Paul David Wilson (born August 30, 1952) is an American songwriter, composer, conductor, and music producer. Most of his professional life has been devoted to music, including composing for radio and TV commercials. He became the president of a start-up record label begun by Frank Thomas, who was then the starring player on the Chicago White Sox baseball team. Wilson suffered a massive and debilitating stroke when he was 46 years old. Due to the terribly limiting effects of aphasia, a common but complicated and severe post-stroke condition, he was for a number of years unable to communicate without great difficulty. His fight back to full functioning has been a decade-long challenge that, although largely successful, in many ways still continues.
Biography
Early life
Paul David Wilson was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was third son to father, Herbert, a classical tenor vocalist and choir director who taught elementary school and retired after becoming a vice-principal of the school. Wilson's mother, Odessa, was a child prodigy who grew to become a concert pianist and choir director. She was accomplished in a variety of music genres, but due to her commitment to God, only performed certain styles of music. Wilson's early lessons on piano came from his mother, and he grew up absorbing the classical and gospel music of the choirs and vocal ensembles his parents directed.
While still of pre-school age, Wilson began composing simple songs and by the time he began primary school had learned to musically notate the songs he composed. At age 12, Wilson began organizing "street corner" vocal ensembles to perform his songs at parties and selected school functions. At 13, he discovered the flute and it soon became his major instrument. Wilson attended James H. Bowen High School in Chicago. In Wilson's fourth year of high school, a friend, Arlene Johnson, persuaded him to run for class president. He was elected Senior Class President of Bowen in 1970.
He remembers the day when he was a still-young teenager and "my mother dragged me to a seminar on how to create commercial jingles." The presenters were Dick Marx, whose young son would later become a pop music star known as Richard Marx, who was then Chicago's most prominent master of music for Radio and TV commercials, and Dr. Thomas Fabish, the concert master of DePaul University’s music department. The presentation involved a big band, top-notch singers and a film. Even as he listened, Wilson was thinking, "I could do that."
Inspired by Primous Fountain III, a young composer at DePaul University, Wilson enrolled and majored in music composition and theory. He studied music composition with Dr. Leon Stein, Dr. Phil Winsor and Darlene Cowles, while taking flute with Philip Seeburg and Joseph Kainz. In 1973, he was one of 20 music students from around the U.S. selected by Ron Logan of Walt Disney Entertainment to participate in a professional "work experience." Wilson remembers it as one of the major highlights of his college career. He wrote at that time in August 1973:
During his study at DePaul, he founded, performed in, and composed for many ensembles and often organized concerts and productions that featured works by him and others. In his senior year, Wilson was honored by inclusion in "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges"Whosewhoamongstudents.com and graduated in 1975 with a B.A. in music composition and theory.
Career
In May 1974, while a senior at DePaul, he landed part-time employment at "Star Point 7," a music production company founded by Chuck Colbert, a producer/musician with a jazz-rock band, American Breed ("Bend Me, Shape Me"). Wilson started this "job" as an unpaid go-fer, answering phones and doing basic clerical chores. After two months, Wilson was eager for a chance to show what he could contribute and saw the situation as an opportunity. "Chuck and his writing partner had parted ways and he needed someone to help finish a project. I was around and available and had the skills. I had to ask him, what are you waiting for?" Once Wilson had called attention to his talents, Colbert began using him as a composer and arranger.
A short time later, in the Summer of 1974, Wilson met a young musician who was just completing his military service, Danny Leake. At the time, Danny was a talented songwriter and electric guitar player, but would later become one of America's foremost recording studio engineers and one of Wilson's closest and most frequent collaborators.
In the Fall of 1975, Danny played a significant role in Wilson's life by introducing him to Ian Levine, a producer and songwriter, who was a celebrated member of the European black music fan base known as the Northern Soul scene. In 1975, while working with Ian, Wilson composed, arranged and produced for Dance, R&B and Northern Soul recording artists, in the course of which he traveled in the U.S. and England. One of the Levine's artists, Evelyn Thomas, scored a chart hit with her first single, reaching the UK Top 30 in 1976 with the single "Weak Spot," and "which was (co-written and) arrangement by Paul." As the writer, Neil Rushton, wrote in a review which appeared in Black Echoes, "Paul put the incredible zinging, scurrying strings in "Your Magic Put A Spell In Me" performed by [L.J Johnson Ian Levine] for Ian Levine productions and also served as the songwriter and arranger for the "1976 Disco classic, originally sung by James Wells, called "Baby I'm Still The Same Man."
