The Commissioner met him on New Years Eve 1999 in Palm Springs. It went like this: Commish: Hello Mr. Rooney - great show. Rooney: Who are you? Commish: The brother in law of your band leader. Rooney: Oh. And he walked away.
The saxophonist-singer-composer was renowned for his political clout, as well as for having hundreds of wives and girlfriends. Do you get the feeling that music is a much bigger deal over in Africa than it is here?
(d) August 2nd, 1997