By Bob Berry

November 8, 1986. Can it really be 29 years ago?

Berlin’s mega-hit from the great Top Gun soundtrack, “Take My Breath Away” went to Number One for the first of four weeks.

Sure, the song was helped by a terrific script, co-written by Michigan State professor and good friend, the late Jim Cash and his writing partner Jack Epps Jr. And yeah, there was great casting. Kelly McGillis buttoned-up smart blonde, until she kicked in the afterburners. Tom Cruise showing off his now all-too-familiar (see picture at left) sullen intensity.

But, man. When this song kicked in, and the sparks flew, you knew from note one that “Take My Breath Away” was a smash.

And, all credit to the filmmakers. They didn’t use the song for the volleyball scene!

Enjoy Sunday Brunch on Keener. Careful for the afterburners!

By Bob Berry

“…I need rain to disguise the tears in my eyes…”.

Nobody sang a “pain” song than David Ruffin.

“Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, “I Know I’m Losing You”, David’s last song with the Tempts, “It’s You That I Need”, and more.

But above all, stands “I Wish It Would Rain“.

From Earl Van Dyke’s opening notes on the Motown Steinway, to the very tasty and restrained track by The Funk Brothers , and the incredible blend of the background vocals , “Rain” is a great track. And then..

“Sunshine, blue skies, please go away, My girl has found another, and gone away..”.

Nobody sang a “pain” song like David Ruffin.

Sunday Brunch celebrates The Motown Sound with the original “Fab Five”.

By Bob Berry

It’s one of the great lyrics.

“I’m easy as Sunday Morning…”.

Lionel Richie wrote it, and he and The Commodores took a song about breaking up, “Easy”, to Top 5 in the late spring of 1977. It’s a beautiful song, sung, like their other smash ballads, “Three Times A Lady” and “Still“, so effortlessly, so wonderfully.

And I’ll venture a guess that one reason Lionel Richie is sometimes overlooked as a great singer, is the simple fact that he made it seem so easy.

Sunday Brunch is served, on Keener 13.

By Bob Berry

Barry White made, very simply, some of the most seductive, engaging, and joyful music of the disco era.

If you were at a club, and Barry’s music hit the speakers, you danced.

If you were on the way home with a significant other, and Barry White hit the radio speakers, you romanced. And from there, well, you were on your own.

Barry White, who passed in 2002 while awaiting a kidney transplant, would have celebrated his 70th birthday this weekend. “The Maestro’s” music lives on. Enjoy Sunday Brunch Triple Play on Keener!