<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No need to tell me that I spelled his name wrong in the title.\u00a0 When his first record came out on the small Princess label, Ronnie Milsaps was thrilled.\u00a0 Then he \u2018read\u2019 a review in the Atlanta newspaper.\u00a0 They said nice things about the record, but had dropped the last \u2018s\u2019 from his name.\u00a0 Rather than telling the editors about the mistake, he took the next best option:\u00a0 he went to the courthouse and officially changed his name from \u2018Milsaps\u2019 to \u2018Milsap\u2019.\u00a0 I have always liked his songs and personality, but I can\u2019t say I have ever bought one of his records.\u00a0 As a Country Music Award collecting machine in the 1980s, Milsap was at the top of his game when he penned his 1990 biography <\/span>Ronnie Milsap – Almost Like a Song<\/span><\/i> (with Tom Carter, McGraw-Hill Publishing).\u00a0 I happened upon the title when my wife and I bought a $2.50 bag of books from the library used book sale to have on hand in March of 2019 when it became apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic would be closing public gathering places.\u00a0 It turned out to be a gem of a read after I was able to get the slight smell of mildew eradicated (hint:\u00a0 insert a clothes dryer static sheet in the pages and seal the book in a plastic bag for a few days.\u00a0 This cures the problem most of the time.\u00a0 In this case, a longer period of treatment was needed as the lingering aura of mildew still stirred up my spring allergies earlier than usual).\u00a0 It turns out that Ronnie is as good a story teller as he is a songwriter\/musician.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Young Ronnie Milsaps was raised by his paternal grandparents Phenia and Homer Frisby (who was Ronnie\u2019s father\u2019s stepfather).\u00a0 His mother wanted nothing to do with him.\u00a0 She felt\u00a0 his blindness was God\u2019s way of punishing her for some reason.\u00a0 As Ronnie explains it, \u201cReligious fears were as perverse as they were common at that time in rural western North Carolina.\u00a0 Misguided fundamentalist teachings were the way of life and the only hope for eternal life among the Appalachians of the Smoky Mountains.\u201d\u00a0 After a year of her \u2018hysterical rantings\u2019 about her son, (\u201cTake away God\u2019s punishment,\u201d she demanded, before adding, \u201cDon\u2019t you take that baby out of this house without a blanket!\u201d), Ronnie was taken to his grandparent\u2019s four room cabin located a half mile from the nearest road.\u00a0 With no running water or utilities, young Ronnie grew up loved and cared for, but his mother\u2019s rejection would follow him through his early life.\u00a0 They were poor in material ways but Ronnie grew up in a loving family.\u00a0 He was a curious child who made up for his lack of sight by taking mechanical things like clocks apart to \u201csee what made them tick.\u201d\u00a0 Things the family did not want disassembled were placed on higher shelves.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At age six, his grandfather Homer and a welfare caseworker took him on a two day journey to Raleigh, North Carolina to enroll him in the State School for the Blind.\u00a0 It was a great adventure for the young Ronnie as it included a stay in a hotel and his first encounters with indoor plumbing.\u00a0 The next day, they toured the school which was another new adventure.\u00a0 When it was time for Homer to say goodbye, he explained that Ronnie would be staying at the school.\u00a0 The boy was heartbroken and confused: \u201cI still couldn\u2019t believe he was saying it.\u00a0 Hadn\u2019t my own mother abandoned me?\u00a0 Hadn’t I been born with virtually no sight (Ronnie could sense light with one eye)?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t God know I was just a little kid?\u201d\u00a0 His new situtation reminded him of the Bible story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery as a youth:\u00a0 \u201cI was sure that I was a little boy who had been taken far away and sold into servitude.\u201d\u00a0 It was a bitter pill to swallow and Governor Morehead (as the school was later renamed) would be his home for the next thirteen years.\u00a0 By the time he graduated in 1962, he had learned to get around in the world.\u00a0 One of the schools \u2018tests\u2019 involved dropping students off in downtown Raleigh with a cane and no instructions how to get back to the school.\u00a0 Ronnie\u2019s grades were good enough to gain a spot at North Carolina State, one of the most prestigious schools then as it is now.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The story about his trips home for the Christmas holiday offers a glimpse as to how rough the road to his future could be.\u00a0 Ronnie would be put on a bus for the two day ride home without a traveling companion.\u00a0 Once they reached Asheville, North Carolina, he would spend the night alone in the bus terminal until the next bus departed for home.\u00a0 A kindly bus driver might take him to a restroom or see that he got off at the right stop.\u00a0 Occasionally he would be mugged for his lunch. A frightening trip for a sighted child, this became routine for the young Ronnie.\u00a0 Back at home, the hill folk were skeptical that he was learning anything of value at the far away school.\u00a0 He and his grandfather lugged the eighteen volume Braille Bible to the local store so he could demonstrate that he could indeed read.\u00a0 Some claimed it was a parlor trick. \u201cThat they thought I had memorized the whole Bible tells it all,\u201d Milsap notes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While he credits many of the school staff who taught him the skills he would come to rely on, he also remembers that the school was big on discipline.