Brenda Russell | Timeless Tunes: Crafting Songwriting Magic - Mick Unplugged [EP 20]

Episode Transcript

• Brenda Russell | Timeless Tunes: Crafting Songwriting Magic - Mick Unplugged [EP 20]

  Intro: Are you ready to change your habits, sculpt your destiny, and light up your path to greatness? Welcome to the epicenter of transformation. This is Mick Unplugged. We'll help you identify your because so you can create a routine that's not just productive, but powerful. You'll embrace the art of evolution, adapt strategies to stay ahead of the game, and take a step toward the extraordinary. So let's unleash your potential. Now here's Mick.

  Mick Hunt: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Mick Unplugged where we dive into the stories behind the legends. And today, we have the honor of speaking with Grammy award winning singer songwriter whose soulful voice and timeless hits have touched hearts worldwide. We'll explore her incredible journey, her creative process, and the inspiration behind her new project, What Will It Take? Please join me in welcoming the sensational, the inspiring, the motivating, the queen, miss Brenda Russell. Brenda, welcome to make unplugged.

  Brenda Russell: Thank you, Mick. I'm pleased to be here. Thank you.

  Mick Hunt: I have to say this. My favorite song in the world is, if only for one night.

  Brenda Russell: Oh. Thank you.

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

  Brenda Russell: A lot of us writers write about our heartbreaks and that sometimes are the best songs because everybody feels a heartbreak, you know. And that song, I cried through the whole writing of it.

  Mick Hunt: Oh. I was

  Brenda Russell: just crying other times because my heart was so broke. But it makes for good songs.

  Mick Hunt: Absolutely.

  Brenda Russell: Because I would call my mom, and she'd say write about it. That's what she always told me. Write about it.

  Mick Hunt: We could just talk about you and that song all day, but I don't wanna do that. I don't want you crying on me. But that song is so just it's timeless. Right? And and the way you start the song, Brenda, just wow.

  That's all. I'm just gonna say wow right now. You're gonna say wow right now. You know, and and you have other timeless songs. Right?

  Piano in the dark. Get here. Again, most of your songs, or if not, all of your songs stand the test of time. Can you share kind of your creative process on how you do this?

  Brenda Russell: Well, I learned from the very first hit song that I wrote, and I was washing dishes. I actually had a dinner party that night, and the people are sitting in the living room where the piano is. Right? And I'm washing dishes after dinner, and the song is so good, so right. I'm singing in my head.

  So I guess, wait wait a minute. I have to write this right now. Because if you get an idea, you gotta write it or it'll go away. Right? So I went into the living room where my guests were sitting there after dinner chat, And I sit down at the piano and start writing so good, so right, and they're like, shut.

  But I'm I never wrote in front of I had to because I knew if I don't write this right now, I'm gonna lose it. And that's how I wrote my first skit.

  Mick Hunt: That's crazy.

  Brenda Russell: That taught me don't have rules about how you write. I have no rules. It's gonna come any way it comes. So you said, thank you, god, and keep moving.

  Mick Hunt: I love it. I love it. Brenda, on on Mick unplugged. Right? I I like to inspire people through my guests to go deeper than their why.

  Right? Like, we we all get you start with why, think about your why, know your why. But I actually believe it's your because that actually fuels you. It's that something inside of you that that makes legends legends. What was one of Brenda's early because?

  Like, what was your because?

  Brenda Russell: Well, it started with my parents because they were both singers. My mother is a songwriter. And as a child, as a little child, I thought all moms wrote songs because my mom always wrote songs. And it wasn't until I went to school that I realized, I would ask kids, like, doesn't your mommy write songs? I'm like, no. But that's what I thought. I thought all moms did that. And then I was like, oh, I realized she's just special.

  Mick Hunt: There you go. So aside from your mom, who were some of your early musical influences?

  Brenda Russell: My mom and dad. And then I would say I would go to Holland Dozer in Holland because they wrote all of the hits.

  Mick Hunt: That's right.

  Brenda Russell: That's where I learned how to write a hit and, and something catchy for people to remember. And of course the Beatles, that was a very big Beatle fan because they were innovative. Right. They didn't have rules about how the structure of the song was, which taught me a lot. You could just change the tempo in the middle of it and, you know, that's what they did. And I love that spontaneity and just breaking the rules, you know, people get used to.

  Mick Hunt: That's Brenda creates her own rules.

  Brenda Russell: I like that.

  Mick Hunt: I like that. No shackles. Right? No shackles.

  Brenda Russell: No shackles. I love it.

