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Rick Stevens
"Rick" Don Carlos Stevenson "Stevens", is an american rhythm and blues singer. He is most famous for the seminal ballad "You're still a young man" while performing as the lead singer for the iconic r and b group, the Tower of Power. Stevens was sentenced to death as the triggerman in a 1976 triple-murder. In 1977 the sentence was commuted to seven years to life. Stevens was released in 2012.

Early Years

Rick was born in Port Authur, Texas, but didn't stay there long, as a few years later his parents moved to Reno, Nevada. Rick first sang in public at the tender age of four, when his family set him up on a chair in front of the congregation at their church.

While growing up Rick was greatly influenced by his uncle, singer Ivory Joe Hunter, who was his mother's older brother. There was always a great deal of excitement when Uncle Ivory Joe came to visit on breaks from touring around the country with his band. Rick decided early on that he wanted to be a singer, just like his uncle. Ivory Joe was a not only a ground-breaking performer in what at the time was referred to by the record labels as "race music", he was also a prolific songwriter with hundreds of songs to his credit.

Ivory Joe Hunter's biggest hit came in the 1950's with the song "Since I Met You Baby".

"music was always around me," he says, "always in me."

He moved to Oakland when he was 14 and attended Oakland High School. He had been born Don Carlos Stevenson until a couple of North Beach sharpies changed his name and installed his band, Rick and the Ravens, as the new attraction at Broadway nitery the Condor when he was 25.

Like many musically talented teenagers in the late 1950's Rick was interested in doo-wop, and he joined a singing group called the "Magnificent Marcels" (Rick is second from left). In the early 1960's Rick performed in nightclubs around Reno, where he was known as "Mr. Twister".

Pre-"Tower of Power" Bay Area gigs

Having moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-60's Rick continued his singing career, fronting various bands that played in local nightclubs. Rick's bands included "Rick and the Ravens", and "The Rick Stevens Four" (or Five, depending on how many people were in the band).

Rick joined "Four of a Kind" in 1966, initially in San Francisco, later moving with the band to Seattle. After a short time, Rick moved back to the Bay Area and joined a band called "Stuff", in which one of the other members was Willie James Fulton (guitar and vocals). Rick and Willie James left "Stuff" and joined Tower of Power at about the same time as drummer David Garibaldi.

Tower of Power

Rick joined the group Tower of Power in 1969, and with that move Rick's impressive musical career took off, his vocals pushing the band onto the national music scene. Rick sang the diamond hit, “Sparkling in the Sand” on Tower of Power’s first album, EAST BAY GREASE. The next Tower of Power album to hit the charts was BUMP CITY, and that record features Rick’s signature song, “You’re Still a Young Man”. The album also includes other hits such as “Down to the Night Club” and “You Got to Funkafize”, and remains a fan favorite.

Although he is not credited on the third album, the self-titled record, TOWER OF POWER, Rick initially sang all the lead vocals. He also contributed background vocals, which were retained on the record when it was released. The album features several hits such as, “What is Hip”, “Soul Vaccination”, and “Get Your Feet Back on the Ground”, and of course, “So Very Hard to Go”. The great Lenny Williams took over lead vocals after Rick left the band to pursue other avenues of his musical career.

when the band burst out of the East Bay funk scene 40 years ago and Stevens had a promising future.

He can remember Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, anointing him with a touch and shout the night Tower of Power opened for her at the Fillmore West. His recording of "Still a Young Man" was produced by Otis Redding's guitar player, Steve Cropper.

Rick helped record his final album with the band, the self-titled TOWER OF POWER. The album includes several hits such as “What is Hip”, “Soul Vaccination” and “Get Your Feet Back on the Ground” - and of course, “So Very Hard to Go”, eventually sung by the great Lenny Williams.

After Tower of Power
Stevens left Tower of Power in 1972 after the band's second album, as the East Bay soul outfit was on the cusp of a major popular breakthrough. "It was chaos," he recalls. "Egos, drugs, women. I lost all feeling. I was drained. Plus everybody was strung out. I walked away. They asked me to come back, but it was not the same."

After leaving Tower of Power, Rick joined a Bay Area band called "Brass Horizon", a popular band with a big horn section.

Stevens says he groomed his replacement, Lenny Williams, and corresponded with Williams through his years in prison.

