August 1, 2025 • 32 mins
Bruce Sudano is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller whose music draws deeply from a lifetime of love, heartache, struggle, and spirituality. A true New Yorker at heart, Bruce formed his first band at age 13 and was performing in clubs not long after, quickly immersing himself in the vibrant local music scene.
He first made waves on the charts in 1969 with "Ball of Fire," co-written with Tommy James, followed by the 1970 hit "Tighter, Tighter" with his band Alive N Kickin’, which opened for acts like Chicago and Frank Zappa. In 1977, Bruce co-founded the band Brooklyn Dreams, which signed with Millennium Records and soon found success collaborating with Donna Summer. Together, they co-wrote the chart-topping hit “Bad Girls” and appeared on her Top 5 single “Heaven Knows.” Bruce and Donna also began a personal relationship, eventually marrying.
Over the decades, Sudano has continued to evolve as a solo artist. His latest album, Talkin’ Ugly Truth, Tellin’ Pretty Lies, showcases his signature blend of soul, rhythm, and lyrical introspection. The album features the anthemic “Make The World Go Away,” produced by hitmaker Ken Lewis, and the heartfelt duet “Two Bleeding Hearts” with legendary singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson.Highlights from Toby Gribben's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
He first made waves on the charts in 1969 with "Ball of Fire," co-written with Tommy James, followed by the 1970 hit "Tighter, Tighter" with his band Alive N Kickin’, which opened for acts like Chicago and Frank Zappa. In 1977, Bruce co-founded the band Brooklyn Dreams, which signed with Millennium Records and soon found success collaborating with Donna Summer. Together, they co-wrote the chart-topping hit “Bad Girls” and appeared on her Top 5 single “Heaven Knows.” Bruce and Donna also began a personal relationship, eventually marrying.
Over the decades, Sudano has continued to evolve as a solo artist. His latest album, Talkin’ Ugly Truth, Tellin’ Pretty Lies, showcases his signature blend of soul, rhythm, and lyrical introspection. The album features the anthemic “Make The World Go Away,” produced by hitmaker Ken Lewis, and the heartfelt duet “Two Bleeding Hearts” with legendary singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson.Highlights from Toby Gribben's Friday afternoon show on Shout Radio. Featuring chat with top showbiz guests. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to thank God It's Toby Highlights, the podcast version
of my radio show. We've got a cracking interview coming
up for you, and remember, if you want the full
unfiltered chaos, you can catch Thank God It's Toby Live
every Friday afternoon from three on Shout Radio. But enough
(00:22):
of the plugging, let's get on with the interview.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Start back weekend right thank God It's Toby.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
A Cast recommends.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Hey, Nicky Byrne. Here from Nicky Byrne HQ. Join me
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Speaker 3 (01:02):
A Cast is home to the world's best podcasts, including
Red Room, catch Up with Louise McSharry and The One
You're Listening To Right Now.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Bruce Sadano is a singer, songwriter and producer who, alongside
his late wife Donna Summer, co wrote hits including Bad
Girls and Starting Over Again, and to this day, he
continues to record and tour while sharing stories of his love, heartache,
and spirituality through music. And Bruce is on the line
(01:36):
with us here just now. How are you today?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I'm wonderful. I'm over in Milan. Oh so we're in
a similar time frame. Yeah, not exactly, but similar.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Are you living there now or are you just visiting?
Speaker 6 (01:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:49):
I live here halfy I spent basically my life goes
this way. A third of the road in Milan, a
third of the time on the road, a third of
the time in Milan, and the third of the time
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well that sounds like a nice little routine you've got
going there.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I was over in Edinburgh not too long ago. I
was on tour opening for a band called the Zombies.
Oh wow, so I was also we also played in
kin Ross.
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
And one of the new songs that will be on
my next album is called on a Tuesday in kin Ross.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh. Well that's nice. I take it that event served
as the inspiration for it.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
It did.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Yes, we were staying at a hotel it's called the
Green Hotel, and the venue is basically in the back
in the basement of the hotel, and it's a very
special little place, you know, in a very mystical town.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
We'll talk about some of your new music a little
bit later, but first of all, where you grew up
was Brooklyn, which is a SETI with quite a rich
musical history. So how did your early environment shape your
musical style and your passion for it?
Speaker 5 (03:00):
There used to be when I was when I was
nine years old, I got I got taken to a
rock and roll show. There used to be these rock
and roll shows at what was called the Brooklyn Paramount
Theater and it was basically run by Alan Freed or
Murray Leckay, who were seminal disc jockeys from back in
(03:20):
the day. And these rock and roll shows would have
Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and vocal groups like
the Impalas or Little Anthony and the Imperials. And so
as a nine year old seeing this spectacle, uh, it
made one impression on me. Yeah, and then and then uh,
(03:42):
you know, for some you know my calling, I say,
it's a calling.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
From early on, I wanted to be a songwriter, and
h this was the place where I saw I could
make my entry into the music business.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You had your first on a paid gig around the
age of twelve, right, I.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
Did, yeah, which was kind of an odd thing.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
You know, My earliest musical training came from the time
I was four years old. It started my Italian grandfather
went back to Italy to visit family, came back to America,
back to Brooklyn, and handed me an accordion, and so
I was kind of compelled to learn how to play
(04:28):
the accordion. And so this gave me an early understanding
of melody and chord structure. And also the accordion is
interesting because on one hand you're playing the treble cliff
and on the left hand you're playing the basse cliff.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
So it gave me an.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Early understanding of music and how it all went together.
And then but on the other side of that, my
inclination was for English literature, and you know, I began
writing poetry when I was very young, and so it
all just came together when you know, the Beatles and
(05:10):
the Rolling Stones hit and it all kind of made sense.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You co wrote the song Ball of Fire when you
were just twenty years old, which was a hit. So
how did that influence your confidence as a songwriter moving forward.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Well, it's interesting because.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
You know, I've never really been confident as a songwriter.
I would say, but my story of ball Offire, I
usually tell it this way. They say, you know, Bruce,
so ball Offire, like, you know, what did you contribute
to that song?
