May 5, 2025 • 37 mins
In this week's episode of Stop, Look & Listen, LeTroy Gardner welcomes Darnel Alexander, a singer-songwriter known for his soulful renditions of R&B classics. The conversation dives into Darnel's journey through the music scene, his collaborations, and the inspiration behind his recent singles. Discover how he blends classic sounds with contemporary vibes while paying homage to legends like Luther Vandross. Tune in for an insightful discussion about the state of R&B, the importance of self-love in relationships, and Darnel's upcoming projects!
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Follow Stop, Look & Listen on youtube.com/@stoplooklistenfourcast
Check us out on our website https://pushplaypods.com/stoplooklisten/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Pushplaypods dot Com. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning
into this week's edition of Stop Looking Listen. I'm your host,
Latroit Gardner. This week we have singer songwriter Viral Sensation,
known for putting his sauce on a lot of our
(00:23):
favorite R and B classics. Seattle's own Darnell Alexander, Welcome
to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, man, look man, I miss my hometown.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Man, oh man, where are you now?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Minneapolis. Oh man, that's worse the cold weather. I was
here last year. Man, Look, here is no joke. I
swear to you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
When you can drive on the ice, you know something's wrong.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We were walking through the what was it called the
Skytrack or something, yeah, Skyway. Yeah, that was amazing to me.
I was like, wow, you can go from pretty much
one end of downtown to the other without stepping outside,
Go to the mall, go to the basketball game.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You know it's series when they got skyarys anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Because you walk outside and it's like negative twenty, you
might not come back inside.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah. So I mean Minneapolis just so much classic music
coming out of there. How are you as far as
touching the live music scene. Like I'm in and out.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You know, I dabble a little bit. I get out there.
I support my buddy Jordan Johnson.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
He's been working with me to produce some nice collaborations,
and you know, every now and then I get out
and see what's happening. But usually it's like bonkers. They
got a lot of popular folks that pop up in there.
So but you know, it's a good scene out here.
There's a lot of musicians doing their thing.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So you just mentioned Jordan, You too put out a
single recently, what if reflecting on a relationship that didn't
work out and if it did, like how it would look. Yeah,
just talk about that collaboration and how it came to be.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Look, I found Jordan on ig and I didn't you know,
I didn't see him when I was out and about,
but I noticed he was doing some classic music and
I'm all about the classics, and so I started listening
to what he was doing and then we linked up
and he said, I got a song for you that
I wrote. His dad, Bob Johnston, was side with Flight
Time Records. I was like, that's why it's got that
(02:23):
cool sound, you know, from back in the day, right,
and so we collaborated and did the duet what If.
And then we've got another beautiful love song coming. I'm
not sure if I'm going to release it like, you know,
towards the beginning or the you know, midsummer, but it's
it's a it's.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
A banger man, Okay, all right, looking forward to that
because yeah, like you were mentioning, just that that flight
time eighties jam and Lewis, Morris Dade, jelly Bean Johnson, yeap,
just that that sound that is signature. I love the
way where you all kind of captured that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, I mean, I think he does a really good
job of keeping it classic but still giving like a
current feel to it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So I'm really proud of that young man for coming
with it.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
M Do you feel like that's that's sort of your
formula now as far as papping into the past while
putting a new school flavor on it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
You know a lot of times you think, oh, you know,
the old school artists, you know, you know that, you
know they can't compete with what's happening now, but people
still are hungry for some real rich music that's got
you know, the changes and the court progressions and people
really singing out you know what I mean, like just
really expressing their emotions. So not to say that there's
not a place for all the auto tune and stuff
(03:43):
that people.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Are doing the day, but you know, people want to
hear some real singing still.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely no auto tune when it comes
to you. You have a sound that harkens back to
Luther Van Draws and Donnie Hathaway and Will Downing and
Keep Washington. Yeah those are.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
My dudes, man.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I mean, you know, when I was growing up, I
would listen to their you know, their songs and and
just the tone alone. That's what really stuck with me
is the tone, because you could feel their emotion through
just the vibrations of their sound versus like all the
runs and all the stuff that people can do. I
can do a few runs, but I'm not like some
of these new cats and just be sounding like they
sound like auto tune. But you know, those are some
runs they can really kill them. But I just really
(04:25):
like to make people feel something.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Right, That's great, that's great. So the other single, amazing,
Yeah talking about your Angel.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah right, Amazing, was written by Dennis Bettis and Dennis
Atkinson Jr. Who both are Grammy nominated producers who produced
people from Johnny Gill to Charlie Wilson Keith what one
of my favorites fact from the eighties. This song, you know,
is kind of fitting the vibe that I want to
do is just lift up women, appreciate a good you know,
(04:59):
women and love between a man and a woman. You know,
skip all the drama. Let's talk about what all the
good parts that are happening. And I like to focus
on the positive.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Side, you know, mm hmm. That's good because I mean
so with my other show, The Good Old Boys. We
did a show last night called dating in twenty twenty five,
and all of the different tactics that are used like
hot wifing and boys sober, and I need to pomp
into that ghosting, ghosting and stuff like that. Like I said,
(05:29):
I've been married, so I haven't been been in a
dating world in several years. So all of this is
somewhat foreign to me. But it's hard out there for singles, yeah,
you know, and.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's a whole new landscape now and I think that,
you know, people are still really ultimately trying to find
the holy grail, you know, which is the long lasting, healthy,
non toxic relationship. But you know, I think a lot
of people forget to really, you know, work on themselves
before they jump into one. And it's just a matter
(06:02):
of making sure that you truly love and appreciate yourself,
respect yourself, and you can bring that mirror to the
person that's coming into your life.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Okay, Yeah, I definitely, I'm definitely think I'm thankful that,
you know, life is so much more easier when you
just have that one person and yeah, sitting there going
to know that you.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Got to spend all kinds of time, you know, especially
if they're trying to druggle two or three people you
got to like, you know, they don't want your time.
So with one, it's much easier because you've got enough
stuff going on in life. If you got trick three people,
you're trying to figure out who's the best one, and
you got to spend all this time, you take away
time from all.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The things that are really important and you know your purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And priorities exactly. So I want to ask you this
guy here.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh my dude, so.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
What does this broughtther mean to you?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
And Luther Graandros is like everything. My mom took me
to his concert. One of the first concerts I went
to was Luther Vandels as a kid, and hearing someone
that sounded better than the record was incredible. You know,
I'm just like, what in the world. You know, it
(07:19):
was that concert where he was singing you want to
sing with me too?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, you got another You're gonna have a duet?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, But it was you know, it was the concert
where he was walking back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
On stage and just you know, hitting that one note
you know where he's like, eh, you know, a house
is not Home?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And that was my.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Favorite song to sing during talent shows. You know, when
I was in high school singing a House on a Home.