  Mick Hunt: I love it. You've collaborated with with many great artists throughout your career. Are there any particular collaborations that stand out to you? And if so, what are they and why?

  Brenda Russell: My biggest collaboration too, Maurice White, who was unbelievable. He was, like, royalty working with him. He was gentle and a gentleman and very gifted and very encouraging to a young artist as I was when I met him. And, I collaborated with them. And David Foster, who is the wonderful David Foster, brought me to the to Wind and Fire because he was working with them. He wrote after the Love is Gone.

  Mick Hunt: Mhmm.

  Brenda Russell: Killer song of all time. Correct. And he wrote it with them, and he introduced me to them and Maurice because they wanted someone to write lyrics for them. And it was a very learning experience because Earth, Wind, and Fire, when they gave me the songs, everything was there except the lyric and the melody. So I was like, oh my god. I've never written a song with collaborated with the horns and this everything was on there except this. And I was like, woah. This is different. So it was a real challenge for me, but I rose to the challenge, I think.

  Mick Hunt: Awesome. Awesome. I wanna get to what will it take. And I'm gonna have a link to the song in the description and everything because the first I'm gonna say 7 seconds of this song grab you. Right? Amazing musicianship in this song, and then you get Brenda's voice. And if your soul has never melted before, let me tell you about the melting that I had. No. We're not gonna go there. But what will it take?

  Walk us through not just that, but but the entire project. So this is something I know that you're really proud of. It's an amazing project. I've got to hear a few things on it, and it's at the top of my playlist literally every day. Walk us through this brainchild. And what are some of the things that you're really proud of on this project?
  
  Brenda Russell: My granddaughter sang on it. I'm very proud of that. She was 12 years 11. I think she was when we did this and my daughter conducted the kids. I have all these beautiful children singing on it. And, I actually wrote the song 30 years ago.

  Mick Hunt: Are you serious?

  Brenda Russell: Yes. I'm dead serious. But when I wrote it, my publishers couldn't understand what it was. You know? I knew I had a vision.
  This and now it's my song. There

  Mick Hunt: it is.

  Brenda Russell: I love that.

  Mick Hunt: Love it.

  Brenda Russell: You can hear it. But there was so much turmoil turmoil going on in the nineties with the go for and killing each other everywhere on the planet. I I had to write about it, you know? And then come to this time, same problems, only worse.

  Mick Hunt: Correct.

  Brenda Russell: You know? Ukraine and Israel and all these people hurting each other. You know? And I thought this is a good time for this song because it rings true what's going on in the world. And maybe I could send a message out of what is it gonna take for us to get it together?

  Mick Hunt: I did not know that you wrote that song in the nineties.

  Brenda Russell: Yes.

  Mick Hunt: Wow. Because, I mean, it resonates. You're right. It resonates now. I would have thought that you wrote it, you know, last year with everything that was going on. Like, that's insane.
  
  Brenda Russell: You know, I think sometimes songs have their own trajectory that they know where they're going, and you just have to follow it or build it the way it's asking you to build it. Sounds talk to me or titles talk to me. Like, I keep a book of song titles. When I hear somebody say something cool or I think of something cool, I write in a book, all of my titles. So piano in the dark, for instance, the music was written by Jeff Hall and Scott Cutler, and they sent me this music, piano, and I thought, this is very nice. 2 days later, they call me, what you got? I'm like, and I pick up my book and start flipping the pages, my song titles. And then I said, what about piano in the dark? That's how that happened. It was just one title, about 50 titles, and it was like, how about that one?

  And they said, what does that mean? And they said, I don't know, but I'll figure it out.

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

  Brenda Russell: Leonard. I love his his work, his music. He did a song like Madonna. Right?

  Mick Hunt: He did.

  Brenda Russell: That was my favorite Madonna song.

  Mick Hunt: There you go.

  Brenda Russell: It was so good.

  Mick Hunt: Amazing. But you were just as legendary and have that same type of genius. And so I need you to know, and I need the listeners and those that are watching to know Brenda is that person. Yeah. Brenda is that person. So I appreciate that. You know, when when we think about entertainment, and especially you. Right? Like, you Grammy winner.

  Brenda Russell: Our show, you know, I co wrote color purple for Broadway.

  Mick Hunt: You sure did. I was going there next. Look at

  Brenda Russell: you. It was an honor to write that and to work with Alice Walker, who is to me she's amazing. She's like a a goddess, and she's so spiritual. And she really helped us with her energy to complete this project, which took 5 years to first arrive at that.