Speaker 6 (05:43):
And I typically say I came up with the word
of you know, so I mean it.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
You know, I think that Tommy James, of Tommy James
and the Chandells, who had to hit with that song,
and who was the main writer of that song. You know,
at that point in my life, really was taking me
under his wing. You know, he was the first person
to take me into a recording studio to see how
a record was made. You know, back in those days,
(06:16):
it wasn't like today where you could basically record on anything.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
You know, this was before cassettes. It was it was
difficult to record.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
You know, the earlier songs that I wrote, I would
have to sing them over and over and over again
so that I would remember them because I had nothing
to record them on. So so anyway, he was the
first person to take me into a recording studio and
I got to see how a record was made, and
you know, sang some backgrounds on some of his earlier records,
(06:46):
and so he was very influential in my life that way.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And you mentioned that you've never really been confident as
a songwriter. Why do you think that is? Because, I mean,
you've had hits and you've got songs that were all know,
so I guess there isn't much more that could happen
to make you confident.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Yeah, The thing is is that when you're a songwriter,
you know, you're you always have to go back to
the blank page, you know, and the blank page is
always like uh huh, the challenge, you know of what
do I have to say? Do I have anything else
to say? Do I have any new way to say it?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
You know?
Speaker 6 (07:26):
So, you know, so you never really feel confident.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Because you're always dealing with that insecurity of can I
do it again? And you know, and and even after
all this time, you know, of all these years of
me writing songs, you know, I still deal with that
where you know, you'll go through a period of where
there's nothing you know, and and and you know, I
always get to this place of where I have this
(07:54):
little mental game where I play with myself and I say, well,
maybe there's nothing else.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
And I say, well, you know you've been here before.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
There there always is something else, so there probably will be,
you know, and.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Uh, but you know, so far, so good.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
So you know, so far I've landed on the side
of there's there is something else. And and you know,
because it's like, you know, when you're a songwriter, and
when you're an experienced songwriter, you know you can just
on craft.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Alone, you know, create something.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
You know, it's it's you know you you you know,
you know the way chords go together. You're not a
string of melody together. You can figure out a title.
But you know what I always search for is inspiration.
You know, that that spark of something where it goes
like okay, you know, it's you know, it's almost like
(08:49):
the craft doesn't matter. I'm chasing the inspiration and finding out, uh,
digging out the depth of what this inspiration is and
what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
And so that's kind of how it is for me
these days.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And you formed the band Alive and Keken in nineteen
sixty eight and had a hit with Tighter Tighter with
that band, So how did that success shape the rest
of your journey.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
It shaped the rest of my journey in this way.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Is that you know, I was very young when that happened,
you know, and it was on it was on the
back of Ball of Fire being a hit, and I
was young, I was cocky, I was you know. I
thought to myself, Wow, this is easy, you know, and
and I became a little bit of a jerk. I
started firing people in the band, and you know, I
(09:42):
didn't understand how lucky I was to begin my career
this way. But subsequently, a couple of years later, I
found myself back in living in the basement of my
parents' house, and you know, and it became a time
where I really had to realign my way of thinking,
(10:02):
try to understand these lessons that I've learned, understand that, no,
it isn't easy, that I need to appreciate these things
when they're happened when they happened.
Speaker 6 (10:12):
And it really gave me a time to really dig.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Into my songwriting, to try and improve as a songwriter,
to listen to a lot of.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
Other people, to really develop my craft.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
And it was in this time period I was able
to write a number of songs that became.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
The songs for my next.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Band, Brooklyn Dreams, that you know I had success with.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Later.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Now, in the late seventies, you met the woman who
would go on to become your wife, Donna Summer, and
you've initially had a more professional partnership Weather. So how
did you meet her and how did you begin working together?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
We basically began working together from the day that we met,
you know. We I was with my partners in Brooklyn Dreams,
Joe Binesposito and Eddie Hoganson. We were at another friend's house,
a girl from Brooklyn also who this was in Los
Angeles and she was the head of publicity at Castablaco Records,
(11:17):
which was Donna's label, and Donna stopped by for a visit,
and that's how we met. And literally, you know, we
all sat down at the table, you know, I had
the guitar and we started writing right from that first day.
And it, you know, songwriting was the vehicle by which
(11:38):
Donna and I got to spend time together and really
get to know each other and fall in love and
get married and be together for thirty seven years.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Did the process of writing songs and working together change
once it became romantic?
Speaker 6 (11:54):
Well, in some ways because.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Once we started having children and life got into a
whole other phase of living.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
You know, we didn't write as.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Much as we did when we were single and on
that side of our lives. And we still did right
and we so did have songs that you know, got
recorded and things like that.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
But it did change, but life changed, you know.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
So, Hey, Susie, I'm an undergrad. Do I qualify for
a student grant?
Speaker 8 (12:35):
Is your household income below one hundred and fifteen thousand euro?
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (12:40):
One sec? You could be eligible for support wor it's
between five hundred euro and over ten thousand, five hundred euro.
You're joking me searching for jokes.
Speaker 9 (12:50):
If your household income is below one hundred and fifteen
thousand Euro, you may be eligible for support. To find
out if you are, Sussautsusie dot Ie brought you by
the go Mint of Ireland a cast recommends.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Hey, Nicky byrn here from Nicky byurn HQ. Join me
every Thursday exclusive chats with some of the biggest names
in the entertainment world pop legend like Gary Barlow, the
Fabulous Katie Price, the Iconic Michael Flatley and my all
Mad from Westlife. Brian McFadden. You won't want to miss
the phone, the stories, and the behind the scenes scoops.
(13:25):
So Sirs Nicky byrne HQ now drops every Thursday on
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Speaker 3 (13:31):
A cast is home to the world's best podcasts, including
Red Room, catch Up with Louise McSharry, and the one
You're listening.
Speaker 8 (13:38):
To right now.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Life will always change, and when you're an artist, you know,
part of being an artist is adapting to the change
and expressing yourself through the change.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I suppose this is a bit of a question you
get asked all the time and it's impossible to answer.
