Brenda Russell | Timeless Tunes: Crafting Songwriting Magic - Mick Unplugged [EP 20]
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Mic Unplugged, where we dive into the stories behind the legends. And today, we have the honor of speaking with Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter whose soulful voice and timeless hits have touched hearts worldwide. We'll explore her incredible journey, her creative process, and the inspiration behind her new project, What Will It Take?,

Please join me in welcoming the sensational, the inspiring, the motivating, the queen, Ms. Brenda Russell. Brenda, welcome to Make Unplugged. Thank you, Mick. I'm pleased to be here. Thank you. I have to say this. My favorite song in the world is If Only for One Night.

Thank you. Because I have you here and I get to talk to the source of my favorite song, which is this is why this is a bucket list day for me. Talk to me about write that song just if only for one night.

A lot of us writers write about our heartbreaks and that sometimes are the best songs because everybody feels a heartbreak, you know? And that song, I cried through the whole writing of it. Oh, man. I was crying all the time because my heart was so broke. But it makes for good songs. Absolutely. Because I would call my mom and she'd say, write about it. That's what she always told me. Write about it.

We could just talk about you and that song all day, but I don't want to do that. I don't want you crying on me. But that song is so just, it's timeless, right? And the way you start the song, Brenda, just wow. I'm just going to say wow right now.

you're gonna say wow right now you know and you have other timeless songs right piano in the dark get here again most of your songs if not all of your songs stand the test of time can you share kind of your creative process on how you do this well i learned from the very first hit song that i wrote

I was washing dishes. I actually had a dinner party that night, and the people were sitting in the living room where the piano is, right? And I'm washing dishes after dinner, and the song is so good, so right. I'm singing in my head. I went, wait a minute, I have to write this right now. Because if you get an idea, you got to write it, or it'll go away, right? So I went into the living room where my guests were sitting. They were after dinner chats.

And I sit down at the piano and start writing so good, so right. And they're like shocked that I never wrote in front of people. But I had to because I knew if I don't write this right now, I'm going to lose it. And that's how I wrote my first hit. That's crazy. And then it taught me, don't have rules about how you write. I have no rules. It's going to come any way it comes. So you said, thank you, God, and keep moving. Yeah.

I love it. I love it. Brenda, on Mick Unplugged, I like to inspire people through my guests to go deeper than their why. We all get you start with why, think about your why, know your why. But I actually believe it's your because that actually fuels you. It's that something inside of you that makes legends legends.

What was one of Brenda's early becauses? Like, what was your because? Well, it started with my parents because they were both singers. My mother is a songwriter. And as a child, as a little child, I thought all moms wrote songs because my mom always wrote songs. And it wasn't until I went to school that I realized I would ask kids, like, isn't your mommy write songs? I'm like, no.

But that's what I thought. I thought all moms did that. And then as I grew, I realized she was just special. There you go. So aside from your mom, who were some of your early musical influences? My mom and dad. And then I would say I would go to Holland Dozer in Holland because they wrote all of the hits there.

That's right. That's where I learned how to write a hit and something catchy for people to remember. And of course, the Beatles, I was a very big Beatle fan because they were innovative. They didn't have rules about how the structure of the song was, which taught me a lot. You could just

changed the tempo in the middle of it. And, you know, that's what they did. And I love that spontaneity and just breaking the rules people get used to. That's Brenda creates her own rules. I like that. No shackles, right? No shackles. No shackles.

I love it. I love it. You've collaborated with many great artists throughout your career. Are there any particular collaborations that stand out to you? And if so, what are they and why? My biggest collaboration, too, Maurice White, who was unbelievable. He was like royalty. Working with him, he was gentle and a gentleman and very gifted and very encouraging to a young artist as I was when I met him.

And I collaborated with them. And David Foster, who is the wonderful David Foster, brought me to them. It was wind and fire because he was working with them. He wrote After the Love is Gone, a killer song of all time. And he wrote it with them. And he introduced me to them and Maurice because they wanted someone to write lyrics for them.

