#Ready for the world tonight full

Melvin and I wrote “Tonight” in the 9th grade at my house. RFTW: They were about my (Gordon) first sexual encounters. Talk a bit about creating those two songs. TSL: For us as teenagers at the time, “Tonight” and “Love You Down” were the first basement grind session slow jams we heard with racy lyrics. We had pressed up and starting selling the record out of the trunk of our car and taking it to different record stores throughout the midwest region.

RFTW: We were 17, 18, we had tried to get a deal with several labels and were turned down, so the attorney decided it would be a good idea to just release the record ourselves. TSL: What was the inspiration to start your own label at that age? We went through a couple of changes at the beginning, but that’s how the band started. I (Willie) was getting kicked out of the band at one point because my father didn’t want me to play at clubs. We kind of piece-mealed the band together. Gordon Strozier and Melvin Riley had guitars and amps that we didn’t have. After one particular talent show, John Eaton, who was the bass player at the time, he gathered us all up. RFTW: Yeah, we met each other competing against one another in high school. TSL: How old were you? And you had all met in high school, right? Mojo had some attorneys who he turned us onto, and through him we released that record on our own label. We did release that record on our own independent label. They went down there and waited in the lobby, came across Mojo and took him to the studio and he played the record and the phones lit up. Gordon had the idea to take the record to the biggest deejay in Detroit at the time, Mojo. I (Willie Triplett) only had ten dollars to my name at the time, but we went into the studio and cut four records and “Tonight” was one of them. After Gordon and Melvin graduated they took their money from the graduation and we all pitched in. Ready For The World: That was one of the four original tracks we recorded.

The Shadow League: How did “Tonight” move out of Flint to become such a smash hit?

#Ready for the world tonight full

Ready For The World has a new single out, “So Much Life” with the full album slated for spring 2019 along with a tour being headlined by Charlie Wilson.įour of the original members sat down with The Shadow League to reminisce and talk about what’s on the horizon. Music video by Ready For The World performing Oh Sheila. Their dance hit, “Oh Sheila,” would become the first single to hold the #1 spot on all three charts – R&B, pop, and Hot Dance Club play – simultaneously. You tell ’em, I can do what guys their age can do. “Remember when I drove you home from work?Īll your friends think I’m just too young for you, Men in their 50’s today who were teenagers back then with a suffocating crush on an older woman still get goosebumps as they croon, Music video by Ready For The World performing Love You Down. Their ode to cougar-dom “Love You Down”, where they declared, “It never really mattered to me/that you were just too damn old for me,” would become their second hit slow jam rising to #9 on the pop charts. Detroit WJLB radio personality – The Electrifying Mojo – got it on the radio in Detroit and it eventually became a smash hit around the country. The song, written by band members Gordon Strozier and Melvin Riley when they were in 9th grade, was an instant hit in their hometown of Flint. Author, Composer: Gordon Strozier Music Publisher: Songs of Universal, Inc.Īnd they punctuate all that pleading at the end, after a mean guitar solo, while signing off with, “Don’t you worry ’bout a damn thing, Giiiiiiirl, No!!!” Released on: Producer: Ready For The World Author, Composer: Melvin Riley Author, Composer: Melvin Riley, Jr. Ready For The World Ready For The World ℗ 1985 UMG Recordings, Inc.Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group North America Tonight I want you to hold me! I want to be for real, girl, plee-ee-ee-ease tonight…” Tonight Have you made up your mind? You wanna make love tonight? If you were a teenager present at basement parties at the time, or fond of listening to the Quiet Storm on the radio to record the hottest joints for your latest slow jam tapes, you know what it is. Ready for the World came on the scene in 1983 with their hit, “Tonight,” where they moaned and groaned while cutting straight to the chase with the opening lyrics. Sandwiched in between the Isley’s Brothers‘ and Minnie Riperton’s subtle sexual lyrics on “ Between the Sheets” and “ Inside My Love“, along with Prince‘s explicit 1989 B side “ Erotic City“, was an underappreciated group from Flint, Michigan that made a lasting impact in the early to mid ’80s with a few R&B and slow jam hits that still bang today. If you were a teenager at basement parties in the 1980’s or making slow jam tapes off the radio at the time, you know what it is.