Breaking Into a New Industry: Charles Kipps – Winner of Emmy, Peabody, Humanitas Prize, and Mystery Writers Edgar Award. Background on my Facebook Live guest for September 10, 2020, 7pm EST.

If you grew up in the 70’s, you’re no doubt familiar with the #1 Billboard Top 100 hit “The Hustle” by Van McCoy. Imagine how surprised I was in 1975 at age 14 when I realized my cousin was part of making that hit!

Charles Kipps broke into the music industry through sheer tenacity, the ability to recognize opportunity, and not being afraid to go for it.

He ended up with 7 gold records and wrote and produced for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Melba Moore, and Temptations lead singer David Ruffin for whom he wrote the hit Walk Away From Love, Ruffin’s biggest solo hit.

Charles used the music industry as a launching pad to expand his career into screenwriting, producing, nonfiction, and novels.

In his own words, this is how he got his start in the music business:

“One day I was in DC, and I heard a song coming through a window.  I thought it sounded interesting.  So I walked in and saw three guys singing a song called “5-10-15-20 (25-30 Years of Love).” I told them that I wanted to take a demo tape of it to New York.  Now keep in mind that I was in my early twenties, and I told them I could do something with it.  I called a couple of people and ended up being directed to a guy named Ron Moseley at Sussex Records.  He loved it, and it went on to be a Top 10 hit and have a Grammy nomination that year.  The group was called “The Presidents.”

Van McCoy actually produced The President’s album and he and Charles went on to found McCoy-Kipps Productions together.

One night Charles watched patrons do a dance known as “the Hustle” in the New York City nightclub Adam’s Apple. He called Van McCoy, telling him “you need to get down here and see this.” McCoy was inspired to write the song “The Hustle,” and thus was born the mega hit song.

Among his TV credits are Exiled: A Law & Order Movie and the 25th Anniversary Columbo special, A Trace of Murder. His film credits include Fat Albert: The Movie as well as independent films Frame of Mind, Zarra’s Law, and Anatomy of the Tide. He is currently in preproduction with Someday Sometime, a music driven romantic comedy which he will also direct.

Kipps is the author of the Conor Bard Mysteries. The first three titles are Hell’s Kitchen Homicide, Crystal Death and Times Square Trouble. The novels chronicle the days and nights of Conor Bard, an NYPD Detective who, while a dedicated cop, considers himself a musician with a day job.

He also wrote two nonfiction books: Cop Without A Badge, which details the exploits of a confidential informant who worked with both local and federal law enforcement; and Out of Focus, which goes behind the scenes of a turbulent year at Columbia Pictures. His newest novel is Absolute Threshold, an espionage thriller. It is the first in a series about CIA psychiatrist Harvey Chatham as he combines psychology with spy craft. The second installment, entitled The Spychiatrist, will be published soon.