NBA Star Terry Cummings Wants to be Music Star
January 2, 1997

Former San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks player Terry Cummings has an ambitious mission statement and/or life’s purpose-he wants to change the face of the music industry-as a writer of songs, soundtracks, and jingles; and he wants to be influential in the music business.

Terry told me that when he first got involved in the music business, it was on the administration side. A few years ago, Terry’s cousin told him about how a lot of young black song writers were submitting their work to record companies and never seeing any royalties from their recorded music. So, Terry decided it was time to do something about it. He put together his own entertainment company and hired an attorney to represent these young black song writers to make sure they got the money owed to them. All Terry wanted in return for his guidance was for the songwriters to pay his entertainment company for their own attorney fees. Terry told me it was quite a profitable business at the beginning.

In addition to being involved in the administration side of the business, he decided to get involved with singing and writing. Terry has always enjoyed singing. His mom always told him to shut up because he was always singing as a little kid.

When Terry decided it was time to take professional singing lessons, he hired Seth Riggs, a voice coach who has worked with Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle, to improve his singing. "I really started noticing a change in my voice this past summer" said the basketball player.

You can hear his new and improved singing voice on "Jam In The Paint"-an album featuring basketball players such as Philadelphia 76ers’ Jerry Stackhouse, Seattle Supersonics’ Shawn Kemp, Phoenix Suns’ Wayman Tisdale, Detroit Pistons’ Kenny Smith and members of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Women’s Gold Medal Basketball Team-plus a lot more. The album will be released in the next few months. Terry wrote and sung "Missing You" featuring some of the top session players. The talented ball player wrote "Missing You" when he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks last year and missing his friends back in San Antonio.

My sources tell me you will be pleasantly surprised when you hear Terry sing "Missing You." They tell me he is quite a talented singer and song writer. Currently, he is working on putting together his own album.

As a songwriter, Terry feels his strongest area is his lyrical content-especially with ballads. Whoever said basketball players aren’t sensitive guys. He said he starting writing poetry when he was 15. Last year, when he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, he wrote over 300 poems(he must of been really bored) and he hopes to publish them in a book someday.

Interestingly enough, Terry said he never writes about basketball even though he loves the game and it means a lot to him. He said even if he wasn’t playing basketball professionally he would still play the sport.

Terry said it was he who encouraged Phoenix Suns’ Wayman Tisdale to pursue a music career. Wayman now has a record deal and two commercially successful jazz CDs which have earned him lots of respect in the jazz world.

I asked Terry, who is divorced, about the rumor in the tabloids that he and Robin Givens(Mike Tyson’s ex-wife) are an item. Terry said that the rumor is not true. The rumor was ignited when Terry began hanging around the set of UPN ’s "Sparks" television show starring Robin. Terry’s good friend is the executive producer of the show and told Terry if he ever wanted to learn about television to come hang out on the set. Well, Terry took him up on the offer and next thing you know he and Robin starting talking on the set. Terry said they chatted mostly about being single parents(sounds innocent). He did say Robin invited him to a cast party which he attended with the pretty actress-but he said they were and are ONLY friends.

A Little of This and a Little of That…

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