Bonner recapturing spotlight at Memphis Rebirth showcase

Courtesy Memphis Rebirth Entertainment

Cassie Bonner will headline the fifth anniversary Memphis Rebirth Entertainment show.

For Corey Davis, founder of Memphis Rebirth Entertainment, picking the right artist to play the organization's fifth anniversary party was a no brainer. Cassie Bonner was his choice.

"Cassie by far is one of my favorite performers in the area," says Davis of the Oxford, Miss., singer-songwriter, whom he featured at one of his very first concerts, a tribute to Stevie Wonder. "His version of 'All I Do' became a fan favorite and is still a highlight of everything we've done. So I had to go with Cassie for the fifth anniversary."

Memphis Rebirth, a promotion company, has been a bastion of smooth, sophisticated R&B in the city in recent years through events like its Rebirth of Soul series.

The show is a welcome spotlight for a talented artist who, following an initial burst of success, struggled for years, first to get his career back on track and then for his very life.

Bonner comes from a large and musical family. The youngest of the seven Bonner children, his father was the pastor of a church in Ripley, Miss., and though he died when Bonner was just 3 years old, his musical talent still looms large in his son's memory.

"They were seven of us and my father could play guitar, piano, sing, and preach as well," says Bonner. "So music was just throughout our home."

When he started school, Bonner distinguished himself as the only child who could play piano at such a young age and would perform at school assemblies. Still, the idea of actually becoming a performer didn't calcify in his mind until a few years later when he saw the television special "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever."

"I saw Michael Jackson moonwalk for the first time," Bonner says of the turning point. "I saw Stevie Wonder. I saw Marvin Gaye. I was just blown away at the display of talent. I knew that night -- I had to be like second or third grade -- that music was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Bonner was barely out of high school when he got his big break. Through a friend he met Midwest R&B studio legend Bernard Terry (MC Breed, The Dayton Family), who liked Bonner's Wonder-inspired sound and brought him to his Flint, Mich., studio. There he began working with a group called UBU, which was shopping its recording to Columbia recordings and in one of their mailings included one of Bonner's demos. The recording ended up being heard by someone in the mailroom, who handed it to Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' bodyguard, who then handed it to Edmonds, who liked what he heard.

"They traced the song all the way back to Oxford, Miss., and Babyface calls me saying, 'Hi, I'm Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds," Bonner recalls. "I'm thinking one of my friends is playing a joke on me so I hang up. This goes on for like a minute until he convinces me that it is him."

Bonner signed with Columbia, with Randy Jackson of "American Idol" fame as his A&R representative. A day after signing, Bonner landed his first assignment, a song for the soundtrack to the 1997 film "Love Jones." The song "Girl," credited to just Cassie, was a calling card for the new artist. It was how Davis first heard of Bonner before he ever even realized he was from the same part of the country.

"That was always one of my favorite tracks on that album," says Davis.

Except for an appearance on a star-studded cover of Wonder's "Someday At Christmas," however, Bonner released no other recordings from Columbia. After a company shake-up he was dropped and signed with Warner Brothers Records, where he contributed the song "I'm Through" to the soundtrack to the 2001 film "The Brothers."

But still Bonner had yet to make a record of his own. Frustrated with label politics, Bonner returned home and formed the Bonner Brothers, a gospel group that included his brother Herbert on organ. Bonner produced the group's first record, Delayed But Not Denied, on Jackson, Miss., label Malaco Records in 2002. A live record followed in 2004, the year Bonner left Warner Brothers.

Moving back to Oxford with his wife, Felisa, Bonner was plotting the next stage of his career when he was diagnosed with cancer. An accident on his rider mower revealed a tumor on his spinal cord.

"I lost my ability to walk," says Bonner, who spent nearly two years getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. "Anybody who's been through chemo or had a sickness of the spine can tell you that it is a rough situation."

When he re-emerged in 2008, Bonner found himself facing a music industry that had changed completely. Record deals like the ones he had enjoyed before were becoming a rare thing. Instead stars were being made with online hits and soundtrack placements. Bonner decided to focus on his long-neglected live show and turned his eyes north toward Memphis as his proving ground.

I just love performing," says Bonner. "Especially when I got getting over the cancer and was able to walk again, that was the first thing I wanted to do was hit the stage. I've always been involved in the studio, but the only time I really performed before was in church. To be able to hit the stage and really do and be who I am again was great, and Corey created that avenue for me."

--------------------

Memphis Rebirth fifth anniversary Showcase with Cassie Bonner

8:30 p.m. Friday at Opinions Restaurant & Lounge, 5221 Summer Ave. Tickets: $10. Advance tickets and other information available at memphisrebirth.com.

--------------------

© 2012 Go Memphis. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.