Jody Watley Calls Out Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Unsung on Lies

Miss Jody Watley had time for it all. Never known to be one from shying away from speaking her mind, she did that and more in response to the recent airing of the Howard Hewett Unsung episode. They tried it with the shade on Miss Jody again and she was not here for it with no fuks given came for all the scalps and edges with a mack load of receipts.

My mouth is still on the floor soaking up all the tea she brought including the recent friendly email exchanges with Howard and Jeffrey but yet The one they call "The Voice" has been on airwaves plugging airtime using it to bash Jody and the flat out lie as if they never talked. That Dick Griffey man saying to Howard "Your vacation is finished, you'll sing what I tell you, when I tell you and with who, and my daughter will fly business class" I was gagging while reading the Griffey dude demand the only woman they could sing with in Shalamar since 2001 was his daughter. While him and Jeffrey do the struggle backslide to coach and still follows orders long after ole boy is six feet under! Chyle Howard and Jeffrey's balls got chopped off with a jagged knife.

It didn't stop there, she took all of us back to the 90's and the whole she won't do a reunion with us mess and took time to show how she was being harrassed by bitter fans who blindly take Hewett's mouth as a prayer book. Whoe knew they did a song together and was negotiating for an album?!! Back up old school heads, Miss Jody Watley is about the business and not here for the foolishness. She also reminded everyone why she is who she is, not Unsung, not bitter, not mad. The same crooner who let some chick do his time by saying I do needs to get over it and that dancer dude still jocking Mike's nuts over the "moonwalk." Note to him, Michael won the Emmy in 1983 for the Motown 25th,  let it go boo boo.

Those geeezers need to give it up and just keep on giving their coins to the wanna be, who will never be Jody. Them Brits are guillible af how they was pulling that fake shit off before Jody got the trademark and pulled them thirsty garden tools out of the closet. Some people will do anything for a busted penny. Them fools could have done what Jody did, research that shit instead they went for the kool-aid.

The shade of this picture it's deniable though Jody is still that chick, she put them all on blast

Jody Watley Open Letter  Sip the  TEA








Shalamar featuring Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Carolyn Griffey Splash Into California Cancellation

Fresh off his his Unsung Howard Hewett or better yet Unsung Shalamar Part 2, why they keep saying Jody did no reunions when she did? The shade of it all.  Chyle Miss Jody girl call your lawyers.


Anywhoo seems the quote unquote greatest soul singer of all time and "voice" of Shalamar with the moonwalk king (is that still even a thing?) and the woman who claims to have some paperwork making Shalamar her thang Griffey couldn't pack him in at the California waterslide park "Splash Kingdom." Not a good showing in America, seems like they were trying to come for Jody and her hot ass Shalamar Reloaded who play to packed houses and rave reviws, well the Hewett,Griffey led Shalamar have bombed twice now once with the debacle up in Concord and now this.

Funny thing is they are quiet as church mouses by not mentioning the show was cancelled on their Fakebook page called "Shalamar Friends" You know they say God don't like ugly, but I guess they do in the UK because they posted some more dates there. "Due to unforeseen circumstances" like tickets not selling after it was pushed back August 13 to September 3.







Jeffrey Daniel Breaks Down Why Shalamar Split




In a shock move which their record company is still denying at the end of last week, Shalamar have broken up. Their decision to split comes as their current single “Dead Giveaway”, is on the top ten and their new album, “The Look”, is due for release. 

The news was broken when MM’s Adam Sweeting was interviewing Jeffrey Daniel, one of the members of Shalamar. (The feature appears on pages 10 and 11 of this weeks MM). 


Said Daniel: “I guess the public is due some explanation. After all, the British public has been exceptionally good to Shalamar and we do actually care about people, I do.”

Daniel blamed the breakup on friction between the three members of the band and their management and record company (both controlled by Dick Griffey). He claimed that fellow Shalamar member Howard Hewett had recently developed a “screw you guys” attitude and that the Solar record company had been “pulling Howard to the side and pumping his head with stuff and then ... neglecting Jody and myself.” 





Ebay treasure trove of tea.




