He further said, ". . . most musicians do not spend the time to find out what they are dealing with."

• Conchita Antunano (vocalist) - a great soprano who showed me the techniques of correct breathing, placement of voice, and introduced me to Bell Canto vocalization.
• Otis Blackwell (pianist, vocalist) - who recorded at my studio. I was fortunate to be the engineer on two of Otis' last albums entitled, "Let's talk About Us" and "From the Beginning" respectively. On these albums, Otis sang most of his songs that he composed for Elvis Presley, including two of Elvis Presley's biggest hits - in terms of record sales. These songs are "Don't be Cruel" (highest record sales for Elvis) and "Return to Sender" (second highest record sales for Elvis).  What was remarkable in this session was the discovery that Otis did not sound like Elvis; it was the reverse. Elvis never wrote any of Otis' songs, although that was the 'deal' for him to sing the songs. Moreover, Elvis not only copied Otis' voice - he also copied his phrasings. In other words, Elvis imitated Otis! One night I saw Otis sing, "Don't be Cruel" on the "David Letterman's Show." That performance forced me to ask Otis, "Are you sure that Elvis did not take your demo, remove your name and put it out as him?" However, what I learned from Otis was songwriting skills and phrasing. My Christmas release entitled "Reggae Christmas" would never have existed had it not been for Otis. I played for him my version of Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song." He asked me what I planned to put on the B-side of my soon to be released LP 45. I responded that I intended to put the instrumental version of "The Christmas Song." 

Continued

James Cannings & friend Otis Blackwell - Elvis Presley's tune smith - in control room,  Cannings Recording Studio, Inc. Photo: taken during Otis' 1983 recording session. Cannings engineered.

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