{"id":217990,"date":"2024-12-10T12:02:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T12:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=217990"},"modified":"2024-12-10T16:57:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T16:57:30","slug":"ive-been-pretty-successful-changing-gears-a-few-times-in-this-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/ive-been-pretty-successful-changing-gears-a-few-times-in-this-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I\u2019ve been pretty successful changing gears a few times in this industry.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Producers series sees us interview \u2013 and celebrate \u2013 some of the outstanding talents working in studios across the decades. This time, we meet Raphael Saadiq, one of the most successful producers of the modern age who doesn’t really see himself as a producer – although his work with, amongst others, Beyonc\u00e9, Mary J Blige and Whitney Houston suggests otherwise. World\u2019s Greatest Producers is supported by Kollective Neighbouring Rights<\/a>, the neighbouring rights agent that empowers and equips clients with knowledge to fully maximise their earnings.<\/p>\n

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Raphael Saadiq is not a producer.<\/p>\n

Sure, he may have steered highly acclaimed projects by genuine legends such as Mary J Blige, Solange, John Legend, Whitney Houston, the Bee Gees and D\u2019Angelo. And he may be credited on recent culture-shifting albums by Beyonc\u00e9 (Renaissance,\u00a0Cowboy Carter<\/em>) and Brent Faiyaz (Wasteland<\/em>). He may even be regarded as one of the greatest sonic architects of the last 40 years.<\/p>\n

But, to Saadiq himself, he\u2019s just a dude in a band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the opportunity to use the title \u2018producer\u2019, but I don\u2019t use it too much,\u201d he grins. \u201cI just say I\u2019m a member of the band. If we work together, I just join the band and it takes a lot of pressure off me. I used to work with people that would wear T-shirts that say \u2018Producer\u2019, but I\u2019ve never really seen myself like that. I just try to do what I like and hopefully we all like the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, this is awkward, because this series is called World\u2019s Greatest Producers. \u201cFor that,\u201d he deadpans, \u201cI might have to get on board with it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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And, of course, once upon a time Saadiq really was just one of the boys in the band. He grew up in Oakland, California, where \u2013 as the youngest of 14 siblings \u2013 he was often left to his own devices. Having schooled himself on his parents\u2019 record collection, he would walk around his neighbourhood, which just happened to be home to countless amazing musicians, hear a great drummer or bass player, knock on the door and ask to join in.<\/p>\n

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In the same spirit, aged just 18, he auditioned for Sheila E\u2019s backing band and found himself travelling the world playing bass for two years as part of Prince\u2019s\u00a0Parade<\/em>\u00a0tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a chance to hang out and talk to him,\u201d he marvels. \u201cI watched to see what big management and a huge production looks like. It was like seeing Jimi Hendrix at the height of his career\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

On returning, he formed the R&B group Tony! Toni! Ton\u00e9! with his brother D\u2019Wayne Wiggins and cousin Timothy Christian Riley and embraced the role of frontman as the band became huge R&B stars in the US during the late 1980s and early 1990s.<\/p>\n

After the band split (\u201c[The split] didn\u2019t make any sense \u2013 but sometimes being in the music industry doesn\u2019t make any sense, so I just rolled with it\u2026\u201d), he formed the supergroup Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson from En Vogue and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest before launching a solo career.<\/p>\n

But he was already transitioning to a behind the scenes role and quickly became the go-to R&B\/hip-hop\/soul producer of the 2000s and 2010s, also working on Joss Stone\u2019s Introducing\u2026 Joss Stone<\/em> album, playing with Mick Jagger (\u201cHe has so much energy and he\u2019s so funky!\u201d) and Elton John (\u201cHe just puts those lyrics up there and starts writing those songs!\u201d), moving into film and TV music, co-founding the Illfonic video games company and becoming a key influence on Amy Winehouse (\u201cWe were due to play a show together somewhere, but she passed away a couple of weeks before \u2013 such a terrible loss\u201d).<\/p>\n

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He won Grammys with Erykah Badu for\u00a0Love Of My Life (An Ode To Hip-Hop)<\/em>\u00a0and with Beyonc\u00e9 for\u00a0Cuff It<\/em>\u00a0and was nominated for an Oscar in 2018 for\u00a0Mighty River<\/em>, co-written with Mary J Blige and Taura Stinson for the movie\u00a0Mudbound<\/em> (he took his mother to the ceremony and her phone went off in the middle of the big night).<\/p>\n

