The Business Side of Music is an interview show designed to help independent artists and songwriters better understand and navigate the music industry. 45-year industry veteran, Bob Bender talks to successful guests from every corner of the industry about their careers to discover the things they did right as well as the lessons they learned from any mistakes they made. businesssideofmusic.com
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#131 - Kiss You All Over and the 15 Years It Took To Get There
They’ve had 12 studio albums, two Greatest Hits records, One Christmas album, 38 singles at radio, and 8 music videos later, the Band Exile is still going strong 57 years since their beginnings. Marlon Hargis, the keyboardist for Exile is our guest on today's episode.
Originally called “The Fascinations” they changed the band’s name to Jimmy Stokely and the Exiles in reference to the Cuban exiles at the time in 1963.
Marlon joined the band in 1973, 10 years after seeing them perform live on stage during the Dick Clark Cavalcade Tour.
The band struggled as an original act, playing their own music, until the smash hit “Kiss You All Over” released in 1978, or as they like to say, an overnight success after 15 years of struggling.
Members of Exile initially started out as a Pop Group and didn’t really appreciate the real early Country Music until years later, and after their success with “Kiss You All Over”. In fact, the band wasn’t considered a Country act itself until years later. They went on to write hits for other artists including “It Ain’t Easy Being Easy” for Janie Fricke, along with two of the biggest hits for the supergroup Alabama were written by members of Exile including “Take Me Down” “When She Cries” for Restless Heart, “Heart And Soul” for Huey Lewis and the News, and “Beautiful Mess “ for Diamond Rio.
Marlon at the time in the 1970s was playing in a very successful nightclub act making $400 to $500 per week performing cover tunes when he was asked to join Exile. The only problem was they could only pay him $75 per week. But Marlon believed that the band would go on to be successful, as did the other members of the band.
The band went on to tour with Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Doobie Brothers, and Boston just to name a few acts.
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Music for today's episode is brought to you by:
Travis Meadows
"God Speaks" from his 2011 album "Killin' Uncle Buzzy"
www.travismeadows.com