As Told To Adam Sweeting For Melody Maker, July 16, 1983:
Heavy thunder brooded over Soho as I stepped with relief into the sweating street. On my way out of WEA offices, Jeffrey Daniel had touched my arm. "Hey," he said. "I'm glad this was for Melody Maker, cos they wrote the first story about us..that's what started Shalamar off over here." I wished him luck, and he smiled.
Jeffrey had just spent an hour and a quarter trying to describe why and how his personal heaven had suddenly caved in on top of his head. The day before, Shalamar had decided to end a lengthy period of personal and professional discomfort by splitting up the group. There had been friction in the recording studios, friction with their management and with Solar, their Los Angeles based record company. Worst of all, the three members had begun to turn on each other.
"I guess the public is due some explanation." said Jeffrey. "After all, the British public has been exceptionally good to Shalamar. And we actually care about people, i do."
If I'd been Jeffrey's attorney, I'd have certified him unfit to be interviewed this particular Wednesday afternoon. He was badly confused, visibly still reeling from the shock turn of events and struggling desperately to come to terms with a barrage of emotions which at times were clearly too much for him. Still, I guess our conversation - or at least his conversation - was some kind of necessary therapy. Some of the time, I'm not sure if he realised I was there.

With a new album, "The Look", finished and ready to go, and with their latest single "Dead Giveaway" hovering nicely in the top ten, times should have been extremely pleasant for Shalamar. Instead, it seems that "The Look" will serve as a bitter-tasting requiem for the good times which peaked with the success of their 1982 album "Friends" and it's impressive clutch of hits -- "A Night To Remember," "I Can Make You Feel Good," "There It Is" and the title track. So what the hell happened?
It started in 1977, when Jeffrey and his long time friend Jody Watley were regular dancers on the American "Soul Train" TV show. "Soul Train" supremo Don Cornelius formed a record company called "Soul Train Records" in partnership with Dick Griffey, and plucked Jody and Jeffrey off the dancefloor to become two-thirds of Shalamar. After Cornelius bailed out, the record company became Solar and Shalamar followed up their debut album "Uptown Festival", with "Disco Gardens" (1978) and Big Fun ('79).
The arrival of singer Howard Hewett in 1979 replacing Gerald Brown, seemed to complete the magic circle, and 1981's pair of albums "Three For Love", and "Go For It", preceded the chart busting "Friends"...but below the surface all was not well...


On the well tried Motown pattern, Solar had made Shalamar very much a product of company philosophy and regimented studio procedure. Regular producer Leon Sylvers III dominated choice of material and regularly used his own team of musicians, Dynasty. Plainly, the system worked. Equally clearly Jeffrey and Jody are not the same dance-mad kids they were in 1977. They've seen plenty and learned a lot, but their efforts to put their developing skills into practice were brushed aside.
"Well, what it was was we were fooling ourselves, you know, because Shalamar was put together by the company, so that's why...how much can you say about the situation?" Jeffrey Daniel paused, perhaps wondering how much he could say about this whole mess. "But there was always the promise that we would grow into something and in the past six years I have grown into something. Jody has grown into something. And now that we have reached that plateau, the facilities are still closed. When it's time to do a TV show and it's time to be onstage, then that's when they leave it up to Jody and myself and they want our full co-operation, full participation to help their records sell. But when it's time for us to contribute, they're not as open any more. All of a sudden you get a lot of second thoughts and a lotta reasons why it shouldn't be done."
"What I'm looking forward to in the future is just expressing what I do, you know, cos that's all I've ever wanted to do. That's why I joined the record company, so that I can make records and so that I can write records, and create music and musical concepts, so hopefully in the future I'll find those types of facilities. Of course, I resent a lot of decisions that have been made for Shalamar but I don't hold it against my record company or the other participants."


Was this the first time this kind of tension had broken out in the group I wondered?
"No" said Jeffrey, "but it's never become so prevalent.. Because if the fact that Shalamar is becoming an even bigger group, we're going to places we've never been and the snowball is accumulating as it rolls down the hill. And it's just that the people who are responsible for the snowball are getting the short end of it, while the other people continue to roll and grow and accumulate. It just makes you stop and wonder 'who am I doing this for and why am I doing it?'"