I was like, if I've been to sing a song
and compete, was she's with somebody? That's the song that's
kind of guaranteed winner. I mean, it's like seven minutes long.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
You can't lose.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, And you know, just he's my favorite R and
B singer of all time. Oh, by the way, so
you're you're gaining a lot of attention for your covers
of Luther's immaculate catalogs and and you and it sounds
(08:20):
like you you went to his grave site and took
his voice and put and put it in in your
in your body, and in the results are just like wow,
a reincarnation of the legend himself. So like, I commend
you and I thank you because like, like his music
(08:42):
has just left the immeasurable imprint on so many of us,
and and like, I really, I really enjoy what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You know, this goes all the way back to when
I was a young team and you know when you
start like liking girls and you're just like, you know,
how do I get the you know, the pretty ones,
and how do I you know, how do I make
this happen? I'm like, you fall in love from Afar
before you even you know, have a conversation with her,
and you don't get the girl, and then you feel lonely.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And then Luther.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Vandross's music was hitting me at that time of all
the loneliness and the searching for love, and it was
like everything that he said meant something to me. And
you know, through years of singing that you know, I
guess it sound kind of stuck with me because I
had my own original material ever since the nineties and
I was working on just doing my own original stuff,
(09:33):
and it wasn't until last year when I did TikTok.
I was singing a Luther Vandross song in the garage,
right in the garage of all places in it like
three million views.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I'm like, that was very surreal to experience because I was.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Never one to believe I'd be going viral doing anything,
you know, and I didn't have a real following prior
to that, so that was hard too write. As an
independent artist, you want people to love what you're doing
and hear your music. But apparently versus was the way
to go. So then I started doing the covers and
people just loved it. It's like, this is this is
my lane right here. Let me go out here and
(10:07):
you know, sing a few songs, so people could, you know,
enjoy this because I was keeping it to myself, you
know what I mean, Like I'm just singing this stuff
down the hall or you know, singing it in the
garage or in a sport court, somewhere in the gym
and mind of my own business.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But I'm just grateful that people want me to share
this with.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Them, right yeah. Because Luther is known for taking somebody
else's song and making it his own and lutherizing it. Yeah,
you you completely forget about the original version in most cases?
Did you feel like those are you know, tremendous shoes.
I feel I feel.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Like they still are. I mean, he's he's his range
is higher than mine. He's more like a you know,
like a first tenor. He's way up there when it
comes to overall body of range.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But I'm more of like the wheel Downing, kind of
in between will Downing and.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Luther As far as range, I like the lower you know,
the lower key stuff where it's just smooth, right in
that sweet spot. Like the most recent cover I did
of Anyone who had a Heart, and that one scared me.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That one scared me because when I sang it, I
was like, okay wait.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But then when I put it out and the response and
I had to listen again, I was like, Okay, I
see what's happening here, Like that that intro that you know,
it's I don't even know how to explain it, but
it just it just hits.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Were you afraid they put it out there?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Sometimes? You know?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Because when I listened to it, I'm like, I don't
want to do too much to a Luther song. It's
like sometimes people will be in the comments are like,
you know, you need to make it your own. I'm like,
that's going to be tough because I'm just going to
sing it like I would sing it, but keep it,
you know, pretty close to what Luther does, and put
a few of my riffs and stuff in there. But
(11:51):
I know I don't sound exactly like him. But to
some people, you know what I mean, with their ears,
it's like that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Kind of does it, you know, and then and I'm like, no,
it's really me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Right, But yeah, man, I you know, he's in my heart,
He's in my soul, and I'm just I feel blessed
to be able to kind of create.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
New music that can still keep that sound alive. Right.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Has any of his loved ones or frequent collaborators reached
out to you.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I haven't. I haven't been in touch with anyone.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
From the Luther camp, but I certainly would welcome that
and I would love to do, you know, do something,
do a remake or anything you know that would be
that would be beyond my weldest dreams.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I mean, which we're going to get into a
little bit more later, But like you said, you've been
in the industry for you know, over thirty years, been
part of groups, been hitting out your own material. Was
it somewhat of a surprise that your notoriety would come
from doing covers on TikTok and social media, like, especially
(12:54):
with the longevity of your career, And I'm sure there
were moments when you just felt like give up, and
now all of a sudden, like it brought the fresh air.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And yeah, man, it's crazy because it's like I just thought,
you know what, I'm going to keep putting music out
because I love to create music and record regardless if
I had a following or not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
It's just something I just feel a passion in my heart.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And I even took a hiatus a couple of years
to kind of work on myself and get my mind right.
I didn't know what was coming, and then when this
came along, I was like, oh my gosh, I have
another chance to try to like do something for real,
for real with my with my.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Talent and my gift.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And now I'm taking it very seriously, not taking myself
too seriously, but taking you know, the gift that was
placed in my lap seriously and giving back to people
who want to hear this stuff. You know, I do
my original stuff, I do Luthor tributes. That's just been surreal.
I mean it's been less than a year and I've
already done the Apollo Cafe at the Apollo Theater and
(13:57):
did some show, did some shows on the.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
East Coast and West Coast. So I'm going to be
getting out there and you know, sharing this stuff with everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Right, talk about the the gift and the curse of
I guess this the success and fame from doing the
Luther covers because it can work both ways. Obviously it's
elevating your platform, but then you don't want to be
typecasted is just the guy that does Luther covers and
and your other music gets swallowed up by that fame.
(14:28):
Yeah's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, I think it's going to be more like
you know, if you look at October London, he he was,
you know, doing Marvin Gaye stuff and literally you listen
to it as it's Marvin right mm hm.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And to do Luther covers that's even bigger shoes.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I feel like the feel because he's so dynamic and
so you know, universal worldwide.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
You know what I mean visitor, Hold on a second.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Uh, come here, you crazy your own you were just
loving Okay, So yeah, to be able to you know,
do these my original stuff, it's really kind of like
I want to do that transition where I'm still able
(15:16):
to do the covers of Luther and then you know,
do the original stuff that still has that vibe to it.
And I think that's what people can now see that,
you know, I'm a real independent, original artist, but with
a little touch of Luther.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, it just dawned on me because I interviewed Brad
Marquee like about a year and a half, two years ago,
and he was singing Sam cook songs. They created a
stage play around it.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I'm just.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm putting I'm putting his bug in your ear. Yeah,
you know, just to say that that's a potential avenue
as well.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Well, you know, they just had the documentary of the
Doctor Menory, which was amazing. But yeah, I'm definitely open
to any of that type of stuff to be able
to bring you know, Luther's history and his legacy to life,
you know what I mean. You know, some people, there's
(16:16):
a lot of people that I hear that have done
Luther covers. You know, they've got the Latin Luther And
I've heard Danny Clay is a really amazing guy.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Found him on YouTube and I was like this dude,
I was like, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
It kind of makes me within a minute, you know
what I mean, like, these guys are really good. So
I guess I'm just blessed to be able to be
able to fit into the lineup of people who who
honor Luther. I just feel like my relationship with his
music is very personal. So I don't try to say I'm,
you know, better than anyone.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Or any of that.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I just I have I have my relationship with this music,
and I'm and I'm doing my part to keep his
legacy alive.
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Speaker 1 (17:29):
All right, son, now take us back to Seattle in
the early days. I mean, what was the music scene, like,
I know, obviously grunge was just tearing up the charts
and yeah, started Mix a Lot.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
What was it like for a young R and B
singer such as yourself to kind of make an imprint
on the industry coming from there?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That was crazy? Those were good times. So much talent
in Seattle, especially when I was coming up, you know,
doing the Tom shows. Nice when I got out of
high school, going to the clubs and starting to you know,
see other people that really had some real gifts. When
I got out of high school, I started working in
the studio and that's when I really started meeting quite
a few talented folks. So we were all quote unquote
(18:15):
trying to make it right, and so Mix a Lot
used to live right down the street from me, right
in the hood, you know, just like you know, and
I'm like, okay, you know, so I knew who he was.
