Little Anthony keeps thinking big

The inductees for the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be announced next month, some four months after the release of the nominations, but Little Anthony isn't among those sitting around fretting over his chances.

In fact, in a recent interview, the singer couldn't even say who was nominated or how many would get in.

He'll tell you that after 50 years in the music business, he's more concerned with taking care of his own business than worrying about what other people think of him, what awards he's getting or what labels they're putting on his music.

At 68, Anthony Gourdine has seen it all and done it all at this point.

He and the Imperials formed in Brooklyn and came to fame with their very first single, "Tears on My Pillow," which became a No. 4 hit in 1958 and still stands as one of the classic heartbreak ballads of the era. Rather than fade away like so many of the late '50s groups, the Imperials hit the charts again in the '60s with the more modern "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Hurt So Bad."

Little Anthony branched off solo at various points, and members came and went, but five decades going, the Imperials are still touring with three original members - Little Anthony, Ernest Wright and Clarence Collins - at a time when some of the oldies groups don't even have one.

Q: So, how did you get Little in front of your name?

A: It was Alan Freed in 1958. The legend says that one of the promoters came in and played the record on WINS, on his show, and he was the biggest disc jockey on the planet at that time. And he said, "Great stuff, who's the girl?" And (the promoter) said, "That's not a girl; that's a guy." He said, "Man, he must be little," and he just said "Little Anthony." So it became Little Anthony and the Imperials. In fact, the first record we put out was "The Imperials." They had to recall thousands of records 'cause it said the Imperials.

Q: But your career may have been completely different if he hadn't done that, right?

A: Well, what it would have done would have clarified that I wasn't little. That's what it would have done and saved a lot of pain as I went through in this business. People start thinking that you're this mindless little elf that happens to be talented.

Q: When you first heard "Tears on My Pillow," did you think it was going to be that big of a hit?

A: Nope. The song we had was "Two People in the World," that Ernest wrote. It was the one that got us the record deal when we went down there to audition. In those days, you had a little 45 with two sides, so we had to do another song. We did several songs, which just did not please George Goldner, who was the president of End Records. He said, "There's a song I like. I'd like you to listen to it. I think we're going to go back in the studio and record it." And that was "Tears on My Pillow." It was hastily done. I learned it quick. The melody stayed in my head very quickly and then I read the words off the lead sheet, and the guys in the back room had to come up with a background and they didn't know what to do 'cause we had to record it that day so they took the background of the Penguins' "Earth Angel." People would listen to "Earth Angel" and "Tears on My Pillow" - same background.

Q: What was your reaction to being nominated for the Rock and Hall of Fame? I guess you waited a long time.

A: You know what? We never waited. And you probably say, "Oh, he's jivin'" But we never discussed it. We felt that we were fulfilling what our destiny was. There are a lot of people in that Hall of Fame that ain't performing anymore. We reached a pinnacle in our career where we were working at some of the finest places in the world, from Vegas to Lake Tahoe, all the biggest rooms. It was almost to us like, I don't know how they decide who gets to be in the Hall of Fame, but we realize that the only thing we had to do was to be better - better performers. People like Billy Joel, Paul Shaffer, Paul Simon, those were the people who were really lobbying for us. We don't have any power.

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