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28 Thursday, September 5, 2024 BATTLE CREEK SHOPPER NEWS http://www.thebattlecreekshopper.com

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Paul E. Coats

1/6/1945 - 8/3/2024

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

Bellevue Christian Church

734 W. Capital Ave., Bellevue, MI 49021

September 7, 2024

at 12:00 pm

BY JOHN HENDLER
View Newspaper Group

Jim Cummings began taking guitar
lessons two weeks after seeing The
Beatles perform on the “Ed Sullivan
Show” in 1964.
Within three months, he put his
first band together named The
Elements.
“I was 12 years old,” said
Cummings. “I went to Harper Creek
Schools and from then on, played
nearly every school dance or event
until I graduated. I was on the road
within two weeks after graduation
and have never stopped.”
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Cummings
and his band will be performing at
the Franke Center for the Arts in
Marshall, kicking off the Franke’s
2024-25 concert season.
Joining the Jim Cummings Band
on that night will be local band
Chameleon.
The Jim Cummings Band is made
up of Cummings, along with Jim
Klein, Jesse Cornwell, Yeshwua and
Chris Moberley.
Cummings last performed in
Marshall a decade ago while headlin-
ing the Marshall Blues Festival.
From 1970-85, Cummings toured
the U.S. and other countries with his
own groups, and many other national
acts, such as Edgar Winter, Leon
Russell, Dick Wagner, Odyssey, The
Tubes, The Coasters, The Four Tops,
The Classics IV, Gregg Allman and
others.
He has played in hundreds of
shows and venues in his career and
has earned a reputation as a guy who
can be counted on to be prepared and
put out 100 percent whenever per-
forming.

Jim Cummings and his band will be kicking off The Franke Center for the

Arts’ 2024-25 concert series on Sept. 14 in Marshall.

Musician-singer Jim Cummings reflects on career, Marshall show

Cummings’ grandfather was a pro-

fessional musician who performed

during the Big Band era and also

worked for the movie studios.

At an early age, Cummings’

mother made him take piano lessons,

which he says he just hated.

“Once I convinced her to let me

quit that, she handed me a clari-

net and I hated that worse than the

piano,” he said.

Being drawn to the guitar,

Cummings also thought that would

be a clever way to meet girls.

“I took guitar lessons until I decid-

ed didn’t want to learn the theory,”

he said. “I just wanted to play Paul

Revere and The Raiders songs and

Beatles songs. I kind of went on my

own.”

Cummings, who then switched to

bass, said he “got lucky” after land-

ing a job with MCA, which pub-

lished music, booked acts and ran the

MCA Records music label.

“A lot of those jobs, I was hired

to fill in for different people,” said

Cummings. “But the real reason I got

those jobs is because I worked harder

than anybody else and I was better

prepared. And I could sing really

high. Most of the music business

comes down to working harder and

lasting longer.”

Cummings has lived all over the

country, including New York, City,

Hollywood, Tampa and Key West

twice.

“You live where you need to be,”

he said. “The number one thing is

that I had to leave my hometown.

You have to get out and you need

to have the guts to just go. It’s hard;

there’s nothing easy about it.”

Cummings said he had wonder-

ful parents, who instilled in him the

attitude to do his best and not to get

involved in drugs, which was quite

common in the music scene in the

1960s and 1970s.

He said he has taken his music and

the music industry quite seriously.

“Very quickly it became my job

and a business,” said Cummings.

“When this is your job and this is

how you make a living, and this is

how you pay your bills, you need to

go full tilt. You have to focus. I have

always been like that. I have always

been the leader of the bands. I’ve

always been tough. ... It’s about get-

ting this job done, and getting it to a

level where it’s really, really good.”

In 1985, Cummings returned to the

Battle Creek area and started his pro-

duction company, Soundstage.

“That turned out to be the biggest

thing for me,” said Cummings. “I

never stopped playing and I became

well known. But Soundstage was the

number one or number two produc-

tion house for commercial music in

the United States for a long time.

Cummings has worked with

big name businesses, such as

McDonald’s, Ford, Toyota and

Pepsi.

“The list is endless,” said

Cummings. “We were top of the line.

...Today, I still do things, but I’ve

gone from 80 clients to six, which is