 
Published: November 01, 2008 12:28 AM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA
(Juniorscave.com)
New Music Review
Chivalry
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Chivalry
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The entertainer known as Chivalry was born as David Jerome Bembry in Detroit, MI in 1961. Since his birth, he has accomplished many great things in the music industry. In this in-depth interview with Junior's Cave Online Magazine, Chivalry allows us to get more acquainted with him. Please enjoy!
Isaac: Elaborate on who you are and your upbringing.
Chivalry: My given name is David Jerome Bembry and I was born in Detroit, MI in 1961. I was raised with my brother John by my Great grandmother. Our household consisted of people born in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This proved to be a blessing and a curse. You see, not many of them saw us grow-up into adults. My Great grandmother died when I was 16. This was the most profound period of my life. You see she was a very insightful person who always sought to make a person think and to seek wisdom. I use to comb her hair for her and even braid it. Back in those days it seems like everybody had the legal and medical encyclopedias and well, it just so happened that I had read them all by age 8 or 9 and pretty much understood them.
It was while braiding my Grandmother's hair that I felt the nodes in her neck and I just knew what it was. I took her to the doctor the next day. She had cancer but it was too late. It had dripped down her esophagus. I and Johnny were responsible for her care. We watched her go from a big woman to skin draped over a skeleton. She didn't deserve to die that way. I made a vow on the last day that I was with her that I would be a good and decent person in her honor. I've always been just in my thinking but Detroit was an especially brutal environment and I had that kind of personality that I knew everybody. This sort of popularity can put you in a bit of a situation in such an environment.
When you know and are liked and respected by certain types of people, you become somewhat powerful without knowing it or trying to be so. As a child, I saw everything up front and personal that you might imagine. That most can't phantom. I thought for a long time that this was just the way the world was. I mean I saw the footage of what was happening in the south with blacks, the assassination of King and the Kennedy's, Vietnam, etc. I learned to be callus, cunning and absolutely ruthless if necessary. I ended up I think with a split personality in that I was a stellar student in school right up to the time that I was banned from all Detroit public schools.
In that life, I was always about what was right however and mostly what I did was look out for others. Personally, I didn't really have any problems with too many people. I do regret that where I've been and what I've seen seems to show in my eyes and on my face. Most people can tell without knowing me at all, the era that I'm from. After my Grandmother's funeral, I and my brother were told that we always wanted to be grown and that now we were and were put out of the house. My Great grandmother use to always tell me and my brother when we were growing up that she wouldn't always be around and that no one was going to take responsibility for us when she was gone. She was often right about things and we had paid attention to her and all of the old folks.
They lived through the most extraordinary times in our country. I stuck with my vow, ended up basically being adopted by the people who worked at The Michigan Cancer Foundation and spent the next 5 years being trained in the building trades and sent to Wayne State University. All of my immediate friends were now administrators, doctors and researchers. I worked there in a summer program at 17 and they liked me. I was robbed and stabbed one night and the next morning in the hospital I got this big bouquet of flowers and a card that read, "Don't worry about a job, we've made a maintenance trainee position for you!" I got married at 20 and at 22 with the second child on the way I had to leave Detroit. There was no way that my children were going to see the things that I saw as a child! I moved to Los Angeles with $130 in my pocket and a one-way ticket and never looked back. The rest is history. I now have 5 children and 5 grandchildren!
God has been with me!
Isaac: Was there any one musician that spoke to your heart so profoundly, you were inspired to do your own thing?
Chivalry: No. The music is just there. It's always been a part of me. In the 60's and 70's, you couldn't escape hearing all genres of music and excellent songs! Not to mention in a place like Detroit. I was there for the "Motown" era, Elvis, hell, I had Tom Jones's What's New Pussycat LP! I was singing in a group before the Jackson Five came out and taught myself to play drums at age 10 and played in a band until age 16. The heyday of my so-called music career would have been from the mid 60's to the mid 70's! At 18 was when I decided to teach myself to write songs. I got a Hohner electric piano and a Yamaha synth that had no presets, just knobs and sliders and I learned to listen to a part in a song and turn those knobs to duplicate it! Those were the days of using 2 cassette recorders to keep adding parts.
