For the next few years, The Beatles and Motown became synonymous amongst people in Detroit and it just seemed to roll of the tongue together, The Beatles and Motown.

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July 22, 2009 - Wednesday

The Hackney Story Part 3... The Boys Began To Grow Up In Music

THE HACKNEY STORY PART 3

THE BOYS BEGAN TO GROW UP IN MUSIC

The first Motown 45 that came into the Hackney home by way of Earl Jr. was a song by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles called "Ooh Baby Baby", and for the next few years and throughout most of the whole decade, most of the 45 records and albums that came into the house by way of the young Hackney boys consisted of one of three record labels, the yellow Tamla label, the burgundy Gordy label, or the blue Motown label. David, who was coming into his own pre-teen years joined Earl Jr. and was helping earn extra money on the paper route and was buying Motown 45s as well. Motown records were streaming into the house on a weekly basis. Artist like Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, The Tempations, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, The Marvelettes, The Contours, Tammi Terell, and The Four Tops, Jr Walker, and many other early Motown artists. Like many living rooms throughout the Country, the Hackney living room on Lillibridge Street became a make shift showcase for lip syching popular Motown songs. Sometimes the four brothers would line up in the middle of the living room imitating the Four Tops, The Miracles, The Tempations, and David was the best at imitating Jackie Wilson with Dancing and all the gestures like falling down on his knees and doing a thing called “the splits” just like Jackie Wilson would do.

With the advent of Motown, the Civil Rights march on Washington, and the Civil Rights Bill being introduced by President Kennedy, it almost seemed like life would settle down to some sort of normalcy. The Hackneys had well settled into the neighborhood and had made many friends (along with many racial adversaries), among the all-white residents on Lillibridge street. The Hackneys also noticed a few other Black families had moved into the neighborhood as well, and many homes were displaying “for sale” signs on their lawns. Then, in November of 1963, something happened that just messed everybody up. I was only seven years old but I remember the day as clear as today’s yesterday. It was a rainy night and our dad Earl Sr. Had unexpectedly come over to the house. All of us boys were upstairs in our bedroom, our sisters were in their bedroom sleeping. We heard our Mom open the door downstairs to let Dad in. We looked out of the window to see his car standing in the middle of the street with the lights flashing and the driver’s door still open. We knew something was wrong, and we thought it was between Mom and Dad. We did not dare to leave the room because back then when you went to bed a night before school, you stayed in your room or bed until it was time to wake up and go to school. David however, had become notorious for sneaking out of the room, so we sent him down to investigate. David shortly returned and told us that our Dad wanted all of us boys to come downstairs immediately. We really got nervous then as we were sure it was family trouble and it involved us. When we got downstairs we entered a moment frozen in time as we saw our Mom and Dad standing in front of the black & white television with tears in both of their eyes and in suspended shock as the news reporter Walter Kronkite repeatedly announced that President Kennedy had just died from being shot in Dallas Texas.

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April 22, 2009 - Wednesday

The Hackney Family Story (Part 2) Written by: Bobby Hackney Sr.

The Hackney Kids (From left to right) Dannis, Bobby, Earl and David

In 1957, Earl Sr. and Majora finally got the little girl they were hoping for as Majora gave birth to Margaret Hackney. With Earl Sr. working as an electrician for Allied Chemical, a comapny connected to the auto industry in Detroit, the family moved into a well-built home on the East side's 2240 Lillibridge Street two years later in 1960. Being the first Black family to move into the neighborhood in 1960 you could just about do the social math, welcomed by a few, unwelcomed by most. Around that time from 1960 to around 1962 music was somewhat of a blur in the Hackney house because of the social, and racial upheavel that was taking place in our communities, our cities, and throughout the Country.. The music that Mom and Dad were bringing into the house were again the 45 singles and albums that reflected the time. Along with a number of Gospel Records of artist like Mahlia Jackson, James Cleveland, and others.there were records by The Platters, Gene Washington, Buddy Holly, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Little Anthony And The Imperials, Ray Charles, and a new female singer our mother loved called Dionne Warwick among many others.On occasional weekends, Earl & Majora would frequet, socialize, and dance at a place called The GreyStone Ballroom where most of these artist performed when they came to Detroit. Earl Sr. brought home a record called "Blowin In The Wind" by a new white artist named Bob Dylan, our dad did not particulary care for his singing or playing, but told his children that the message in that song was the question and answer that the whole Country was facing, and Earl Sr. believed that song was as strong as any sermon that could be preached from a pulpit and even quoted lines from the song in some of his sermons. By now Earl Sr's upstart Bapist church was flourishing, and some said his church was second only to C. L. Franklin's church, which was the largest church in Detroit at the time. The four young brothers were required to sing in front of the congregation on most Sundays (although oldest brother Earl Jr. was asked to leave the choir because he could'nt hold a tune).