Jeffrey Daniel grew up in the housing projects of east LA - "we grew up on welfare, I've never had my father in my family" - and he owes everything he has to the street-dancing which first earned him a break on "Soul Train".
"I was only a street dancer, I was dancing on 'Soul Train' for free. The only reward we got was a box of chicken at lunchtime, okay, bu we were getting national exposure as dancers on television - everybody knew our faces and stuff snd we got popularity, and it helped a lotta other people lead to bigger things by being seen on 'Soul Train', so it was a good outlet for people who took street dancing serious."
As much as anything, it was Jeffrey's flabbergasting bodypopping dance routines which led to Shalamar being taken to enough British hearts for them to pack out Wembley Arena last year. The balance seemed to work effortlessly, with Howard as lead vocalist, and the more athletic and photogenic Jody and Jeffrey tackling the physical projections and backing vocals.
"That never bothered me," said Jeffrey, "because I accept Howard's voice and I think Howard does have a great voice. I've never tried singing more songs than him or anything like that, you know, because I feel that Howard is good at what he does. I feel I'm good at what I do. And Jody had developed into a very good vocalist over the years, and it's just sickening to see that over the last six years she's not getting any more play on our records than she does."
"Y'know, she gets her usual duet with Howard, maybe she gets to lead a song, and fine...but it's 'okay, now let's get the best material and give that to Howard, that type of attitude is what we're being given."
It's especially galling for Jeffrey that it was he who introduced Howard into Shalamar. Much of the cause of Shalamar's sudden demise stems from the fact that Howard has apparently taken steps to ingratiate himself with the group's management and record company, leaving Jeffrey and Jody outside looking in.


"That's even what makes it worse, the company has even made us grow farther apart from pulling Howard to the side and pumping his head with stuff, and then, you know, neglecting Jody and myself -- that's the type of stuff that goes on. Howard's the third singer that was placed in the group so me and Jody have been through this with other singers before, and at this point we just feel that there's no reason to do it any longer. Jody and I have been there from the beginning, and in fact I put Howard in Shalamar --I'm the one who selected him for the group in the first place, and then Jody and I get less amount of consideration.
The fact is that when people you're working for and you're working with don't give you the consideration as a mutual artist or a mutual human being, then that's when you stop the ball and say 'wait a minute', why in the hell am I here?"
I've always told them, when I no longer enjoy this I will never do this for money. I would never just do it for the money. Because I could do other things for money, I can't, you know, just bullshit an audience and the public believe in what I'm doing, and it wouldn't be so important if I didn't believe in it, alright?
If I didn't have a purpose or a cause, and if I wasn't struggling for something, well then it wouldn't matter, it would just be a concept and it would all just be for fun and I'd be making money and the public would enjoy it and everything would be dandy, you know, Solar could do whatever they want to do with Shalamar.:
Jeffrey paused, trying to disentangle his whirling thoughts. "I believe in myself, you know, and after that then I believe in Jody and Howard, then after I believe in them I believe in Shalamar okay? I lost my belief in Shalamar a while back, and here recently I've lost my belief in Jeffrey, Jody and Howard being together. Now before I lose belief in myself I'd better stop things and regroup the situation."

The pressure inside Shalamar had been mounting steadily over the last few days the group had been in England. An interview with Howard appeared in Black Echoes, which contained some veiled digs at Jeffrey and Jody. Howard didn't want to do photo sessions. "Jody and I will be friends for life, okay" I've known her since she was 12 years old and we've been family friends I know her entire family. We've always been close.
"Jody and I have had serious fights. We went through a period when we weren't speaking to each other. We had a fight onstage one time, this was back in the states. We were doing a routine and she kicked me and the audience couldn't tell what was going on you know. It was really funny, but when you love people you can do that, because if we didn't love each other we would have split up the group and went our separate ways back then and we'd no longer be friends now, you know? So that's genuine love. When you love people and care about them then you don't mind fighting to get things right."

Lately, though, attitudes had changed.

"Recently there's come a day that Howard has had the attitude of 'screw you guys, piss off.'  I'm not downing Howard, I understand where Howard's coming from because actually, when I selected him to join Shalamar, I think he wanted to purse a solo career then, but I think the best thing he could have done at that moment was to join Shalamar, and that's what he did. And he did it for the money as well, you know, and I don't think he believed in it when he did it, I think he did it to earn a living. He needed work, so of course.."
And, as Shalamar's success grew, the group's earlier intimate relationship with management and with Solar became increasingly distant.

