Vernon Gibbs
At New York's Columbia University, Vernon Gibbs (left, with Larry Graham) wrote for the Columbia Daily Spectator. He subsequently contributed to the Village Voice, Scholastic, Phonograph Record magazine, Penthouse, Playboy, Essence, Black Music (England), New Musical Express (England), Rolling Stone, Creem, music trade mags Billboard and Cashbox. He also wrote liner notes and bios for famous artists such as Marvin Gaye and record labels such as Sony's Epic/Columbia labels, Universal Music's Polygram label and Warner Music's Atlantic label.
By the time he graduated from college, Gibbs had interviewed and written about some of the biggest stars in music history, such as James Brown and Earth, Wind & Fire which led him to producing demos for local artists and got a him a job as an A&R exec at Universal Music's Mercury Records. A Gibbs demo also landed at Arista Records' Clive Davis, resulting in a position in A&R that saw him working with classic artists such as Dionne Warwick (platinum) and production on million-selling album Disco Nights. Gibbs had another #1 Billboard hit with a band he managed on Chris Blackwell's legendary Island Records, after which he returned to his career as a music journalist.
93 articles
List of articles in the library
Jimi Hendrix: Thoughts on Hendrix
Comment by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 24 September 1970
SOMEWHERE LURKING deeply in the back of lost realities a dark electric nightmare swirls. In some dimension there is a place where Ultimates reach incredible ...
Aretha Franklin: Spirit in the Dark (SD 8265, Atlantic)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 29 September 1970
ARETHA FRANKLIN, once the undisputed Queen of Soul, still is the Queen though she doesn't sell million sellers the way she used to, and none ...
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 29 September 1970
MOODY BLUES' Question of Balance (Threshold, THS3)I first heard of the Moody Blues early this year about five minutes before I was scheduled to interview them. A ...
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 5 October 1970
CHILLING. EVERY note sends raw, nervous bundles of uncertainty racing through your head. Reprise, which originally planned this album to capitalize on the festival furore ...
Janis Joplin: Remembering Janis
Obituary by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 6 October 1970
JANIS JOPLIN used to stand on stage at the Fillmore and wring out evil, catastrophic blues numbers, agony-wracked protests cloaked in Southern Comfort elegance. It ...
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 15 October 1970
A LIST OF exceptional recent releases would have to include Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, The Voices of East Harlem's Right On — Be ...
Led Zeppelin: Gloomy; Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin III
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 21 October 1970
BRON-Y-AUR lies forgotten on the side of a lonely mountain in South Snowdonia, somewhere in England. From the distance, the peaks of the mountain spread ...
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (Reprise 6383)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 6 November 1970
Neil Young's Best Album ...
Funkadelic: Free Your Mind (Westbound 2001)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 2 December 1970
Funkadelic's Music Whispers of Madness ...
The Velvet Underground: Andy Warhol's Velvet Underground Featuring Nico (MGM)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 14 December 1970
Soft Moments From 'Velvet Underground' ...
Jimi Hendrix: The Cry of Love (Reprise MS2034)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 3 March 1971
Jimi's Cry ...
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 22 April 1971
WE'RE SITTING there rapping just before camera time. This evening James Brown is taping the Johnny Carson Show and he is in a good mood, having just ...
Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage: Fillmore East, New York, NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 29 April 1971
One Stoned Evening With the Dead ...
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (Atco COC 59100)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 12 May 1971
Sticky Fingers: Have the Rolling Stones Peaked? ...
Jethro Tull: The Rise And Fall Of God As Told By Ian Anderson
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Circus, August 1971
THE LATEST from Jethro Tull is as all the other albums were, mainly, the product of the hyperactive mind of leader Ian Anderson. Who is ...
Taj Mahal: Taking The Music Back To The People... But Is Taj Mahal The Real Thing?
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Sounds, 7 August 1971
ON HIS latest album (reviewed in SOUNDS last week), recorded live at the Fillmore East, Taj Mahal makes the assertive claim that he is indeed ...
Stevie Wonder: Music Of My Mind (Tamla)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Rock, June 1972
A breakaway from restrictive formulas ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, Soul Sounds, November 1972
THERE SEEMS to be a definite increase of interest among young Black and Third World musicians, who are either not technically equipped or deeply enough ...
Comment by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, February 1973
CARLOS SANTANA laid his gleamingly new Gibson double electric white lead carefully on the stage of The Academy of Music and the M.C. reverently requested ...
