The Pacesetters:1981-84

The Pacesetters were formed during the winter/spring of 1981 by Quandoures “Q.D.” Williams, bass, Grayland Williams, drums, Larry "L.A." Almon, guitar, Arnett Howard, keyboards, trumpet and Skeemer Frye, deejay. We rehearsed at Joanie Frye’s home in Eastmoor. We were later joined by Pera Payne, vocals.

During the first season we played at Club Tropicana, 1317 East Livingston Avenue, off Lockbourne Road and drew tremendous crowds there. No one in the group wanted to sing and you couldn’t very well have a group without a singer, so I chose to sing lead. L. A. would sing I Love You Just the Way You Are.

We played at Charbert's in Downtown Columbus near the end of the year that I booked, but Q.D. booked himself and another band there for new years. There was little discussion about it; he had formed the Pacesetters, but Q.D. was the first one out.

In November, 1982, we were invited to play at the Short North Tavern in the near Northside of Columbus, when there was but one place with the Short North in its name. When we went for our first gig, we invited Jeannette Williams to be guest artist. I picked her up, she sang nine songs, three per set, I dropped her off and she was paid fifty dollars for the evening. The other four members of the band played the entire evening, then split one hundred-twenty five dollars with hard feelings about Ms. Williams.

But that first evening at the Short North Tavern was impressive. We did a New Orleans song called They All Asked For You and, like the great musician before us, Rusty Bryant, we walked the bar. I remember parading down through the crowd tooting on my trumpet with Jay Harmon on saxophone following, climbing on a barstool and walking down the length of the bar with Jay following. We were a hit.

Larry Almon lasted until 1983, before leaving and with Jay, Jeff Edelstein, bass and Chris Dawkins, drums, we continued until November, 1984, when The Pacesetters broke up. We played at Union Station and the Canabar, amongst other places and our repertoire include hits like Purple Rain and When Doves Cry by Prince.