But when you're writing songs like Bad Girls and starting
over again, did you have any idea that they would
be the success that they were?
Speaker 9 (14:10):
No?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
You know, typically, you know, much of my career has
been serendipity.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
That's not to say that I didn't show up and
work hard and really try. But with the situation with
Bad Girls was it was a song one of you know,
we Donna myself and the guys and the dreams would
go into a studio. You know, at that point in time,
we were all working very hard, our lives were going
(14:40):
one hundred and fifty miles an hour. We were you know,
Brooklyn Dreams recorded, you know, wrote and recorded four albums
between seventy seven and nineteen eighty. We were in a
movie called American Hot Wax. There were TV shows, We
did a world tour with Donna, so there was so
much going on, but we still found a way. I
(15:02):
had a friend from Brooklyn whose name was Bobby and Klorbia,
who built a studio in Burbank, and we were all
living in Los Angeles and Burbank is really close, and
so I was able to call him up at any
hour of the night and say, hey, can we come
into the studio now and just write so you know,
(15:23):
And that's how Bad Girls came about.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
You know.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
We would show up at his studio at whatever hour.
He would have four microphones set up and we would
get in front of the mics. We all would have ideas,
we would sing our ideas, we would join in on
each other's ideas.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
We would roll a two track tape machine and record
it all.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
And as with Bad Girls, it was the second engineer
who was transcribing the tape who said to us, Hey,
there's that song Bad Girls on there.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
I really like it. You should check it out and
we went and listened to.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
It and agreed, and we did another demo of it,
and then we brought it to Neil Bogart, who.
Speaker 6 (16:05):
Was the president of Casa Blanca Records.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Donna was in the process of recording the album which
would become Bad Girls at this time, and we played
the demo of Bad Girls and he said, yeah, it's
a great song. I just signed Share. Maybe we could
give it to Share and you know, and we said no, no, no,
this is for Donna, you know. And then we went
(16:29):
and brought it to Giorgio Moroda. He loved it and
they re recorded the track, and that's that's how it
came about, you know. With Starting Over Again, it was
a song that I had written about the divorce of
my parents. At this point in time, I was, you know,
twenty seven to twenty eight years old and my parents
(16:50):
are getting divorced. It still impacted me even though I
was an adult. And I write this song starting Over Again,
Donald sixer ahead and the door says put a then
that song about all the Kings horses and all the
Kings men.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I do that.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Coincidentally, right at the same time she was going on
to the Late Night the big late night television show
in America called The Johnny Carson Show at the time,
to promote her single or next single, which I think
was going to be MacArthur Park. And she comes to
me and says, you know, I'm going to sing starting
Over Again on the TV show tomorrow night. And I said, well,
(17:26):
you really can't do that. You got to promote your
singlehah lah. She says, no, I'm going to sing starting As.
I said, well, why would you do that? And she says, well,
maybe if I sing this song and your parents hear it,
they'll stay together, and which was a beautiful sentiment and
just you know, shows you the kind of person that
Donna was. And so she went on the show sang
(17:49):
the song beautifully. My parents still got divorced. But the
next day Dolly Parton's people called up and said, what
about this song? Dolly Parton record the song that becomes
the number one country song. Sixteen years later, Reba McIntyre
re records the song makes it the title track of
her album. So, you know, this is how things happen.
(18:11):
You know, you do the work, you show up, and
you know, sometimes good things happen.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Starting Over again, Dead As you say, become a big
hit for Dolly Parton and Reba McIntyre. So what do
you think made the song resonate with everyone?
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Well, I think many people have experienced, you know, the
anguish of divorce, and so it's a it's a theme
that many people can relate to and.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
When you are able to.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Hey, Susie, I'm an undergrad. Do I qualify for a
student grant?
Speaker 8 (18:50):
Is your household income below one hundred and fifteen thousand euro? Yeah?
One sec. You could be eligible for support worths between
five hundred euro and over ten th five hundred euro.
You're joking me, searching for jokes.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
If your household income is below one hundred and fifteen
thousand Euro, you may be eligible for support to find
out if you are susaut Susie dot Ie brought to
you by the Government of Ireland.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
You know, synthesize that concept into a very synthesize it
into a way that has a good melody and a
good hook, and people get a chance to hear it
because people who are getting their songs played on the
radio are singing it.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
Then you know you have a chance.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Absolutely. Now, of course, Donna passed away in twenty twelve,
which left a massive void in the music world, but
of course for you as well. So how did you
navigate the grief and what role did music play in
your healing process?
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Music played a tremendous role in my healing process, you know,
of course, Uh, it was it was a time of
devastation in my life. It was, you know, remains basically
the worst thing that's ever happened in my life is
cruising Donna.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
But at the same time, you know, I realized that
I needed to carry on.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
And firstly, let me say, you know, I began to
write about the experience, and I began to write about
the emotions of that experience, and you know, it led
to an album which is called With Angels on a Carousel,
which was my first album that I put out once
Donna passed away, where I deal with these issues of
(20:44):
loss and recovery and carrying.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
On with life and you know, can you love again?
Should I love again? All of these all these kind
of emotions.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
And in doing that, it then became the challenge of Okay, Bruce,
are you going to go out and perform these songs
on your own? You know, now I've had a long
history in the music business. But I've always been in
a band. I've always been on stage with Donna, but
I've never had to be the one carrying the load
and telling, you know, and singing the songs. So that
(21:19):
was an interesting challenge for me. And it's been thirteen
years now and I've really grown. I continue to grow
in the role. I continue to be inspired as a songwriter,
and it's been a very interesting and fulfilling part of
my journey.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You've spent so much of your career right in and
performing for Donna, So now that you've been focusing more
on your own music, how's it felt to step into
the spotlight as a solo artist after all those years.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
It was a tremendous challenge for me, you know, but
it gave me a place to grow to, you know, see,
So that that's why that's why it worked for me,
because it was an area that I hadn't lived in before.
