Elvis Online Issue 1 | Page 9

JK: Ok

Stump: So I would play along with the washing machine, but I would play a different rhythm against it.

JK: Do you play any other instruments?

Stump: No, I tried guitar and the bass but it hurt my hands so I said forget it. So I just started playing drums.

JK: How did you start playing for the Sweet Inspirations? How did that come about?

Stump: Well that was a long time ago! I was with Martha Reeves and the Vendellas.

JK: Really? Wow! I’m a big fan.

Stump: Guitar player Gravy Jackson was with the Sweet Inspirations in the Elvis show too. He needed a drummer. He used to like the way I played so he came and asked me to play with the Sweets. So I told him yes. The first gig we did was in Atlanta, Georgia at the James Brown Night Club that James had down there. So the first person that was doing the show down there was I think, not Jackie Wilson, I can’t remember now, but it was somebody big. A big star like Marvin Gaye. It was neither one of them but it was a big star. Wow man, I’m getting to see these people I used to play with. I would see them at the Apollo. It was something else seeing these people perform. Not that people don’t perform now, but it was different then.

JK: You must have some great memories, Stump.

Stump: Life is nothing but Memories.