And then when I got with Third Level, I had
a chance to meet him and then we did a
single called Show You, And then there's another song I
Think Don't Play Me. That was on his Seattle the
(18:37):
Dark Side compilations. So I felt really honored to be
able to be a.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Part of that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And then that was really the start of my professional
music journey really, you know, from that point and then
got with Second Nature, we were you know, when we
got with Second Nature, that's when we were really trying
to do it because we were signed to a small
label and when I was a third level it was
just independent. So but with Second Nature, we started going
on tour and started you know, meeting all these you know,
(19:03):
people that we grew up with and saw on TV
and on BT.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You know, it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Uh huh. So like with your time, as you know,
with Second Nature, do you feel like you were prepared
for what was to come?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Or yeah, we just we before what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
We we once we got you know, no, once we
got the deal going and that was solidified, we went
instantly into practice mode. I think we were definitely ready.
We weren't caught off guard, except for some of the
situations when you're on the road, like you don't expect
people to be chasing you in the mall, you know,
that kind of stuff, right, That was the craziest experience ever.
(19:42):
We were in Canada and like literally hundreds of people
were like running after us, and it was.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But but we were definitely prepared to be on the
big stage and do these shows with like Patti La Belle,
and we did the Apollo Theater and then we did
you know, I think we did some shows, some appearances
of Boys to Men and some other groups, so and
Mantel Jordan's. So there's some really cool experiences throughout that
(20:11):
that stint mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
How would you describe the sounds of Second Nature?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It was more like pop R and B. You know.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It wasn't like the down dirty like Jo Tosy, more
crossover of like Boys to Men, more like.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Happy love type stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Although there's a song called Later if that's in the
lineup that's more a little bit more grindy, which I
like R and.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
B, R and B, you know, uh yeah, because I
mean obviously that time frame, like groups are everywhere everywhere, jealousy,
boys and Men off of one intro.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Drew Hill.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, just millions of groups, all successful. Like what how
was it? How was it to just try to find
your own sound with just so many other groups out
there dominating and having you know, eccentric personalities like a
Cisco and a case scene.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Right, that's that's you know, and literally it's interesting that
you mentioned that because it's like when we came out,
we were trying to be whatever we thought the idea
ideal boy band group was. You know, the clothing, you know,
we had like, you know, two guys wearing this and
two guys wearing that, or we'd all wear the same thing.
(21:34):
In my mind, I think I would have rather had
us been more individualized. But then, you know, than it is.
Then you then you do have to step it up
to be a little bit more outlandis right, a little
bit more you know, characterized.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But we had our own sound, but we did want
a better sound. You know.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
We wanted to work with the baby Faces and the
you know, the Jimmy Jam and the Terdy Riley. We
wanted to get a sound that was from that time
really popped.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I think we could have.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Achieved that, but you know, we just had a short
stend and then it went from boy band to pop
boy band and sync backstreet and then that was it,
you know, So we had a little run and that
was it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So after that chapter, what was what was the next chapter?
Did you immediately go into dropping single single music by
myself or did you find a normal nine to five job?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
What happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, I went right back
to work.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I went back to work, and I was like, you know,
it was almost like, you know, put your tail between
your legs and try to figure out what you're going
to do next. From there, I was in a disco
band for a couple of years. That was probably the
most fun I've had in a long time, singing all
the old hits from the eighties and stuff in the seventies.
And then now, that took quite a long break before
I started getting into my own original material.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
That started really in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
So you know, from the late nineties, I kind of
took a hiatus from doing a lot of stuff up
until two thousand and nine, and then started working on
making records by myself. You know, get finding music and
producers to give me, you know, songs to write to,
and from that point on I had been writing ever since.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, yeah, So for those aspiring musicians that expect to
top on the Voice or American Idol and then have success,
pretty much all in one felt swoop like you're a
prime example that there's it's a roller coaster ride, like
you're gonna have your highs, you're gonna have your lows.
(23:33):
But if you stay dedicated and persistent, you know your
time will come.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So yeah, you know, you know, well, I think the
real thing that a lot of these especially the younger artists,
need to realize is, yeah, there's gonna be all these
highs and lows.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Don't get so high in your high.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Horse like I'm famous and people know me, because a
lot of people are seeking validation too on top of
trying to be an artist. And you have to remember,
you know, this isn't you know, the type of situation
that's gonna, you know, bring you happiness or.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Bring you joy.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
You should be already there before you get into the industry,
because it'll break you if you don't have your stuff together.
You've got to really be grounded to go through the
ups and downs, to encounter all the closed doors before
you get the open door. And even if you get
the open door, that door might close like thirty seconds later.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know what I mean. That type of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
So, yeah, you always hear about groups that get deals
and then they never come out, you know, and so
you've always got to be, you know, ready for what
could come. I'm always you know, looking at the glass
half full, but be prepared for somebody to still a
little bit, you know what I mean. And so for me,
I've always tried to keep a love for just the music,
regardless of if I'm out performing live or if I'm
(24:44):
just in my basement making jams. You know, I just
want to feel good about what God gave me as
a gift and just say true to that let everything
else happen.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Right. How do you feel about the state of R
and B right now?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
It's right because I feel I don't. I don't feel
like and.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Maybe i'm because I'm not really in the industry, but
I don't feel like the excitement is there like it
used to be back when, you know, when Teddy Riley
and those guys baby Face, that was magic moments. I
had Johnny Gill out there, they had you know, you know,
all the like you said, all the groups, the intros
to Journey season.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Music was such a vibe then, and I'm not saying
it's out of vibe now.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
There's a lot of cool artists but I don't feel
like it has the impact that it used to, almost
like the dream you know, and a lot of things
have happened so far now that oppressed the dreams of many,
because you know, lea veil has been lifted, so to speak.
You know, But I feel like I feel like R
(25:46):
and B in general, we as a collective need to
consider all the beautiful parts of music, you know, don't
just push aside the types of you know.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Now you've got.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Southern soul coming up, right, and you've got the stuff
that I do, which is a little bit of a
take on the old school R and B.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
But there's a place for all.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Of that to be in the forefront and the mainstream
R and B instead of just the same old stuff
that you hear that I feel like, doesn't you know,
always touch our hearts and souls.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
But it makes you bob.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Your head right, Yeah, I mean I think I think
it's a lot of microwave music, and you can you
can tell that there's a formula being being used, and
the songs are songs that lasting three minutes. I mean,
that's another reason why this man is a favorite. You
have those eight nine minute songs with the instrumentation that
(26:39):
takes you on that emotional roller coaster. Like Davian Green said,
then that voice just comes in and it's over.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's a build up.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
It's like you know, you know nowadays when you know
people just want to have sex, but back then they
were making Love's the that's.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
The analogy, I would say. And I remember when I
did my EP in.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Twenty twenty two or twenty three, and I literally made
every song like two and a half three minutes because
I knew people's attention spent was really short for that
kind of music. So I was kind of on my
tank vibe, right, you know, just you know, singing some
really cool songs over some really cool beats, but nothing
you know, too deep, right. But my goal has always
(27:25):
been to be able to create those songs that last
for you know, three four or five minutes, to get
people a journey, you know, the intro, and then have
the verse, the course of bridge to change.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Bring people way up and then just take them out,
you know what I mean with and.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Make them want to rewind the song again and play
it over and over like we used to do back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I would wear some records out.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, yeah, I was. That was the same way, especially
if I was going through a breakup, it was a
rat Oh man, play it again, please yeah all night,
you know, especially now on YouTube where they had those
twenty four hour loop songs. Oh yeah, you could just
play it, let it go all day. Yeah that was me.
