A year ago, Bill Hudson was singing doo-wop with a group of seniors at the 34th Street Herald Square station. Now, the 70-year-old Bronx resident is fronting a…<\/b>
\nA year ago, Bill Hudson was singing doo-wop with a group of seniors at the 34th Street Herald Square station.
Now, the 70-year-old Bronx resident is fronting a 12-piece rock band, John the Martyr, performing in hip clubs like Brooklyn\u2019s Knitting Factory and gearing up for his first record.
\u201cI may seem subdued, but my emotion is, like, off the scale,\u201d Hudson, cool in a corduroy suit and newsboy cap, told The Post on a recent afternoon.
On Friday, John the Martyr will release its debut single, \u201cFeeling Good\u201d (+1 Records\/300 Entertainment). And after decades of singing on cruise ships, moonlighting as a wedding singer and trawling amateur nights in the city\u2019s clubs, Hudson is ready for the limelight.
\u201cThe reaction we\u2019re getting,\u201d he said of himself and his (much younger) bandmates, \u201cit kind of gives me an adrenaline rush.\u201d
Hudson was born in 1947, just blocks from the legendary Apollo Theater \u2014 where the young music enthusiast grew up watching the Supremes, the Temptations and Sly and the Family Stone perform.
\u201cMy mother called the Apollo my second home because I was there so much,\u201d he said.
As a kid, he and his six siblings watched their aunt dance the boogie-woogie on \u201cThe Ed Sullivan Show\u201d and launched a weekly neighborhood talent show in their Harlem apartment, which their mother, a classically trained singer, judged.
\u201cMy sister would dress up like Diana Ross; I\u2019d pretend to be Marvin Gaye or James Brown,\u201d said Hudson. \u201cI had a James Brown cape . .. We all had the music bug.\u201d
After attending Brooklyn Tech, Hudson enrolled in the Air Force in 1966. He spent the Vietnam War stationed in Guam, where he and his buddies started an R&B cover group. \u201cI was actually making more money singing in the bars than I was in the service,\u201d he said.
When he returned to the US in 1970, he formed the band Spice, which competed at legendary Harlem clubs such as the Baby Grand, Top Club and the Apollo. But when he got married and started having a family in the late \u201970s, he had to put aside his musical ambitions.
\u201cI watched my friends get their own labels and put out records,\u201d said the now-divorced Hudson, who worked at an insurance company while raising his five children. \u201cIt was never a drawback for me, because I had a family, but as soon as my kids were grown, I took early retirement. I said, \u2018This is my time now!\u2019 \u201d
In 2010, Hudson joined the a cappella group Spank, performing on cruises and as part of the MTA\u2019s Music Under New York subway-platform program, which is how a young songwriter named Kyle Ridley met him.
\u201c[His voice] was just awesome,\u201d Ridley, 28, told The Post.
Ridley and his childhood friends were forming a new band, John the Martyr, and \u2014 after showing Hudson some songs and asking his input \u2014 invited the elder musician to join as the lead singer.
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize until a couple of months in that he was 70,\u201d Ridley said. \u201cHe has such a young spirit. We played New Orleans, and he did a split onstage!\u201d
At first, Hudson wasn\u2019t sure his soul stylings would meld with the band\u2019s blend of rock, New Orleans jazz, traditional Japanese music and funk. But now, he loves playing with the young 20- and 30-somethings in the group. And he\u2019s looking forward to showing the world, including his kids and his old R&B friends, his new project.
\u201cIt\u2019s a far cry from soul and R&B,\u201d he said. \u201cBut now, I don\u2019t know how to describe it \u2014 it\u2019s like a gumbo of good feelings. It\u2019s like magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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