HMC Rewind: Marshall Jefferson

By Byron Burke

I was very fortunate to work closely with House Music Pioneer Marshall Jefferson and my former Ten City band members Byron Stingily and Herb Lawson from Chicago.

Marshall Jefferson was the creator of the legendary house music song called “Move Your Body”. Marshall was a former Post Office employee and decided to become a recording artist at the age of 35. He never had instruction on how to create music, but someone told him to purchase a Yamaha QX 1 music sequencer; Roland 707 drum machine; Roland JX 8P keyboard and a simple mixer that could be used to hear the music coming from the musical devices.

Mr. Jefferson spent countless hours teaching me how to use these electronic music devices and various troubleshooting techniques to use if I encounter any problems. One weekend in June of 1987, he allowed me to take all his equipment home. I was so excited, I locked myself in the room and tried out some song Ideas I had running around my head. That weekend I created the foundation “Ten City’s” biggest commercial hit called “That’s The Way Love Is” and “Whatever Makes You Happy” that was later released in 1990 on Atlantic Records.

Click here to watch a video featuring Marshall Jefferson

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