By the time I met the C&C Music Factory clan at the Sony Music HQ in Paris right before Summer 94, and although David Cole wasn’t there, I was far from thinking that I would finally never have the opportunity to cross his path one day or another. The Creator obviously happened to have far different plans for him, calling back next to him six to seven months later…
If someone ever got at the epicenter of the dance music, it was no doubt Cole & Clivilles. Those two young guys not only pushed forward this US tradition of production teams which would see the light back in the days of disco with people such as Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards, Mauro Malavasi and Jacques Fred Petrus, Willie Lester & Rodney Brown or Jam & Lewis to name but a few. They no doubt would become the true incarnation of dance music while displaying the various sides of it, from hip hop to latin vibes, R&B, house and eventually rock.
Unlike many of their contemporaries, not to mention a growing majority of those who appeared later on, the twosome had clearly in mind the continuous changing face of dance music. A reality which would be for much in the diversity of their works, from a project to another, following here a path which would be opened almost 20 years before by the late Larry Levan. This bringing us back to the souvenir of their first meeting. That happened at Better Days, explained Robert. One of those places firmly in the history of the genesis of dance music where the guys got introduced to each other by the beginning of the 80’s while dropping overdubs on Bruce Forest’s mixes. This period remains to me as the best era for NYC club music. I mean today, there’s nothing happening. We need some club owners who’d really be into the culture of music as opposed to those people who think that putting models together with kids and a bunch of DJ’s playing dubs all nite long is enuff. We’ve ended up killing the variety which used to be at the forefront of clubbing back in the days with Larry Levan. Everyone seems like having missed the point of what a DJ’s supposed to be. I mean to me a DJ’s a teacher, not that kinda prima donna who wouldn’t play a tune simply because he doesn’t like the person who’s made it. And I’m not talking about music. No doubt, the 70’s still remain to be surpassed !
This said, it would take another bit of time before having the two guys starting officially their association. I was doin’ a lot of sessions and so was doing David with Shep Pettibone and Arthur Baker, and although we felt very committed in what we were doing, we never happened to have our names on the credits when the records came out. We ended up thinking that we could do what the others were doing remixwise, but surely better together than seperately and this is how we got to form a team. As for the rest, it stands as one of the most glorious pages in the history of dance music. From their early works on their own Vendetta album such as 2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman & A Dominican to Natalie Cole’s smash hit ‘Pink Cadillac’, the Emotions album for Mariah Carey which they would co-produce, not to mention the memorable multi racial trio Seduction, Bronx based R&B/rap influenced outfit Trilogy and their C&C Music Factory venture to name but a few.
David Cole would be 43 today. He remains sadly missed. MFSB
INTERVIEW