So in spite of you know, the grief and all that,
(22:14):
this was a road that I hadn't taken, and I
saw a light at the end of this road, you know,
And so it was a challenge, but it also gave
me a path to take and so it, you know,
it gave me a reason to carry on.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Your latest album, which is called Talking Ugly Truths Telling
Pretty Lies, reflects on your growth as both a musician
and a person. So what experiences from your life do
you explore in the album.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
Yeah, this album touches on a few different areas. You know.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
The title track is the story of a couple of
renegades who choose to live their life on the edge
and do things the wrong way, expecting that they're going
to get away with doing it the wrong way forever,
which never.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Really works out.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
And at the same time, the song is making a
commentary on what I call the assault on the truth
in our culture these days. So that's that particular song.
There are a couple of songs also that deal with
socio things. There's one called Under the Gun, which delves
(23:37):
into the concept of gun control. This is a big
issue in America where we have these mass shootings, these
school shootings, and because of money and power, there is
a reluctance to put common sense gun control laws in
(23:57):
place to help protect and and you know in these situations.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
So that's what that song is about.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
But at the same time, there's a beautiful love song
called two Bleeding Hearts, which I get to do as
a duet with a marvelous singer and Hall of Fame songwriter,
Valerie Simpson. Valerie Simpson was one half of the duo
Ashford and Simpson wrote songs like every Woman, Ain't no
(24:29):
mountain high enough, Ain't nothing like the real thing. So
it was a great treat to have her not only
sing with me, but to sing a song of mine
on my record. And it's a very beautiful song.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
So there's that. There's a song.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Called better Than This, and Better than This starts out
as the seventeen year old guy driving his car two
o'clock in the morning, stopping at some girlfriend's house, getting
a little bit of action, and carrying on with his
with his night. Second verse gets into, you know, the
middle aged guy dealing with the issues of a middle
(25:08):
aged person, and the third verse takes us to the
older guy that I am now, And the concept of
the song basically is saying that you know, there are
challenges in every phase of life, but in every phase
of life there is also joy to be found. So
let's lean on the joy, take on the challenges, because
(25:33):
it don't get any better than this?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And is there a song on the album that you
maybe almost didn't put out or were questioning whether to
bit out because it was too personal or too raw,
but you knew you had to.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
No, I don't think so, you know. I have no
fear of being too personal or too raw.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
I think that it's in those areas that you reach
the most people, you know. There's another song on the
record called How'd You Get Here? And How'd You Get Here?
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Uh is?
Speaker 5 (26:08):
I call it my ode to the baby Boomer you know,
because it talks about, you know, the baby Boomers were
the youth generation, the peace and love generation, you know,
and now this generation is finding itself as the older
generation and having to deal with fears and emotions that
(26:30):
they've never confronted before, and how do you deal with
those things? And so that's what How'd You Get Here
is about. There's a spoken word piece that kind of
touches on the same area.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
It's called Navigating the Unforeseen. So yeah, so the song
the album covers a lot of territory.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
And there's another song called make the World Go Away
and Make the World Go Away. Its kind of like
a mid tempo groove kind of track. That is essentially
a prayer, you know, saying, you know, the weight of
(27:13):
the world is so heavy, somebody helped take it off
my shoulders, you know, just for a day, you know,
let me give me a little room to breathe. So,
you know, that has some great backing vocals on this record,
which was produced by Ken Lewis. Ken Lewis has produced
(27:34):
everybody from Kanye to I don't know who, but he's
a world class producer and did a great job on
this album. So, but the backing vocals on Make the
World Go Away on a few of the other tracks
Talking Ugly Truth as well is Irene Blackman, and she's
(27:54):
a New York City girl, sweet as she can be,
soulful as she can be, and has just an amazing voice.
And she just colors in and around me on this
album in a very beautiful way. One last thing that
I always forget to mention is that this artwork that's
the cover of the album or the CD, if as
(28:17):
you desire, it's taken from an art piece from Donna.
Donna was a tremendous painter, and so so the cover
is a segment of one of her pieces. Basically, what
I did was I took an iPhone photo of just
a part of her painting and made it into the cover.
(28:41):
Oh wow, So yeah, we got all we got all
kinds of elements going on in this record.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah. Well what's next for you? Are there any new
projects or collaborations or is this album the focus for now?
Speaker 6 (28:54):
Well?
Speaker 5 (28:54):
No, Now I'm back in Milan, and Milan is where
you know my you know, Milan is where I do
a lot of my writing these days, because you know,
when I'm in Los Angeles, I have a lot of family,
I have a lot of grandkids, and and my focus
is a little bit shifted. And when I'm on the road,
(29:16):
I also find it difficult to focus.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
And write when I'm on the road. So when I
get to.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Milan, Uh, I have a lot of time and space
and room to breathe and and and think and uh
So I'm already working on songs for for the next record.
I'm actually putting out the first single from the next
record within the next few weeks. I wrote a song
(29:44):
last week. It's called Watching Darkness Fall, and it's UH
basically UH an up tempo, you know, acoustic rock song,
UH with UH talking about the intimidation and you know,
there's an intimidation factor that's going on in the States
now where government is intimidating people from speaking their minds.
(30:10):
It's intimidating people who want to come with the visa
into America. It's checking, you know, your iPhone if you
have any things that the disagree with the current administration.
So this song is speaking about that kind of intimidation.
(30:33):
And so that's going to be and so this next
record is going to be sketches as opposed to fully producing.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
The record.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
I'm stripping it down to the sketches that I create
here in my studio in Milan, where I'm basically by
myself writing the song and creating the environment that the
song lives in. And because I think the immediacy is
more important in these days than the productions value, so
(31:07):
especially when most people look at things on their iPhone.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Yeah, so that's where I am right now.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Well, in the meantime, where are we able to find
this current album talking ugly truth telling pretty lies? I
take it is available in all the sort of modern platforms.
But also you mentioned the CD.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Right, yeah, CD and vinyl. You can get that on
my website, you know.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So yeah, Spotify, iTunes, all YouTube. Some great vis office
record as well. It's a great video for talking ugly truth.
People really like it, so check it out.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, well, Maddie, thanks for coming on the show today.
