Love and gratitude to...
My wife, Marsha, my daughters, Gabrielle, Victoria, and Paris, for their love, patience, support and encouragement. My father, James W Beam Sr, for EVERYTHING. My sisters, Connie Herndon, Leslie WIlliamson, and Marshina Baker for their support and encouragement. My aunts, Francelia McKindra and Christine Harrill for their love and concern. My father-in-law, Joseph Coulter for his love and generosity. My brother-in-law Chris Coulter for his love and sense of humor. The following cousins for their love, support, and encouragement: Kristen Dudley and husband Romano, Geri Abrams, Jackie Woody, Cecil Bernard, Edith Gleaves, Barbara Gleaves, Todd Barron, Nelson Beam, Steve Beam, Channing McKindra, Khama McKindra, and Shani McKindra. My extended family: The Borders, Gleaves, Beams, Smiths, Huddlestons, Coulters, Lowerys and related familes, thank you for being! The following people and their families for their love, support, encouragement, and loyalty for many years: Pastor George Logan, his wife Kim and extended family; James Wallace, his wife LaVerne, and children, Erika, Chris and Michael; Rick Jones, his wife Beverly and family; Buddy Jones, his wife Angela, and family; Janie Clements and Missy Hall (Miy N Jay)...the world still awaits you! Kim Duncan (The Voice) and Dallas Banner (The Engineer.) The following people for their 'spiritual' guidance, words of wisdom and friendship: PastorJamil Middleton and his wife Joi; Larissa Wilson and husband, Antonio. The following people who pushed and encouraged me to complete From Life 2 Life: Janet Quinn, Wendy Hamilton, Latonja Worsham, Alison Newby Taylor, Adrienne Silvey, Ji Yeon Song, Lois Allen, and Arsenio Parks. Special thanks to Andre (A.M.) Williams for the great musical ideas and direction. My long-time friends from "The Oak" who "lived and breathed" music with me growing up: Kevin Alexander, Charles "Chuck" Logan, James "Hop" Harper, Golden Rayfield Smith, Robert "Spanky" McCluney, Kenneth Withrow (an outsider from town) and Scott Guest, who really opened the door for me to recorded music. Thanks brothers, for those good ol' days.
The following musicians and singers:
Willie Fleming, for his friendship and encouragement many years ago to continue
making music. Eric Brice, for his friendship and sharing his production expertise and creativity those years ago. Gerard Moses, for his friendship, knowledge and love for music. Marvin Terrell, for his friendship, encouragement, and wisdom. Omar Porter, for his friendship and percussion-ary inspiration. Keith Cooper for his friendship, knowledge of music, and funkyness. Andy Burger, for his friendship and approach to music and recording. Phil Trammel, for his friendship, production expertise, and the many hours talking about music. Nicky-Al Peerdeman for his friendship, encouragement and 'nu-soul!'
Jayanti Noömi, for her warmth. inspiration, and genuine 'light!' And to my little brother, Michael "Docta" Davenport for his friendship and inspiration.
The following musicians, singers, and rap artists I've had the priviledge to record and/or work with in my studio(s): David Harper (honored to feature you on Life 2 Life), Michael Davenport, LaTonja Worsham, Gerard Moses, Andre WIlliams, Sanchia Chapman, Kevin WIlliams, Marvin Terrell, Eric Brice, Adrian Potts, Chris Jackson, Karen Heath, Lois Wooden, Kim Frazier, Michael Hill, Duane Hill, Cheryl Anderson, Leslie McKesson, Nick Anderson, Alex Martin, 'Checkerz,' TY, Tyrone Hopper, Arthur Hopper, and many others whose names I have temporarily forgotten. Last but not least, Kim Duncan, Janie Clements and Missy Hall, and my engineering brother, Dallas Banner, for those 'Oasis' days. Thanks for the love and all the growing we did together. The following musicians and singers who have been another source of inspiration through the years: Georgia Guest, Noble Guest, Joe Brown, Harold Brown, Ben Brown, Janice Barnette-Adams, Kevin Homesley, Michael Hunt and Steve Wallace. And to John Reid of Shelby Music Center for his friendliness and professionalism through the years.
The following additonal people who deserve much thanks for a host of reasons:
Corlina and Michael Stricklin, Gina Evans, Djuna Hunt, Imani Hampton, Euricka Spencer Thomas, Donnie Thurman Jr, MaSonya Ruff, Carmen Benson Hare, Erin Smith, Marcel Howard, Barb Petersen-Bruce, Don Davenport, Arthur Chambers, Jason and Kim Ross, Scott Hardin, Joe and Liz McConnell, Jeff and Trish Walker, Justin and Tosh Zaleski, Bryan Cooper, Jeff Melton, Guy Suttle, Lendra and Raymond Phillips, Janice and Boyd Joye, Angela Israel, Dr Roy Flood, Howard O'dell, Mitchell Parks, Sam Johnson, Michael Kelly, Kenny Harris, Michelle Smith, Otis Lockhart, Chris Capel, Danya Perry, Chuck Wallington, Steve McKee, Bryan Dalton, Tony Martin, Kim Jordan, Tony Roberts, Kassandra and Morris Watson, Dan Ashely, Terry and Chad Beam, Keith Johnson, Michael Dickey, Shane and Aprille Compton, Sibby Anderson, Peter Strickland, Gail Hamrick, Cody Starnes, Cliff Kast, Anthony Hoyle, Jonathan Bowman, Tyree and Christin Downs, Frankie Hale, Andy and Lori Roberts, Chris Lee, Charles Woodyard, Randy McBride, Dennis Shull, Wade Buff, David Edwards, Thomas Gaither, Matt Gray, Jody Darby, Pastor Juan Cherry, Tim Guest, Beverly Heffner, Danny "Poncho" McClain, Lewis Whiteside, Dr Ernest Johnson, Karen Jones, Patricia Mauney, Mary Pass, Byron Mellon, Will McNure, Jeremy Mitchell, Kathleen Morgan, Carl Neely, Scott Mitchell, Steve Pettus, Shannon Smith, Ronnie Powell, Joshua Probst, Linda Russell, Joy Knight, Ebony Smith, Rebecca Withrow, Pamela Smith, Tanesha Strong, Faye Allison, Banicca Watkins, Donald Wells, Meranda Hendrick, Nicole Deviney, Victoria Surratt, and Kelly Grier. To Miss Maho Omiya, for the Japanese translation of "Friends & Family." Also to Communities in Schools of Cleveland County and the Crest High School Staff (past and present!) To my other families that loved me during the early years: The Alexanders: I.G. and Rebecca (in memory of), Kevin Alexander, Augustine Clawson (in memory of), and Debra Clawson Scott. The Withrows: KC (in memory of) and Daisy, and Kenneth Withrow. Thank you for allowing me to spend so much time in your presence and all the love and support! And also to all the wonderful people and families of Durham United Methodist Church (past and present).
In memory of: My friend Craig Christenbury, who shared the passion of playing, composing, recording, and listening to music with me. My piano teacher, Mrs M.K. Pass who taught me the fundamentals. And finally, my mother, Yvonne Gleaves Beam, whose love for the piano, singing and music in general has always been my greatest inspiration. You are missed deeply!
To Jim Roseburry at Purrrfect Audio for the awesome PC and Steve Carrao at Sage Audio for giving my music that shine!