"I remember a time when Dick Griffey, who's our manager and record company president, would come down to the studio with us, when he took us off Soul Train, he'd be there in person, y'know. Once the business started rolling and the money started coming in, I guess for business reasons as well he just drifted farther and farther apart from us, and we spent less time together at that point."
So strained had relations become, claims Jeffrey, that Solar even refused to pay for eight hours of studio time which he used to record some demos.
"it's like they're saying, 'hey okay, fine, yeah you can write, yeah you can do this, but just shuddup and dance. Yeah that's nice Jeffrey, let's get back to rehearsal now.' And that's what we felt when it was time for 'Dead Giveaway' yesterday.
The group did their best to finish the video session at Camden Palace, but it was a little difficult since they couldn't talk to each other.
"I walked over to Howard" Jeffrey recalled, "and stood toe to toe to him and just looked at him. He said 'hey man, what's happenin' Then I just gave him a punch on the arm, y'know, like 'don't worry about it'. So then he came across the stage and punched me on the arm and then walked back to his side, and that was all for the entire evening. It was so strange because at that exact moment I was caught between wanting to...er...y'know, hug him or something or tell him I love him or something..."
Suddenly it all became too much, and I watched in amazement as Jeffrey's face crumpled and tears started to roll down his face.
"I know Howard's not totally responsible for what he's doing, " he sobbed, struggling to regain control. "i think if the management team doesn't pull us apart, yknow..and they're encouraging him. Because they've done it with the other lead singer like 'Jeffrey and Jody and just the kids, they're just that, you are the important thing, you are this, you are this and you are this  ..' And they make people believe this stuff, and I can understand why Howard probably feels the way he feels."

After a couple of minutes, Jeffrey was a little steadier. Obviously, you feel betrayed by Howard?
"Yeahm Jody and I both do. And even if he did decide to go back to the management, at least tell us, let us know. I can only respect his reason even if I don't like his reason. I have to respect it cos it's his decision, he's his own person."
Phew. "Crossroads", anyone? With all this brewing up, perhaps it's no surprise that recording sessions for the forthcoming album "The Look" were marred by all kinds of bitterness.

"I'm not pleased with 'The Look', and it's very impersonal to me. " said Jeffrey sharply. "in fact it's the biggest slap in my face for as long as I've been in this business. It was like 'you're gonna accept this whether you want to or not' and then 'after it's put on tape and when the record's released, you're gonna get onstage and perform this stuff, like it or not, and act like you believe in it.' Y'know, you know what your role is and get out there and do your role is so get out there and let's help make this project successful.' I
mean, how can you live like that? How can I sleep like that?

Jeffrey has taken under his wing the six LA kids who comprise the song and dance troupe Eklypse. He's trying to bring them over to England, but on the day we met they were stuck in Paris because British Immigration officials wouldn't let them in. Also, Jeffrey has his alter ego Colonel Pop to think about. The Colonel is the guy Jeffrey always wanted to be with Shalamar but wasn't allowed to, a dancer/singer/writer expressing himself in as many forms as he could find.

"Howard never wanted it to happen," he continued. "He expressed it openly in meetings, and he told me that I was just believing in my own bullshit and once you believe in your own bullshit you just get lost. He told me to my face that Eklypse and Colonel Pop and the whole thing was nothing but bullshit.


"But yet there's a 'Flashdance' with people bodypopping in it, and it helped spin off this breaker thing that's going on in New York, and Paul McCartney selected me to be in his film which was great not as a member of Shalamar, he selected me to do this dancing bit in his film which was a great privilege. This bodypopping thing is what established Shalamar over here, y'know, the appearance helped spin it off. But yet at home thet tell me it's just bullshit and forget about it."


At the moment, the future is unclear. Jeffrey says he's going to rescue Eklypse from Paris, then he's going on holiday alone for a couple of weeks to clear his head. The fate of jody and Howard remains to be seen.
"Everyone's kinda lost right now, cos everything happened so bitter at the end." says Jeffrey quietly. "The only thing that I resent is just that the hatred was allowed to accumulate. I don't mind the split because I think that's gonna allow me to do what I always wanted to do.


It's just the hatred and dislike that has grown between the certain individuals, y'know, between the company, between the group itself. That's what I really regret. And I just hope everyone finds their happiness, and I just hope the public accepts what we do in the future. I know a lot of people are gonna be disappointed, because a lot of people believe in us now."