\u00a0 \u2018Big\u2019 to the point of \u2018abusive\u2019 in some cases.\u00a0 At fourteen, he dared to speak up to a study hall monitor in defense of a friend who the adult had slapped.\u00a0 In return, the monitor slapped Ronnie so hard that it damaged his one \u2018good\u2019 eye.\u00a0 He had always held out hope that someday God or medical knowledge (or both) would be able to fix his eye.\u00a0 The slapping episode caused a blood clot behind his eye resulting in him \u2018seeing\u2019 a wash of red with his eyes open or shut and also a great deal of pain.\u00a0 The pain and the drugs he took for the discomfort began to disrupt his life even further.\u00a0 He reluctantly agreed to having his \u2018good\u2019 eye surgically removed and replaced with an artificial one.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Milsap credits the music department at the school for helping him develop his skills on a variety of instruments.\u00a0 Though he learned to play the violin, cello, and clarinet, he favored the piano over his first instrument, the guitar.\u00a0 At first, the music students were discouraged from (and punished for) playing that new fangled \u2018devil\u2019s music\u2019 called \u2018rock and roll\u2019.\u00a0 Milsap was banned from the music department by the vindictive department head for daring to play Buddy Holly songs (on his own time) the day Holly died (along with Ritchie Valens and JR \u2018The Big Bopper\u2019 Richardson when their plane crashed in a snowy Iowa cornfield).\u00a0 The next year, the school wanted his musical talents on the cello back in the orchestra, but Ronnie exercised a bit of his hill country stubbornness and he would return, \u201cOnly if I play the clarinet.\u201d\u00a0 At that point he didn\u2019t know how to play the clarinet, but not surprisingly, Milsap learned the new instrument fast enough to earn the first chair.\u00a0 Tough times made him tougher, but Ronnie also helped change some of the school\u2019s restrictions.\u00a0 By his junior year (and with encouragement from the school), he and his friends had formed a band called The Apparitions.\u00a0 The first time he earned $15 for playing at a dance, Ronnie began thinking about becoming a professional musician.\u00a0 The State of North Carolina had a different plan.\u00a0 They supported his education at Governor Morehead and expected him to attend North Carolina State.\u00a0 Milsap went against the grain when he decided to attend Young Harris College so he could stay closer to home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At the Junior College, Ronnie studied pre-law with the intent of continuing on at Emory Law School.\u00a0 He did well in school but he still failed his music appreciation class.\u00a0 The class was held on Monday mornings.\u00a0 Spending the weekend at clubs listening to or playing music caused him to sleep in on Mondays.\u00a0 He had no problem passing the class work or tests, but his frequent absenteeism was interpreted as \u2018indifference\u2019.\u00a0 Ronnie became friends with the son of a wealthy contractor who had a band called The Dimensions.\u00a0 When asked to sit in with the band, he was a natural fit and joined up.\u00a0 After graduating from Young Harris in 1964, Milsap began having second thoughts about law school.\u00a0 He met his future wife Joyce about this time and she encouraged him to do what he wanted to do, not just follow the path the State of North Carolina picked for him.\u00a0 He felt he owed the state for their support, but in the end, the decision was made.\u00a0 Ronnie Milsap pursued music full time.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Though somewhat insecure about his own talents, Ronnie decided to strike out on his own.\u00a0 With The Dimensions, Milsap was performing mostly R&B music and pop.\u00a0 At first they were a curiosity;\u00a0 a group of white boys playing rhythm and blues for mostly black audiences.\u00a0 Atlanta disc jockey Pat Hughes got them in front of white teens and eventually into integrated clubs.\u00a0 It was Hughes who introduced Milsap to the \u2018Crazy Cajun\u2019 record producer from Houston named Huey Meaux with whom he would record his first record.\u00a0 The single (<\/span>Total Disaster<\/span><\/i> backed by <\/span>It Went to Your Head<\/span><\/i>) sold a lot of records in the Atlanta area, but struggled for airplay elsewhere.\u00a0 Milsap explained the luke warm sales:\u00a0 \u201cI think the disappointing sales had to do with the assassination of President Kennedy the same week my recored went on sale.\u00a0 Neither song had to do with the shooting, but that was so heavily in the day\u2019s news, I think a lot of folks thought the tunes were irreverent ditties about the assasination.\u201d\u00a0 There would be more years of touring before Milsap became a recording star.\u00a0 Nine releases on Scepter Records and two on Chips Records would follow.\u00a0 His fortunes began to rise when he was signed by major label Warner Brothers in 1972 (and later RCA in 1973).\u00a0 A move to Nashville would eventually provide connections and studio work with Elvis and other established stars he had previously heard on the radio.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His band leader in The Dimensions really liked James Brown, Ronnie not so much.\u00a0 Just the same, Milsap began performing more of The Godfather of Soul\u2019s tunes and gained a greater appreciation for his style.\u00a0 When he and his bass player were invited to be part of a week-long package of shows opening for JB, he was elated.\u00a0 The first rehearsal with the band turned into a smoking hot two hour jam session.\u00a0 When they took the stage for the first show, the whole band was on stage, yet only Ronnie and his bass player could be heard.\u00a0 Bewildered, he asked JB\u2019s musical director what was happening.