It's been great to.
Speaker 8 (31:49):
Have you here.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
I'll look forward to getting back to your part of
the world. I enjoy it there very much, so hope
to see you soon.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Fridays for celebration in good times and relaxation. So turn
the radio up and just listen. Listen. If you've got
that Freddy feeling, you soon beat deasying on the ceiling.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
I'll because of your host.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Tomy Grandma, I guess some brilliant at the music's fantastic.
Tommy is terrific and the speatures a classic. So it's
reached our heights. It's not though, we can right, Thank
god it's Toby
Welcome to thank God It's Toby Highlights, the podcast version
of my radio show. We've got a cracking interview coming
up for you, and remember, if you want the full
unfiltered chaos, you can catch Thank God It's Toby Live
every Friday afternoon from three on Shout Radio. But enough
(00:22):
of the plugging, let's get on with the interview.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Start back weekend right thank God It's Toby.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
A Cast recommends.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Hey, Nicky Byrne. Here from Nicky Byrne HQ. Join me
every Thursday for exclusive chats with some of the biggest
names in the entertainment world, pop legend like Gary Barlow,
the Fabulous Katie Price, the iconic Michael Flatley, and my
All Made from Westlife Brian McFadden. You won't want to
miss the phone, the stories and the behind the scenes scoops,
(00:56):
So search Nicky Burne. HQ now drops every Thursday on
all podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
A Cast is home to the world's best podcasts, including
Red Room, catch Up with Louise McSharry and The One
You're Listening To Right Now.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Bruce Sadano is a singer, songwriter and producer who, alongside
his late wife Donna Summer, co wrote hits including Bad
Girls and Starting Over Again, and to this day, he
continues to record and tour while sharing stories of his love, heartache,
and spirituality through music. And Bruce is on the line
(01:36):
with us here just now. How are you today?
Speaker 5 (01:38):
I'm wonderful. I'm over in Milan. Oh so we're in
a similar time frame. Yeah, not exactly, but similar.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Are you living there now or are you just visiting?
Speaker 6 (01:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:49):
I live here halfy I spent basically my life goes
this way. A third of the road in Milan, a
third of the time on the road, a third of
the time in Milan, and the third of the time
in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Well that sounds like a nice little routine you've got
going there.
Speaker 6 (02:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I was over in Edinburgh not too long ago. I
was on tour opening for a band called the Zombies.
Oh wow, so I was also we also played in
kin Ross.
Speaker 6 (02:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
And one of the new songs that will be on
my next album is called on a Tuesday in kin Ross.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Oh. Well that's nice. I take it that event served
as the inspiration for it.
Speaker 6 (02:26):
It did.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Yes, we were staying at a hotel it's called the
Green Hotel, and the venue is basically in the back
in the basement of the hotel, and it's a very
special little place, you know, in a very mystical town.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
We'll talk about some of your new music a little
bit later, but first of all, where you grew up
was Brooklyn, which is a SETI with quite a rich
musical history. So how did your early environment shape your
musical style and your passion for it?
Speaker 5 (03:00):
There used to be when I was when I was
nine years old, I got I got taken to a
rock and roll show. There used to be these rock
and roll shows at what was called the Brooklyn Paramount
Theater and it was basically run by Alan Freed or
Murray Leckay, who were seminal disc jockeys from back in
(03:20):
the day. And these rock and roll shows would have
Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and vocal groups like
the Impalas or Little Anthony and the Imperials. And so
as a nine year old seeing this spectacle, uh, it
made one impression on me. Yeah, and then and then uh,
(03:42):
you know, for some you know my calling, I say,
it's a calling.
Speaker 6 (03:48):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (03:48):
From early on, I wanted to be a songwriter, and
h this was the place where I saw I could
make my entry into the music business.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
You had your first on a paid gig around the
age of twelve, right, I.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
Did, yeah, which was kind of an odd thing.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
You know, My earliest musical training came from the time
I was four years old. It started my Italian grandfather
went back to Italy to visit family, came back to America,
back to Brooklyn, and handed me an accordion, and so
I was kind of compelled to learn how to play
(04:28):
the accordion. And so this gave me an early understanding
of melody and chord structure. And also the accordion is
interesting because on one hand you're playing the treble cliff
and on the left hand you're playing the basse cliff.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
So it gave me an.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Early understanding of music and how it all went together.
And then but on the other side of that, my
inclination was for English literature, and you know, I began
writing poetry when I was very young, and so it
all just came together when you know, the Beatles and
(05:10):
the Rolling Stones hit and it all kind of made sense.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
You co wrote the song Ball of Fire when you
were just twenty years old, which was a hit. So
how did that influence your confidence as a songwriter moving forward.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Well, it's interesting because.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
You know, I've never really been confident as a songwriter.
I would say, but my story of ball Offire, I
usually tell it this way. They say, you know, Bruce,
so ball Offire, like, you know, what did you contribute
to that song?
Speaker 6 (05:43):
And I typically say I came up with the word
of you know, so I mean it.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
You know, I think that Tommy James, of Tommy James
and the Chandells, who had to hit with that song,
and who was the main writer of that song. You know,
at that point in my life, really was taking me
under his wing. You know, he was the first person
to take me into a recording studio to see how
a record was made. You know, back in those days,
(06:16):
it wasn't like today where you could basically record on anything.
Speaker 6 (06:20):
You know, this was before cassettes. It was it was
difficult to record.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
You know, the earlier songs that I wrote, I would
have to sing them over and over and over again
so that I would remember them because I had nothing
to record them on. So so anyway, he was the
first person to take me into a recording studio and
I got to see how a record was made, and
you know, sang some backgrounds on some of his earlier records,
(06:46):
and so he was very influential in my life that way.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
And you mentioned that you've never really been confident as
a songwriter. Why do you think that is? Because, I mean,
you've had hits and you've got songs that were all know,
so I guess there isn't much more that could happen
to make you confident.
