Florence Township native Susam (Bal) Slamer grew up around music
By:Vanessa S. Holt
FLORENCE Susan (nee Bal) Slamer grew up around music. Her grandparents loved barbershop quartets and Andy Williams, while her mother played Motown records and sang along to Ray Charles while ironing and doing housework.
"I’ve always loved music from the time I was a little kid," said Ms. Slamer. "There was always music playing."
The first concert she attended was at the Philadelphia Spectrum, where she saw Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s, and before she graduated from Florence Township Memorial High School in 1972, she already had managed a band and organized an outdoor music festival in a local farm field.
It’s no surprise then that Ms. Slamer chose a career in the music business. Today Ms. Slamer, 48, lives in California and works on the FOX-TV show "American Idol" as a music supervisor, obtaining clearance for the songs used in the show.
Whether the music is used in the background or performed by one of the young singers competing on the show, every song has to go through Ms. Slamer.
The show will award one talented young singer a recording contract, but the contestants have been narrowed down from thousands of competitors to 10 finalists over the past few weeks by viewer votes.
Singers are voted off every week until only one remains. Think "Survivor" crossed with "Star Search."
Ms. Slamer’s work on the show is a continuation of the kind of work she has done for years, finding music for TV and film. She has worked on both sides of the music and film industry, both promoting bands and artists for use in film and TV and searching for music on behalf of producers and directors.
Ms. Slamer has been married for 24 years to a musician, Mike Slamer, and they have a 22-year-old daughter, Nicole, who recently graduated from film school.
Over the years, Ms. Slamer has worked with Beatles producer George Martin and on behalf of bands such as The Beach Boys, Earth Wind and Fire, Three Dog Night, The Moody Blues and Warrant.
Sometimes her work means listening to hundreds of different pieces of music to find the perfect song for a scene. When it clicks, it’s like magic, she said.
Although a dream job in many ways for someone with an interest in music, Ms. Slamer’s current schedule is demanding.
When "American Idol" began production, she was working 16- or 18-hour days. Now it’s down to about 12 hours a day, five or six days a week.
"I’ve always just loved music," she said. Before she embarked on a career in the business, she had thought about becoming a singer and even had a band at one point.
"I realized that I can sing OK, but I am more comfortable on the other side, giving people advice, so I’ve been doing that ever since," she said.
Ms. Slamer works with the young singers who already are gaining a lot of recognition for their performances on the show.
When the contestants went on a shopping trip last week, they were mobbed at a mall and asked for autographs, she said.
Every week she sits in on rehearsals, where the young hopefuls perform about a minute’s worth of the song they have chosen for the week.
"We have to make sure the songs aren’t cut down in a way that affects the integrity of the song," she said. "You have to be a good listener."
Lately the contestants have been working on choosing songs for upcoming "theme shows," focusing on musical styles such as Motown, or 1960s music.
"They give me their wish lists, and I try to get the songs that they’d really like to sing," she said.
Although the three celebrity judges on the show, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, offer their opinions after each performance, viewers will choose the winner.
"That’s what I love about it," she said. "They have the benefit of highly professional music people but the public will pick the winners."
The winner will be anyone’s guess, she said.
"All of the finalists blew me away with their talent," she said. "People ask who I think will get through each week, but it’s anybody’s guess on Tuesday night. Somebody may sing and touch someone’s heart across; others might be bowled over by pure talent and ability.
"We’re just as surprised on Wednesday night when the results are announced as everyone else."
Although she moved out of the area in 1974, Ms. Slamer has fond memories of growing up in Florence and discovering the world of music.
"I used to hang out with a band from Bordentown called Fire," she said. "They were one of the best bands in South Jersey."
She also remembered the "mini-Woodstock" she helped to set up in 1970.
"A farmer loaned us his field and we went to the Township Council to get permission for a concert," she said. "We used a flatbed truck as a stage and passed the hat to pay the bands."
Like Woodstock, the all-day outdoor concert drew rain clouds, but it also drew hundreds of spectators from miles away.
Ms. Slamer has kept in touch with her friends from Florence over the years and recently came back to attend her 20th high school reunion.
Her mother, Joan Bal, resides in Florence and has gone to visit the hectic "American Idol" set several times.
"It’s never dull," said Ms. Slamer in a phone interview on Sunday. "Today I have off, but that doesn’t mean the phone won’t ring."
"American Idol" airs on Tuesday nights on FOX.