Ann Delisi's Essential Conversations

John Sinclair co-founded the White Panthers, managed the MC5, and was at the center of a landmark 1972 wiretapping case that went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Sinclair joined Ann Delisi to talk about his revolutionary life and work in Detroit as an artist and activist.

The War and Treaty are a vocal powerhouse with a story as moving as their music. The husband/wife duo spoke with Ann Delisi about how they met, writing music while deployed in Iraq, and playing Saddam Hussein’s piano. Blue Note Records president Don Was also joins the conversation and remembers the first time he heard them sing.

Since his tragic death in 1997, Jeff Buckley's music and legacy has only increased in popularity. Those who worked with him remember an incredibly talented, charismatic artist. In this episode, Ann Delisi talks with former WDET staffers about the day in 1994 that Buckley and his band performed live at WDET, and what it took to get him there.

Billy Mann has worked with pop heavyweights like Carole King, P!nk, Cher, and Ricky Martin. In this episode of Essential Conversations, Ann Delisi talks with Mann about his longstanding songwriting relationship with P!nk, working with iconic musicians, and the bets big record companies make on new talent.

Adam White co-wrote this book with Barney Ales, who was Berry Gordy’s partner at Motown Records. While Berry handled the artistic and creative side of Motown, Barney Ales made sure the records got played on the radio, that they were distributed to the buying public and that Motown got paid.

Emery King recalls covering the Carter and Reagan Administrations as the NBC White House Correspondent, how race played a role in the trajectory of his career and moving to Detroit to cover local news.

In December of 2015, Frank Sinatra would have turned 100 years. His daughter, Tina Sinatra, talked with Ann Delisi about her famous father.

These 3 Detroiters sat down in front of an audience to talk with Ann Delisi about music and sports at the Shinola Hotel in Detroit to benefit the Kirk Gibson Foundation for Parkinson’s

In October of 2016, Ann Delisi talked with Iggy Pop & Jim Jarmusch in front of an audience at the Detroit Film Theater following the premiere screening of the film “Gimme Danger” about The Stooges.

Ann Delisi talks with Billy Davis about his friendship with James Brown, his history working with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and meeting an unknown aspiring guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, who learned not only guitar playing techniques, but some of his signature stage moves, from Billy Davis.