Ronnie Laws was born in Houston, Texas in 1950, where he taught himself to play alto saxophone when he was 11. He comes from a musical family. His older brother is noted Jazz Flautist Hubert Laws, and he occasionally tours with his sister Debra Laws, a vocalist. Ronnie Laws left college early and moved to Los Angeles to make it as a musician in 1970 and worked with the Jazz Crusaders and Hugh Masakela, among others. He played saxophone and flute with Earth, Wind & Fire for two years, appearing on their 1972 album Last Days and Time.
His first solo record was Pressure Sensitive on Blue Note Records in 1975 and it yielded his biggest hit Always There. Over the years Ronnie Laws has performed and recorded with an A list of musicians including Howard Hewitt, Brian Culbertson, Ramsey Lewis, Jeff Lorber, Alphonse Mouzon, Sister Sledge and many others. Atlanta's Jazz Station 91.9 WCLK played Always There in 1975 and we've played his music ever since. He joined us in the WCLK studio last month when he was in town with Debra to play live at Suite Food Lounge.