25 Things You Might (or Might Not) Want To Know About Me

1. At age 10 I won a call-in radio contest ($13) on WKNR Keener 13 Detroit.
2. We were dismissed from Library class and sent home early one Friday from Willard Elementary School in Highland Park Michigan because President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I didn't want to leave school. I liked Library.
2. At age 11 I played The Hungarian Rhapsody #3 in my first piano recital.
3. At age I2 I played in the largest piano recital at Detroit's Cobo Hall, 1500 students from across Michigan played on 750 pianos supplied by Grinnell's Pianos of Detroit. I recall being a speck of pepper in a sea of salt that day.
4. As a Motown boy I grew up loving The Beatles (Eleanor Rigby), Procol Harum (A Whiter Shade Of Pale), Jimi Hendrix (All Along The Watchtower), Janis Ian (Society's Child & Seventeen) Dusty Springfield (To Sir With Love) and too many other non-black faves to mention.
5. I hated Smokey Robinson & Diana Ross (winers), loved The Temps, Gladys, Stevie, Marvin and The Four Tops. I could go on but I won't.
6. At age 13 while standing on the steps of New Jerusalem COGIC 7361 Linwood Avenue, I looked a mile north as a massive cloud of smoke and humanity made its way toward us. We got out of church early that day for a change. It was the 1967 riot.
7. At age 14 while at choir rehearsal with my Mom, I ran to answer the pay phone in the basement - a great chance to get away for a minute (I'd burned my only bathroom break already). The voice told me to tell the choir that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. I walked slowly upstairs to tell a waiting choir. We got out of rehearsal early that night. I felt bad.
8. At age 15 I sat next to NBA great Spencer Haywood my first day of high school. I wondered what this full-grown man was doing sitting in a desk he could crush with one swipe of his gargantuan hand.
9. At age 16 I fell in love with Jacquelyn Yvonne Martin.
10. While standing on her front porch one sunny summer day I was shot at by a man who was angry at her brother Mel for raping his 16 year old sister. I felt granules of brick spray across my cheek as the ricocheting bullet hit the house not 6 inches from my head. Frozen in shock, Jackie saved my life by pulling me into the house.
11. Jackie and I were walking home from school, as a car full of drunken grown men drove by, saying what they'd like to do to her. We recognized one of the men - her father.
12. At 17 I was voted Mr. Entertainer by my high school graduating class. I played the lead in most of the Pershing High School plays: Dracula Baby, Cyrano De Bergerac, Li'l Abner, Dr. Faustus & Scrooge. As I sat in the empty auditorium days before graduation, I knew I'd never have that much fun again in my life. I was right.
13. At 18 Jackie ditched me for an older man.
14. At 19 I was living with my new girlfriend Airlene Fowler.
15. At 20 I hung out with one hit wonder Jimmy Ruffin's ex, Clara, a fun loving lady who sent limos to pick me up to party hard with the desperate wives of the Motown set. I was labeled her "security." She gave me a pearl-handled .38.
16. At 21 I sold and used weed and drugs to and with a choir I sang in.
17. At 22 I tripped out on mescaline at New Bethel Baptist church, Aretha's dad's church. A pastor named District Elder David L. Ellis sitting in the balcony whispered a silent prayer - I was saved one month later at his church.
18. At 24 I married Angela Denere Montgomery, and together we had four beautiful children; Darryl II (DJ), Brandon, Christopher and Brionne. We divorced after 12 years. I went to work for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan where i remained for nearly 20 years.
19. Ishan Danny Birchett and I founded a group whose members included Fred Hammond and Mitch Jones, among others. I helped mentor Byron Cage during his formative years. I hosted an Emmy award winning TV show for 10 years and wrote a Grammy nominated song.
20. I took a floundering radio show and turned it into the first 24 hour black gospel radio station in Detroit.
21. I married Lynn B. and divorced 18 months later.
22. I married Carolyn D. and divorced 90 days later.
23. I was fired from the radio station for announcing my call to pastoral ministry; it was viewed as a conflict of interest. I worked for another radio station and was fired as well.
24. My favorite snack food is Cheetos; cereal is Millville Red Berries (available at Aldi's), gum is Big Red, fast food is White Castle #3 with Coke (light ice), deli food is Bread Basket's United Meat and Lafayette Coney Island's Special two on one with everything.
25. I married Cozette, and we'll be celebrating 15 years in the Bahamas as we repeat our vows this December. Please join us.