Isaac: Which singer/group would you say you would most like to do a duet with?
Chivalry: Funny you should ask that. Teena Marie is the only person that I've ever thought of doing a duet with. I just recently started working MySpace and realized that she had a page there and you'll see that she is no.1 on my friend list! For almost 30 years my answer to that question has been the same. "I'd give my life tomorrow to sing a duet with Teena Marie today." While that may sound like an extreme statement, make no mistake about it, I mean that with all of my heart and soul! I never imagined that one day I might be able to tell her this and while I don't know her or think that she's seen my comment on her MySpace page yet, I'm hopeful that one day she'll know just how I feel about her and her talent. The Lady never got her props and no one compares to the passion that she exhibits in her songs for me.
Isaac: What singer/songwriter do you most connect with?
Chivalry: Teena Marie. I basically listen to her songs every day at work in my mp3 player. Her songs seem to touch my soul somehow. I can't explain it. I listen to smooth jazz a lot also.
Isaac: Out of your entire song collection that you've written thus far, which song(s) would you say is/are the most personal/meaningful to you?
Chivalry: I guess that would be "Someone To Love" because that's what I'm looking for. I have relationships with women but it's just friendship and sex. I haven't met anyone who just takes my breath away. Maybe I'm just damaged goods after 20 years of marriage. (laughing out loud).
Isaac: Which singers/groups do you enjoy/like from some of today's music genres?
Chivalry: I've never gotten into rap before my sons got into it but I've always like Snoop Dog for some reason. His shit does be bangin' but smooth. He also strikes me as a good person despite his public image. Toni Braxton is my girl when it comes to a sultry voice. Keith Sweat is originality that lasts! Shouldn't he be a living legend by now? There are a lot of people that I like, a good song is a good song even if it's something like Beyonce's version of Wishing On A Star. I won't lie, I hadn't looked at anything but her legs up until then. It was that song that made me take notice. I wish that she was more into that type of song. She sang that one NICE! Now I look at her from head to toe and can only think, "Damn!" She's got my respect as a very talented and diverse artist. Alicia Keys! An outstanding artist and Woman! I admire her tenacity at the beginning of her career. That's what I call a strong woman who believes in herself. I'm simply proud of her. I could go on.
Isaac: What charities are you involved with or support?
Chivalry: I give from my paycheck to The United Way for as long as I can remember. I also have contributed to organizations like The Police Athletic League, Fire Departments and Disabled Veterans for years when I've been able.
Isaac: Have you (or would you ever consider) writing a song about any of today's particular world issues/problems? If so, what world issue would speak to you the most to write about?
Chivalry: I have no interest in singing about such things but in truth I'd like to talk about a lot of issues. Like the election coming up. The choice is clear due to circumstances. Our country needs its best shot at fixing itself. If you've got 2 candidates that will lie, change stories and effectively make it clear that you're perceived as an idiot. You can't rely on such people right now even if you'd rather. There's too much at stake. As a people, we have to go for complete change. We're told of sacrifices to be made as always but this time I'm afraid that we do need the help of the wealthy. They hold the key. If they could just step up this one time, the country could gather billions and the people contributing would all still be very wealthy. This would likely lead to the same in other countries. How inspiring would that be! It would eliminate that us and them thing for once and for all. It could quite possibly unite the planet in a way that we never dared dream of. We've just been given an awakening to how we're all working and tied together worldwide as one. We're all actually dependent on each other it seems!
Isaac: Why should people listen to your music?
Chivalry: My music will remind you of what love feels like and it's laid out in such a way that it's thought provoking in that it sets a laid back and relaxed, hopeful mood.
Isaac: What has been the greatest moment for you as an entertainer thus far in your career?
Chivalry: Being encouraged and accepted by the students at LMU. Back in 2003 a fellow employee that I worked nights with at the time took me to their open mic night on campus and let it out that I sang. The kids pushed me, loved the music and insisted for the next couple of years that I attend. It's the only place that I've performed in 30 years. There was the show in prison but that was literally a captive audience however.
Isaac: How far into the creation of a song do you share any of it with anyone? Who would you play it for? Would it be a chorus, a verse and chorus, or a complete song?
