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music / on the cover

The Queen Of

Everything

Detroit-native Allee Willis comes home to celebrate an extra-awesome year.

LYNNE KONSTANTIN ARTS & LIFE EDITOR

“Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts

Of men who need more than they get.”

P

oetry? Yes.
But chances are, you’ve
grooved along on a dance
floor — in a club, in your home,
in your mind’s eye while driving
to work — belting out this prose
without giving it a second thought.
These are the lyrics that open
“Boogie Wonderland,” one of the
most complex and misinterpreted
songs of the disco era. Made an
icon by Earth, Wind & Fire that
went gold in 1979, the year it was
released, the song was inspired by
the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar,
in which Diane Keaton’s lost-soul
character lives for the night life
while on the brink of destruction.
The song was written by Detroit
homegirl Allee Willis.
“‘Boogie Wonderland’ is one of
my favorite lyrics ever,” Willis says.
“People tell me, ‘That is the happi-
est song.’ Have you listened to the

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May 10 • 2018

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lyrics? That ain’t a happy song.
“I put lyrics into music like that
a lot,” she says. “I think it’s a lot
harder to be a great lyricist than a
great music writer. You can have a
really good song with crappy lyrics;
but give it good lyrics, and it’s a
great song.
“You can take very serious lyrics
— even sad, dirgy lyrics — and get
messages across in music that’s
bouncy and uplifting,” Willis says.
“Even if people are not conscious
of what they’re singing, it’s a way
for me to get a message across,
vibrationally.”
As a songwriter, Willis writes
both music and lyrics. Besides
“Boogie Wonderland,” she’s penned
Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,”
“I’ll Be There for You” (the theme
from Friends and one of the
best-selling TV themes of all
time), “Lead Me On” by Maxine

Nightingale, the Pointer Sisters’
“Neutron Dance” (the theme song
from Beverly Hills Cop), “Dance
Away” by Roxy Music and more.
She’s collaborated with hundreds
of artists and composers, including
Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, Herbie
Hancock and Motown legend
Lamont Dozier. Her songs have
sold more than 60 million records.
Last month she returned from
South Africa, where she attended
the opening of The Color Purple —
the Grammy- and Tony-winning
musical she co-wrote and which
was produced by Oprah Winfrey,
Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders.
Last week, she picked up a distin-
guished achievement award at the
Detroit Music Awards.
And she’s about to be recognized
for the work she’s done by her
industry peers — Willis will be
traveling to New York City to be
inducted into the Songwriters Hall
of Fame on June 14. She adds that
honor, held by the likes of Diane
Warren, Carole King, Bob Dylan
and Bruce Springsteen, to her list
of awards already won — Grammy,
Emmy, Tony and Webby.

Before that, though, Willis will
be returning to her hometown.
On May 18-19, Willis will perform
Allee Willis Loves Detroit!, her one-
woman “party performance” show,
at Detroit’s City Theatre.
Allee Willis, 70, was into music
as long as she can remember.
Growing up on Sorrento Street in
Detroit, known by her birth name,
Alta, Willis never learned to play
an instrument. “I’m untrained,” she
says. “The only music lessons I had
was that on Saturdays I’d have my
parents drop me off at the Motown
house [on West Grand Boulevard].
I’d sit on the grass and listen to
what they were doing inside.