Soul, Man: Taki 183 Fights the Bugaloo Boulevards to a Draw
Report by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, June 1973
BACK IN THE bugaloo boulevards of my youth, there were diddyboppers who roamed the midnight streets. They were haunters of alleys and pool halls, riders ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: Marking Time with Funkadelic — an interview with George Clinton
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Soul Sounds, July 1973
THERE IS a hard core of demented maniacs who force their way into people's apartments, with wild looks in their eyes. Usually they can be ...
Bobby Womack Says He Could Be a Superstar
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973
NEW YORK — Bobby Womack was in the midst of a highly successful tour with Santana. His single, 'Harry Hippie', had just been certified gold, ...
Earth, Wind & Fire, Isaac Hayes: Isaac Hayes: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
Brilliant Hayes: the bald facts ...
Manu Dibango: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
MANU DIBANGO'S appearance at the Apollo was the capper for a frenzied week of concert-going in New York and the East Coast. ...
Funkadelic, Mandrill, Osibisa, Rare Earth: Black 'Woodstock': A Violent Fiasco
Report by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
IT COULD have been the biggest event of the summer. For many of us trapped in the iron heart of the city, it promised to ...
The Delfonics, Eddie Kendricks: Eddie Kendricks, The Delfonics: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
Hot night at the Apollo ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
ANYTIME THE American media welcomes a new act with such an overt display of scraping and bowing for superlatives, it's time to be suspicious. ...
Randy Weston Finds Himself in Africa
Press Release by Vernon Gibbs, Polydor, November 1973
RANDY WESTON sits in the middle of the hustling, super city of New York, the spiritual capital of the country that 22 million Afro-Americans consider ...
Manu Dibango: Joining Soul With Its Afro Roots
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
THINGS HAVEN'T improved much in the last few weeks. The Apollo, the main showcase for black talent in the New York area, continues to run ...
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Black Music, December 1973
DON COVAY is a permanent fixture in the music of this era. ...
Ashford & Simpson, Marvin Gaye: Entertainers: Ashford and Simpson
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Essence, December 1973
"OH, I JUST love Marvin Gaye," Valerie Simpson says, bouncing up and down with all the enthusiasm of an avid fan. "He's such a beautiful ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth Wind & Fire: Memories of Trane & Motown
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Rolling Stone, 6 December 1973
CINCINNATI — MAURICE White and Phillip Bailey, the two lead singers and percussionists for Earth, Wind and Fire, are sitting in a rented Pontiac parked ...
Kool and the Gang: Kool & The Gang: Street Gang
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Black Music, February 1974
KOOL & THE GANG got that jitterbug move, got the spirit. Got that easy ride, got that cool energy. Got that diddley/daddy chenka chenk guitar ...
Aretha Franklin: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
Aretha: a Queen with no dignity? ...
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Black Music, April 1974
Vernon Gibbs in New York reports on the band who hit Britain in April ...
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
Central Station soul special ...
Herbie Hancock, The Headhunters: Rollin' & Tumblin': Head Hunting with Herbie Hancock
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, June 1974
After years of high-quality struggle, one black jazzman has finally hit it big. Were the compromises worth it? ...
Miles Davis: Big Fun (Columbia)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, July 1974
SO MANY expletives have been deleted in praise of this honorable sage, that I feel it necessary to set the record straight. Miles Davis is ...
Gladys Knight, O'Jays: Soul Man: "Cholly" Atkins
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, July 1974
THE MAN who taught the Temptations their strut, the Pips their dip, the Miracles their whip... takes it all in stride. ...
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, July 1974
THE TRUE TEST of any band is in live performance. Prima donna "entertainers" can escape with sickly back-ups and pass muster simply on the force ...
Al Green, Laura Lee: Apollo Theatre, Harlem, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
Uptight Green holds it all back ...
Betty Davis: The Bottom Line, New York, NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, August 1974
THE FEEBLE-minded walk out in disgust when Betty Davis wiggles her tush at them, the weakhearted go limp with despair while the lusty ready their ...
Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine: Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine: In Concert (CTI 6044)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, August 1974
THERE IS something I don't like about Side One of this album and it's hard to say what it is. One thing I do know ...
Kool and the Gang, Nancy Wilson: Nancy Wilson, Kool and The Gang: The Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, September 1974
"SING BLACK!," one dissenter shouted at Nancy Wilson who was the headliner at an Apollo show which included the comedy of Dick Gregory and was ...
The Jimmy Castor Bunch, Funkadelic, Parliament: Funkadelic pee in your Afro
Report by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 5 September 1974
LAST WEEK, Rare Earth punked out of a gig at the Apollo, a rare honor for which Mick Jagger might conceivably give up eyeshadow. The ...