Howard Hewett and Shalamar Friends Flop in Concord

After weeks of "California Here We Come " Get Ready" the trio of Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Carolyn Griffey billed as "Shalamar" made it to Concord, CA appearing at the KBLX Stone Soul 2016. It was a curious choice. They went with ole boy Hewett who has not one big hit other than a gospel "Say Amen" with Jeffrey who we haven't see since he was a backing dancer for Michael Jackson and the Jody Watley on steroids wanna be who goes as "baby girl" but gives you Jack Lalanne in his 90's with a  bad wig and and enough wrinkles to make a road map from here to eternity. Why not Jody Watley who has a ton of her own hits and the hot hot Shalamar Reloaded?

I don't know the trademark law, it's not my wheelhouse but it judging from basics, it had to be infrigement to Jody Watley and a heap of old school shade from her former group mates and the old label head who says "Shalamar belongs to me". Anywho, in the shade of it all and the zeal to show Miss Jody a thing a two Karma kameloen had something else in mind. Pearls were clutched when Shalamar Reloaded tipped the teacup up by making it clear it was not the Watley group laying dying onstage up in Concord. Jeffrey Daniel doing a 'struggle moonwalk"  Chyle, guess those old blokes in the Uk don't know a good show and accept any ole nostalgia thang!



















Jody Watley Legal Team Shuts Down Infringement Stone Soul Concert in Concord

A week ago the an announcement swept northern Cali announcing "Shalamar featuring Howard Hewett." It's been well documented the past year, original member Jody Watley registered the non registered mark with the USPTO to put an end to false and misleading ads. Howard Hewett, self proclaimed owner of Shalamar Carolyn Griffey and Jeffrey Daniel although working in the U.K. had not played a U.S. date in recent memory.
If anyone knows trademark and copyright law it's nothing to the toyed with, and it appears Hewett, Griffey and Daniels along with KBLX got served.



They tried it.











A week later..the ad. We guess they got served. Seems to us they should have had it like this in the first place knowing Watley has the paperwork.


The only original member of this bunch Jeffrey Daniel is reduced to minor billing.


We also got our hands on these emails entered in to Carolyn Griffey's challenge to Jody Watley's registration. It seems as though Hewett and Daniels had been working for Dick Griffey handing over a hefty 30% from concert revenue as well as being told how the daughter Carolyn Baldwin would be put into the group with a demand she fly business. We wonder did that mean the guys were coach?

Dick Griffey has some choice words for Hewett, and give his not so subtle thoughts on the lack of value of singers and the final "The Look" album he admittedly handed over to Hewett. It's all public record, and we can't wait for the Jody Watley movie is all we know. At least she never returned to work under the Griffey clan/  Hewett and Daniels seem to be OK with not being in charge and working under the daughter who proclaims Shalamar is her group.

Watley has always remained mumm on all of this while the others have gone out of their way to bring her down and give out misinfo.









Jody Watley Puts End To False Advertising.

A false ad from 209, Jody Watley's name is replaced with that of Griffey..the photo used is from Three For Love  album of 1980 of which Griffey had no part.

A false ad from 2011, Jody Watley's name is replaced with that of Griffey..the photo used is from The Look album of 1983 of which Griffey had no part.

A false ad from 2011, Jody Watley's name is replaced with that of Griffey..the photo used is from The Look album of 1983 of which Griffey had no part.

Cartoon image promoting a tour, no names, no images definitely misleading 2012 ad for the UK.


2014.



Jody Watley's mission was accomplished  or so it seems.




For the most part, the efforts of Jody Watley in registering the Shalamar trademark at the least succeeded in putting an end to the false and misleading ad practices of Howard  Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel and Carolyn Griffey who for years performed concerts in the U.K. using false and misleading practices. In some instances, Jody Watley's name was removed from photographs that featured her likeness from her era in Shalamar with Hewett and Daniels and replaced with that of Griffey in a bizarre attempt to make consumers believe Griffey to be the original female lead. Bizarre. See for yourself from the screen saves and compare with recent ads for Griffey, Hewett and Daniels in the U.K


Since all this developed, Watley has since moved on to form her own group, Shalamar Reloaded, a name that caught on after many sold out shows across America. They are said to be working on more new music and not wanting to get stuck in the new version of an old disco group box.