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

  Brenda Russell: bit. Well, our priority was to get it right for Alice because she's the creator, and we wanted to honor her totally. So we always asked him, what do you think? And what didn't you like in the first movie? And what do you like? You know, we she gave it to us. She was so prolific and beautiful. She would write us a little note, and you'd wanna frame it. It was so real, well written, you know, she's and she's very inspiring. Our producer told us that maybe black people weren't gonna come see the show. And we're like, because we know, I said, they're not coming to see Oklahoma. That was my joke. But they are gonna come see Color Purple because they all love it from the movie, you know? And we had buses parked outside our theater, buses of women and men who came from wherever they came from to see that show. So we're really proud of that. White people did show up.

  Mick Hunt: Showed up, and and as we say, showed up and showed out. Right? Yes. That's right. That's right.

  So, you know, again, an amazing career that you've had and and legacy that you're gonna be leaving in inspiration that you just have for everyone. Right? Like, just truly inspiring. But I also know everything is not easy, especially in the music industry. What are some of the challenges that that you faced in your career, and how did you overcome those?

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

  Mick Hunt: Yeah. Yeah.

  Brenda Russell: And so this musician came in and was sitting on the couch and Andre's there. And the musician looks at Andre and says, what does she want at the blah, blah, blah? And he said, well, man, she's sitting right there. Why don't you just ask her? I love that so much because you're invisible to some of these folks.

  Because they're not used to seeing a woman, especially a black woman up in the studio telling people what to do. Yeah. Who doesn't read or write music. That's right. That's right. So it was a bit of a challenge, but I rose to the challenge.

  Mick Hunt: That's it. And you know again, I know how humble you are, but your music has influenced countless of artists and and listeners. How do you feel about your legacy in the music industry, and what do you hope people take away from your work?

  Brenda Russell: Well, I'm so honored when incredible singers wanna sing my song. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite singers of all time, Aretha Franklin, I actually called my manager. She found my ass and she said, I want a Brenda Russell song. And of course, when I that, I was out of my mind because she was so fabulous. And I said, oh, Aretha. You know, I'm gonna write something for Aretha. And I wrote what I knew her to be, and she didn't want that. She wanted what I do for myself. Wait. I'm on a friend of Russell song, not trying to be a Reese's song. Right? So that was my biggest last lesson in songwriting. It's not to project on an artist what you think they wanna do or what they already did because they did that. There you go.

  Mick Hunt: You have

  Brenda Russell: to write from your heart for yourself because that's your highest point. You know? And you share that.

  Mick Hunt: That's awesome.

  Brenda Russell: I, unfortunately, didn't get the song with a reason, but it got a fantastic lesson.

  Mick Hunt: That's it. Learning experiences. Right? Learning experiences. So, again, your music has stood the test of time, but that doesn't mean the industry and and music in general hasn't changed. And and I know that the way music is today, and I'm gonna say this. These are the words of Mick and Mick only, not Brenda. Some of this music is garbage. The idea of creating an album almost doesn't exist anymore. Right? It's like people are trying to create viral songs and viral moments. And to me, it's taking away from music. How do you feel about the industry and how technology and and streaming services and digital platforms have kinda changed how people are making music, and has that affected you at all?
  
  Brenda Russell: Well, you have to grow with what's happening if you want to. I particularly don't listen to the radio anymore. I used to listen to it all the time because they were playing the best artists who were writing incredible songs and will be inspired because that's why I listened to the radio for inspiration to my songs. But I don't do that anymore. But I have a lot of music I can find, and it comes to me, you know, that's really good. Mhmm. But it has changed. Yeah.

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

  Brenda Russell: I have some very exciting project coming out right now with, Roberta Flack. I wrote a song with Roberta years ago, and I just rerecorded it. She recorded it on her Oasis album,

  Mick Hunt: and

  Brenda Russell: I I recorded it on this album, which is called Song Painter. That's the name of my album. I just did the song with Roberta, and, it's really good.

  Mick Hunt: I mean, she's

  Brenda Russell: playing, and and I loved working with her. I'm so proud of it. And, that's the next thing that's coming out. It's called You Know What It's Like.

  Mick Hunt: I can't wait.

  Brenda Russell: Thank you.

  Mick Hunt: I can't wait. So we talked a little bit about your creative process for songwriting. When you're actually putting out melodies, what's Brenda's recording process like? Like, do you have any superstitions? Do you need lemon honey water? Like, what's what's some of the the things that gets Brenda going when she's actually recording?

  Brenda Russell: Well, when I'm recording or writing, and this is 2 different things, that I always say, god is my co writer. So

  Mick Hunt: There you go.

