Since my previous post on Cortez Harris, I have heard from Dennis K. Hardison, a former friend of Cortez's. He have pasted his comments so you can read what he had to say plus I have now added audio of my favourite track by Cortez:
"Cortez Harris and I combined our businesses into Dennis K. Hardison Productions, in 1977. Our office was located in the David Whitney Building on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit. We were 19 & 20 years of age at the time. During this time, he was a member of Al Hudson & the Soul Partners. I met Cortez through Daryl "Nady" Thomas, a neighborhood friend, who sang in other groups with Cortez. When Cortez and I first met, we were 14 & 15 years of age.
The last time that I talked with Cortez; he produced two tracks on one of my clients, Katie Griffin in 1983, the songs were written and composed by Cortez, "Concentrate on Love," a slow ballad, and "I won't leave you," a duet with Cortez and Katie. We recorded these songs in a studio owned by R&B singer, Jerry Carr, who also served as the Engineer on these tracks.
Cortez will be sadly missed bymany. He was definitely a musical genius! One day, he took me to the late Al Perkins, his former business manager, for a meeting to serve as Al Hudson and the Soul Partner's road manager. I accepted the job one morning and resigned later that evening, as I felt that I would not be able to work with Al Perkins, his temper was well known. Nonetheless, as his career escalated, I learned a lot about the music business from him."
Thanks to Dennis for the memories.
HI MY NAME IS MELINDA AND I AM CORTEZ HARRIS' OLDEST DAUGHTER. I REALLY ENJOYED SEEING THAT SOMEONE OUT THERE STILL THINKS OF MY DAD. I HAVE A 20 YEAR OLD SON AND AT THE AGE OF 9 HE WOULD HEAR SONGS ON LOCAL TV AND SIT AT THE PIANO AND PLAY THEM. DIDNT KNOW HE HAD THIS TALENT. MY SONS PLAYS 5 INSTRUMENTS REALLY. MUST BE ANOTHER GIFT FROM MY DAD. LOVED READING THE KIND WORDS.THANKS
ReplyDeleteMelinda:
ReplyDeleteI met your father when he was 14 and I was 15. Even then, he could play 5-instruments equally as well. And your Uncle Craig was a great drummer, so it's obvious where your son's talents comes from ... great genetics!
Dennis K. Hardison
dennis_hardison@yahoo.com
Hi Shawn,(Melinda)
ReplyDeleteThis is Ruth. I often wondered what happen to Corte'z babies. I too, found Dennis and we talked about your Dad's "genius" talent.I lost touch with Azia and would love to see you, your son, Brandon and Renay.Hope the family is doing fine. If you read this and contact Dennis, get my info and get in touch. Ruth
While surfing the web looking for Cortez Harris, I found this site. I was a math instructor in Detroit in the late seventies, early eighties when I had Cortez as a student. When I found out he had been in the group Al Hudson and the Soul Partners, I did an interview on him and put it in our school newspaper. He gave me an autographed album and once let me listen to a demo of some music. I've been wondering about him all these years.
ReplyDeleteWes A
I met Cortez Harris, In the early 1990's, he was a beautiful man. I just found out about his death, because I was looking for him. May God bless and protect his soul. God Bless his family. I truly loved him. TC
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