And it was a very learning experience because Earth, Wind & Fire, when they gave me the songs, everything was there except the lyric and the melody. So I was like, oh, my God, I've never written a song collaborated with the horns. And everything was on there except this. And I was like, whoa, this is different. So it was a real challenge for me. But I rose to the challenge, I think. Yeah.

Awesome. Awesome. I want to get to what will it take? And I'm going to have a link to the song in the description and everything, because the first, I'm going to say seven seconds of this song, grab you right. Amazing musicianship in this song. And then you get Brenda's voice. And if your soul has never melted before, let me tell you about the melting that I had. No, we're not going to go there, but yeah,

What will it take? Walk us through not just that, but the entire project. So this is something I know that you're really proud of. It's an amazing project. I've gotten to hear a few things on it and it's at the top of my playlist literally every day. Walk us through this brainchild and what are some of the things that you're really proud of on this project? My granddaughter sang on it. I'm very proud of that.

She was 12 years 11, I think she was when we did this. And my daughter conducted the kids. I have all these beautiful children singing on it. And I actually wrote the song 30 years ago.

Are you serious? Yes, I'm dead serious. But when I wrote it, my publishers couldn't understand what it was. You know, I knew I had a vision. This is going to work, this idea. And they didn't agree with me, so they didn't take the song. So I took the song back, and now it's my song. There it is. I love that. Love it. You can hear it.

But there was so much turmoil going on in the 90s with the go for and killing each other everywhere on the planet. I had to write about it, you know, and then come to this time, same problems, only worse. Correct. Correct.

and Israel and all these people hurting each other, you know. And I thought this is a good time for this song because it rings true what's going on in the world. Maybe I could send a message out of what is it going to take for us to get it together? I did not know that you wrote that song in the 90s. Yes. Wow.

Wow. Because, I mean, it resonates. You're right. It resonates now. I would have thought that you wrote it, you know, last year with everything that was going on. That's insane. You know, I think sometimes songs have their own trajectory that they know where they're going and you just have to follow it or build it the way it's asking you to build it. Songs talk to me or titles talk to me.

like I keep a book of song titles when I hear somebody say something cool or I think of something cool I write in a book all of my titles so Piano in the Dark for instance the music was written by Jeff Hall and Scott Cutler and they sent me this music Piano in the Dark and I thought this is very nice two days later they call me what you got I'm like

And I pick up my book and start flipping the pages, my song titles. And I said, what about Piano in the Dark? That's how that happened. It was just one title, about 50 titles. And I was like, how about that one? And they said, what does that mean? And I said, I don't know, but I'll figure it out.

That's brilliance and genius right there. And I know how humble you are, but Brenda, you're a genius. And I literally mean that because, you know, I was talking to Patrick Leonard the other day and I told him a lot of times we throw the terms genius and legend around like it's very superficial. We need to stop doing that because legendary people like Brenda Russell and geniuses like Brenda Russell...

I love his work, his music. He did a song with Madonna, right? He did. That was my favorite Madonna song. There you go. It was so good. Amazing. But you were just as legendary and have that same type of genius. And so I need you to know, and I need the listeners and those that are watching to know, Brenda is that person. Right.

Brenda is that person. So I appreciate that. You know, when we think about entertainment and especially you, right? Like you Grammy winner. Our show, you know, I co-wrote Color Purple for Broadway. You sure did. I was going there next. Look at you.

It was an honor to write that and to work with Alice Walker, who is, to me, she's amazing. She's like a goddess. And she's so spiritual. And she really helped us with her energy to complete this project, which took five years for us to write that.

Because that's where I was going to lead to with your awards and then getting into the color purple. Because in entertainment, I feel like a lot of things kind of get lumped together. And you're talking about the diversity that Brenda Russell has. Talk about the color purple a little bit and like what it was like working with Alice Walker, taking someone's vision and then somewhat making it your own because you have to do that a little bit too. So walk us through that or talk us through that a little bit.