(28:11):
So I mean, but it actually sounds like you've mastered
knowing how to utilize social media without it compromising your
creative integrity when it comes to the music that you
put out.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Dude, and look at my age, I tell you, man,
I'm like, you know, you look at a lot of
different artists. They've got the technology. You know, you got
the nice cameras and and you know, and you you
say to yourself, do I need to, like, you know,
jump on that bandwagon.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So there's the rift of saying, you know, how do
I keep it as authentic as possible?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
But you know, I don't want to make it seem
untouchable either, right, because there's a level of production that
you can do that takes it, you know, to the
pro level where you know all the you know, the
Chris Brown's and Usher and Tank and all those guys
to doing. But then I almost feel like you leave
people behind too, So I feel like I try to
keep it as real and authentic as possible, you know,
(29:08):
until you know, some shift happens and I'm you know,
with a distribution company or label that's given me money
to really kind of get people to dream.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Right, what's something about you that people would find more surprising?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
I'm funny, but I don't always you know, put that across.
But I like to imitate voices and people.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Just random stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
That's That's one thing that's that's a characteristic, a characteristic
of me that comes out in certain situations.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But yeah, all right, cool. So what do you see
when you look in the mirror?
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I see a person who's motivated and driven. I've changed
so much over the last few years. I've been working
on my soul, working on my spirit, and I like
what I see when I look in the mirror. Sometimes
I don't look at myself when I look in the miror,
and I'm like, oh wait, a better shave, you know
what I mean. Like, I'm not checking myself out to
see if I'm you know, looking right. But I'm a
(30:05):
happier person, you know, I'm more appreciated, more grateful for
every day that's given to me and when I look
in the mirror, I see someone.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That is acceptable to share with the world.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah. Yeah, So, like, what's one collaboration or behind the
scenes moment that you are a part of that we
may not know you actually contributed to, bro Look.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I am One of my favorite things that I used
to do, and I did those pretty much most of
the nineties and into the two thousands was jingles.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So if a lot of.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
People that listened to like the Slow Midnight Love Quiet Storms,
I did Delilah's radio jingles, you know that like.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Love someone Tonight with del you know, just random random songs.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
But yeah, so and then I'll be driving down the
streets sometimes listening to her and I'll hear the jingles.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
But I do Delilah jingles a lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Jingles for like, you know, like I was doing like
the jam and radio stations like jamm in ninety four
to five and some jazz type stuff. So that's something
I really enjoyed doing for the time.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But yeah, that's a little something collaboration that was very cool.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I also did a collaboration with Philip Bailey on his
Dreams project. I never met him, but I did a
bunch of background work for him, So that was that's
an interesting one too.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Do you still get that little tingle when you hear
yourself on the radio or Oh.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, yeah, every single time.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
It was just like a little bit of magic, you know,
because I'll never forget one time I was back home
in Seattle and and we have released show you on
the Seattle to the Dark Side, and I'm walking down
the street some dude bumping it going down Pipe Place.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Market and I'm like, whoa, wait, wait what.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
We run up to the car and I hear that,
you know, so yeah, it's kind of surreal when you
hear someone else playing it, or if it's on the radio,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Right, do you learn more from your wins or your losses?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
I think I learned more from the losses. It's like
when you're on a football team or basketball team. You
got to go into the locker.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Room and retool.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And I'm always one to take constructive criticism and I
look at myself and just reanalyze what I'm doing. But
I also try to keep it, you know, very much
according to me, because a lot of times you'll look
at things, you know, say well, how come this didn't
work for me? And it worked for someone else. Well,
(32:42):
everyone's different. We all got our own our own special
sawce so to speak. So but the losses will teach
you a lot, because you know, if you're humble enough
to just say, you know, okay, you know that didn't
work out, But let me figure out what I need.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
To do to correct that or make the change and adjust,
you know.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Okay? All right? So what's next for you doing? Now?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
All right? So next I'm working on some new material.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I believe I'll either put out an EP or an album,
but something's coming out this fall.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I figured by the fall I should be.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Done with quite a few songs to give people a
love album.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Okay, and just plug your socials. I mean, of course
everyone already knows where they can find you, but yeah,
where can we get get our hands on? Amazing and
what if? In the catalog?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, the back catalog?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah, so iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube. All my stuff
is on YouTube as well. So and anything that I'm
going to be quitting, i'll currently we'll show up there.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Another plug.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
For May eleventh, I'll be doing Redondo Beach Performing Art Center,
a Mother's Day Luther Vandals Stubut show with.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Elaine Gibs.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
She's doing Aretha and I can't lots of the other
guys name, but he's doing Very White, so a really
good tribute.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Okay, cool to do that. So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I feel like there's a lot of crazy stuff coming
in the future, but I will be sure to let
everyone know. So it's a Darnell with one L Alexander music,
Darneld Alexander music on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, and then
on Facebook it's just Darnell Alexander. Watch out for all
the fake accounts and you know these guys whould be
(34:29):
asking you to come over to you know, telegram and
what's hap to get your money?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Don't do it. I don't ask people for anything, m
all right.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I would say that's a parting shot. But if you
have a parting shot that that you want to leave
my audience even you know, encouraging words you know on
this journey, like like you persevere through and.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yeah, man, I tell you life is crazy because you're
you're trying to you're trying to be this vessel of
light and you've got relationships, as we both know, you've
got your career, you.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Know, whatever it is you're aspiring to.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Do, and you've got you know, personal relationships, and I
say most of all, protect your piece. Always make the
adjustment to be working towards something that's going to bring
you true ener joy. You know, don't look at all
the material things that stuff comes and goes, but really
try to find ways to find enerjoy and happiness, and
(35:25):
then that will radiate outward to attract everything that you
desire in life.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Okay, Wise, Wise, where it's from? Don now? Alexander? Yeah,
like I said, you can find them donell Alexander music everywhere, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
his website Darnell Alexander dot com. Yeah all right, So
I mean if you want to close us out with
(35:53):
any piece of luthor that you want, then.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, yeah, but what I just did the yuh.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
Anyone who would ever loved could look at me and
no fat love love you. Anyone who'd ever treatd.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Could look at me.
Speaker 7 (36:24):
And no a mind love you, No thing I had
loved you, So anyone had a heart would take me
in her arm, love me to you. You could have
(36:52):
really had a heart and heard.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Me like you've heard me.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
PI.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
What a monitude?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Oh you truly blessed brother. Appreciate you all right, man,
love what you're doing. You know, continue, continue, just supplying
us with amazing word from your personal catalog and and
channeling the hits like we want it all so a
(37:32):
recipe to Luther Vandross as well, and or stop looking listen.