Stevie Wonder, The Commodores: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Zoo World, 24 October 1974
'S Wonderful! ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, B.B. King: Soul, Man: New York Johnny meets L.A. Jane for a Medium Massage
Report by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, November 1974
L.A. IS A great big freeway they say, pay a hundred down and buy a car, if you don't you won't get very far. Tooling ...
Barry White: Can't Get Enough (20th Century)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 7 November 1974
Barry White: Love of Lush ...
Marvin Gaye May Not Be Goin' On
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Zoo World, 7 November 1974
"SOMEBODY PLEASE turn that thing down," Marvin Gaye casts this weary appeal to one of the numerous aides that flitter through his suite in New ...
Blue Magic, Aretha Franklin: Aretha Franklin, Blue Magic: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
ARETHA FRANKLIN ascended into the firmament that was always hers by right anyway with a spectacular Radio City Music Hall series of concerts that would ...
James Brown: The Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
UPTOWN AT the Apollo, an eager audience is wondering when The King of Soul will make his appearance. ...
The Isley Brothers: Felt Forum, New York, NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Phonograph Record, December 1974
THE ISLEY Brothers have demonstrated a level of tenacity that can only be considered remarkable in a business marked by overnight successes and instant failures. ...
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Essence, 1975
EVEN THOUGH he has been writing, arranging and producing hit records since 1961, Van McCoy is still technically a newcomer. He is of that breed ...
Booker T. Jones, The Persuasions: Booker T., the Persuasions: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 6 January 1975
Booker T. and the Persuasions: Black Folk Music ...
Report by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
...Look what a hole he's in. From New York VERNON GIBBS reports on the man's present crises, and on funk acts Kool, BT Express, and ...
Led Zeppelin: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 17 February 1975
Led Zep Zaps Kidz? ...
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 24 February 1975
Progressive Soul: Where Were You? ...
Terry Callier, Garland Jeffreys, Booker T. Jones, Linda Lewis: Soul, Man: The New "Black Folk"
Overview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, April 1975
ALL THROUGH the '60s, Booker T. and the MGs were one of the genuine oddities of soul. ...
The Isley Brothers: 3 + 3 = Super Success
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Essence, May 1975
UNTIL 3+3, the career of the Isley Brothers had been marked by a strange pattern; after a tremendous hit record, the group would seemingly disappear ...
The Ohio Players: Ohio Players: Taking Hit Parade Mountain By Strategy
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, June 1975
SATCH SATCHELL, prime mover of The Ohio Players, is standing backstage at Radio City Music Hall mumbling something to himself about "we the #1 group ...
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan: Rufusized (ABCD-837)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, June 1975
AS A LYRICIST, Chaka Khan displays a sensibility and sensitivity that one cannot usually associate with any of the popular branches of Black music. Sly ...
Earth, Wind & Fire, Ramsey Lewis: Earth, Wind & Fire: Sonic Elements
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Downbeat, 19 June 1975
PHILADELPHIA IS a violent town. In the hotel where Earth, Wind and Fire are staying, an enraged woman (who has been given a passkey by ...
Pink Floyd: Notes for an Iron Baptism
Essay by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 30 June 1975
THERE ARE only three British groups who matter anymore: the Stones, the Who and Pink Floyd. ...
James Brown: Is James Brown Obsolete?
Comment by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 28 July 1975
Last summer, when I visited Afriac with James Brown for one of his "triumphant" blitzes, I was surprised at the discontent among his employees. The ...
Review by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, August 1975
IT HAS BEEN three years since The Harder They Come lifted reggae from obscurity to culthood and raised hopes that Jimmy Cliff would begin a ...
The Isley Brothers: The Heat Is On (T-Neck)
Review by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 18 August 1975
The Isleys Play With Themselves ...
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Penthouse, February 1976
HAVING EXHAUSTED the "Motown Sound" in the sixties, soul music is now dominated by the "Philly Sound" — a triumph of polish and strings. True ...
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass: Is Teddy or David the Real Harold Melvin?
Report by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 2 February 1976
UNBELIEVABLE AS it may seem, at 9:01 p.m. on the night of January 24, 1976, 10 minutes before Harold Melvin & the new Blue Notes ...
Betty Davis: The Put-On Who Puts Out
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Penthouse, March 1976
A WOMAN stalks the ruins of what was once a stage. She prowls it relentlessly, legs wide apart seeking out hapless victims in the audience. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Essence, April 1976
ASK MOST PEOPLE to name their favorite record by the Dells and among them you will always hear two titles: 'Oh, What a Night', originally ...
