Theodore Life aka T. Life (born June 1, 1948) – Somethin' That You Do To Me (Keeps Turning Me On) (1981)

A superb disco funk jam from the multi-talented Philly guitarist, songwriter and producer who discovered Evelyn "Champagne" King.

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Theodore Life Jr, aka T Life, is a multi-talented singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer, best known for discovering Evelyn “Champagne” King and producing her early albums before releasing his own solo work.

Theodore Timothy Life Jr. was born in the South Philly section of Philadelphia. As a child he became very ill, and doctors told his mother if they didn’t move to a warm climate, he would likely die. His family relocated to Miami. In school he learned to play the clarinet and oboe. At age 12 he joined his older cousin Billy Lewis’ calypso group, and would drive to Miami Beach on weekends and play at South Beach hotels. He learned percussion, mastering the timbales and congas, and eventually his cousin taught him to play guitar.

Lewis also knew guitarist Steve Alaimo, Henry Stone’s future TK Records business partner, who in the late 50s was playing in a local band called the Redcoats. Through Alaimo, Lewis and Life visited Criteria Studios in Miami, where they witnessed early recording sessions by Brook Benton and Aretha Franklin.

Life often traveled north to Philadelphia to visit his aunt, particularly during summers, and his family moved back to Philly for good when he was a teenager. He put together a neighborhood group who practiced in one of the members’ basement. One day, someone knocked on their back door, having heard the group practicing, and said he was looking for musicians to go on the road. That person was singer/songwriter Frankie Beverly, who lived five blocks away. A few weeks later, Life and his group became members of the Butlers, Beverly’s original R&B backing band before he formed Raw Soul (who were later re-named Maze).

In 1970 Life and another former Butlers member, keyboardist T.G. Conway, began recording their own songs and formed a new group, Spiritual Concept. They eventually signed to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s label Philadelphia International Records and released their Funkadelic-esque debut self-titled album in 1973. Life wrote or co-wrote five of its six tracks, including the beautiful love song “Let’s Take It All,” which he solely wrote.

Life became a staff songwriter and MFSB session musician for PIR, contributing songs to notable albums by Bunny Sigler and Instant Funk. See our post from March on Sigler and his funk bomb “Theme For ‘Five Fingers Of Death’,” which Life co-wrote. For Instant Funk’s 1976 debut LP Get Down With The Philly Jump, Life and Sigler co-wrote the funky title track “Philly Jump,” arranged by Ron “Have Mercy” Kersey, and the epic love anthem “Give Me Your Love,” which was also co-written by Sigler’s brother James.

He co-wrote two songs including the beautiful, hopeful jam “Take My Hand” for New York City’s second album Soulful Road (1974), the vocal group whose backing band featured Niles Rodgers and Bernard Edwards in the pre-Chic era, produced by Thom Bell.

In the mid-70s, Life famously discovered a teenage Evelyn “Champagne” King while she was working with her mother one night, singing as they cleaned the PIR offices. He signed her to his Life’s Galaxy Productions, secured a deal for her with RCA Records, and produced her first three albums. For her 1977 debut LP Smooth Talk, he wrote or co-wrote every song except for her mega-hit “Shame” that went Top-10 on the R&B, dance and pop charts, and was co-written by John H. Fitch, Jr. (also a former Butlers member) and Reuben Cross. Fitch and Life co-wrote “I Don’t Know If It’s Right,” King’s follow up single to “Shame,” which hit #7 R&B, #25 Dance, and #23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

For her second album Music Box (1979), Life co-wrote the superb disco funk jam “Out There” (#34 R&B) with co-producer Sam Peake and the upbeat cut “Steppin’ Out (Pts. 1 & 2)” along with the album’s other co-producer Bill Greene.

The release of King’s third album resulted in a bona fide disco rarity. It was originally titled Sweet Delight and released in limited quantities before being withdrawn and retitled Call on Me (1980), then re-released.

Several tracks were cut, including the cosmic funk-flavored jam “Is It Good” which Life co-wrote along with George Tindley. Others were added, like the epic opening cut and dancefloor jam “Let’s Get Funky Tonight” which he and King co-wrote with Hassan Ali and Kwame Hadi, and was also released as a single. Original copies of Sweet Delight today sell for hundreds of dollars on Discogs.

Ten years ago in 2013, for the liner notes of the Expanded Edition CD re-release of Call on Me, King said they hadn’t lost touch.

“When T. Life first brought me on the scene, he was like a big brother and a dad,” King explains. “We’re still best buddies, and he’s still writing, producing and playing his guitar. And he still talks to me as though I’m 16. It makes me laugh sometimes. I have to say, ‘See, I’m not a child anymore. Stop talking like that.’ When we’re on the phone, we have a laugh a minute.”

See our post from April on Life’s production of Vicki Sue Robinson’s fourth studio LP Movin’ On (1979). He co-wrote most of it, including the very funky title track, the upbeat cut “What’s Happening In My Life,” and the epic slow jam masterpiece “Hope Your Feelings Are Like Mine.”

RCA put out Life’s first solo LP That’s Life in 1978. with Robinson, Irene Cara, and Luther Vandross on backing vocals.

It included the upbeat, funky jam “Tell Me,” which Life co-wrote with Greene and Instant Funk keyboardist Fred Bahler, the stellar soul/funk cut “Checkin’ Out Your Love,” which he co-wrote with Cheryl Paschall and Joe Freeman, and the excellent closing cut “Games,” co-written by Dexter Wansel.

For his second solo LP, released on Arista in 1981, Life co-wrote the superb disco funk title track “Somethin' That You Do To Me (Keeps Turning Me On,” along with George Tindley and Nat Lee.

Like the rest of the album, he produced the track. Legendary Sigma Sound Studios mixer Gene Leone was the recording engineer on the session, and recently recalled that “We had too much fun recording and mixing this tune!!!”

Happy 75th Birthday to the great T Life.

Further info:

“T Life,” biography by Ed Hogan, AllMusic.com

“Call on Me [Expanded Edition],” liner notes by Alex Henderson, November, 2013.

“The Musical Journeys of T Life,” Parts One and Two, interview by Doris Hall-James, The Doris Hall-James Indie Show, 2018

T Life Music (official website), @tlifejr on Twitter, T Life Music YouTube channel

#soul #funk #disco #TheodoreLife