I'm your host, Latroit Gardner. See you next week. Peace
and blessing
Pushplaypods dot Com. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning
into this week's edition of Stop Looking Listen. I'm your host,
Latroit Gardner. This week we have singer songwriter Viral Sensation,
known for putting his sauce on a lot of our
(00:23):
favorite R and B classics. Seattle's own Darnell Alexander, Welcome
to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, man, look man, I miss my hometown.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Man, oh man, where are you now?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm in Minneapolis.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Minneapolis. Oh man, that's worse the cold weather. I was
here last year. Man, Look, here is no joke. I
swear to you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
When you can drive on the ice, you know something's wrong.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We were walking through the what was it called the
Skytrack or something, yeah, Skyway. Yeah, that was amazing to me.
I was like, wow, you can go from pretty much
one end of downtown to the other without stepping outside,
Go to the mall, go to the basketball game.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You know it's series when they got skyarys anywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Because you walk outside and it's like negative twenty, you
might not come back inside.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Uh huh.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah. So I mean Minneapolis just so much classic music
coming out of there. How are you as far as
touching the live music scene. Like I'm in and out.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
You know, I dabble a little bit. I get out there.
I support my buddy Jordan Johnson.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
He's been working with me to produce some nice collaborations,
and you know, every now and then I get out
and see what's happening. But usually it's like bonkers. They
got a lot of popular folks that pop up in there.
So but you know, it's a good scene out here.
There's a lot of musicians doing their thing.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So you just mentioned Jordan, You too put out a
single recently, what if reflecting on a relationship that didn't
work out and if it did, like how it would look. Yeah,
just talk about that collaboration and how it came to be.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Look, I found Jordan on ig and I didn't you know,
I didn't see him when I was out and about,
but I noticed he was doing some classic music and
I'm all about the classics, and so I started listening
to what he was doing and then we linked up
and he said, I got a song for you that
I wrote. His dad, Bob Johnston, was side with Flight
Time Records. I was like, that's why it's got that
(02:23):
cool sound, you know, from back in the day, right,
and so we collaborated and did the duet what If.
And then we've got another beautiful love song coming. I'm
not sure if I'm going to release it like, you know,
towards the beginning or the you know, midsummer, but it's
it's a it's.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
A banger man, Okay, all right, looking forward to that
because yeah, like you were mentioning, just that that flight
time eighties jam and Lewis, Morris Dade, jelly Bean Johnson, yeap,
just that that sound that is signature. I love the
way where you all kind of captured that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, I mean, I think he does a really good
job of keeping it classic but still giving like a
current feel to it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So I'm really proud of that young man for coming
with it.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
M Do you feel like that's that's sort of your
formula now as far as papping into the past while
putting a new school flavor on it.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
You know a lot of times you think, oh, you know,
the old school artists, you know, you know that, you
know they can't compete with what's happening now, but people
still are hungry for some real rich music that's got
you know, the changes and the court progressions and people
really singing out you know what I mean, like just
really expressing their emotions. So not to say that there's
not a place for all the auto tune and stuff
(03:43):
that people.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Are doing the day, but you know, people want to
hear some real singing still.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, there's definitely no auto tune when it comes
to you. You have a sound that harkens back to
Luther Van Draws and Donnie Hathaway and Will Downing and
Keep Washington. Yeah those are.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
My dudes, man.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
I mean, you know, when I was growing up, I
would listen to their you know, their songs and and
just the tone alone. That's what really stuck with me
is the tone, because you could feel their emotion through
just the vibrations of their sound versus like all the
runs and all the stuff that people can do. I
can do a few runs, but I'm not like some
of these new cats and just be sounding like they
sound like auto tune. But you know, those are some
runs they can really kill them. But I just really
(04:25):
like to make people feel something.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Right, That's great, that's great. So the other single, amazing,
Yeah talking about your Angel.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah right, Amazing, was written by Dennis Bettis and Dennis
Atkinson Jr. Who both are Grammy nominated producers who produced
people from Johnny Gill to Charlie Wilson Keith what one
of my favorites fact from the eighties. This song, you know,
is kind of fitting the vibe that I want to
do is just lift up women, appreciate a good you know,
(04:59):
women and love between a man and a woman. You know,
skip all the drama. Let's talk about what all the
good parts that are happening. And I like to focus
on the positive.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Side, you know, mm hmm. That's good because I mean
so with my other show, The Good Old Boys. We
did a show last night called dating in twenty twenty five,
and all of the different tactics that are used like
hot wifing and boys sober, and I need to pomp
into that ghosting, ghosting and stuff like that. Like I said,
(05:29):
I've been married, so I haven't been been in a
dating world in several years. So all of this is
somewhat foreign to me. But it's hard out there for singles, yeah,
you know, and.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
It's a whole new landscape now and I think that,
you know, people are still really ultimately trying to find
the holy grail, you know, which is the long lasting, healthy,
non toxic relationship. But you know, I think a lot
of people forget to really, you know, work on themselves
before they jump into one. And it's just a matter
(06:02):
of making sure that you truly love and appreciate yourself,
respect yourself, and you can bring that mirror to the
person that's coming into your life.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Okay, Yeah, I definitely, I'm definitely think I'm thankful that,
you know, life is so much more easier when you
just have that one person and yeah, sitting there going
to know that you.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Got to spend all kinds of time, you know, especially
if they're trying to druggle two or three people you
got to like, you know, they don't want your time.
So with one, it's much easier because you've got enough
stuff going on in life. If you got trick three people,
you're trying to figure out who's the best one, and
you got to spend all this time, you take away
time from all.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The things that are really important and you know your purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And priorities exactly. So I want to ask you this
guy here.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh my dude, so.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
What does this broughtther mean to you?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
And Luther Graandros is like everything. My mom took me
to his concert. One of the first concerts I went
to was Luther Vandels as a kid, and hearing someone
that sounded better than the record was incredible. You know,
I'm just like, what in the world. You know, it
(07:19):
was that concert where he was singing you want to
sing with me too?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Yeah, you got another You're gonna have a duet?
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, But it was you know, it was the concert
where he was walking back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
On stage and just you know, hitting that one note
you know where he's like, eh, you know, a house
is not Home?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
And that was my.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Favorite song to sing during talent shows. You know, when
I was in high school singing a House on a Home.
I was like, if I've been to sing a song
and compete, was she's with somebody? That's the song that's
kind of guaranteed winner. I mean, it's like seven minutes long.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
You can't lose.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, And you know, just he's my favorite R and
B singer of all time. Oh, by the way, so
you're you're gaining a lot of attention for your covers
of Luther's immaculate catalogs and and you and it sounds
(08:20):
like you you went to his grave site and took
his voice and put and put it in in your
in your body, and in the results are just like wow,
a reincarnation of the legend himself. So like, I commend
you and I thank you because like, like his music
(08:42):
has just left the immeasurable imprint on so many of us,
and and like, I really, I really enjoy what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Man.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
You know, this goes all the way back to when
I was a young team and you know when you
start like liking girls and you're just like, you know,
how do I get the you know, the pretty ones,
and how do I you know, how do I make
this happen? I'm like, you fall in love from Afar
before you even you know, have a conversation with her,
and you don't get the girl, and then you feel lonely.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And then Luther.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Vandross's music was hitting me at that time of all
the loneliness and the searching for love, and it was
like everything that he said meant something to me. And
you know, through years of singing that you know, I
guess it sound kind of stuck with me because I
had my own original material ever since the nineties and
I was working on just doing my own original stuff,
(09:33):
and it wasn't until last year when I did TikTok.
