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Undiscovered Solo
02/03/1998 12:22 PM, Yahoo! Music
Steffan Chirazi
Don Was, the famous producer for the
Rolling Stones and
Jewel,
amongst others, breathes a sigh of exasperation as he contemplates what he
knew everybody would say about his latest production credit.
"Listen, the guy could sit on a boat all day and not do a thing if
that's what he wanted," says Was, "but the guy is a genuine
artist. When I first met him, I felt I'd known him for years. I come from
Detroit, which I think is geographically and socially the spiritual brother
of New Jersey, and I felt I could've gone to high school with him."
Was is talking about
Richie Sambora, who is a singer-songwriter in his
own right but is best known as the guitarist/ co-writer in
Bon Jovi, a
band that has sold more than 70 million albums and racked up over a dozen
top 10 singles.
"I mean come on, when you seek out a guy like Don and he turns out to
be so into you as well as so inspirational, how could it not feel
amazing?" says Sambora, reflecting on the producer he credits with
helping him reach another phase in his career, both artistically and
commercially.
Sambora is aware that the Bon Jovi name carries a bit of a stigma with it,
but is calmly confident that his new, second solo album for Mercury Records,
Undiscovered Soul, will prove to the world that he's more than just a
Bon Jovi sidekick.
"The record is a collection of my life thoughts," he states,
"and I think it will surprise a few people. If anybody ever thought I
wasn't a singer-songwriter, then songs like 'Fallen From Graceland'
definitely prove otherwise. I really had a blast singing, I really found
myself enjoying that as much as anything else that I do."
Extraordinarily polite, and with an almost chivalrous sense of traditional
values, Sambora commands the greatest of respect from a vast variety of
musical peers. The experienced, talented musicians on his latest album are
most certainly not the types you'd expect to see on one of his albums.
"Between Rami Jaffee and
Billy Preston, there were some great
people on this record, and that's down to Don as much as me," says
Sambora. "His connections, who he's worked with, what he's done--all
factored into me being able to make a preferred list of people and pretty
much get them all."
One of the things that's helped Sambora develop his solo focus in the past
few years has been the birth of his daughter. "Not that I wanted it to
be this cliche --'Oh get soft and write a bunch of slushy ballads,'" he
laughs, "it's just that you do start to see other things in life. The
song 'You're Not Alone' is for her, yet it was written even before she was
born. I was already changing my focus back then, and the song took in the
fact that I was already projecting the worst things that could happen to
her. It made me realize that the best thing you can do to help your child,
is let them know that they're not alone. And that's what that song was--no
matter what, we're blood and I'll always be with you in that interior way.
Then you've got me in the background with this low voice--'You're not alone,
you're not alone'--and I tried to make it where she could sit and rock-out
to it when she's older."
It's obvious that Sambora enjoy being a solo artist, so just what
will happen when Bon Jovi eventually work together again? "We'll
find out!" he chuckles. "I don't foresee a problem myself. When
you get this thoughtful and do as much work as I've been doing here on my
own, Bon Jovi will be a break. I'm interested to see what happens myself
when we sit down to write. It really is like a marriage. People ask how it
can stay fresh and you can stay together? We're independent people with our
own lives too, we hold onto the commitment even though we're not together
all the time. When we do get together, it's special because of that. And I
don't see why this shouldn't be any different."
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