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R&B band Liquid Pleasure reflects on decades of inaugural performances

Kenny Mann (left) has performed with his band, Liquid Pleasure, for more than 50 years.

Kenny Mann did not set out to be a musician, but after some early intervention from his cousin (and eventual bandmate) and his mother, Mann realized that he was meant for the spotlight.

With his band Liquid Pleasure, Kenny Mann has been performing soul and R&B music for more than 50 years. Some of the band’s most high-profile gigs have been at presidential inaugural balls, beginning with President Jimmy Carter’s in 1977. He joins Leoneda Inge to discuss his career, his experiences playing inaugural balls and his nonpartisan approach to performing.

Guest

Kenny Mann, leader of Liquid Pleasure

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of ¹ÏÉñapp's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at ¹ÏÉñapp as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital ¹ÏÉñapp Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as ¹ÏÉñapp’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for ¹ÏÉñapp's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.