I was singing a Luther Vandross song in the garage,
right in the garage of all places in it like
three million views.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I'm like, that was very surreal to experience because I was.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Never one to believe I'd be going viral doing anything,
you know, and I didn't have a real following prior
to that, so that was hard too write. As an
independent artist, you want people to love what you're doing
and hear your music. But apparently versus was the way
to go. So then I started doing the covers and
people just loved it. It's like, this is this is
my lane right here. Let me go out here and
(10:07):
you know, sing a few songs, so people could, you know,
enjoy this because I was keeping it to myself, you
know what I mean, Like I'm just singing this stuff
down the hall or you know, singing it in the
garage or in a sport court, somewhere in the gym
and mind of my own business.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But I'm just grateful that people want me to share
this with.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Them, right yeah. Because Luther is known for taking somebody
else's song and making it his own and lutherizing it. Yeah,
you you completely forget about the original version in most cases?
Did you feel like those are you know, tremendous shoes.
I feel I feel.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Like they still are. I mean, he's he's his range
is higher than mine. He's more like a you know,
like a first tenor. He's way up there when it
comes to overall body of range.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
But I'm more of like the wheel Downing, kind of
in between will Downing and.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Luther As far as range, I like the lower you know,
the lower key stuff where it's just smooth, right in
that sweet spot. Like the most recent cover I did
of Anyone who had a Heart, and that one scared me.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
That one scared me because when I sang it, I
was like, okay wait.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
But then when I put it out and the response and
I had to listen again, I was like, Okay, I
see what's happening here, Like that that intro that you know,
it's I don't even know how to explain it, but
it just it just hits.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Were you afraid they put it out there?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Sometimes? You know?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Because when I listened to it, I'm like, I don't
want to do too much to a Luther song. It's
like sometimes people will be in the comments are like,
you know, you need to make it your own. I'm like,
that's going to be tough because I'm just going to
sing it like I would sing it, but keep it,
you know, pretty close to what Luther does, and put
a few of my riffs and stuff in there. But
(11:51):
I know I don't sound exactly like him. But to
some people, you know what I mean, with their ears,
it's like that.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Kind of does it, you know, and then and I'm like, no,
it's really me.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Right, But yeah, man, I you know, he's in my heart,
He's in my soul, and I'm just I feel blessed
to be able to kind of create.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
New music that can still keep that sound alive. Right.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Has any of his loved ones or frequent collaborators reached
out to you.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I haven't. I haven't been in touch with anyone.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
From the Luther camp, but I certainly would welcome that
and I would love to do, you know, do something,
do a remake or anything you know that would be
that would be beyond my weldest dreams.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I mean, which we're going to get into a
little bit more later, But like you said, you've been
in the industry for you know, over thirty years, been
part of groups, been hitting out your own material. Was
it somewhat of a surprise that your notoriety would come
from doing covers on TikTok and social media, like, especially
(12:54):
with the longevity of your career, And I'm sure there
were moments when you just felt like give up, and
now all of a sudden, like it brought the fresh air.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And yeah, man, it's crazy because it's like I just thought,
you know what, I'm going to keep putting music out
because I love to create music and record regardless if
I had a following or not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
It's just something I just feel a passion in my heart.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
And I even took a hiatus a couple of years
to kind of work on myself and get my mind right.
I didn't know what was coming, and then when this
came along, I was like, oh my gosh, I have
another chance to try to like do something for real,
for real with my with my.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Talent and my gift.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And now I'm taking it very seriously, not taking myself
too seriously, but taking you know, the gift that was
placed in my lap seriously and giving back to people
who want to hear this stuff. You know, I do
my original stuff, I do Luthor tributes. That's just been surreal.
I mean it's been less than a year and I've
already done the Apollo Cafe at the Apollo Theater and
(13:57):
did some show, did some shows on the.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
East Coast and West Coast. So I'm going to be
getting out there and you know, sharing this stuff with everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Right, talk about the the gift and the curse of
I guess this the success and fame from doing the
Luther covers because it can work both ways. Obviously it's
elevating your platform, but then you don't want to be
typecasted is just the guy that does Luther covers and
and your other music gets swallowed up by that fame.
(14:28):
Yeah's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
You know, I think it's going to be more like
you know, if you look at October London, he he was,
you know, doing Marvin Gaye stuff and literally you listen
to it as it's Marvin right mm hm.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And to do Luther covers that's even bigger shoes.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I feel like the feel because he's so dynamic and
so you know, universal worldwide.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
You know what I mean visitor, Hold on a second.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Uh, come here, you crazy your own you were just
loving Okay, So yeah, to be able to you know,
do these my original stuff, it's really kind of like
I want to do that transition where I'm still able
(15:16):
to do the covers of Luther and then you know,
do the original stuff that still has that vibe to it.
And I think that's what people can now see that,
you know, I'm a real independent, original artist, but with
a little touch of Luther.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
You know.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, it just dawned on me because I interviewed Brad
Marquee like about a year and a half, two years ago,
and he was singing Sam cook songs. They created a
stage play around it.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
So I'm just.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I'm putting I'm putting his bug in your ear. Yeah,
you know, just to say that that's a potential avenue
as well.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Well, you know, they just had the documentary of the
Doctor Menory, which was amazing. But yeah, I'm definitely open
to any of that type of stuff to be able
to bring you know, Luther's history and his legacy to life,
you know what I mean. You know, some people, there's
(16:16):
a lot of people that I hear that have done
Luther covers. You know, they've got the Latin Luther And
I've heard Danny Clay is a really amazing guy.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Found him on YouTube and I was like this dude,
I was like, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
It kind of makes me within a minute, you know
what I mean, like, these guys are really good. So
I guess I'm just blessed to be able to be
able to fit into the lineup of people who who
honor Luther. I just feel like my relationship with his
music is very personal. So I don't try to say I'm,
you know, better than anyone.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Or any of that.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
I just I have I have my relationship with this music,
and I'm and I'm doing my part to keep his
legacy alive.
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Speaker 1 (17:29):
All right, son, now take us back to Seattle in
the early days. I mean, what was the music scene, like,
I know, obviously grunge was just tearing up the charts
and yeah, started Mix a Lot.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
What was it like for a young R and B
singer such as yourself to kind of make an imprint
on the industry coming from there?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That was crazy? Those were good times. So much talent
in Seattle, especially when I was coming up, you know,
doing the Tom shows. Nice when I got out of
high school, going to the clubs and starting to you know,
see other people that really had some real gifts. When
I got out of high school, I started working in
the studio and that's when I really started meeting quite
a few talented folks. So we were all quote unquote
(18:15):
trying to make it right, and so Mix a Lot
used to live right down the street from me, right
in the hood, you know, just like you know, and
I'm like, okay, you know, so I knew who he was.
