Jammin’ Jerry Stackhouse
February 11, 1997

Philadelphia 76ers’ Jerry Stackhouse will be bringin’ the house down with his voice on the song "Jam In The Paint" –the title song for the album featuring NBA players. The song "Jam In The Paint" was co-written by Phoenix Suns’ Wayman Tisdale, and it features a spoken bridge section with Shawn Kemp of the Seattle Supersonics. The buzz is that Jerry is quite the talented singer. Rick Carlisle, Portland Trailblazers’ assistant coach, who also appears on the album shared with me that Jerry has a great voice.

Jerry told me that he learned how to sing, when he was around five years old, by singing in his mother’s choir--Jerry’s mother is a minister. "I just always enjoyed singing." He said he really likes gospel music because it was such an influence on him when he was growing up. I suggested to Jerry that he and his mother ought to do a gospel record –he said "are you kidding, my mother can’t carry a tune." I guess that is why she is the minister of the church.

"I started focusing more on basketball and less on singing when I was in seventh or eight grade. " said the talented basketball star. I asked him if he quit choir in middle school because he thought it wasn’t cool—Jerry said "Oh, no, I just had to spend a lot of time on basketball." See kids, whoever said choir wasn’t cool!

Jerry said in addition to singing "Jam In The Paint" he sang, wrote and recorded a song "Let Me Hold you Tight" in a small recording studio in North Carolina but it has not been released. I’ll keep you posted.

"Singing ‘Jam In The Paint’ was a lot of fun to do. I wasn’t nervous, I felt very comfortable singing in the studio" said Jerry. As far as Jerry pursuing a record deal, Jerry’s agent Joel Bell told me that " we’ll take this singing thing one song at a time."

Whitney Houston, Anita Baker (Scottie Pippen’s favorite singers, too), Boys II Men, and New Edition are some of Jerry’s favorite artists. But Jerry told me he would like to sing a song with another artist—Shaquille O’Neal.

A Little of This and a Little of That…

New York Knicks’ Patrick Ewing, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf, and Al Michaels will guest star as themselves on ABC’s "Spin City" airing Tuesday, February 18th at 9:30 p.m. ET. They will be part of a birthday celebration for the Mayor’s 50th birthday…

Dennis Rodman will sing on the soundtrack for his movie "DoubleTeam" starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Mickey Rourke. "The Worm" will sing the song "Just a Freak" with singer Crystal Waters. One of the producers told me that they are hoping for a mid-April release…Speaking of Dennis, the uncensored MTV show "The Rodman World Tour" will feature Whoopi Goldberg and Dennis dishing about sex and love over breakfast on Sunday, February 16th at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT…Team Kawasaki Rider Jeff Emig who drives in the Supercross Series has some interesting fans -- the unofficial "Fro" Fan Club -- named from the last part of his "Jeffro" nickname, wear dark wings of the frizzled hairstyle that was popular in the ‘70’s.