Speaker 6 (07:05):
Well.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Yeah, The thing is is that when you're a songwriter,
you know, you're you always have to go back to
the blank page, you know, and the blank page is
always like uh huh, the challenge, you know of what
do I have to say? Do I have anything else
to say? Do I have any new way to say it?
Speaker 1 (07:25):
You know?
Speaker 6 (07:26):
So, you know, so you never really feel confident.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Because you're always dealing with that insecurity of can I
do it again? And you know, and and even after
all this time, you know, of all these years of
me writing songs, you know, I still deal with that
where you know, you'll go through a period of where
there's nothing you know, and and and you know, I
always get to this place of where I have this
(07:54):
little mental game where I play with myself and I say, well,
maybe there's nothing else.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
And I say, well, you know you've been here before.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
There there always is something else, so there probably will be,
you know, and.
Speaker 6 (08:07):
Uh, but you know, so far, so good.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
So you know, so far I've landed on the side
of there's there is something else. And and you know,
because it's like, you know, when you're a songwriter, and
when you're an experienced songwriter, you know you can just
on craft.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
Alone, you know, create something.
Speaker 5 (08:29):
You know, it's it's you know you you you know,
you know the way chords go together. You're not a
string of melody together. You can figure out a title.
But you know what I always search for is inspiration.
You know, that that spark of something where it goes
like okay, you know, it's you know, it's almost like
(08:49):
the craft doesn't matter. I'm chasing the inspiration and finding out, uh,
digging out the depth of what this inspiration is and
what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 6 (09:01):
And so that's kind of how it is for me
these days.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And you formed the band Alive and Keken in nineteen
sixty eight and had a hit with Tighter Tighter with
that band, So how did that success shape the rest
of your journey.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
It shaped the rest of my journey in this way.
Speaker 5 (09:19):
Is that you know, I was very young when that happened,
you know, and it was on it was on the
back of Ball of Fire being a hit, and I
was young, I was cocky, I was you know. I
thought to myself, Wow, this is easy, you know, and
and I became a little bit of a jerk. I
started firing people in the band, and you know, I
(09:42):
didn't understand how lucky I was to begin my career
this way. But subsequently, a couple of years later, I
found myself back in living in the basement of my
parents' house, and you know, and it became a time
where I really had to realign my way of thinking,
(10:02):
try to understand these lessons that I've learned, understand that, no,
it isn't easy, that I need to appreciate these things
when they're happened when they happened.
Speaker 6 (10:12):
And it really gave me a time to really dig.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Into my songwriting, to try and improve as a songwriter,
to listen to a lot of.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
Other people, to really develop my craft.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
And it was in this time period I was able
to write a number of songs that became.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
The songs for my next.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Band, Brooklyn Dreams, that you know I had success with.
Speaker 6 (10:41):
Later.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Now, in the late seventies, you met the woman who
would go on to become your wife, Donna Summer, and
you've initially had a more professional partnership Weather. So how
did you meet her and how did you begin working together?
Speaker 5 (10:56):
We basically began working together from the day that we met,
you know. We I was with my partners in Brooklyn Dreams,
Joe Binesposito and Eddie Hoganson. We were at another friend's house,
a girl from Brooklyn also who this was in Los
Angeles and she was the head of publicity at Castablaco Records,
(11:17):
which was Donna's label, and Donna stopped by for a visit,
and that's how we met. And literally, you know, we
all sat down at the table, you know, I had
the guitar and we started writing right from that first day.
And it, you know, songwriting was the vehicle by which
(11:38):
Donna and I got to spend time together and really
get to know each other and fall in love and
get married and be together for thirty seven years.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Did the process of writing songs and working together change
once it became romantic?
Speaker 6 (11:54):
Well, in some ways because.
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Once we started having children and life got into a
whole other phase of living.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
You know, we didn't write as.
Speaker 5 (12:06):
Much as we did when we were single and on
that side of our lives. And we still did right
and we so did have songs that you know, got
recorded and things like that.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
But it did change, but life changed, you know.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
So, Hey, Susie, I'm an undergrad. Do I qualify for
a student grant?
Speaker 8 (12:35):
Is your household income below one hundred and fifteen thousand euro?
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (12:40):
One sec? You could be eligible for support wor it's
between five hundred euro and over ten thousand, five hundred euro.
You're joking me searching for jokes.
Speaker 9 (12:50):
If your household income is below one hundred and fifteen
thousand Euro, you may be eligible for support. To find
out if you are, Sussautsusie dot Ie brought you by
the go Mint of Ireland a cast recommends.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Hey, Nicky byrn here from Nicky byurn HQ. Join me
every Thursday exclusive chats with some of the biggest names
in the entertainment world pop legend like Gary Barlow, the
Fabulous Katie Price, the Iconic Michael Flatley and my all
Mad from Westlife. Brian McFadden. You won't want to miss
the phone, the stories, and the behind the scenes scoops.
(13:25):
So Sirs Nicky byrne HQ now drops every Thursday on
all podcast platforms.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
A cast is home to the world's best podcasts, including
Red Room, catch Up with Louise McSharry, and the one
You're listening.
Speaker 8 (13:38):
To right now.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Life will always change, and when you're an artist, you know,
part of being an artist is adapting to the change
and expressing yourself through the change.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I suppose this is a bit of a question you
get asked all the time and it's impossible to answer.
But when you're writing songs like Bad Girls and starting
over again, did you have any idea that they would
be the success that they were?
Speaker 9 (14:10):
No?
Speaker 6 (14:10):
You know, typically, you know, much of my career has
been serendipity.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
That's not to say that I didn't show up and
work hard and really try. But with the situation with
Bad Girls was it was a song one of you know,
we Donna myself and the guys and the dreams would
go into a studio. You know, at that point in time,
we were all working very hard, our lives were going
(14:40):
one hundred and fifty miles an hour. We were you know,
Brooklyn Dreams recorded, you know, wrote and recorded four albums
between seventy seven and nineteen eighty. We were in a
movie called American Hot Wax. There were TV shows, We
did a world tour with Donna, so there was so
much going on, but we still found a way. I
(15:02):
had a friend from Brooklyn whose name was Bobby and Klorbia,
who built a studio in Burbank, and we were all
living in Los Angeles and Burbank is really close, and
so I was able to call him up at any
hour of the night and say, hey, can we come
into the studio now and just write so you know,
(15:23):
And that's how Bad Girls came about.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
You know.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
We would show up at his studio at whatever hour.