Gil Scott-Heron: The Fire This Time
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Playboy, July 1976
Gil Scott-Heron has been called the black Bob Dylan. He doesn't appreciate it. ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 18 October 1976
THE LINES that stretched around the block welcoming Al Jarreau to his second New York appearance at the Bottom Line were evidence to his devotees ...
Betty Wright: In The Wright Place
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Crawdaddy!, October 1977
NEW YORK — America needs a new Queen of Soul. Aretha has abdicated, Natalie Cole is a pretender; Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Millie Jackson and ...
Overview by Vernon Gibbs, Penthouse, January 1978
"YOU KNOW why salsa is so popular in New York?" asks Izzy Sanabria, publisher of Latin New York. "Because the rhythms of salsa are the ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 9 October 1978
HOT ON THE gold certification of his first single, 'You and I', Rick James has been going around making the preposterous claim that he is ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 16 April 1979
SINCE NO one else has had the nerve to say it, I might as well. Bill Withers is a great soul singer. Some purists might ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire Return to Form
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Rolling Stone, 4 March 1982
NEW YORK CITY — Maurice White, the guiding force behind Earth, Wind and Fire, is seated in the middle of a posh Manhattan hotel suite. A party ...
Overview by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 5 June 1982
IT MAY be one of the most frequently misused of the music industry's accolades, since in a business full of stars there are few genuine ...
Report by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 5 June 1982
Revert To '60s Packaging ...
Solomon Burke, Little Richard: Little Richard and Solomon Burke: Sex & God & Rock & Roll
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, The Village Voice, 10 August 1982
THE FIRST time I encountered Little Richard, his face was plastered against a Bedford-Stuyvesant wall — the poster advertised a show at the Breevort Theater. ...
Bob Geldof, Pink Floyd: Pink Floyd and Bob Geldof: Pink Isn't Well
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, December 1982
AS A PINK Floyd fanatic, my biggest fear has always been that on some apocalyptic night as I sat with the rest of the Pinkoid ...
Review and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, May 1983
Smithereens: directed by Susan Seidelman (New Line Cinema) ...
Prince, The Time, Vanity 6: Time For The Prince Who Will Be King
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, May 1983
HALFWAY THROUGH the concert, the long legged blonde keyboard player has stripped down to her underwear. The occasion is Prince's underground classic, 'Head', in which ...
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 4 June 1983
IN A BUSINESS where the term "veteran" can be applied to acts that have been consistent chartmakers for at least five years, it is a ...
Herbie Hancock, Kashif, Raydio: The Synthesizer: Instrument, Not The Player, Changes Music
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 16 June 1984
HERBIE HANCOCK, Kashif, and Ray Parker Jr. praise the impact of the synthesizer on black music, feeling its unlimited sound potential and ability to provide ...
Apollonia, Morris Day, Sheila E., Prince, Vanity: Those Who Would Be Prince
Report by Vernon Gibbs, New Look, November 1985
WHEN PRINCE decided that he didn't like Eddie Murphy making fun of his high-heeled boots, the rock star walked out in the middle of Murphy's ...
Fishbone: Champions of the Stoopid
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, New Look, December 1985
FISHBONE IS the nightmare of every high school teacher who feared that the misfits would take over. After their first appearance in New York, one ...
The Beastie Boys: The Grate White Hopes
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, New Look, January 1986
RAP RECORDS first started selling big in 1979 with the Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight'. They were considered little more than the grating noise of the ...
The Jon Butcher Axis: The Jon Butcher Experience
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, New Look, February 1986
WHAT HAPPENS when you're black, play mean rock guitar in a band with three white boys, and you wear headbands and an Afro and a ...
Ziggy Marley: Marley's Children
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, New Look, May 1986
UNLESS YOU are a true fan of reggae, you probably missed the most eerie coincidence of 1985. In the same year that Julian Lennon hit ...
Pink Floyd: The Sun Is Eclipsed by the Moon
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, February 1988
FOR THE TRUE Pink Floyd fanatic, 1987 was an extraordinary year. First the band split into two armed camps. Roger Waters fired the opening salvos ...
Report by Vernon Gibbs, Billboard, 18 June 1988
INDEPENDENT LABELS have always been critical to the exposure of new black music. In the '50s, labels like Specialty and Chess gave pioneers like Little ...
Sleeve notes by Vernon Gibbs, Epic/Philadelphia International, 1997
Original contribution to sleevenotes for The Philly Sound: Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff & The Story Of Brotherly Love (1966-1976) (Epic/Philadelphia International) ...
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