And now he finds himself red hot again, with Cowboy Carter<\/em> \u2013 for which he co-wrote\/co-produced four songs, including the global smash Texas Hold \u2018Em<\/em> \u2013 seeing him nominated for a string of country music awards. At the Grammys, Cowboy Carter<\/em> is up for both Album Of The Year and Best Country Album, while Bey songs he worked on are nominated for Record Of The Year (Texas Hold \u2018Em<\/em>), Best Pop Solo Performance (Bodyguard<\/em>) and Best Country Solo Performance (16 Carriages<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Right now, however, it\u2019s time for him to catch up with\u00a0MBW<\/em>\u00a0on a bright, sunny day in Portland and talk us through \u201890s stardom, how to reinvent yourself and the fine art of being a non-producer\u2026<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>YOU WORKED WITH BEYONC\u00c9 ON\u00a0RENAISSANCE<\/em>. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU HEARD SHE WANTED TO MAKE A COUNTRY ALBUM?<\/h6>\n

I wasn\u2019t surprised. The way she promoted the record, talking about where country music came from, I felt she would be one of the leaders to come out and sing country music. Her family is a southern family. Other country singers in Nashville have been doing it, but they haven\u2019t had that light shining on them, so she probably was like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s go, I\u2019m down for it\u2019.<\/p>\n

[Being involved with the project] is pretty wild. It\u2019s pretty full-on to work for somebody that has a drive and is at the top of their game, just to be a part of a team that really has good ideas.<\/p>\n

When you get a chance to work with somebody like Beyonc\u00e9, she has a dream to do what she wants to do and I go back to being that kid in the room who sees if he can dream up something to help somebody else.<\/p>\n

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HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE NOMINATED FOR AWARDS IN THE COUNTRY MUSIC SPACE?<\/h6>\n

Well, I haven\u2019t received too many awards for anything, so\u2026 I\u2019m not really that big on awards anyway; the reward is when you listen to the music back through the speakers. I already got the awards \u2013 the proof is still on the radio!<\/p>\n

I might hear the same song 500 or 600 times before an audience gets a chance to listen to it and, to me, that\u2019s the reward. I\u2019m not just saying that to be like, \u2018I don\u2019t really care about awards\u2019, it just never really dawned on me that it was a big deal to win awards. I feel most achievement when I learn to play an instrument, to entertain myself first and if the people in front of me dig it, then that\u2019s a plus.<\/p>\n

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YOU\u2019VE NOW HAD HITS IN FIVE DIFFERENT DECADES. DID YOU EVER IMAGINE YOUR CAREER WOULD HAVE SUCH LONGEVITY?<\/h6>\n

[Laughs] No, because when I first started out, I don\u2019t think I even knew how to count what a decade was! I never looked at it like that. I did notice that almost every year I had something out that did very well but\u2026<\/p>\n

People always say, \u2018You\u2019re the most slept-on producer\/musician in all of the music business\u2019, but I never felt like that. I just haven\u2019t been very vocal about what I\u2019ve done. I\u2019m just very fortunate to have the talent to last through these decades, because it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

“I was like a sponge \u2013 I was coachable, I had pretty good ears, I could hear a lot and I paid attention to more talented people about why things work and why things don\u2019t work.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They have this thing called \u2018one hit wonders\u2019 \u2013 they make one album and you never hear about them again. But as an artist, I really wanted to be more of a utility guy who can work with other people, I never wanted to be the solo artist.<\/p>\n

I was like a sponge \u2013 I was coachable, I had pretty good ears, I could hear a lot and I paid attention to more talented people about why things work and why things don\u2019t work. That was my biggest attribute.<\/p>\n

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BUT TONY! TONI! TON\u00c9! WERE MASSIVE. WASN\u2019T IT YOUR DREAM TO BE A BIG ARTIST?<\/h6>\n

I won\u2019t say it was the dream to become a big artist, but it was the only thing available. I\u2019d rather have been playing bass for a big group like the Stones at that time, but the artist thing came up.<\/p>\n

It took off and, all of a sudden, I had to put the bass down and become a front guy, which was not one of the things I planned on doing. It\u2019s a good thing I was studying the best, so I could go out there and act like a bunch of different people until I figured it out!<\/p>\n

I may have looked like a natural, but that bass was like my shield. Now I\u2019m a tenor soprano singing dude? It was different. That said, I put the hours in because I knew at 8pm there was going to be a show and people paying money to watch will be critiquing every second of what I did. I wasn\u2019t anticipating any of it though, it all caught me by surprise.<\/p>\n

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