Never Say ‘We Made It’: Daryl Simmons on Songwriting and Co-Writing (Episode 52)

Work begets work.

Nomad and Daryl Simmons squeezed this one in at the airport in Narita, Japan, headed home from a tour with Babyface in late 2019. In Episode 52 of The Career Musician, the man they call the Silent Partner talks about a songwriting partnership that started in a garage in Indiana and never stopped.

Daryl co-wrote and co-produced Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," which won the Grammy for Best R&B Song. If you want to learn songwriting and co-writing from someone who has done it at the highest level, this is a short episode with a lot in it.

Stick with Kenny

Daryl played drums in an instrumental band with Kenny Edmonds' older brother. He kept saying they needed a singer, and he kept hearing Kenny could sing. One day, breaking down his drums after a garage rehearsal, a kid walked up with an upside down guitar with five strings on it. That was Kenny. Daryl quit his band on the spot and joined Kenny's, because those were the guys he really connected with.

A loud neighborhood kid who wasn't even a musician told Daryl something he never forgot.

"If you want to make music, just stick with Kenny, 'cause he's gonna make it."

Daryl Simmons, 4:26

In high school their band played homecoming dances, then colleges around Indiana, mixing covers with the love songs they were already writing. Pocket change on the weekends, and a lot of reps.

Know your role in the room

Kenny usually had the idea and the format. Daryl's job was to come in, connect the dots and help finish it out. He has been doing it the same way for 47 years, whether the room was a garage, a basement or a world class studio. He has written successfully on his own too, but what he loves most is being Kenny's co-writer.

And in all that time? No screaming matches, no falling out. They like the same movies, laugh at the same things, and neither one drinks beer, so it has always been working, even when they weren't working. That is Low maintenance / no drama. It is a big reason a partnership lasts 47 years.

Where the Silent Partner came from

In the early days of LaFace Records, L.A. Reid and Kenny were the producers, doing the dinners, the promotion and the award shows. Daryl was writing the songs with them but wasn't producing yet, so people saw his name on the records and never saw his face. At one award show, someone finally met him: oh, so you're the silent partner. We thought they made you up. He adopted the name for his company.

When he went out on his own, he bought a building and eventually built a studio in Atlanta, taking notes from all the great rooms he had recorded in. They printed a box of color brochures for the grand opening. They never used them. Word of mouth booked the studio before the brochures went out, and artists kept coming through. Work begets work.

Friendship first, music follows

Daryl has worked with Elton John, Lionel Richie and Aretha Franklin, and he says some sessions were just sitting and talking. That is the best primer. People drop their guard because they trust you. He's there to work for them, no hidden agenda, and he has become friends with every person he has worked with. He worked with Elton maybe twice and had more dinners with him than he can count.

Aretha was the only artist who ever intimidated him. How do you tell Aretha Franklin what to do? You don't, really. You guide the ship, because she is going to get you there. She would do maybe three to five takes, then take off the headphones and walk out, because she knew she had it.

The second time, Clive Davis called: Aretha wants to work with you, Daryl. She really likes you. That first session came through Kenny. The callback came because of how Daryl showed up. Everything you do is an audition.

Believe in the song

When a song you know is a hit gets a lukewarm reaction from the label or the artist, Daryl's answer is simple: you push forward. He told the story of how much Tina Turner disliked "What's Love Got to Do with It" until her manager pushed it on her. Sometimes people just don't hear it.

The same thing played out inside the team. They wrote "End of the Road" for Boyz II Men, but it came out so good that Kenny wanted to keep it for himself. Daryl and L.A. disagreed and gave him the chance to record it. It didn't have the magic, so Kenny let it go, and the song happened the way it was supposed to.

As for splits, Daryl kept it simple: case by case, a gentlemen's agreement between three friends who grew up together and trusted each other. And the bad songs? Kenny always said you have to go through the bad ones to get to the good ones. So you just write.

Never say "we made it"

Daryl's advice for this generation: work harder. He sees people putting more time into social media and marketing than the music. Back then, they took two days off a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"There was a few words that we would never say... we made it."

Daryl Simmons, 36:50

Ask him for the greatest song he has ever written and he'll tell you he'd like to think he hasn't done it yet. And Kenny still works on every song like he has never written a hit in his life.

The takeaway

Find your people, learn your role, keep the drama out, and outwork everybody, especially after the hits. Daryl's whole career runs on relationships and word of mouth, and that comes from how you show up. Learn more about Daryl at darylsimmons.com, and if you are building your own path, start with the free Get the Gig guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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