Groundskeeper’s old song popular again

Ricky Calloway

On most days, Ricky Calloway is the assistant landscape grounds superintendent at UNF. But on some weekends, you may find him taking the stage doing a James Brown impersonation, a gig for which he is known throughout the region.

But many people may be unaware that a song he recorded more than 35 years ago has suddenly become popular in some places, especially Europe.

Calloway admits he has no formal training in music. At 13, he participated in a talent show at Raines High School.

“I did pretty good and after that I started sneaking into some nightclubs and playing with some of the bands,” he recalls.

Calloway started playing the bongos and then purchased a cheap acoustic guitar. Some musicians taught him the chords, and he has been playing ever since.

In the intervening years, he has played nightclubs throughout Florida and southern Georgia. In 1968, he recorded a song titled “Tell Me.” He never signed a recording contract then, but the song continues to have a life of its own.

The recording was re-released, and it is now playing on radio stations throughout Europe and Japan.

A London DJ, Keb Darge said he is an avid collector of “old funk and soul.” He traded for two of Calloway’s old 45 recordings of “Get It Right” and “Tell Me.” He then put them on a collectors CD for a variety of United Kingdom, Japanese and Canadian record labels. “I can get more people on the floor to his tunes than to any James Brown classic,” he said.

The renewed popularity of his old songs has prompted Calloway to plan a European trip next year. He plans to take a leave of absence from his job and take his wife and daughter to Europe for three months.

Despite his planned trip, Calloway doesn’t plan to abandon his scholarship concerts, which are becoming something of a tradition at UNF. He plans to do another concert Sept. 18 and will be doing his familiar James Brown impersonation.

“I don’t have a lot of money to give to the University myself, but I’m glad to give something back to UNF. It has given a lot to me,”
he says.

Calloway has been at UNF for 20 years working on landscaping and irrigation projects.

The popularity of his old songs in Europe mystifies Calloway. Nevertheless, he says he is glad that he will have an opportunity to travel with his family and perform a routine that has become second nature to him after all these years.