Copyright ©2007 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted:
February 4, 2007.
There aren’t too many people in the world who were in any
way helped by Hurricane Katrina. For Taylor Hicks, however, surviving the
horrifying storm did play a strange role in catapulting him to fame. You
see, Hicks was in
New
Orleans
the night before Katrina hit the city.
“I was actually one of the last out of Hurricane Katrina,” Hicks
recalls. Due to the harrowing experience in the
New Orleans airport,
Hicks was given a flight voucher for future use. “They had a plane ticket
to go anywhere in the country. So I went to Las Vegas and tried out.”
Those Vegas tryouts
he is referring to were for
American Idol
– merely the most popular show on television. Hicks seemed a long-shot to
make it on the talent contest, but his blue-eyed soul style and friendly
common-guy manner made him a surprisingly sturdy contestant – the only
person in the 2006 contest who never was even in danger of being
eliminated from the show. In fact, the only time he was in the bottom
three vote-getters on the show it was merely because there were only three
singers left.
He couldn’t have
known that he would reach those heights when he was flying to Las Vegas.
It just seemed to be a fun adventure. Plus,
American Idol
has become sort of like the lottery to struggling singers and Hicks – who
had released two albums as an independent – thought that the exposure
would only help his career. Besides, as he recalls humbly, “I had a
couple of buddies tell me I should do it.”
Not that it was all
a whim. Music has always been central to his life. Hicks has been a
singer for as long as he can remember. He has been recording and gigging
for years, independently releasing the CDs
In Your Time
in 1997 and
Under the Radar
in 2005.
“I
was always singing as a child,” Hicks recalls. “I
was always entertaining as a kid. The actual music part came when I
was about sixteen. I bought a harmonica. I taught myself harmonica off of
the Breakfast in America
album by Supertramp. Then I taught myself guitar. Once I started writing
on guitar and started playing harmonica, started singing, writing and
playing my own music, I figured I had all my bases covered, to a certain
extent.”
Hicks’
season of American Idol
had quite possibly
the most talented and diverse crop of singers yet for the insanely popular
singing contest. In the early years of the show, it tended to get lots of
R&B and pop. This season, arguably the top six singers were worthy of
recording, taking on different styles like Hicks’ blue-eyed soul, adult
contemporary with Katharine McPhee, more straight-ahead soul from Elliott
Yamin and Paris Bennett, rock from Chris Daughtry and country with Kellie
Pickler.
“It just shows you
that America is made up of many different tastes,” Hicks says. “I think
on the show last year, it represented very well a lot of the aspects.”
It all ended up in
Hollywood last summer. Hicks and McPhee, the final two standing, stood
together, nervously waiting as host Ryan Seacrest announced the next
American Idol.
It was a swirl of activity and thoughts and Hicks will always remember the
moment when his name was called.
“It was amazing,”
Hicks says enthusiastically. “It was a very surreal moment in my life. I
just was hoping that I didn’t fall over once they called my name.”
Right out of the
gate, Hicks released his first single “Do I Make You Proud?” The song
topped the pop charts, even though the warm-hearted ballad did not exactly
take advantage of Hicks’ soulful musical persona. Still, the song
resonated with Hicks.
“I thought the song
was great,” Hicks says. “It had a great message. I know that there are
some people that have sent it over to the troops in Iraq. The first song
that I was given in the competition, I didn’t really connect with. So I
found ‘Do I Make You Proud’ and I decided to sing that. I really
connected with it.”
Now, months later,
finally off of Idol
and the subsequent AI
tour, Hicks has
recorded and released his self-titled major label debut. One of the
biggest surprises was that the process wasn’t all that different than when
he was a struggling unknown.
“There
are some differences,” Hicks says, “but there are other things that are
very similar, you know? Having time. I think time is a big aspect of the
major label, because you have time in the studio. With those indie
albums, time is money in the studio.”
Musically the album
is surprisingly diverse. There is rockier stuff like “The Runaround.”
“The Right Place” has a gospel feel. “Heaven Knows” is very soulful.
“Places I’ve Been” is a power ballad. Hicks was looking to experiment
with musical styles on the album.
“Stylistically,
that’s just my musical interest in songs and how you interpret them,”
Hicks explains. “I like all styles of music, not just one. The music and
the lyrics, they have to connect with me, no matter what style they are.”
The album included
songs written for Hicks by people like superstar Rob Thomas, rock veteran
Bryan Adams and popular songwriter Diane Warren. The album was produced
by Matt Serletic (Matchbox Twenty, Aerosmith, Celine Dion). It was hard
for Hicks to believe that he’d be working with such respected industry
veterans.
