By Anita Debro
Special to the Birmingham Times
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Ariel Worthy at aworthy@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
JON “DJ SUPREME” AND ERICA MALONE
Live: Birmingham
Married: Dec. 31, 2001
Met: Jon Malone, a Detroit native who moved to Alabama to attend University of Montevallo, and Birmingham native Erica Greene met in October 1995. Jon is a music producer and one of Erica’s friends at the time was working with him in the studio. Erica tagged along for a studio session. “It was a week before my 19th birthday,” she recalled. “We hardly talked but at some point I got this idea in my head that I was going to get to know him and he was going to be my man.” Erica said a “mysterious voice” spoke to her about Jon, but she did not think Jon was aware of what would be. He said, “initially she thought I was unfazed by her, but I was just focused on the work.” But an attraction was definitely there. “She was very attractive and had a dimple I found irresistible,” he said. “And she was just very laid back and super cool.”
First date: About a week after meeting— the two were part of a group date at a show in what was at the time the Park West Night Club. They did not get to spend much one-on-one time, but after the show went to a smaller “hole in the wall” to hear a friend DJ. “We had fun that night,” Jon said. Afterwards, they started hanging out more with friends. But one night on New Year’s Eve a few months after meeting they went out alone and decided to become a couple.
The proposal: “I’m still waiting,” Erica joked about the proposal. Five years after the couple first met, they were parents to an infant and living in Center Point. They both decided it was time. “Getting married was a mutual idea,” Erica said. “It was a bit non-conventional but it worked. Jon said, “Being a musician, I wasn’t used to that familial structure, but I knew it was time for us.”
The wedding: The couple married in the living room of their first home in Center Point. “It had an old-fashioned feel,” Jon said of the wedding. Furniture was moved out of the living room and chairs for guests put in place. Jon remembers his best friend being there helping and Erica’s sisters came over to help set up and take her for a make-over before the ceremony. Erica held their daughter during the ceremony.
Words of wisdom: “Be funny,” Jon said. “Don’t take yourself too seriously.”
Erica agreed. “We are goofballs, we have inside jokes with each other. We quote movies like ‘Friday’ and television shows like ‘Martin’ a lot.” It is also important to admire something about the person you are with, she said.
“Respect who they are without trying to change them,” she said. “That doesn’t always come immediately, but you learn to appreciate that.”
And she added: “And do something that is just for the two of you. We love to cook together. We come up with menus to cook.”
Happily ever after: Jon has spent more than 20 years in the music business as a producer, DJ and now the assistant program director at Hot 107.7 in Birmingham. He tours as one half of Shaheed and DJ Supreme. “It is tough when he goes away,” Erica said of his touring schedule. “But it does make you appreciate the little things he does to take care of us.” When he travels Jon said he stays connected to the family so they can feel like they are traveling with him. Erica works from home and is a student at Amridge University in Montgomery studying human development. They have two daughters, 18 and 13. They enjoy going to concerts, hanging out with their children and watching television.
