Obituary: Rick Stevens, who sang with Tower of Power, dies at 77
Rick Stevens, who served as lead singer of Tower of Power in its early years, lending his vocals to the East Bay funk group’s signature 1972 hit, “You’re Still a Young Man,” died on Tuesday, Sept. 5. He was 77.
Mr. Stevens was diagnosed with cancer three months ago, according to his son and manager Clarence Maloney.
Mr. Stevens, who joined Tower of Power in 1969, replacing Rufus Miller, appeared on the band’s first two albums, 1970’s “East Bay Grease” and 1972’s “Bump City,” playing a significant role in developing the outfit’s powerhouse, horn-fueled R&B sound.
He left the group after the second album was released, just as Tower of Power was on the cusp of a major breakthrough. “It was chaos,” Mr. Stevens said in an interview with The Chronicle in 2013. “Egos, drugs, women. I lost all feeling. I was drained.”
In 1976, Mr. Stevens was convicted of murder for killing three people in a drug deal gone wrong in Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz County) and San Jose. Sentenced to death for his part as triggerman in the slaying, he was paroled by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012 after 36 years behind bars. Mr. Stevens served time at San Quentin, Vacaville, Folsom and the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
“I refused to be institutionalized,” he told The Chronicle. “I was always reaching for that front gate, staying in the fight. I spent a lot of time organizing gospel shows in the chapel. We used whatever was available, an acoustic guitar on the yard, instruments lying around from Arts in Corrections … instruments that had been donated.”
Kicking drugs cold turkey in county jail when he was first arrested, Mr. Stevens emerged to find the world had changed radically.
“I’m still putting the pieces of my life together — I’m still coming to grips with it,” he said, coming out as a bornagain Christian. ““One thing I do know, I know music.”
Born Don Carlos Stevenson, Mr. Stevens said he was born to sing. His uncle was rhythm and blues star Ivory Joe Hunter, and he started singing when he was just 6 years old. Growing up in Beaumont, Texas, “music was always around me,” he said, “always in me.”
He moved to Oakland when he was 14 and attended Oakland High School. He got his start performing in San Francisco’s North Beach at the Condor nightclub when he was 25 years old with his band, Rick and the Ravens.
Following his last stint in prison, Mr. Stevens moved in with his son in Antioch and resumed his role as bandleader, forming Rick Stevens & Love Power and playing gigs around Northern California.
“Rick Stevens went to heaven today to be with the Lord whom he loved with all his heart,” Tower of Power founder Emilio Castillo wrote on the band’s Facebook page. “Rick was an extremely soulful singer and entertainer who had an engaging personality and a strong faith which he shared with all he came in contact with.”