In 2010, well over 4 years
ago now, I decided to retire as an artist in the SA music industry. I felt much
disillusionment with the industry that I had poured so much into but as an
artist, I felt like I hadn’t gotten much back in return.
Looking at the bigger picture
now, I realize that as much as there was and still are things in the SA music
industry that simply aren’t right, it was the direction that I decided to take
musically that I wanted out of. Many people due to a massively successful and
commercial hit assumed that that was the only music I had ever done. There will
also be many who knew that I had created 2 albums prior to that which were
dripping in soul, funk, R&B and jazz.
In truth I made the decision
to go for the money and in the cut-throat world we live in its what a lot of us
have to do. Even as I continued recording & performing house music,
although I didn’t verbalize it, I felt it was the wrong choice. Personally I
wasn’t convinced that the music I was creating was the best I could create.
There was no way to reverse those decisions and feeling musically cornered, not
liking the direction my career was going, I jumped ship. Announcing my
retirement might have been a rash decision at the time but it gave me time to
sit back and reflect on where I felt I went wrong and how I should move
forward.
At the same time as I was
making sudden, drastic changes in my career, I was doing a similar job in my
personal life. The beauty of being an artist is all personal happiness as well
as drama inevitably manifests itself into works of art, in my case, new songs.
And so, I sat with a new library of music too personal for somebody else to
sing.
Beyond the “artist” side of
my career, my management team and I began to figure out the best way to
discover and mentor new talent. It’s incredible how when you put yourself out
there into the world in the way you want people to see you, how the world
responds. For me, this came in the form
of ‘Clash Of The Choirs SA’ and ‘Idols SA’. In 2013 and 2014 these shows
provided me with a way to discover and enhance the amazing pool of talent we
have in South Africa and hopefully they will continue to do so.
These shows, along with other
songwriting and production work afforded me the luxury to get into the
recording studio and lay down my new creations. I’m a much happier man in 2015
than the man I was in 2010 and although I’m 5 years older than that 2010 guy, I
feel younger and more alive today than I ever have. The reality is that while
I’m alive and breathing, I will always be creating new songs and new music and
some of it will be sung and performed by me, I don’t really have a choice in
the matter.
For now, I’m back. If you
love Soul, Funk, R&B with a touch of jazz then please check out my EP
currently available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/za/album/the-5th-story-ep/id944998512
The 5th Story full
album will be out 05/05/2015, happy new year!
Welcome back, Soul Brother!
ReplyDelete