Chivalry: I normally will only play a song that's complete. I'm around a lot of people constantly and there just always seems to be someone in particular that I think might like a particular song and that's who hears it first.
Isaac: How much do you let others "mess around with" one of your new songs?
Chivalry: I work completely alone at the house and I do all of the writing for Chivalry. I do have other artists and writers on staff so to speak but their work is their work. I manage, mix and master in their overall projects.
Isaac: Do you have to be a tortured soul to be a singer-songwriter?
Chivalry: There's nothing torturous about creating. It's feeling real life and projecting it for others to experience or relate to.
Isaac: Do you prefer to write music from your own personal experience, life's issues, or a little of both (explain why)?
Chivalry: The music is just a natural part of me. My recordings occur like this. I write a piece of music, put the headphones on, turn on the mic and see what the song has to say. Once I get to the end of a song, that's the recording. No re-recording. I mix it and that's that. It's natural. When I write music, it's a feeling. After I've completed a song, if I do want to re-record a part, I have to listen to it and learn it because I have no idea of what I played. My lyrics I never write down and I never forget. I think that that's odd myself but if I were to try and plan and think a song, nothing will happen. As far as my playing skills go, I write music and that's it. I am in no way a musician. I taught myself to play by writing.
Isaac: How long does it take you to process your emotions and turn them into songs?
Chivalry: They just happen. It's not so much a process. I decide one day to mess around with my keyboard and the next thing I know I have a song. I work out the arrangement, sing it and go back to whatever else it was that I was taking a break from. Not necessarily all in one sitting but I hear enough to be compelled to finish the piece of music. The time it takes to finish can vary from hours to months.
Isaac: The best piece of advice you actually followed?
Chivalry: "Street smarts are worthless without book smarts and vice versa."
Isaac: Give Shutouts to your family and friends.
Chivalry: My life for the most part is dedicated to my Great-grandmothers memory. I live to honor all that she taught me about being a good and decent person that always does their best to do what is morally right, as I vowed on the last day of her life. I have 2 wonderful women in my life still; My Mother and Her Mother. They give me the proof that I need to know that I've fulfilled my promise. On independent occasions, they've both looked at me with seeming awe and told me that I was a wonderful man! It means so much that they are so proud of me and my heart belongs to them. Then there are my children. They believe in me and care enough to seek to make me proud of them. I can't ask for any more. Well, as with most families, 2 of them have a few issues but they are good and decent people so I'm hopeful that they'll get turned around.
Now to thank the friends, you really won't get it without my telling you this story.
In 1991, I was looking for a new job and applied for a position at Loyola Marymount University. It was the first time that I'd seen or heard of it. There was something odd as I was looking around as I was leaving. I could feel something. It was God's presence! I felt immediately unworthy of working there and did not expect to get the job and I didn't but I wasn't disappointed at all. 6 years later I would find myself working there through a temp agency. I was there for 2 years and in 1999 I got sent to prison behind my drug addicted ex-wife. I got railroaded into 2 years of prison! The people whom I'd met at LMU told me that they knew of injustices and that they would bring me back when I came home. Now this is Los Angeles where you really can't always believe in any real loyalty for the most part. Guess what? They kept their word! I went back as a temp by their request and brought in as a permanent employee. As I thanked the Dept. Director, he told me that I had brought myself back because of my work ethic and level of integrity. Well, I now have hundreds of friends there and I love them all and the school for what they represent. LMU gave me Hope that I thought was lost forever and restored my faith in people. I call it Home.
Isaac: Last but certainly not least, what are you working on, now?
Chivalry: Launching Bembry Music into the mainstream hopefully and gaining the capitol that I need for all of my online ventures. It's all business to me right now. To be honest, I seek the true freedom that I've learned will only come about with financial independence from doing something that you love and enjoy.
Of course, there will be a new single for Valentine's Day. I'm going to change up a bit on the next song. I want to see if I can use the current types of beats and arrangements that are used today and incorporate myself over it and claim it as Chivalry. At least that's the plan. I never really know what's next however. It's whatever I'm compelled to do.
Chivalry
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