Paul Bass Photo
Dunn Pearson Jr. at WNHH FM.
Back in the day, Dunn Pearson Jr. played “Love Train” on the keyboard with the O’Jays before 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden.
This past Sunday, he was at the keyboards at Hamden Plains United Methodist Church playing “Cry Me a River” at worship services.
The venues, the gigs differed. Pearson saw a link.
“It’s the same,” he suggested during an appearance Wednesday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven”: “You’re still trying to make a connection with your audience.”
The classically-trained Pearson, who is 66, has been connecting with audiences for five decades, since he toured as a back-up musician with a teen-sensation group called The Ponderosa Twins. He started touring as a keyboardist and arranger for the smash-hit O’Jays at 20 years old. He went on to earn 26 gold and platinum awards as a composer, producer and arranger for artists ranging from Mary J. Blige and Melba Moore to Teddy Pendergrass. He released 14 albums of his own. He segued to a scoring on Broadway and in movies, then producing commercials for McDonald’s, United Airlines, Wendy’s. He launched his own marketing firm, All Dunn Advertising.
Along the way, he earned the nickname “The Black Beethoven.”
This past year, the love train brought Pearson to Hamden. He entered a relationship with Central Connecticut State University Professor Shelly M. Jones (author of Women Who Count: Honoring African American Women Mathematicians) and moved here to live with her. He joined the Hamden Plains church band; this past Sunday he played his first service. And he made local connections for his marketing work — including an event planned for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Sunday in New Haven’s DeGale Field Park aimed at introducing Black kids to horse-riding and “horses to humans” trauma healing.
Dunn spoke all about that — the past, the future — during his appearance on “Dateline.” Click on the video to watch him recall touring the world, jamming with Sting in a Memphis hotel, how he earned his nickname, and why it’s so challenging to sing along with the chorus of “Love Train” (when the C chord shifts to D).