Well, our priority was to get it right for Alice because she's the creator and we wanted to honor her ultimately. So we always asked her, "What do you think? What didn't you like in the first movie? And what do you like?" You know, she gave it to us. She was so prolific and beautiful. She would write us a little note and you'd want to frame it. It was so real well-written.

And she was very inspiring. Our producer told us that maybe black people weren't going to come see the show. And we're like, ha, ha, ha, ha. Because we know. I said, they're not coming to see Oklahoma. That was my joke. But they are going to come see Color Purple because they all love it from the movie. And we had buses parked outside our theater. Buses of women and men who came from wherever they came from to see that show. So we're really proud of that. Black people did show up.

Showed up. And as we say, showed up and showed out, right? That's right. That's right. So, you know, again, an amazing career that you've had and legacy that you're going to be leaving and inspiration that you just have for everyone, right? Like just truly inspiring. But I also know everything is not easy, especially in the music industry. What are some of the challenges that you faced in your career and how did you overcome those?

Early on, when I first started, I was writing all my songs, right? And you didn't always get acknowledged being a woman in the studio because it wasn't common. I guess that's why. And I remember one musician came up to my producer at the time, who was Andre Fisher, who discovered Rufus, the drummer for Rufus, discovered Shockout, you know. Yeah.

And so this musician came in and I'm sitting on the couch and Andre's there. And the musician looks at Andre and says, what does she want at the blah, blah, blah? And he said, well, man, she's sitting right there. Why don't you just ask her?

I love that so much because you're invisible to some of these folks because they're not used to seeing a woman, especially a black woman up in the studio telling people what to do. Yeah. Who doesn't read or write music. That's right. That's right. So it's a bit of a challenge, but I rose to the challenge. That's it. And you know, again, I know how humble you are, but your music has influenced countless of artists and listeners. Yeah.

How do you feel about your legacy in the music industry and what do you hope people take away from your work? Well, I'm so honored when incredible singers want to sing my song. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite singers of all time, Aretha Franklin, actually called my manager. She found my ass and she said, I want a Brenda Russell song. And of course, when I heard that, I was out of my mind because she was so fabulous. And I said, Oh, Aretha.

Aretha. You know, I'm going to write something for Aretha. And I wrote what I knew her to be. She didn't want that. She wanted what I do for myself. Wait, I want a Brenda Russell song, not

trying to be a Risa song, right? So that was my biggest last lesson in songwriting. It's not to project on an artist what you think they want to do or what they already did, because they did that. There you go. You have to write from your heart for yourself, because that's your highest point. You know, and you share that.

So I unfortunately didn't get the song with Arisa, but I got a fantastic lesson. That's it. Learning experiences, right? Learning experiences. So again, your music has stood the test of time, but that doesn't mean the industry and music in general hasn't changed. And I know that the way music is today, and I'm going to say this, these are the words of Mick and Mick only, not Brenda. Some of this music is garbage. Yeah.

The idea of creating an album almost doesn't exist anymore, right? It's like people are trying to create viral songs and viral moments. And to me, it's taking away from music. How do you feel about the industry and how technology and streaming services and digital platforms have kind of changed how people are making music? And has that affected you at all?

Well, you have to grow with what's happening if you want to. I particularly don't listen to the radio anymore. I used to listen to it all the time because they were playing the best artists who were writing incredible songs. I would be inspired because that's why I listen to the radio for inspiration to write songs. But I don't do that anymore. But I have a lot of music I can find and it comes to me, you know, that's really good. But it has changed. Yeah.

It has. And, you know, all the songs I listen to, 80% of them are somehow touched by Brenda Russell. I'm just going to throw that out there too, somehow. So what are some of the upcoming projects or new music that you're going to be working on? Or, you know, we can talk a little bit about the current project as well too, but what's new for Brenda Russell?

I have some very exciting project coming out right now with Roberta Flack. I wrote a song with Roberta years ago and I just re-recorded it. She recorded it on her Oasis album. I recorded it on this album, which is called Song Painter. That's the name of my album. I just did the song with Roberta and it's really good.

