Patrick names Willie Clayton - alongside Johnnie Taylor, Luther Vandross,
Al Green and Mel Waiters - one is favourite artists, and on his new CD,
Here I Am, The P.G. Man, he covers a poignant ballad called
One Last Kiss, which Willie originally recorded for his own
Something To Talk About set on Avanti. Big-voiced Patrick even sounds like Willie a bit.
"We're like brothers."
The set was recorded in Patrick's home-town, Houston, Texas, and all the other nine tunes are
original ones written by the man himself. There are four driving dancers - some remind me of the
music Wilson Pickett did for his latest It's Harder Now set - a couple of vigorous mid-pacers
and four intensive soul ballads, of which I like the over-powering Try Me the best.
Here Am I and The Gift Of Your Love come close, and they all are also Patrick's
own favourites, along with a seasonal (!) song, What I Like About Christmas.
"When we released the CD a couple of months ago, I was like 'well, they'll play this song and
that song, and then right around the corner Christmas is coming, so I'm gonna go ahead and
do one Christmas song'. It's a beautiful song, and it's original."
"I'm on an independent company and I did the album just to get known out there and let people
see that I'm serious. I have three major companies looking at me. I turned a deal down with one
major company - not because I'm so great, but because it just wasn't fair for me. I want a fair
shot today. I don't want to be mistreated and cheated."
Now Patrick is also negotiating with Malaco records, which is a recording home for one of his
friends, Mel Waiters. "I just finished doing a brand new single with him that he produced
on me. It's called Girlfriend. It's really smashing."
Patrick was born on March 19, 1966, in Houston, Texas, and the two other Green guys -
Kenny and Sly - who are also credited on the CD, are his cousins. "They're background singers
and they also play instruments in my band, the Blues Review."
After the singing period
in church, Patrick put out his first album in '92. "It was titled All I Have To Give.
It was on my label called Across The Board Records. It did pretty well, but it didn't do what
this one's doing. I was still young and learning business."
"After that I've performed and I've started my own business. I have three companies to
finance my project. I have a big entertainment company, Across The Board Entertainment,
I own a recording studio and I also have a company called National Collision in car business.
I hope and pray to become a very powerful singer and go down in history."
-Heikki Suosalo