Donald Baldwin (April 20, 1953 – April 4?, 2010) – Mary Ann (1976)

The Temptations' little known mid-seventies masterpiece was co-written by the unsung musical genius who also co-wrote their #1 R&B hit Happy People.

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Donald Baldwin was an unsung multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who co-wrote several soul/funk masterpieces in the 1970s for artists like the Commodores, Chairmen of the Board, Smokey Robinson, Bonnie Pointer, and one of the Temptations’ final #1 R&B hits.

Born and raised in Detroit, Donald Charles Baldwin learned to play multiple instruments in school, including clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone, oboe, English horn, and bassoon. He wrote his first concerto in 1969 and the same year formed a group in Detroit called Jasmine, in which he played piano, sang, and wrote the songs.

Their drummer’s father was Felix Resnick, the 1st violinist with the Detroit Symphony who led many string sessions for Motown and Holland-Dozier-Holland’s new label Invictus. He brought Jasmine to the attention of former Motown songwriter/producer Jeffrey Bowen, who was then vice president of Invictus and in charge of A&R. As Eddie Holland noted in Come and Get These Memories, the 2021 memoir he wrote with his brother Brian, “I could not have done any of it without Jeffrey. He was the best I’d ever seen at finding and persuading acts – he was that good, that talented.”

They began rehearsing with Bowen’s wife Ruth Copeland, a British singer who was signed to Invictus. Copeland later claimed Holland-Dozier-Holland and Bowen were trying to “create another Diana Ross – only white this time.”

Baldwin and Copeland co-wrote “The Medal” in June, 1970, a powerful anti-war message song. It became the opening cut to her second album I Am What I Am released in July, 1971 and backed by the members of Funkadelic, who were signed to Invictus. Copeland and Bowen had co-produced Parliament’s debut album Osmium (1970) along with George Clinton, although Bowen could not be credited since he was still under contract with Motown.

While rehearsing with Copeland, original Funkadelic members Billy “Bass” Nelson, Eddie Hazel and Ramon “Tiki” Fulwood plus recently joined keyboardist Bernie Worrell replaced all the members of Jasmine except for Baldwin and then went on the road as Copeland’s band. In late 1970, they became Sly and the Family Stone’s opening act for a period that lasted until 1972. Later that year they opened for David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust Tour, including its opening night in Cleveland and a show at Carnegie Hall in New York City. But Copeland and Bowen split up, Copeland left Invictus to sign with RCA, and Baldwin and company started backing Invictus’ biggest act Chairmen of the Board.

In late 1972, Bowen began producing the group’s fourth studio album Skin I'm In (1974), recorded in NYC, which Baldwin arranged and played on alongside Nelson, Hazel, Fulwood, and Worrell. The superb single “Finder’s Keepers” (1973) was co-written by Bowen and the Chairmen’s lead singer General Johnson, and hit #7 R&B and #59 on the Billboard Hot 100. Baldwin and the rest of the band (plus trombonist McKinley Jackson, with drummer Zachary Slater filling in for Fulwood) appeared on Soul Train to perform the track live with Chairmen of the Board. Along with Bowen and Johnson, Baldwin co-wrote its B-side, the psychedelic soul jam “Live With Me, Love With Me.”

Another of Skin I'm In’s highlights was the mindblowing, so-called “Life & Death Suite,” four linked tracks on the album’s A-side. It led off with the instrumental jam “Morning Glory,” co-written by Baldwin and Nelson; then “Life & Death (Part I)” written by Sly Stone; “White Rose (Freedom Flower)” which was also co-written by Nelson and Baldwin and was essentially the second part to “Morning Glory”; and finally “Life & Death (Part II).” Sequenced together they formed one epic funk symphony.

See the excellent Portland music writer

Michael K. Fell

’s recent post on the “Life & Death” suite for a deeper dive into this particular masterpiece.

Life & Death

In 1974, as the Holland brothers were going through hard financial times and Invictus started winding down, Bowen and Baldwin both signed with Motown. One of their first assignments was ghostwriting the funky jam “I Feel Sanctified” for the Commodores’ debut album Machine Gun (1974). Bowen was eventually credited as a writer along with the Commodores, although Baldwin was not. It was the LP’s second single and hit #12 R&B and #75 on the Hot 100.

Bowen was tasked with producing the Temptations’ first post-Norman Whitfield album A Song For You (1975) and with Baldwin’s songwriting help, the LP was a huge success at #1 on the R&B album charts and #13 on the Billboard 200. The two of them along with Lionel Richie co-wrote its lead single “Happy People,” a funk bomb with an uplifting. positive message. It went to #1 R&B in February, 1975, and peaked at #40 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the new disco charts.

Along with lead singer Dennis Edwards and Motown staff songwriter Kathy Wakefield, Baldwin and Bowen also co-wrote the album’s epic quiet storm journey “Memories,” which has been called one of Edwards’ finest moments.

Thanks to A Song For You’s sales, Bowen was at the controls again for the Temptations’ next album Wings Of Love (1976). This time he and Baldwin teamed with songwriter Jim Ford. They co-wrote three songs - the LP’s epic title track, its beautiful slow jam closing cut “Paradise,” and the little known progressive rock/soul masterpiece “Mary Ann.”

Supposedly, Bowen wanted to produce a Dennis Edwards solo album but the rest of the Tempts said no way. So he elevated Edwards’ vocals in the album’s final mix, and relegated everyone else to the background. They were not happy about it, and never worked with him again. For years Wings Of Love remained unreleased on CD, unofficially erased from their catalog.

Bowen and Baldwin were among the young songwriters and producers tapped to help create Smokey Robinson’s 1977 LP Deep In My Soul. At the time Smokey was tied up with the production of his ill-fated foray into the film industry, the Blaxploitation film Big Time (1977) which he financed, executive produced, and scored the soundtrack for. They co-wrote the beautiful “If You Want My Love” and the heartfelt love song “You Cannot Laugh Alone,” both produced by Bowen.

Jeffrey Bowen became romantically involved with Bonnie Pointer in the late seventies, and their shared misbehavior helped contribute to her being kicked out of the Pointer Sisters in 1977. According to Ruth Pointer in her 2016 memoir Still So Excited!:

“Jeffrey considered himself quite the badass gangster, dressing flashy, acting tough, and talking out of his ass most of the time. Whenever the Pointer Sisters were in Philadelphia, Atlantic City or New York, we’d invariably bump into people looking for him and Bonnie because they owed them a ridiculous amount of money. My sister and her husband wreaked havoc wherever they hung their hats.”

For her self-titled debut solo LP, released in 1978 on Motown and produced by Bowen and Berry Gordy, Baldwin and Bowen co-wrote its entire second side. Their songs included the laid back “I Love to Sing to You” with Baldwin on acoustic guitar, the beautiful love song “More And More” on which Baldwin played acoustic guitar and bass, and the epic closing cut “My Everything,” with Baldwin on Moog, piano, and bass, plus Elton John’s longtime drummer Nigel Olsson.

With Pointer, Baldwin also co-wrote “Deep Inside My Soul,” the only original song on her next album (the rest was filled with Holland-Dozier-Holland classics). It was again self-titled, released in 1979. and was Pointer’s last album on Motown. She was cut loose from the label after she and Bowen supposedly threatened Gordy’s life over unpaid royalties, as the company alleged in a 1981 libel lawsuit against the pair. They had gotten married in 1978 and both had an increasingly large appetite for cocaine. As Ruth Pointer recalled:

“Their marriage was bizarre from the start. The wedding ceremony had taken place at our folks’ house in Novato, with our mother presiding. And immediately after exchanging sacred vows, the newlyweds adjourned to the master bedroom to smoke crack.”

Baldwin also co-wrote some songs for Pointer’s 1984 album If the Price Is Right, released on Private Records, but it was his last major project, with his mentor and songwriting partner Bowen sidelined by drugs. Bowen and Pointer stayed together for two and a half decades, although in 1996 Bowen was charged with spousal battery and accused of hitting both Bonnie and June Pointer during an argument. They finally separated in 2004, and their divorce was finalized in 2016. Bonnie Pointer died in 2022 of alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis.

Baldwin played in various bands around the Los Angeles area throughout the eighties and nineties. He died in 2010 to little fanfare, without as much as an obituary to mark his passing.

Happy Cosmic Birthday to the musical genius Donald Baldwin.

Further info:

“All Families Have Fights: Another, Tragic Side of Motown Life,” by Adam P. White, West Grand Blog, September 2, 2022.

“Life & Death,” by Michael K. Fell, Home Is Where The Music Is, March 4, 2024.

#soul #funk #JeffreyBowen #Invictus #Motown #Temptations #DonaldBaldwin