Despite the success and trans-Atlantic travel he was experiencing, Wilson still lived at home with his mother and father. One day in early 1976, while diligently making "cold calls" from his parents’ basement in hopes of drumming up some fresh music opportunities, Wilson found himself talking to Jerry Butler, a fellow Chicagoan who was already well known in American soul music. Butler had (with Curtis Mayfield) been one of the original founding members of The Impressions and then established a long later career as a celebrated solo artist. That lucky phone call not only gave Wilson a chance to meet Butler, but soon led to the opportunity to work with him on a few projects, including three albums "Suite For The Single Girl", "It All Comes Out In My Song" (title song) and Thelma (Houston) & Jerry for the Motown label. Subsequently, Wilson and Butler they produce an album on Dee Dee Sharp-Gample with Philadelphia International. Billboard said, "writer/co-producer Paul Wilson's "Invitation" is a regal, touching trumph that alone would have made for worthwhile album." In 1981 with "Breaking and Entering" / "Easy Money," from Sharp-Gamble's album "Dee Dee", Wilson's production spent four weeks at number one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and Dance Chart Billboard.
Burrell Communications Group, LLC
In 1976, after two years of working with Chuck Colbert and learning business-related details, at age 24, Wilson founded Herschel Commercial, Inc ("I just named it Hershel Commercial, Inc. because it rhymed, he notes) with Maurice Earl, Arlene Johnson and, later, Bruce Montgomery. His first client was Chicago-based Burrell Communications Group, LLC,Burrell.com founded by Tom Burrell. Anna Morris, the creative director of Burrell, awarded him a package of many arranging spots to produce for Coca-Cola as a way to gain experience before venturing off by himself. The tracks featured Kitty Heywood, a soul singer who had already performed on a number of albums as well as commercials. Once produced, the spots were enthusiastically received, both at the ad agency and at the client. Wilson was soon creating and producing a long list of memorable and award-winning spots for Burrell and many other ad agencies, often working with such established artists as: Phyllis Hyman, Lena Horne, Anita Baker, Midnight Star, Walter Jackson, The Dells, Peabo Bryson, Ada DyerWindowsmedia.com Vickie Winans, Tramaine Hawkins, The Bar-Kays, Valerie Simpson, Joshie Jo Armstead, Millie Jackson and Rufus Thomas.
Also of note is the score Wilson composed for a television film "Happy Birthday, Martin" sung by Joshie Jo Armstead, which is on permanent display at the King Center in Atlanta.
Leo Burnett Worldwide
In 1977, a chance meeting at a barbershop brought Wilson to the attention of Don Richards, a young vice-president and account executive at Leo Burnett Worldwide, Chicago's largest and most celebrated advertising agency. Richards had been hired to facilitate Burnett's efforts to identify promising new African American staffers and suppliers, so he was ready to talk business even on a weekend trip to his barber. On hearing the young composer's story, Richards handed him a card, saying, "Call me... next week." Wilson made sure he called Richards. That meeting was most fortunate for Wilson and for Herschel. It set them on the path to success and helped establish their reputation with even the biggest and best clients, which included such major brand names as Kraft, Quaker Oats, Campbell's, United Airlines, Kellogg Company, Coca-Cola, Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, Anheuser Busch, Busch Entertainment, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, Mars Incorporated, Alberto-Culver and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions (Oprah Winfrey). In 1980, People magazine, they featured an article on Wilson. The title was "Lookout. A Guide To The Up And Coming."
Wilson says, "To be successful, you have to be a chameleon. You're paid to do a job, not to be a conscience." Wilson wrote and composed many memorable TV and Radio music spots during the commercial phase of his career. Some of the many highlights include; "I Wanna Pop, I Wanna Shasta" for Shasta Beverages, "Sweet Talker, Betty Crocker" for Betty Crocker, "Mmm, Ahh, Ohh, Pop ‘N Fresh Dough" for Pillsbury. "Until 1981, I was known for lavish, heartwarming arrangements," says Wilson, who is a classically trained flutist with degrees in composition and orchestration. "Then I had a hit with "I Wanna Pop! I Wanna Shasta!" and suddenly I was the rock ‘n’ roll guy, the king of the synthesizers." Wilson won a CLIO award for his arranging work on the McDonald's commercial "Makin’ Music."
Calling Me Home, Chicago
In 1985, Wilson scored a true "crossover hit" when a song he had created for Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau and composed both lyrics and music featuring Lee Montgomery "Calling Me Home, Chicago," a song written for a $10 million state tourism campaign, became so instantly popular that it was released as a single and sold through area record stores. Jan Zechman of Jan Zechman Associates said, "For Chicago Tourism, our advertising agency asked six local composers to create a musical centerpiece for our campaign. We expected the competition to be fierce. It was not. One airing of Wilson's musical vision was enough to win him the job, and to help us create one of the most memorable and successful tourism campaigns in Chicago history. I believe in the power of words, but the power of Wilson's music, his notes, proved mightier than any pen on this day." That song is widely regarded even today as one of the true "classic" songs of Chicago.
Ruth L. Ratny, the owner of the magazine "Screen" and editor, she wrote, "Among the most memorable for the Illinois Department of Tourism, are the unforgettable "Calling Me Home, Chicago." State tourism director Lynda Simon says is not surprised that Wilson was able to write words and that went a long way towards popularizing the agency's first major television campaign. "He's a very talented and creative person," says Simon, "and he's a joy to work with."
Recording and live performance