“My hand was starting to swell up and blood was coming out of my ears. If I hadn't worked on that stuff, there's no way I could have done it”: Basil Fearrington breaks down his bassline on Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s Back Together Again

CIRCA 1970: Photo of Donny Hathaway Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images.

In the late '70s and early '80s, Basil Fearrington was the first call for a successful Philadelphia production team fronted by former Miles Davis sidemen James Mtume and Reggie Lucas. The duo penned several hits for Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, notably The Closer I Get to You and Back Together Again, which was the perfect vehicle for Fearrington. 

“We had been working together in Roberta Flack's live band, so the chemistry was there,” Fearrington told Bass Player. “I got called because I had big ears and did what was asked. Mtume and Lucas didn't have to give the band much direction. We were their sound.”