And then when I got with Third Level, I had
a chance to meet him and then we did a
single called Show You, And then there's another song I
Think Don't Play Me. That was on his Seattle the
(18:37):
Dark Side compilations. So I felt really honored to be
able to be a.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Part of that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And then that was really the start of my professional
music journey really, you know, from that point and then
got with Second Nature, we were you know, when we
got with Second Nature, that's when we were really trying
to do it because we were signed to a small
label and when I was a third level it was
just independent. So but with Second Nature, we started going
on tour and started you know, meeting all these you know,
(19:03):
people that we grew up with and saw on TV
and on BT.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You know, it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
Uh huh. So like with your time, as you know,
with Second Nature, do you feel like you were prepared
for what was to come?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Or yeah, we just we before what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
We we once we got you know, no, once we
got the deal going and that was solidified, we went
instantly into practice mode. I think we were definitely ready.
We weren't caught off guard, except for some of the
situations when you're on the road, like you don't expect
people to be chasing you in the mall, you know,
that kind of stuff, right, That was the craziest experience ever.
(19:42):
We were in Canada and like literally hundreds of people
were like running after us, and it was.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
But but we were definitely prepared to be on the
big stage and do these shows with like Patti La Belle,
and we did the Apollo Theater and then we did
you know, I think we did some shows, some appearances
of Boys to Men and some other groups, so and
Mantel Jordan's. So there's some really cool experiences throughout that
(20:11):
that stint mm hmm.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
How would you describe the sounds of Second Nature?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It was more like pop R and B. You know.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
It wasn't like the down dirty like Jo Tosy, more
crossover of like Boys to Men, more like.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Happy love type stuff.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Although there's a song called Later if that's in the
lineup that's more a little bit more grindy, which I
like R and.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
B, R and B, you know, uh yeah, because I
mean obviously that time frame, like groups are everywhere everywhere, jealousy,
boys and Men off of one intro.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Drew Hill.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, just millions of groups, all successful. Like what how
was it? How was it to just try to find
your own sound with just so many other groups out
there dominating and having you know, eccentric personalities like a
Cisco and a case scene.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Right, that's that's you know, and literally it's interesting that
you mentioned that because it's like when we came out,
we were trying to be whatever we thought the idea
ideal boy band group was. You know, the clothing, you know,
we had like, you know, two guys wearing this and
two guys wearing that, or we'd all wear the same thing.
(21:34):
In my mind, I think I would have rather had
us been more individualized. But then, you know, than it is.
Then you then you do have to step it up
to be a little bit more outlandis right, a little
bit more you know, characterized.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
But we had our own sound, but we did want
a better sound. You know.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
We wanted to work with the baby Faces and the
you know, the Jimmy Jam and the Terdy Riley. We
wanted to get a sound that was from that time
really popped.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I think we could have.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Achieved that, but you know, we just had a short
stend and then it went from boy band to pop
boy band and sync backstreet and then that was it,
you know, So we had a little run and that
was it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So after that chapter, what was what was the next chapter?
Did you immediately go into dropping single single music by
myself or did you find a normal nine to five job?
Speaker 2 (22:26):
What happened? Yeah, yeah, yeah, man, I went right back
to work.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I went back to work, and I was like, you know,
it was almost like, you know, put your tail between
your legs and try to figure out what you're going
to do next. From there, I was in a disco
band for a couple of years. That was probably the
most fun I've had in a long time, singing all
the old hits from the eighties and stuff in the seventies.
And then now, that took quite a long break before
I started getting into my own original material.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
That started really in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
So you know, from the late nineties, I kind of
took a hiatus from doing a lot of stuff up
until two thousand and nine, and then started working on
making records by myself. You know, get finding music and
producers to give me, you know, songs to write to,
and from that point on I had been writing ever since.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, yeah, So for those aspiring musicians that expect to
top on the Voice or American Idol and then have success,
pretty much all in one felt swoop like you're a
prime example that there's it's a roller coaster ride, like
you're gonna have your highs, you're gonna have your lows.
(23:33):
But if you stay dedicated and persistent, you know your
time will come.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
So yeah, you know, you know, well, I think the
real thing that a lot of these especially the younger artists,
need to realize is, yeah, there's gonna be all these
highs and lows.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Don't get so high in your high.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Horse like I'm famous and people know me, because a
lot of people are seeking validation too on top of
trying to be an artist. And you have to remember,
you know, this isn't you know, the type of situation
that's gonna, you know, bring you happiness or.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Bring you joy.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
You should be already there before you get into the industry,
because it'll break you if you don't have your stuff together.
You've got to really be grounded to go through the
ups and downs, to encounter all the closed doors before
you get the open door. And even if you get
the open door, that door might close like thirty seconds later.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know what I mean. That type of stuff.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
So, yeah, you always hear about groups that get deals
and then they never come out, you know, and so
you've always got to be, you know, ready for what
could come. I'm always you know, looking at the glass
half full, but be prepared for somebody to still a
little bit, you know what I mean. And so for me,
I've always tried to keep a love for just the music,
regardless of if I'm out performing live or if I'm
(24:44):
just in my basement making jams. You know, I just
want to feel good about what God gave me as
a gift and just say true to that let everything
else happen.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Right. How do you feel about the state of R
and B right now?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
It's right because I feel I don't. I don't feel
like and.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Maybe i'm because I'm not really in the industry, but
I don't feel like the excitement is there like it
used to be back when, you know, when Teddy Riley
and those guys baby Face, that was magic moments. I
had Johnny Gill out there, they had you know, you know,
all the like you said, all the groups, the intros
to Journey season.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Music was such a vibe then, and I'm not saying
it's out of vibe now.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
There's a lot of cool artists but I don't feel
like it has the impact that it used to, almost
like the dream you know, and a lot of things
have happened so far now that oppressed the dreams of many,
because you know, lea veil has been lifted, so to speak.
You know, But I feel like I feel like R
(25:46):
and B in general, we as a collective need to
consider all the beautiful parts of music, you know, don't
just push aside the types of you know.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Now you've got.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Southern soul coming up, right, and you've got the stuff
that I do, which is a little bit of a
take on the old school R and B.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
But there's a place for all.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Of that to be in the forefront and the mainstream
R and B instead of just the same old stuff
that you hear that I feel like, doesn't you know,
always touch our hearts and souls.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
But it makes you bob.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Your head right, Yeah, I mean I think I think
it's a lot of microwave music, and you can you
can tell that there's a formula being being used, and
the songs are songs that lasting three minutes. I mean,
that's another reason why this man is a favorite. You
have those eight nine minute songs with the instrumentation that
(26:39):
takes you on that emotional roller coaster. Like Davian Green said,
then that voice just comes in and it's over.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's a build up.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
It's like you know, you know nowadays when you know
people just want to have sex, but back then they
were making Love's the that's.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
The analogy, I would say. And I remember when I
did my EP in.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Twenty twenty two or twenty three, and I literally made
every song like two and a half three minutes because
I knew people's attention spent was really short for that
kind of music. So I was kind of on my
tank vibe, right, you know, just you know, singing some
really cool songs over some really cool beats, but nothing
you know, too deep, right. But my goal has always
(27:25):
been to be able to create those songs that last
for you know, three four or five minutes, to get
people a journey, you know, the intro, and then have
the verse, the course of bridge to change.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Bring people way up and then just take them out,
you know what I mean with and.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Make them want to rewind the song again and play
it over and over like we used to do back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I would wear some records out.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, yeah, I was. That was the same way, especially
if I was going through a breakup, it was a
rat Oh man, play it again, please yeah all night,
you know, especially now on YouTube where they had those
twenty four hour loop songs. Oh yeah, you could just
play it, let it go all day. Yeah that was me.
