lanebrodyinterview

American Music

Lane Brody interview

1987 was a busy year for me. Writing for the Nashville Tennessee magazine from Holland which was a very progressive magazine. We did Jason & the Scorchers and Bob Seger as well as Nashville artists.

I did a lot of interviews for N.T. travelling Europe and sometimes didn't have to go far. I met the charming Lane Brody in Holland and remember I hardly had more fun than with Lane.

There was no first question. Lane started talking right away.

I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin in the North. I started singing when I was 5 and had a three girl group when I was 12. We played at fashion shows and talent contests. I started writing at that time too.I had a lot of influences. I was experimenting a lot with my voice,what I could handle. I had a r & b band that played the clubs, a rock band and my country influences was kinda folky. I did that solo. I loved jazz and was greatly impressed by the bands of the fourties. I had a teacher who gave me all the albums with the instrumental standards on it. So I got a real good appreciation of good music when I was young. My father always loved classical music and big bands. So I learned about fine structured songs and good music. The pure things in music. Then came the Beatles. I liked the Rolling Stones and some rockbands like Led Zeppelin. I liked Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick.She had a powerful voice and I did imitate her. I liked Johnny Mathis because he had such a lilt to his voice. And the others I liked were more for who they were, their image, Elvis, Aretha Franklin and George Jones. What came out of the person along with the talent that made me look up to them and admire them.. I have a very diverse background in music. There wasn't much I didn't listen to. It sometimes drove my mother crazy.

You're a country singer now but you started out doing something quite different. Singing commercials?

The commercials that I did were mostly countryversions of commercials. In other words: in Chicago they got a job doing a rock- , a blues- and a countryversion of a commercial and hired singers accordingly. I was hired for the countryversions so I've gained my reputation that way for having a "country voice". I developed my style in country music by listening to Patsy Cline and such.

Did it give you any satisfaction?

No, not at all. It was fun because it allowed me to sing into the mike and go back to the studio and hear myself back. But I learned that there was much more. I had a producer/manager who had me sing a few songs as a demo and sent them to record companies. And that was the most fun thing to me to do because I could listen to my performances. In the early years I was so frustrated because I couldn't hear back what I had in me. I felt that I didn't come out athough I worked hard to get myself involved. But I got bored because I had to go into the studio and they told me what I had to do.. I was developing my own style but the jingle producers daid to do it more like this or like that.I really got frustrated. But I got my first record deal in Chicago with GRT which showed me that I was on the right track but shortly after that I moved to L.A. to work on my voice, my personality and my style and stopped making jingles for that reason.

When did you move to L.A. ?

I did a few trips in 1979 but actually moved in 1980. I got a record deal with EMI in 1981 and my first album came out in 1982.

Could you tell something about it because what you did before The Yellow Rose is totally unknown here?

My first record was pretty succesful, it was called "He's taken" .A lot of people remember that. I wrote it myself as a two-step dance number. Then I had a song "More nights" that Michael Lloyd produced, he did a lot of bubblegum acts and he also did 4 or 5 Bellamy Brothers album including their major hit "Let yor love flow". Then came "Over you" which became a very big succes for me in the U.S. but now I travel I've found out that it went further than that. Even people in Germany recognize it and in Spain it was used in a soap opera. So I had a few succesful songs before "The Yellow Rose", but of course that was my first number 1 record.

I guess because his name came first, Johnny Lee asked you to do "The Yellow Rose" together but it was the other way around.

Yeah, I was pretty wellknown as a theme-singer: I worked on "Tender mercies" and on "Tough enough" with Thom Bresh. We wrote the theme-song which became a hitsong for T G Sheppard and my second single "More nights" also eneded up on the soundtrack so there were many at that time. I was getting a good reputation in Hollywood and the producer of the Tv show "The Yellow Rose", whose office was almost next to ours, approached us and asked if I didn't want to sing the song. He first wanted Thom Bresh but he was gone so I asked Johnny Lee. I knew he was in town, then with Charlene Tilton doing her "Dallas" thing. I had my manager call him and that's how we got together.

What went through you when the Yellow Rose got to # 1?

It was rough. You see, were in the studio to finish it as a record after it had been on TV and there wasn't enough words to the song which I did. I sat in the back and went to Jimmy Bowen,the producer, showed him the additional lyrics and asked if he liked them. He did and we recorded them. Then I was told by Warner Bros it was the A-side but it wasn't. It was the B-side. They were actually putting "Say when" on the A-side to be Johnny Lee's next single. But I told 500 radioguys all over the States that "The Yellow Rose" was coming. So when they got the record which was a two-sided copy where mainly the same song is on each side, nobody played "Say when", they flipped it over and played "The Yellow Rose" and it it hit the charts as # 50 but my name wasn't on it. So I called thre trade manager and asked if he heard the song. He said yes and I asked aif he heard there were two people singing and that I was the other one. So the next week I was listed on it. I wasn't listed as a writer and nobody knew I kinda worked that whole project, I wasn't recognized until a year and half later at the BMI Awards where I got one for "Most performed song of the year" as a writer (and laughing)Yeah, it took me a long time.