He would have four microphones set up and we would
get in front of the mics. We all would have ideas,
we would sing our ideas, we would join in on
each other's ideas.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
We would roll a two track tape machine and record
it all.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
And as with Bad Girls, it was the second engineer
who was transcribing the tape who said to us, Hey,
there's that song Bad Girls on there.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
I really like it. You should check it out and
we went and listened to.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
It and agreed, and we did another demo of it,
and then we brought it to Neil Bogart, who.
Speaker 6 (16:05):
Was the president of Casa Blanca Records.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Donna was in the process of recording the album which
would become Bad Girls at this time, and we played
the demo of Bad Girls and he said, yeah, it's
a great song. I just signed Share. Maybe we could
give it to Share and you know, and we said no, no, no,
this is for Donna, you know. And then we went
(16:29):
and brought it to Giorgio Moroda. He loved it and
they re recorded the track, and that's that's how it
came about, you know. With Starting Over Again, it was
a song that I had written about the divorce of
my parents. At this point in time, I was, you know,
twenty seven to twenty eight years old and my parents
(16:50):
are getting divorced. It still impacted me even though I
was an adult. And I write this song starting Over Again,
Donald sixer ahead and the door says put a then
that song about all the Kings horses and all the
Kings men.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
I do that.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Coincidentally, right at the same time she was going on
to the Late Night the big late night television show
in America called The Johnny Carson Show at the time,
to promote her single or next single, which I think
was going to be MacArthur Park. And she comes to
me and says, you know, I'm going to sing starting
Over Again on the TV show tomorrow night. And I said, well,
(17:26):
you really can't do that. You got to promote your
singlehah lah. She says, no, I'm going to sing starting As.
I said, well, why would you do that? And she says, well,
maybe if I sing this song and your parents hear it,
they'll stay together, and which was a beautiful sentiment and
just you know, shows you the kind of person that
Donna was. And so she went on the show sang
(17:49):
the song beautifully. My parents still got divorced. But the
next day Dolly Parton's people called up and said, what
about this song? Dolly Parton record the song that becomes
the number one country song. Sixteen years later, Reba McIntyre
re records the song makes it the title track of
her album. So, you know, this is how things happen.
(18:11):
You know, you do the work, you show up, and
you know, sometimes good things happen.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Starting Over again, Dead As you say, become a big
hit for Dolly Parton and Reba McIntyre. So what do
you think made the song resonate with everyone?
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Well, I think many people have experienced, you know, the
anguish of divorce, and so it's a it's a theme
that many people can relate to and.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
When you are able to.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Hey, Susie, I'm an undergrad. Do I qualify for a
student grant?
Speaker 8 (18:50):
Is your household income below one hundred and fifteen thousand euro? Yeah?
One sec. You could be eligible for support worths between
five hundred euro and over ten th five hundred euro.
You're joking me, searching for jokes.
Speaker 9 (19:06):
If your household income is below one hundred and fifteen
thousand Euro, you may be eligible for support to find
out if you are susaut Susie dot Ie brought to
you by the Government of Ireland.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
You know, synthesize that concept into a very synthesize it
into a way that has a good melody and a
good hook, and people get a chance to hear it
because people who are getting their songs played on the
radio are singing it.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
Then you know you have a chance.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Absolutely. Now, of course, Donna passed away in twenty twelve,
which left a massive void in the music world, but
of course for you as well. So how did you
navigate the grief and what role did music play in
your healing process?
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Music played a tremendous role in my healing process, you know,
of course, Uh, it was it was a time of
devastation in my life. It was, you know, remains basically
the worst thing that's ever happened in my life is
cruising Donna.
Speaker 8 (20:14):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
But at the same time, you know, I realized that
I needed to carry on.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
And firstly, let me say, you know, I began to
write about the experience, and I began to write about
the emotions of that experience, and you know, it led
to an album which is called With Angels on a Carousel,
which was my first album that I put out once
Donna passed away, where I deal with these issues of
(20:44):
loss and recovery and carrying.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
On with life and you know, can you love again?
Should I love again? All of these all these kind
of emotions.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
And in doing that, it then became the challenge of Okay, Bruce,
are you going to go out and perform these songs
on your own? You know, now I've had a long
history in the music business. But I've always been in
a band. I've always been on stage with Donna, but
I've never had to be the one carrying the load
and telling, you know, and singing the songs. So that
(21:19):
was an interesting challenge for me. And it's been thirteen
years now and I've really grown. I continue to grow
in the role. I continue to be inspired as a songwriter,
and it's been a very interesting and fulfilling part of
my journey.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
You've spent so much of your career right in and
performing for Donna, So now that you've been focusing more
on your own music, how's it felt to step into
the spotlight as a solo artist after all those years.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
It was a tremendous challenge for me, you know, but
it gave me a place to grow to, you know, see,
So that that's why that's why it worked for me,
because it was an area that I hadn't lived in before.
So in spite of you know, the grief and all that,
(22:14):
this was a road that I hadn't taken, and I
saw a light at the end of this road, you know,
And so it was a challenge, but it also gave
me a path to take and so it, you know,
it gave me a reason to carry on.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Your latest album, which is called Talking Ugly Truths Telling
Pretty Lies, reflects on your growth as both a musician
and a person. So what experiences from your life do
you explore in the album.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
Yeah, this album touches on a few different areas. You know.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
The title track is the story of a couple of
renegades who choose to live their life on the edge
and do things the wrong way, expecting that they're going
to get away with doing it the wrong way forever,
which never.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Really works out.
Speaker 5 (23:10):
And at the same time, the song is making a
commentary on what I call the assault on the truth
in our culture these days. So that's that particular song.