\u00a0 He said, \u201cIs this your first time playing with him?\u00a0 Didn\u2019t anybody tell you?\u00a0 He will let you rehearse with the band, but he won\u2019t let us play the actual show because he doesn\u2019t want us helping anybody sound better than him.\u201d\u00a0 Meeting Ray Charles left a better impression but Ronnie worried when Ray said he was going to record his own version of a song Milsaps had recently released.\u00a0 As he feared, Ray\u2019s version out sold his.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were good and bad times to come.\u00a0 Joyce became Milsap\u2019s wife and acted as the band\u2019s driver, booker, and roady.\u00a0 Having played every club in Atlanta, they branched out by booking an extended engagement at Fort Bragg, NC.\u00a0 Performing 47 shows a week, Ronnie found that no matter how much he loved to play, he wasn\u2019t superhuman.\u00a0 On his fifty fourth consecutive day of performing at the various clubs at Fort Bragg, he lost his voice.\u00a0 No sore throat or hoarseness signaled the oncoming voice trouble:\u00a0 he simply lost his voice completely in mid-song.\u00a0 When the doctor examining him was told about the brutal schedule he had set for himself, the doctor exclaimed, \u201cEven God takes Sundays off!\u201d\u00a0 No permanent damage was done but another lesson was learned.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was also at Fort Bragg that Milsap nearly got busted for driving while blind.\u00a0 One late night, he convinced everybody that he could drive the deserted streets leading off base to their motel.\u00a0 With the bass player sitting behind him giving directions, they set off down the road with Ronnie behind the wheel.\u00a0 Near the main gate, they encountered a road block where the MPs were checking for drunk drivers.\u00a0 This was not uncommon on military bases as I had a similar experience at KI Sawyer Air Force base after a band job at the NCO Club back in the early 1970s.\u00a0 Without time to switch drivers, it was Milsap that the MP asked to step out of the car for questioning.\u00a0 He was incensed when Milsap said he had left his license back at the hotel (a license he obviously did not possess).\u00a0 The MP calmed down when Ronnie explained why he was driving without a license:\u00a0 \u201cI called him \u2018sir,\u2019 I said, \u2018these guys have had a couple of drinks and we wouldn\u2019t want anyone to drink and drive.\u00a0 So I figured it would be best if I drove.\u00a0 I don\u2019t drink, and we\u2019re musicians who are playing on this base, and we were just on our way home.\u2019\u00a0 The MP\u2019s anger began to subside.\u00a0 I had been nice, apologetic, and respectful.\u00a0 And it worked.\u00a0 He told me to go on\u00a0 home, and never to let him see me driving that way again.\u00a0 For him, the routine incident was over.\u00a0 For me, the crisis was heightening.\u00a0 I had to open the door by feel, slide onto the driver\u2019s seat, start the engine, and pull away in front of the suspicious stares of I don\u2019t know how many MPs.\u00a0 I had pulled it off, and I never saw that MP again.\u00a0 He never knew I never had [seen him].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ronnie Milsap surprises people and he understands why.\u00a0 Most people don\u2019t get to spend much time with a blind person, so they just don\u2019t know what to think.\u00a0 Many are surprised that he is tall (6\u20192\u201d), has a wife and son, and loves to take things apart.\u00a0 He is a ham radio operator and collects both old radios and records.\u00a0 When he gets up to dance on stage, some worry that he will tumble off the edge, but as a showman, Milsap knows exactly where his marks are.\u00a0 If he could find his way back to school from downtown Raleigh, one suspects that he would not have trouble finding his way back to a piano on stage.\u00a0 Many were also surprised that his records had so much crossover appeal.\u00a0 Blessed with a voice that can sing a range of styles, it wasn\u2019t a surprise when he became one of the first country artists to receive extended airplay on MTV.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Knowing more of his R&B roots, it is time for me to re-examine Ronnie Milsap\u2019s music.\u00a0 The C&W star with the sparkly jackets and dark shades makes no apologies for living a rags to riches life that allows him to own a mansion in Nashville.\u00a0 Up to the publication of this book, he had heard occasionally from his birth mother.\u00a0 She would periodically contact him to ask for money (or send a boyfriend to his press conferences to ask him publically why he treats his mother so poorly), requests he has declined to honor.\u00a0 His grandmother Phenia died before he became a big success.\u00a0 Homer died in August of 1989 as his book was being written.\u00a0 To him, they were his mother and father.\u00a0 Milsap would have given them anything they asked for.\u00a0 As of 2020, Milsap is 77 years old and still active in the music industry.\u00a0 Sadly, their son Todd of natural causes in 2019 at age 49.\u00a0 He had worked with his father in production and on videos.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 \u00a0Here is Ronnie performing in 2002 –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No need to tell me that I spelled his name wrong in the title.\u00a0 When his first record came out on the small Princess label, Ronnie Milsaps was thrilled.\u00a0 Then he \u2018read\u2019 a review in the Atlanta newspaper.\u00a0 They said nice things about the record, but had dropped the last \u2018s\u2019 from his name.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2065"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2069,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2065\/revisions\/2069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}