WIRRAL LIFE TALK TO SEAL
W L INTERVIEW
WIRRAL LIFE TALK TO SEAL
Seal Henry Samuel ( born 19 February 1963 ) better known by his stage name Seal , is a British singer , songwriter and record producer . He has sold over 20 million records worldwide . These include hit songs " Crazy " and " Killer ", the latter of which went to number one in the UK , and his most celebrated song , " Kiss from a Rose ", which was released in 1994 . Seal is renowned for his distinctive soulful singing voice .
Seal has won multiple awards throughout his career , including three Brit Awards ; he won Best British Male in 1992 . He has also won four Grammy Awards and an MTV Video Music Award . As a songwriter , Seal received two Ivor Novello Awards for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters , Composers and Authors for " Killer " ( 1990 ) and " Crazy " ( 1991 ) after which the unknown Seal became an instant star .
Seal is coming to the Liverpool Philharmonic on September 12th as one of five UK shows for his 30th anniversary world tour , celebrating his landmark albums ‘ Seal ’ ( 1991 ) and follow up ‘ Seal II ’ ( 1994 ) by performing his greatest hits from both . The tour , will also see Seal team up with legendary long-time producer and collaborator Trevor Horn , who will be the musical director for the shows .
It took you to the relatively late age of 27 to find your time .
Seal : Yeah , I thought it was clear where I was going . But , when people came to see me play , they said the same thing : ‘ He ’ s got an interesting voice , but what is he ? If he ’ s rock , how come he ’ s black ? Why isn ’ t he doing R & B or reggae ?’ They weren ’ t interested . I thought they were all deaf , and my attitude was : ‘ What ’ s wrong with you ?’ The industry just didn ’ t know how to market me . Then someone gave me a cassette , and one play of that made me go : ‘ Ohhhh ! Now I see why it ’ s not happening .
That cassette featured Joni Mitchell , Led Zeppelin , Jimi Hendrix and Crosby , Stills & Nash . I didn ’ t write a lick of music for a year , so I could soak up everything by these incredible musicians . Writing “ Crazy " got me on the right path , the song quickly grabbed the attention of legendary producer Trevor Horn ’ s wife , Jill Sinclair , who ran the business side of their record label , ZTT ( featuring notable artists such as Tom Jones , Lisa Stansfield , Frankie Goes To Hollywood , Grace Jones and All Saints amongst others ).
Trevor said " Jill was a big fan of Nat King Cole . She ’ d say she wanted to find a modern-day Nat and one day she told him she ’ d found him . She played him a demo of " Crazy ". I liked the song , and the line : ‘ We ’ re never going to survive , unless we get a little crazy ,’ that was great . You can tell when the public is interested in someone . Buying a single , you ’ re just interested in the record itself . Buying an album ? You have to be interested in the artist to buy their album , so I could tell the public were interested in Seal .”
It must be interesting for you to look back songwritingwise . I guess there ' s the opportunity for you to see how much you ' ve changed and grown as a songwriter when you look back , but also to be reminded of the alchemy of those songs and how special they are . Do you find them exciting or surprising in any way when you look back ?
Seal : Embarrassing for the most part . There ' s one or two gems in there , I tend to listen back with a critical ear , something I ' m trying not to do as much . But you know , I had a funny experience a while back in Mexico . So , I have a place down there ; I decided to take a trip into town about an hour and a half away with a friend of mine . And the only CD in that car was my first album , this must have been about 20-22 years after the release , and the interesting thing was that we played it from beginning to end . And that was the first time I actually really enjoyed it . I was able to listen to it objectively rather than , oh , I wish I ' d sang that bit better . Which is what I tend to do as a songwriter . So , I was able to see for the first time what it was that people liked about the album . It was full of idealism , optimism , positivity and hope , the songs were quite quirky .
We heard you had one of your major hit ’ s “ Kiss From A Rose ” in your back pocket for a long time ?
Seal : Yeah , it started as an experiment . I couldn ' t play an instrument at the time , so I started writing this song called “ Kiss from a Rose ” and I layered I think 17 or 18 tracks of vocals , multi-tracking . And then I did a demo , and I didn ' t really think that much of it . A couple of years after that , I got signed , and a friend of mine says , you know , Trevor , you should get Seal to play this “ Rose ” song he ’ s got ; it ' s really good . And Trevor would ask me about it , and I would go , I don ' t know what you ’ re talking about , as I never really played it to anyone . And so , we recorded the first album , and that song never saw the light of day . Same thing when it came to recording the second album , you know . Trevor get Seal to play this “ Rose ”
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