There are a couple of songs also that deal with
socio things. There's one called Under the Gun, which delves
(23:37):
into the concept of gun control. This is a big
issue in America where we have these mass shootings, these
school shootings, and because of money and power, there is
a reluctance to put common sense gun control laws in
(23:57):
place to help protect and and you know in these situations.
Speaker 6 (24:03):
So that's what that song is about.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
But at the same time, there's a beautiful love song
called two Bleeding Hearts, which I get to do as
a duet with a marvelous singer and Hall of Fame songwriter,
Valerie Simpson. Valerie Simpson was one half of the duo
Ashford and Simpson wrote songs like every Woman, Ain't no
(24:29):
mountain high enough, Ain't nothing like the real thing. So
it was a great treat to have her not only
sing with me, but to sing a song of mine
on my record. And it's a very beautiful song.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
So there's that. There's a song.
Speaker 5 (24:47):
Called better Than This, and Better than This starts out
as the seventeen year old guy driving his car two
o'clock in the morning, stopping at some girlfriend's house, getting
a little bit of action, and carrying on with his
with his night. Second verse gets into, you know, the
middle aged guy dealing with the issues of a middle
(25:08):
aged person, and the third verse takes us to the
older guy that I am now, And the concept of
the song basically is saying that you know, there are
challenges in every phase of life, but in every phase
of life there is also joy to be found. So
let's lean on the joy, take on the challenges, because
(25:33):
it don't get any better than this?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
And is there a song on the album that you
maybe almost didn't put out or were questioning whether to
bit out because it was too personal or too raw,
but you knew you had to.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
No, I don't think so, you know. I have no
fear of being too personal or too raw.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
I think that it's in those areas that you reach
the most people, you know. There's another song on the
record called How'd You Get Here? And How'd You Get Here?
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Uh is?
Speaker 5 (26:08):
I call it my ode to the baby Boomer you know,
because it talks about, you know, the baby Boomers were
the youth generation, the peace and love generation, you know,
and now this generation is finding itself as the older
generation and having to deal with fears and emotions that
(26:30):
they've never confronted before, and how do you deal with
those things? And so that's what How'd You Get Here
is about. There's a spoken word piece that kind of
touches on the same area.
Speaker 6 (26:44):
It's called Navigating the Unforeseen. So yeah, so the song
the album covers a lot of territory.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
And there's another song called make the World Go Away
and Make the World Go Away. Its kind of like
a mid tempo groove kind of track. That is essentially
a prayer, you know, saying, you know, the weight of
(27:13):
the world is so heavy, somebody helped take it off
my shoulders, you know, just for a day, you know,
let me give me a little room to breathe. So,
you know, that has some great backing vocals on this record,
which was produced by Ken Lewis. Ken Lewis has produced
(27:34):
everybody from Kanye to I don't know who, but he's
a world class producer and did a great job on
this album. So, but the backing vocals on Make the
World Go Away on a few of the other tracks
Talking Ugly Truth as well is Irene Blackman, and she's
(27:54):
a New York City girl, sweet as she can be,
soulful as she can be, and has just an amazing voice.
And she just colors in and around me on this
album in a very beautiful way. One last thing that
I always forget to mention is that this artwork that's
the cover of the album or the CD, if as
(28:17):
you desire, it's taken from an art piece from Donna.
Donna was a tremendous painter, and so so the cover
is a segment of one of her pieces. Basically, what
I did was I took an iPhone photo of just
a part of her painting and made it into the cover.
(28:41):
Oh wow, So yeah, we got all we got all
kinds of elements going on in this record.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah. Well what's next for you? Are there any new
projects or collaborations or is this album the focus for now?
Speaker 6 (28:54):
Well?
Speaker 5 (28:54):
No, Now I'm back in Milan, and Milan is where
you know my you know, Milan is where I do
a lot of my writing these days, because you know,
when I'm in Los Angeles, I have a lot of family,
I have a lot of grandkids, and and my focus
is a little bit shifted. And when I'm on the road,
(29:16):
I also find it difficult to focus.
Speaker 6 (29:19):
And write when I'm on the road. So when I
get to.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Milan, Uh, I have a lot of time and space
and room to breathe and and and think and uh
So I'm already working on songs for for the next record.
I'm actually putting out the first single from the next
record within the next few weeks. I wrote a song
(29:44):
last week. It's called Watching Darkness Fall, and it's UH
basically UH an up tempo, you know, acoustic rock song,
UH with UH talking about the intimidation and you know,
there's an intimidation factor that's going on in the States
now where government is intimidating people from speaking their minds.
(30:10):
It's intimidating people who want to come with the visa
into America. It's checking, you know, your iPhone if you
have any things that the disagree with the current administration.
So this song is speaking about that kind of intimidation.
(30:33):
And so that's going to be and so this next
record is going to be sketches as opposed to fully producing.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
The record.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
I'm stripping it down to the sketches that I create
here in my studio in Milan, where I'm basically by
myself writing the song and creating the environment that the
song lives in. And because I think the immediacy is
more important in these days than the productions value, so
(31:07):
especially when most people look at things on their iPhone.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Yeah, so that's where I am right now.
Speaker 8 (31:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Well, in the meantime, where are we able to find
this current album talking ugly truth telling pretty lies? I
take it is available in all the sort of modern platforms.
But also you mentioned the CD.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
Right, yeah, CD and vinyl. You can get that on
my website, you know.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
So yeah, Spotify, iTunes, all YouTube. Some great vis office
record as well. It's a great video for talking ugly truth.
People really like it, so check it out.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, well, Maddie, thanks for coming on the show today.
It's been great to.
Speaker 8 (31:49):
Have you here.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
I'll look forward to getting back to your part of
the world. I enjoy it there very much, so hope
to see you soon.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Fridays for celebration in good times and relaxation. So turn
the radio up and just listen. Listen. If you've got
that Freddy feeling, you soon beat deasying on the ceiling.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
I'll because of your host.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Tomy Grandma, I guess some brilliant at the music's fantastic.
Tommy is terrific and the speatures a classic. So it's
reached our heights. It's not though, we can right, Thank
god it's Toby
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