What was the result of that # 1 song for you?

What was the result? My identity was raised with the people that idenified me with the song. I got a lot of TV shows with the song. They saw my face in connection with the song. It helped me building a career. It was a big boost for me because it showed I was on the right track, that my writing was good. The same manager called me a year later as a guest star in a major TV show and sing. He remembered me, so it did a lot to me.

But the album on EMI wasn't the result of all this?

No, not really. I wanted to continue what I was doing with Thom Bresh and the label wouldn't let me. Another president came and I went and there were three during my time for the label. And you know when a new president comes he changes everything, the whole policy, so he kills projects and starts new ones. We got together and I was given Harold Shedd and had to work with him although I preferred working with Thom.

On the album are a few self-penned songs. How do you write?

I started writing when I was pretty young and it's part of me as singing is. But a lot of times you have to go with the flow in Nashville. When I started out it was either you are a singer or you are a songwriter. I wanted to sing more than anything else in the world so I didn't broaden my writing ability it only slipped in. But suddenly it was "in" to be a singer/ songwriter, so I kinda opened the floatgates and let out hundreds of songs.. So now I have a record deal and we have to shift a whole lot for my new album. The stuff is probably as honest as my writing has ever been. I'm just doing what comes naturally.It may sound a little silly but the brain is a computer. After you feed it with how to write a song, how the formulas are... you forget it but it's still there and you do it. And you know that you write songs that are structured. Now that's fun, the structure is there, the feelings are there.

But you're not satisfied with the final result of the album?

It was a very obsetting experience because my whole life Iwanted to look at my first album but it wasn't what I wanted. It was taken out of the studio by the producer during the mixes by people completely different than me. In all kind of ways they felt different.There were many influences I totally disagreed with. And a lot of electronical material that was used on my voice were not necessary, I'm a purist when it comes to that.. I've studied all these years to learn to sing with dynamics and then somebody takes it off and makes it sound vanilla, You said that the album was a good one and I agree for those people who didn't hear how it was and though can't compare. And for a first album I'm not ashamed but I know what I'm capable of and I can do better. For that reason it was a difficult album for me.

Did the album or the singles sell a bit?

Nothing happened to the album. The Record company at that point had a totally different point of view. They wanted sexier photos which I didn't want. I wanted to sell my voice and the company didn't like that but it was te truth and one of the battles we had from the beginning. So they had it with me and I had it with them. But they were hanging on to me, they wouldn't let me go. I wanted to get off the label and to Warner Bros. That all happened at the "Yellow Rose" period, when the song got to number 1 nobody at my own label congratulated me. They treated me like I didn't exist. That was such a major slap in my face. It was hard for me to look at those people. I am real honest and from that point on it was how long do I have to be here and when can I go on doing what I really wanna do? And they didn't allow that.

There's a song on the album called "Got my heart set on you" which gave John Conlee a # 1 song in 1986. What are your feelings about that?

Typical for the record company. We screemed to get that out as a single and they wouldn't. That was typical for the problems we had. It got from bad to worse but I was happy for John Conlee. A lot of the same musiciansplayed on his record too. It was great but it hurt a little bit because I had a very good version.

What happened after the album?

I said to the new president that came: Please release me of my contract. Butb he said: That's our decision. But at my birthday, the day I signed with the label. I got a call from the president that I was free to go..... That was wonderful and called for a celebration. And who celebrates that where evrybody wants to get on a label? But I was so messed up that I absolutely wanted to go and find out who I really was. And that's what's happening now. This is the best time of my life. I know who I am, I'm doing shows, we are more in demand than ever, we have a new label we're about to sign with and they want me to be happy and work with Thom. Nothing can be better./

When will we hear from you again?

The new deal will be there 3 or 4 days after we get home. It's gonna be an important week. When the contract will be completed we will know how the contract is gonna be. I think at the end of the summer there will be a release because we now have material for about 2 albums that Thom and I financed ourselves.

You do perform with Thom Bresh for 6 years now, just you and him and a guitar. Is that what you really wanna do?

Yeah, not hiding anything. It's just us and the audience. To entertain , to talk, to sing, to have fun. And it works. We can see that at the faces of our audience and that works for us too.