Cocktail Hour with Jones & Hardy Welcomes Darryl F. Houston Keyboardist for Aretha Franklin & many other performers

Name: Darryl F. Houston
Craft: Musician

In Detroit where I grew up, the thing to do, back then, was to play music and take lessons. I can remember beating on the tables at home which I believed encouraged my parents to buy me a little piano at age 4. Soon, my older brother, [my only sibling], would put on a Jazz organist and dare me to play what I heard -- I did and it worked. This opportunity allowed me the ability to emulate the different commercials on television. By age 6, I expressed an interest to my parents to take lessons. Yet, most of my exposure to music peaked when the neighbors who lived next door, a family of three daughters and two sons sang and played with their mother. They were like my official babysitters, in addition to my parents who were members of the church choir. Before long, I began playing for the Sunday school church choir by age of 10. Then by the time I was 12 or 13 years old, I played full time for our church choir. Since then, I’ve been privileged to gain a lot of experience playing gospel music with greats like Rev. Charles Nixon, Rev. Donald Veils, Minister Thomas Whitfield, Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, Rev. James Cleveland -- a collaborative effort with him and Albertina Walker, The Williams Brothers and Shirley Caesar. Aretha Franklin came along in the late 80’s when I was on a local Detroit TV show with mainstream news anchor, Dayna Eubanks playing behind Millie Scott. During the Clinton Administration, I performed several times at the White House. Next, in 1991, I gained the attention of Jennifer Holiday by knowing Billy Meadows and we collaborated on Jennifer’s music video – “I am On Your Side.” I also knew Orethia Barnes and she had me to do some things with Sylvia Moy, when I began to get my feet wet with more industry people which is how I met Michael Powell. Michael Powell had me to perform with Oleta Adams and on a soundtrack for “Lethal Weapon” with jazz vocalist Randy Crawford. I was also honored to appear on many talk shows including Oprah, David Letterman and the Rosie O’Donnell Show.

Currently, two separate projects with Millie Scott and Gloria Ridgeway, as well as, Rodney Lee are in the works. Soon you can hear some of my work, visit: a new link being added to www.detroitemnews.com, click on: Darryl F. Houston and you’re there