I mean, she's the queen. And I love working with her. I'm so proud of it. And that's the next thing that's coming out. It's called You Know What It's Like. I can't wait. Thank you.

I can't wait. So we talked a little bit about your creative process for songwriting. When you're actually putting out melodies, what's Brenda's recording process like? Do you have any superstitions? Do you need lemon honey water? What's some of the things that gets Brenda going when she's actually recording? Well, when I'm recording or writing, and this is two different things, I always say God is my co-writer. So...

There you go. I am very inspired. I always say, it's not coming from me. It's coming through me. It's like a frequency that you find and you open your mind to your desire of the music and what the song is telling you, you know? And I'm very spiritual about this process. That's amazing. What advice would Brenda have for

folks that are getting into the music industry that may be new to the industry or may be stuck trying to get in or progressive industry. What's some advice that you'd give to the newbies out there? My advice to a lot of young writers, artists is do what's in your heart.

from your heart. Don't try to write a hit song like everybody else that's sounding like everybody else. You don't want to do that because you already have your gift inside. You just haven't found it. Open up your mind or your heart, whatever it is, to receive that energy and that music because it's all out there. You just got to bring it in and open up to it. That's right. I love it. So I'm going to get you out of here on two things. One, if you could record with any group of people

One project, one song. Who would those people be? That's a great question. Well, one of those people is not here on the planet anymore. And that would be Whitney. And it's funny, the first time I sang Get Here for an audience, I was in L.A. And a lot of celebrities had come to see me. I was looking for a record deal at the time. And I had just written Get Here. So I sang Get Here and people were screaming at me. Say the song, girl. Go!

I mean, Melissa Manchester told me we all look like Alice Cooper because we had our mascara was ready. It was so funny. After that show, this gentleman came up to me from a record company and he said, we have this young girl that we're just putting out right now and that Get Here song would be so great for her. I said, oh, that's nice. He said, her name's Whitney Houston. And I said, oh, nobody had ever heard of her at this point.

But I was like, I can't give this song away because it's going to help me get my record down. And that's what I'm going to do. And then after I found out, after a couple of years, I was like, what is this?

But, you know, it was meant for Aaliyah, so, you know, I don't see anything that I missed because I didn't miss anything. That's good. Aaliyah killed that song. That's right. And made it a hit all around the world, you know, so I'm always grateful. So Whitney is going to be in this group. Who else you had in? Celine Dion, who is, to me, an amazing singer, and I love her spirit. So those two people I would love to have worked with.

I could almost hear that melody in my head right now. The harmony you three would have. Wow. That would be awesome. And then last question for the listeners or those that are watching, you know, they have challenges in their life and they need that inspiration to keep going and not give up. What's Brenda's word of wisdom for them today? I would say surround yourself with people who believe in you. People who support you, not just your mom. Yeah.

That's right. But people say, you've got something. You should share that. You know, you need encouragement in this business. It's very important because it's hard to keep your heart cold when people are going, you know, you get a lot of no's, but you only need one yes. That's right.

You only need one. That's right. And that's what happened to me. Miss Russell, queen. Thank you. I appreciate you so much for spending some time with not just me, but all the listeners and viewers. And again, I'm going to keep saying this because I know how humble you are. You are so legendary.

And you have such creative genius that you inspire me just by who you are. And I want you to personally know that. So I want to thank you. Thank you so much. And, you know, that's one of the greatest compliments because I'll just tell you this real short story. The gentleman came up to me after a show and he said, I want to thank you for the song Get Here because I was in the Gulf War. It was pilot. And he said, that song helped me to bring myself. I wanted to get back home.

And he said, "I'm gonna think about that song so I can get back home." And then we both were crying.

We both started crying. It was just amazing. And that's what music does for you. To me, it's like a gold record having a compliment like that. You know? It hit me in my heart and it made me feel better so I could get back home. There's nothing wrong. I mean, that's precious. You are precious. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Again, Brenda, thank you for taking some time. And for all the listeners out there, remember, your because is your superpower. Yeah.

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