The popularity that Earl Sr. was enjoying as a pastor became the un-doing of the family, as a young woman in the Church developed a relationship with Earl Sr, which turned into a love affair. In late 1961, at Majora's request, Earl Sr. left the house on 2240 Lillibridge and purchased another house five blocks away on French Road Street and moved in with his mistress. Although Earl Sr. and Majora's relationship had become estranged because of the separation, Earl Sr. made sure that he supported and remained close to his children, visiting the house and having the children over to his house as frequently as they wanted.. As a result of one of Earl Sr.'s visits to the house on Lillibridge, Majora became pregnant and in 1962 gave birth to Shelia Hackney.

Earl Jr, the oldest of the siblings was now twelve and pre-teen. Managing a neighborhood paper route, Earl Jr. began to buy his own 45 records of music he and his friends were tuning into, and introduced the Hackney Family to a musical movement that was begining to take place in Detroit that was about to change black and pop music in America and the World. That movement was called Motown.

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April 9, 2009 - Thursday

The Hackney Family Story (part 1) Written By: Bobby Hackney Sr.

Rock-N-Roll Greetings and Salutations to all the true Rockers around the world, from the Rock Band DEATH (Detroit Michigan).

On behalf of My brothers Dannis and David, we thank you all for tuning in to this music, It is true that David predicted this would happen. The title from the album is the same title that David came up with in 1975. If you like what you hear on this album, you're gonna love what is to come as DEATH, and David And Bobby has left an extensive catalog of songs and audio performances. Stay tuned for news about upcoming releses and a possible Tour!!

Our beginings in Detroit was I'd say just about like most families in the 1950's. After our Dad did a brief stint in Korea in the U.S. Air Force, our parents migrated from Florida in 1950 with their newborn son Earl (our oldest brother), at the height of the industrial boom and secured gainful employment in the Detroit automotive industry. They listened to the artists of that time on the radio like, Muddy Watters, Howlin Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddly, Willie Dixon, and of course Ray Charles. My Mother gave birth to their second child, David in 1952. Our parents saw musical interest and potential in David right away as he used to dance and pretend to play guitar like Chuck Berry when they would play their 45 records on the little mono record player our Dad had brought for their modest apartment/house located on Cutler Avenue on Detroit's East Side.

Our Dad Earl, was a young Baptist minister who also loved the music of the Blues, so according to the three elder brothers, mom and dad were always grooving to these 45's by artists like B.B.King, Etta James, Sam Cooke, and Chuck Berry. Our Dad Earl encouraged his children to enjoy music and life, and he would often say, "But always take God with you whatever you do because he'll be in everywhere you go and everything you do anyway, so you might as well enjoy his blessing and accept his offer of life, love ,and peace". This is where our Spiritual influence came from and it affected David most of all. On more than few Sundays, our mom and Dad used to go to Pastor C.L. Franklin's Church to see the show (as Earl Sr.would explain to Earl Jr.) and to hear the incredible voice of his daughter Aretha who always tore up the place with her voice when she lead the choir.

Our parents music was not limited to the Blues, our mother Majora's record collection at the time also included 45's by Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra. and Sammy Davis Jr. Our mother gave birth to Dannis in 1953 and the three brothers bonded tightly. Three years later although the couple was hopeful for a little girl, in 1956 Majora gave birth to Bobby. Dad favored Bobby as the "youngest son" Earl Sr. also said that he thought Bobby would be famous one day because Bobby was born the same year that Elvis released Blue Sude Shoes and that was the year that Rock-N-Roll exploded.

Stay tuned for Part 2