Murder, Incarceration

It was an armed confrontation over drug money that quickly got out of hand. Stevens said he squared off against the first victim at his front door. Stevens was holding a gun when he slapped the man, who grabbed the gun, which went off in his face. "It was like he went to sleep," Stevens says. "My eyes went so big." The second victim came at Stevens, and the third died before he could shoot Stevens with his gun. It was over in a minute. Three men were dead and Steven's life was shattered.

"It was all drug induced," he says grimly. "They were loaded. We were loaded. I was doing heroin and cocaine - speedballing. It was sheer madness."

Stevens, who kicked drugs cold turkey in county jail when he was first arrested, told the jury that convicted him that they had done the right thing. "I never expected to have the death penalty overturned," he says. "I had made my peace with my maker."

When the California Supreme Court - Stevens calls them fondly "Diana Ross and the Supremes" - declared the mandatory death penalty unconstitutional in 1977, he returned to court where the same judge said he was glad not to have to sentence Stevens to death, and instead resentenced him to seven years to life. It took a "pit bull" attorney to finally get him parole. His crime mate had been released in 1995, and another was acquitted, but Stevens had been the gunman.

"I always kept close to my Psalm 51," he says, "and remembered that Moses committed murder and he rose above. Paul used to love to kill people, and he saw the light in prison. I made these people my role models. I patterned my life after them - not that alien lifestyle I was living - and everything changed."

Music saved him in prison. He played music in the yard and at official prison shows. He even gave occasional performances with other cons outside prison. He went from Vacaville to Folsom, and spent the last 20 years of his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison in Amador County.

"I refused to be institutionalized," he says. "I was always reaching for that front gate, staying in the fight. I spent a lot of time organizing gospel shows in the chapel. We used whatever was available, an acoustic guitar on the yard, instruments lying around from Arts in Corrections, which doesn't seem to be happening as much anymore, instruments that had been donated to the chapel. ... Patience? I learned a lot about patience, Lord, let me tell you."

After 36 years behind bars, he emerged to find the world had changed radically.

TOP Reunion
His return has been welcomed by his old friends.

He recently had a sentimental reunion in Sacramento with Tower of Power bandleader Emilio Castillo and sat in with a band featuring some of the other Tower alumni in Antioch. He also joined Pete and Sheila Escovedo onstage at Yoshi's last month, and the Escovedos prayed over him.

Some of his oldest friends held a celebratory dinner during the holidays, includingMichael Carabello, founding member of Santana and the only conga player in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whose first professional experience was at a long-gone dive out in the Excelsior called the Rock Garden with a group that featured Stevens called the Four of Us.

From his home in Connecticut on the phone, Carabello recalls that first night he showed up, the drummer wanted to chase him off the stage before he could set up his congas, and Stevens told him to let the kid play.

"He's an angel in disguise," Carabello says.

Love Power

Rick’s latest endeavor is a CD titled RICK STEVENS BACK ON THE STREETS AGAIN, Vol. 1, and is available at his shows, and at his special guest appearances throughout the Bay Area. Vol. 2 will be recorded in the near future, so stay tuned, it promises to be a gem!

Rick has formed a new band, "Rick Stevens & Love Power", and is doing shows in Northern California.

Rick’s newest solo CD, “RICK STEVENS BACK ON THE STREETS AGAIN Vol. 1”, is available at his shows and also at his frequent special guest appearances. Vol. 2 will be recorded in the near future - look for it soon!

Rick has made giving back to the community a priority, and frequently performs in benefit concerts around the Bay Area.

"Rick Stevens & Love Power"

LOVE POWER is a Bay Area 10-piece “R&B, SOUL, and FUNK” band that includes splendid guitarists Johnny De la Cruz, Ian Lamson, and Gabriel Del Rosario.

Contributing to the dynamic sounds of this remarkable rhythm section are drummer Amado Tuazon and keyboardist Ace Olfré.

The brass section features trumpet player Ricardo “Rico” Cardoza, along with Vic Castro on trombone. They share their sophistication and style with the band’s saxophone ensemble, Anthony Abena and Manny Melchor.

The unwavering dedication of the band has made LOVE POWER a showcase of the talent and soul that defines the landscape for RICK STEVENS & LOVE POWER.

The band has built its reputation around “souled-out” shows that combine the power of vocals, rhythm, and horns in a funky party-like atmosphere.