The Tera Shirma Story
Getting the Breaks
 
Johnnie Mae Mathews - September 2001

At this time there were a few odds and ends producers starting to come in. I remember a guy named Quentin Kimble.  A very fast talking street dude who was always trying to beat me out of paying his bill.

Johnnie Mae Mathews came in a few times. I don't remember too much about her other than she was pretty wild. Loud and boisterous. I liked her but didn't quite know how to take her.

Then I started to get a couple of breaks. I don't remember who the producer was, but Eartha Kitt was in town for an appearance. She was brought into the studio to do some vocal over-dubs and a little piece about this appeared in the newspaper mentioning Tera Shirma.

Business was beginning to pick up. Chuck Jackson came in one night to do some vocals. Don't remember the details but I was excited to meet him. I was always such a fan. He was a hell of a nice guy and very gracious.

So things were starting to improve. No real big sessions, but definitely an improvement.

I remember I kept graphs depicting the income of the studio and every month the line on the graph climbed ever higher until it went over the $2000 mark. I was thrilled. This was enough money to cover expenses and have a little left over for improvements.

Notes thanks to Ralph Terrana

 


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