(28:11):
So I mean, but it actually sounds like you've mastered
knowing how to utilize social media without it compromising your
creative integrity when it comes to the music that you
put out.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Dude, and look at my age, I tell you, man,
I'm like, you know, you look at a lot of
different artists. They've got the technology. You know, you got
the nice cameras and and you know, and you you
say to yourself, do I need to, like, you know,
jump on that bandwagon.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
So there's the rift of saying, you know, how do
I keep it as authentic as possible?
Speaker 3 (28:46):
But you know, I don't want to make it seem
untouchable either, right, because there's a level of production that
you can do that takes it, you know, to the
pro level where you know all the you know, the
Chris Brown's and Usher and Tank and all those guys
to doing. But then I almost feel like you leave
people behind too, So I feel like I try to
keep it as real and authentic as possible, you know,
(29:08):
until you know, some shift happens and I'm you know,
with a distribution company or label that's given me money
to really kind of get people to dream.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Right, what's something about you that people would find more surprising?
Speaker 3 (29:24):
I'm funny, but I don't always you know, put that across.
But I like to imitate voices and people.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Just random stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
That's That's one thing that's that's a characteristic, a characteristic
of me that comes out in certain situations.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
But yeah, all right, cool. So what do you see
when you look in the mirror?
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I see a person who's motivated and driven. I've changed
so much over the last few years. I've been working
on my soul, working on my spirit, and I like
what I see when I look in the mirror. Sometimes
I don't look at myself when I look in the miror,
and I'm like, oh wait, a better shave, you know
what I mean. Like, I'm not checking myself out to
see if I'm you know, looking right. But I'm a
(30:05):
happier person, you know, I'm more appreciated, more grateful for
every day that's given to me and when I look
in the mirror, I see someone.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That is acceptable to share with the world.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah. Yeah, So, like, what's one collaboration or behind the
scenes moment that you are a part of that we
may not know you actually contributed to, bro Look.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
I am One of my favorite things that I used
to do, and I did those pretty much most of
the nineties and into the two thousands was jingles.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
So if a lot of.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
People that listened to like the Slow Midnight Love Quiet Storms,
I did Delilah's radio jingles, you know that like.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Love someone Tonight with del you know, just random random songs.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
But yeah, so and then I'll be driving down the
streets sometimes listening to her and I'll hear the jingles.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
But I do Delilah jingles a lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Jingles for like, you know, like I was doing like
the jam and radio stations like jamm in ninety four
to five and some jazz type stuff. So that's something
I really enjoyed doing for the time.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But yeah, that's a little something collaboration that was very cool.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I also did a collaboration with Philip Bailey on his
Dreams project. I never met him, but I did a
bunch of background work for him, So that was that's
an interesting one too.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Do you still get that little tingle when you hear
yourself on the radio or Oh.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, yeah, every single time.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
It was just like a little bit of magic, you know,
because I'll never forget one time I was back home
in Seattle and and we have released show you on
the Seattle to the Dark Side, and I'm walking down
the street some dude bumping it going down Pipe Place.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Market and I'm like, whoa, wait, wait what.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
We run up to the car and I hear that,
you know, so yeah, it's kind of surreal when you
hear someone else playing it, or if it's on the radio,
for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Right, do you learn more from your wins or your losses?
Speaker 3 (32:16):
I think I learned more from the losses. It's like
when you're on a football team or basketball team. You
got to go into the locker.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Room and retool.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
And I'm always one to take constructive criticism and I
look at myself and just reanalyze what I'm doing. But
I also try to keep it, you know, very much
according to me, because a lot of times you'll look
at things, you know, say well, how come this didn't
work for me? And it worked for someone else. Well,
(32:42):
everyone's different. We all got our own our own special
sawce so to speak. So but the losses will teach
you a lot, because you know, if you're humble enough
to just say, you know, okay, you know that didn't
work out, But let me figure out what I need.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
To do to correct that or make the change and adjust,
you know.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Okay? All right? So what's next for you doing? Now?
Speaker 2 (33:05):
All right? So next I'm working on some new material.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I believe I'll either put out an EP or an album,
but something's coming out this fall.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I figured by the fall I should be.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Done with quite a few songs to give people a
love album.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Okay, and just plug your socials. I mean, of course
everyone already knows where they can find you, but yeah,
where can we get get our hands on? Amazing and
what if? In the catalog?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, the back catalog?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
Yeah, so iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube. All my stuff
is on YouTube as well. So and anything that I'm
going to be quitting, i'll currently we'll show up there.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Another plug.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
For May eleventh, I'll be doing Redondo Beach Performing Art Center,
a Mother's Day Luther Vandals Stubut show with.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Elaine Gibs.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
She's doing Aretha and I can't lots of the other
guys name, but he's doing Very White, so a really
good tribute.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Okay, cool to do that. So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
I feel like there's a lot of crazy stuff coming
in the future, but I will be sure to let
everyone know. So it's a Darnell with one L Alexander music,
Darneld Alexander music on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, and then
on Facebook it's just Darnell Alexander. Watch out for all
the fake accounts and you know these guys whould be
(34:29):
asking you to come over to you know, telegram and
what's hap to get your money?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Don't do it. I don't ask people for anything, m
all right.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
I would say that's a parting shot. But if you
have a parting shot that that you want to leave
my audience even you know, encouraging words you know on
this journey, like like you persevere through and.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Yeah, man, I tell you life is crazy because you're
you're trying to you're trying to be this vessel of
light and you've got relationships, as we both know, you've
got your career, you.
Speaker 2 (35:03):
Know, whatever it is you're aspiring to.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Do, and you've got you know, personal relationships, and I
say most of all, protect your piece. Always make the
adjustment to be working towards something that's going to bring
you true ener joy. You know, don't look at all
the material things that stuff comes and goes, but really
try to find ways to find enerjoy and happiness, and
(35:25):
then that will radiate outward to attract everything that you
desire in life.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
Okay, Wise, Wise, where it's from? Don now? Alexander? Yeah,
like I said, you can find them donell Alexander music everywhere, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube,
his website Darnell Alexander dot com. Yeah all right, So
I mean if you want to close us out with
(35:53):
any piece of luthor that you want, then.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, yeah, but what I just did the yuh.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
Anyone who would ever loved could look at me and
no fat love love you. Anyone who'd ever treatd.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Could look at me.
Speaker 7 (36:24):
And no a mind love you, No thing I had
loved you, So anyone had a heart would take me
in her arm, love me to you. You could have
(36:52):
really had a heart and heard.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Me like you've heard me.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
PI.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
What a monitude?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Oh you truly blessed brother. Appreciate you all right, man,
love what you're doing. You know, continue, continue, just supplying
us with amazing word from your personal catalog and and
channeling the hits like we want it all so a
(37:32):
recipe to Luther Vandross as well, and or stop looking listen.
I'm your host, Latroit Gardner. See you next week. Peace
and blessing
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!