Edmund Darris

Edmund Darris (born May 4, St. Louis, Missouri) is a rock and R&B guitarist. His early childhood was filled with music surrounded by the Motown Sound, James Brown and his biggest influence, The Beatles. He began playing guitar at six years old, and formed his first band in high school with Michael and Cedric Howell, two brothers that played drums and guitar. Later, Bobby Harper was recruited to play bass, this group played on the Westside of St. Louis. He met Albert King one night while performing at blues club and Albert King was impressed with Darris' style. Darris played for a series of television tapings for Gospel giant Cleophus Robinson. He also met Stevie Ray Vaughn at Herschel's Grill one Friday night after Vaughn had performed at the Keil Auditorium in the early 80's, they talked and Edmund challenged him in a jam, but Vaughn took it as a joke. Edmund Darris played back up guitar for Buddy Ace, Joe Simon, Curtis Mayfield, Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep, and Billy Ocean's prolific producer, the late Keith Diamond. He played at Buddy Guy's lounge several times on Monday nights. He also co-wrote songs with Keith Diamond and produced Eastwest/Atlantic artist Fredrick Thomas of Natural Selection ("Do Anything) for Simply Red's Management Company spearheaded by Public Relations music mogul Lisa Barbaris. Darris' style compares to Eddie Hazel of The Funkadelics and Jimi Hendrix. Darris' style can be heard on "How Can U Funk" released in 1992 and "Thrash" released in 2004 and on the film soundtracks "Going Off..." and "Going Off...Again.". Edmund Darris now resides in St. Louis and tours the country with the daughter of B.B. King, Shirley King, and other artists. Darris has produced, co-written, and played on several hit R&B and Rock records ranging from The Eagles to Prince. Edmund Darris will be touring in Europe in 2007 with various Reggae Bands as well as shooting his latest film, "Going Off...Again."

Edmund Darris is now the guitarist for the band Pleasure Groove in St. Louis.

From 1992-1996, Darris collaborated with Fredrick Thomas of the defunct group, Natural selection (East-West Records). Darris was brought to New York and made several treks to Minneapolis to help produce a demo for Thomas, who was being manages by Lisa Barbaris, the president of So What Arts and Entertainment, a company that was owned by Simply Red. The result was a group of well crafted songs, the most outstnading being the soulful ballad "When The Morning Comes." This song caught the ear of Curtis Mayfield, who was in Atlanta working on what would be his final album, "New World Order." Darris was hired to do tracks for this album, but Darris returned to St. Louis, to work with Micelle Ward and a group out of Pittsburgh, after Thomas and Darris split, due to publishing disputes and the fact that Thomas rejected three record deals that Darris had put together in New York with Nick Cassinelli of Atlantic Records, Trent Resnor, and Curtis Mayfield's offer to record "When The Morning Comes." Darris and Thomas never spoke again.

Television, screenwriter, and film producer

Darris has produced several television shows "The Eddie D Live Show" with co-producer and rap artist Tootie-T (Shelton Turner) in St. Louis, Street Vibe 95" in Los Angeles, and "Elvia's Music Gallery" in Chicago. Turner and Darris ushered in the hip hop movement in St. Louis that later opened avanues for rappers Nelly and Chingy. Darris and Shelton Turner were the first producers in the midwest connect with major labels that sent him featured artist Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dog, Martin Lawrence, Russell Simmons, Whitney Houston, Usher, Bill Belamy, TLC, Brandy, and many others in 1992 through 1996. After Darris could not make the impact that he desired, Darris advised David and Darren Stith, two struggling producers to connect with New York attorney Richard Dieguez and the then A&R Diector of Sony Records, former St. Louisan, Dave McPherson. The Stith brothers took Darris advice and began to use Darris' connections to find deals for local St. Louis artist. During this period, Nelly and the St. Lunatics were doing several recordings in The Stith Brothers recording studio inside Saints Roller Skating Rink, a popular recreational spot for urban youth in St. Louis. The Stith Brothers learned the music business from Darris and eventually became millionaries from owning the publishing rights to many of Nelly's recordings, they never spoke or thanked Darris for his help or advice.

In 2007 Edmund Darris played a show for Eric Clapton's birthday party. The English legend was so impressed with Darris' guitar work, that he approached him and invited Darris to his private table. Darris can be seen at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis at The Tenderloin Room where greats such as Sammy davis Jr., Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Fran Sinatra performed. Darris' film credits and guitar legend continue to increase into the new mellenium, with his new band Ecstacy featuring Robyn Moore and Michelle Ward on vocals and a female saxplayer Rhoda the Rocker.

Darris worked as music director for the R&B Legend Joe Simon ("Drowning In A Sea Of Love," and "Chokin Kind.") Disgusted with St. Louis, Darris moved to Chicago where he wrote the screenplay for the independent film The Adventures Of Ne Ne Suede" and it was picked up by Megastar Films in New York in 2001. Since then Darris has written and produced two films, "Going Off...' and Going Off Again..." . Darris is the founder and executive producer of Screen Jewels Productions, which has produced several spine-tingling vignettes featuring local artists and horror themes with an urban twist. He has been featured in the Hollywood Reporter and The LA Times. Darris has a tremendous passion for horror films. He felt there were not enough thrillers featuring black actors and themes. Filming entirely in St. Louis, Darris converts local hotspots such as Hadley’s and Gene Lynn’s into hot sets and scenes. Each short film lasts about 30 minutes and features an array of local actors and musicians. "Going Off" made the Cannes film festival in 2007 and is now being distributed by Clickflick.com.
The New York Times:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/444107/Goin-Off/overview

SEE CLIPS FROM "GOING OFF"
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=RETURN+OF+THE+MACK+PT&search=Search

http://www.clickflick.tv/index.php?cat=Thriller
http://www.stlamerican.com/articles/2006/05/19/entertainment/living_it/livingit03.txt

http://www.clickflick.tv/index.php?cat=Thriller

http://www.mandy.com/1/film3.cfm?id=9211

http://www.geocities.com/horror_stories4/mack.htm

http://www.geocities.com/horror_stories4/now.htm

This film stars Melissa Woodrow, Toni Lynn, Michelle Ward, Angela Cox, Danielle Searcy, Tanario Martin, Larry Woods, Billy Darris, Rashiadah Woods, & Edmund Darris Jr.

http://www.mandy.com/home.cfm?c=scr198

In addition to introducing fun and new themes, Darris’ films are well written, crafted and produced. All of the films are scored with musical accompaniment by Darris, who belongs to several local bands. Beyond watching for ghouls and goblins, it is interesting for locals to try to identify the areas and venues shown in the film.

Darris is a 1975 graduate of Sumner High School and majored in communication and music at Saint Louis University. After living in Chicago and New York, among other major U.S. cities, the filmmaker returned to his hometown with a determination to produce quality films in Missouri. "Going Off Again..." The Sequel Is Now In Production In St. Louis

http://digg.com/movies/Going_Off_Again_The_Sequel_Is_Now_In_Production_In_St_Louis

Darris is also the author of the book Think, First, Think Fast...How To Avoid The Rip Off's In The Music Industry wtitten in 1997.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu