Last year, rushed, on the way to a birthday party I stopped at a Ross (yes, I went into a corporate chain!) in the heart of Los Angeles to speedily pick up a few cool toys and wrapping paper. Shame on me, I know.
One of my favorite songs ever, “Ooh Child” by The Five Stairsteps (the original version, thankfully!) came on overhead and as I started to sing along, caught the eye of a boy (age nine? ten?) whose look told me he completely “got” the song. Sort of embarrassed for being a goofy singing mom, I apologetically conceded, “I love this song” and he enthusiastically said “so do I.”
So there in the toy section of Ross, with my toddler beside me, this terrific little boy and I followed the impulse to sing to each other. You know how loud those songs can be in the back of those stores. We had the eye contact going on. And we “got” the song, in the way that only true fans of The Five Stairsteps can. It was as heartfelt and innocent as those old duets on the 70’s variety shows.
“Someday…we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun…someday when the world is much brighter…”
We earnestly sang together until the song was interrupted by a store announcement. An impromptu jam in the back of Ross between two unexpectedly kindred souls.
Last night, as we were driving around Hollywood, listening to the radio, my toddler heard me singing along to ”Ooh Child” and I nearly cried when she said, “Mom turn this up”, followed by a pitch perfect “Someday…”. Again, this morning, soon as she woke up, the perfect high noted, “Someday…”
So, note to self: it’s officially time to start investing in some classic Five Stairsteps vinyl for the kid.
FIVE STAIRSTEPS BIO FROM WIKIPEDIA: “The Chicago group was dubbed “the First Family of Soul” because of their successful five-year chart run; the moniker was later passed on to the Jackson 5. Initially a teenage five-member brothers and sister vocal group made up of the offspring of Betty and Clarence Burke, the Five Stairsteps (named by Mrs. Burke who thought her kids looked like stair steps when lined up according to their age) featured lead singer Clarence Jr., Alohe, James, Dennis, and 13-year-old Kenneth (“Keni”). Most of the members attended Harlan High School. Clarence Jr. was in love with a classmate name Ponchita Martinez. She was the daughter of Cubie Coleman. The Burkes named their last child after her father Cubie. He owned a bar in Chicago. Clarence Sr. was a detective for the Chicago Police Department and a strict and loving father. Like the Jackson 5’s father Joe Jackson, “Papa Burke,” as he was called, had a passion for music and honed his children into a talented singing and dancing group. He backed the group on bass guitar, managed them, and co-wrote songs with Clarence Jr. and Gregory Fowler.
After winning first prize in a talent contest at the legendary Regal Theater, the Five Stairsteps were beset with recording contract offers. A close neighbor and family friend was Fred Cash of the Impressions, who introduced the group to Curtis Mayfield. Signed to Mayfield’s Windy City imprint, which was distributed by Philadelphia-based Cameo ParkwayRecords, their first single was the Burkes-written ballad You Waited Too Long b/w the upbeat Don’t Waste Your Time, a Mayfield song. A double-sided hit in Chicago, the A-side, You Waited Too Long, charted number 16 R&B in spring of 1966, and the hits kept coming. Around the end of 1967, Cameo-Parkway folded and Windy C switched to Art Kass’s New York-based Buddah Records through former Cameo-Parkway executive Neil Bogart, who joined the new label as co-president. The group’s second album, Family Portrait (complete with a montage of Burke family photos), was recorded and produced in Chicago by Clarence Jr. With the addition of their three-year-old brother, the group became the Five Stairsteps & Cubie. “Family Portrait” yielded two hit singles, Something’s Missing and a cover of Jimmy Charlesand the Revelletts’ hit A Million to One. The group often toured with the Impressions. Signing with Buddah Records, the group was once again known as the Five Stairsteps.
In the spring of 1970, the group released their sole certified million-seller and biggest pop hit, Ooh Child (written by Stan Vincent), which hit number 14 R&B and number eight pop. The falsetto bridge and ending ad-libs of the song are sung by the Stairsteps’ cousin, Charles “Chaz” Simmons. The flip side of the single, a cover of the Beatles Lennon/McCartney’s Dear Prudence, charted number 49 R&B. The following year, the group resurfaced as the Stairsteps with two charting Buddah singles: Didn’t It Look So Easy and I Love You-Stop. The group appeared in the 1970 movie The Isley Brothers Live At Yankee Stadium, a documentary of a benefit concert filmed at the famous home of the New York Yankees featuring The Isley Brothers, the Brooklyn Bridge and various other Buddah Records-affiliated artists. In the early ’70s, the group was known as Stairsteps. Alohe was still with the group. Cubie never really sang with the group, but would grow up to be a popular dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem etc. Billy Prestonintroduced the Stairsteps to the Beatles, and the group signed with George Harrison’s Dark Horse label distributed by A&M Records. Alohe left the group in 1972 to begin a spiritual journey, and later would attend college, graduate and work at Emory University. She also was a guest speaker there. An album, ‘Second Resurrection’, was released in February 1976, produced by Preston, Robert Margouleff, and the Stairsteps. From Us to You, written by Clarence Jr. and Keni Burke, was the group’s biggest hit since Ooh Child, peaking at number ten R&B in early 1976. The follow-up single, Passado, also covered by the group Pockets, received airplay in Chicago, New York, and other markets. Keni sang, played bass, and wrote both songs on the third single, “Tell Me Why” b/w “Salaam.” They made two additional albums under the moniker The Invisible Man’s Band, scoring with the disco hit, All Night Thang, which reached number 9 on the charts, before disbanding. It is reported they used the new name to not offend their loyal fans who had not associated the Stairsteps with disco.”
Fans of The Stairsteps have had to put up with some horrendous cover versions of “Ooh Child”. I tend to block them all out as pretentious disgraces.
Perhaps the most artful placement of the song was at the end of OVER THE EDGE, one of my all time favorite films about youth gone wild. As the kids are cuffed and bussed to a juvenile detention center, an inspirational Valerie Carter version of “Ooh Child” accompanies the brilliant closing shots:
This fan video from YouTube below is not bad either.