“I didn’t have any
idea,” Hicks admits. “I was so excited that I had the opportunity to meet
some of these people. Actually get to sing some of their music. Not only
that, have some of my own music on the album as well.”
Hicks had some help
in choosing the songs on Taylor
Hicks, but
it was important to him that the buck stopped at him on the album.
“Ultimately I had
the last say so,” Hicks explains. “All of the songs I had to connect with
emotionally. Ray Charles taught me how to do that. You have to make the
song your own. All these songs that I was given, and all these songs that
I decided to sing and decided to perform on this album were all songs I
connected with.
Even on
American Idol,
it was obvious that
Hicks idolized Ray Charles. The song “Heaven Knows” on the new album is
built on a sample of Charles’ classic single “What’d I Say.” Hicks was
happy to use the song as a tribute to his hero. “That was really cool
that I got to do that.”
Sometimes
the blue-eyed take on the 60s soul sound is obvious. For the album, Hicks
recorded a version of Marvin Gaye’s classic “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s
My Home).” However instead of the exuberant testifying of Gaye’s original
recording of the song, Hicks has used a more hushed, slowed-down tempo.
It seems the new recording is much more directly descended from the ballad
cover of the song by 80s new wave blue-eyed soul singer Paul Young.
“Yeah, it is,”
Hicks agrees. “It had more of a melodic feel, this last go around of that
song. The melody is so great and the lyrics are so great, when you slow
things down a little bit, you’re able to hear the words. That is a great
version.”
Hicks was also able
to resurrect, “Gonna Move,” a song by a long-overlooked soul man named
Paul Pena. Pena was a blind singer who released a respected first album
in 1973, but due to bad management his second album (which was recorded in
the early 70s) never was released until the new millennium. Another Pena
song, “Jet Airliner,” became a big hit when it was covered by the Steve
Miller Band in 1977.
“I’ve
always been a fan of Paul Pena,” Hicks says enthusiastically. “I’ve
always played ‘Gonna Move’ live. I’ve always played his music. I’m a
very big fan. I always will be. I thought he was a great soul. I still
think he’s a great songwriter. He has contributed to music history.”
As much as he loved
being able to play tribute to some of his favorites, it was even more
important to Hicks that he get some of his own songs on the CD, too.
Surprisingly, they stack up well with the other recordings. There are two
songs, the swinging “Soul Thing” and a mid-tempo devotional called “The
Deal,” which Hicks had recorded before “[on] my previous albums
Under the Radar
and In Your Time.”
As Hicks does more recording, he plans to incorporate more of his own
music and new songs on his albums.
“I am a songwriter
at heart,” he says. “I have songs now that I’m into singing. I’m
enjoying the songwriting process. I always have. It’s been a little bit
stagnant because of all I’ve been doing right now. But this next album
will have more songs by me on it.”
Now that his album
is widely available, Hicks does not want to forget where he came from,
either. With a new season of
American Idol
starting up, Hicks
has gotten the strange opportunity to watch the show with hindsight. It’s
a fun experience to see thousands of young hopefuls giving their all to
get to where he is. “I got to catch a couple of episodes as a casual
viewer and I’m definitely enjoying it.”
Still,
a year on from his own auditions, Taylor Hicks’ life has changed
completely. He still is getting used to existing in the spotlight, but
he’s enjoying the education.
“I’ve had twelve
months worth of really good practice,” Hicks says. “You’re always forever
learning. You’re always learning about the limelight and what kind of
aspects it has. I’m falling into a good zone. I’m about to go on a
national tour that starts February 21st in Jacksonville,
Florida. I’ll be touring all these songs and a lot of obscure covers from
way back when.”
Does Taylor Hicks
know he’s really
made it big because “Weird Al” Yankovic has decided to parody one of his
songs? “You could say that. That’s definitely one thing that you could
say,” Hicks laughs.
Not that Hicks is letting everything which has happened in
the last year all get to his head. When asked how he’d like for people to
see his music, Hicks sums it all up in one world: “Real.” Now that he’s
been the American Idol and working on being a pop star, it will not
change his life in one fundamental way. “I am who I am,” Hicks smiles,
“and I’ll always be what I’m going to be.
“It’s interesting each day, which is really cool,” Hicks sums up. “It’s a
blessing and an honor. I just try to stay who I am in music and who I am
as a person.”
