Scratching the Surface

“I don’t feel like a big star, but I’d like to feel like a big star. It’s wrong that people don’t even know what we look like. They don’t even know the name of the group.” That may sound like the lament of some obscure artist longing for the spotlight, but that’s Surface’s lead singer Bernard Jackson doing the griping.

But Jackson and his partners David Pic Conley (bass and percussion) and David Townsend (guitar/keyboards) have a right to sing the blues. The R&B; group’s second Columbia album, “2nd Wave,” has sold over 850,000 copies. A few months ago, Surface, primarily known for its ballads, had a Top 5 pop single, the silky soul tune “Shower Me With Your Love.” Stretching back to the first album, “Surface,” the group has a string of six singles that have reached the Top 10 on the black chart. On the first album, the single “Happy” even briefly squeezed into the pop Top 20.

So these guys aren’t exactly nobodies.

“Yet how come nobody knows us?,” Jackson complained. “Pop fans don’t know us. We’re not on the cover of magazines. People know ‘Shower Me With Your Love’ but they don’t know us.

“I must say a lot of black fans know us. Black fans can make you a star. They’ve certainly supported us. But to be a superstar, you need the pop attention. We want that pop attention too.”

Apparently they figured that after “Shower Me” was such a big pop hit, they’d be showered with attention from the pop masses. But in the last few months, pop radio ignored Surface’s follow-up single.

“We should be getting more pop radio airplay, but we’re not,” Jackson said. “Something’s wrong somewhere.”

Surface, formed in Connecticut five years ago, might get more attention if it were flashier. But this is a meat-and-potatoes kind of group--steady but unspectacular. Neither Jackson, 30, nor his colleagues--who are in their mid 30s--are the sex-symbol type. On stage, these guys are no threat to Bobby Brown.

But Jackson’s point is that they’re skillful musicians who, considering their accomplishments, should be better known.

“People who’ve sold fewer albums and who haven’t had a Top 5 pop single are better known than we are,” Jackson insisted.

Maybe the problem isn’t with the group. Possibly, as Jackson suggested, Columbia Records hasn’t developed a strong campaign to sell Surface to the pop masses.

“We’ve made some money for this company,” Jackson said. “I’m not pointing any fingers or looking to offend anybody, but if something doesn’t change we’re gonna cause some problems. We deserve better than we’ve gotten so far.”