  Brenda Russell: I am very inspired. I always say it's not coming from me. It's coming through me. It's like a frequency that you find and you open your mind to your desire of the music and what the song is telling you, you know, and, very spiritual about this process.

  Mick Hunt: That's amazing. What advice would Brenda have for folks that are getting into the music industry that may be new to the industry or may be stuck trying to get in or or progressive industry? What's some advice that you'd give to the newbies out there?

  Brenda Russell: My advice to a lot of young writers, artists is do what's in your heart from your heart. Don't try to write a hit song like everybody else, that's sounding like everybody else. You don't wanna do that because you already have your gift inside. You just don't have found it. Open up your mind or your heart, whatever it is, to receive that energy and that music, because it's all out there.

  You know? It's a you just gotta bring it in and open it up to it.

  Mick Hunt: That's right. I love it. Alright. So I'm gonna get you out of here on 2 things. One, if you could record with any group of people, one project, one song, who would those people be?

  Brenda Russell: That's a great question. Well, one of those people is not here on the planet anymore, and that would be Whitney. And it's funny. The first time I sang Get Here for an audience, I was in LA, and a lot of celebrities had come to see me. I was looking for a record deal at the time, and I'd just didn't get here.

  So I said get here, and people were screaming at me. I said, say this song, girl. I mean, Melissa Manchester told me, we all look like Alice Cooper because we had our mascara was ready. That was so funny. After that show, this gentleman came up to me from a record company, and he said, we have this young girl that we're just putting out right now, and that Get Here song would be so great for her. I said, oh, that's nice. He said, his name is Whitney Houston. And I said, oh, nobody had ever heard of at this point. But I was like, I can't give this loan away because it's gonna help me get my record deal, and that's what I'm gonna do. And then after I found out after a couple of years, actually, I was like, what the hell is this? But, you know, it was meant for Aaliyah's song. You know, I don't see anything that I missed because I didn't miss anything. Aaliyah killed that song.

  Mick Hunt: That's right.

  Brenda Russell: And made it a hit all around the world. You know? So I'm always grateful.

  Mick Hunt: So Whitney is gonna be in this group. Who else you had in?

  Brenda Russell: Celine Dion, who's, to me, amazing singer, and I love the spirit. So those 2 people I I would love to have worked with.

  Mick Hunt: Mhmm. I could almost hear that melody in my head right now. The harmony you 3 would have. Wow. That would be awesome.

  Brenda Russell: Yeah. And

  Mick Hunt: then last question for the listeners or those that are watching, you know, they have challenges in their life, and and they need that inspiration to keep going and and not give up. What's Brenda's word of wisdom for them today?

  Brenda Russell: I would say surround yourself with people who believe in you. 1st, people who support you, not just your mom. That's right. But people say you got something. You should share that. You know? You need encouragement in this business. It's very important because it's hard to keep your heart cold when people are going, nah. You know, you you get a lot of no's, but you only need one Yes. That's right. You only need 1.

  Mick Hunt: That's right.

  Brenda Russell: And that's what happened to me.

  Mick Hunt: Miss Russell, queen.

  Brenda Russell: Uh-uh. Thank you.

  Mick Hunt: I appreciate you so much for spending some time with with not just me, but all the listeners and viewers. And, again, I'm gonna keep saying this because I know how humble you are. You are so legendary, and you have such creative genius that you inspire me just by who you are. And I I want you to personally know that. So I wanna thank you.

  Brenda Russell: Thank you so much. And, you know, that's one of the greatest compliments because I'm just telling you this real short story that the gentleman came up to me after a show and he said, I wanna thank you for the song Get Here because it I was in the Gulf War. He was pilot. And he said, that song helped me to bring myself. I wanted to get back home. And he said, I'm gonna think about that song so I could get back home. And then we both were crying. We both started crying. It was just amazing.

  Mick Hunt: And that's

  Brenda Russell: what music does for you. To me, it's like a gold record having a compliment like that, You know? It hit me in my heart, and it it made me feel better so I can get back home. There's nothing more I mean, that's precious.

  Mick Hunt: You are precious.

  Brenda Russell: Yeah. Yes.

  Mick Hunt: Yes. You are. Yes. You are. Again, Brenda, thank you for taking some time.

  And for all the listeners out there, remember your because is your superpower.

  Brenda Russell: Yes. Go and miss it.

  Intro: Thanks for listening to Mick Unplugged. We hope this episode helps you take the next step toward the extraordinary and launches stay inspired, and stay unplugged.