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What was your first professional musician gig, and how did you come by it please?
SM: Well, that sure brings back some memories! I believe it was in my first band, an all-girl band
called The Loreleis. We played quite a few venues, but I remember one of the first places was a
dinner club called The Roostertail on the river, near downtown Detroit. I recall that one because
the twin sisters, Mary and Carole Linton, were only 16 and we had to get a special compensation
notice, saying that their parents had to be in attendance. It was quite a coup for us in those days.
After that, we played a lot of clubs, so their parents were probably getting pretty tired of carting
us all around by then.
Meatloaf and Shaun Murphy
LL: You’ve also done
theatre! Motown Records
became interested in you
and fellow “Hair”
castmate Marvin Lee Aday
(Meatloaf) and signed you
both to their Rare Earth
division as Stoney and
Meatloaf. What’s the story
behind your stage name
Stoney please?
SM: As a matter of fact, I
always thought I’d be more
of an actress than a singer,
as I did a lot of musicals in
school and summer stock.
When I started working a lot
in mainstream Detroit
bands, we did all the major festivals, and also, filling out the rosters was Meatloaf’s bands, Floating
Circus and Popcorn Blizzard. That’s where I first met and got to know Meatloaf, and we stayed
in touch, off and on ever since. When the musical, Hair opened in Detroit, I went down to audition,
and Meatloaf was already there….a great reunion was had by all….on opening night, in the crowd
were people from Motown and Rare Earth. They contacted us the very next day, saying they
wanted to record us as a duo, and the rest is history….we stayed in touch till he died, helping him
gather people and songs for an upcoming record he wanted to do, even doing a duet,
commemorating the reissue of the “Stoney and Meatloaf” double CD.
All my life, I’ve been interested in music. My Dad brought home our first record player and 45’s,
Elvis, all the way…. When my parents divorced, we ended up moving to Iowa for a time, and still
enthralled with music, there was this band in school I used to see, I thought the lead singer was
ultra-cool, and he called himself, Stoney! I have to tell you, I thought that was a really ultra-hip
thing to do….,so, I kept that mental note stowed away! Some years later, when I, too, was in a
band, I thought, well, I’m probably not going to do this sort of thing for very long, and that old
nugget popped right back in the head….I’ll use the name Stoney!!! I did for more years than I
thought I would….I know a lot of folks think it had some darker history behind it, but there it is,
LOL.
LL: Your next musical adventure was working with Bob Seger. How did that come about
please, and how was that experience?