If hearing Patrice Rushen’s name doesn’t inspire multiple states of awe, then there may be large gaps in your music knowledge. Thankfully, both her longtime loyalists and those who may be new to her many musical charms will have the opportunity to celebrate her legacy tomorrow evening when she fittingly receives the Trailblazer Award during the Salute THEM Awards ceremony.
Orchestrated by Café Mocha Radio and presented by Toyota and AARP in conjunction with Black Music Month, the Salute THEM Awards honors the musical and cultural achievements of an impressive group of vanguards that includes Rushen, June Ambrose, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dr. Bobby Jones, Jamal Josef, Darlene Love, Ludacris, Sly Stone, and Bille Woodruff. Taking place at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville and hosted by Café Mocha Gracie Awards Winners Loni Love, Yo-Yo, and Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations Broadway star Saint Aubyn, the event can be streamed via SaluteTHEMAwards.com on Sunday, June 6th at 7:00pm EDT and will be available via broadcast on BNC TV at 10:00pm EDT.
A prodigy since adolescence when her advanced chops as a pianist won her a three-album deal with jazz label Prestige Records, Rushen handily impressed some of the most elite fans within the genre. Just when she had captivated that audience, she made an unprecedented shift, establishing herself as a mainstay vocalist in R&B, dance, and funk. Her massive talent allowed her to live, breathe, and swim freely between multiple musical worlds.
Her angelic, forever-young voice came into its own during her tenure at Elektra Records. Champion chart ascenders and radio staples like “Forget Me Nots,” “Remind Me,” “Haven’t You Heard,” and “Feels So Real (Won’t Let Go)” have since taken on a second life being sampled by Will Smith, George Michael, Mary J. Blige, Kirk Franklin, Mobb Deep, Queen Latifah, Faith Evans, and literally hundreds more.
The indefatigable singer-songwriter-producer has navigated her way into multiple arenas extending far beyond the stage. She’s scored film and television, served as music director for Janet Jackson’s janet. Tour from 1993-1995, as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards, the NAACP Awards, and the GRAMMY Awards. She is now chair of the Popular Music Program at USC’s Thornton School of Music and also an ambassador for Berklee College of Music.
It is only fitting that this veteran has committed herself to making sure that the lessons of her illustrious career get passed on whether through her students or her streaming. The next generation of musicians and artists will not be found wanting—not on her watch. Trust that she shared more wise tidbits than we could fit into this interview prior to being honored at tomorrow’s Salute THEM Awards.
My first question for you is…what is your least favorite question to be asked in interviews?
[Laughs] My least favorite question is “So, how did you get started?” Because that question is so easy to get answers to online and whatever like that.
You're being honored at the Salute THEM Awards this year. What does it mean to be recognized as a musical vanguard in this way?
It's a major thing for me. You're doing what you're doing ‘cause you love it. It brings you a certain kind of joy. Hopefully, that joy is translated to other people. So, when other people actually do recognize that? It means people have been paying attention! We all see people who do [the] meteoric rise to the top. But the ones that are just slow and steady, but constant? Those are my heroes and sheroes. To feel like, for somebody else, I might be that one? It's awesome.
If you could, in turn, give this honor to someone else, who would you lift up?
Oh my gosh. We'd have to cut that award up into so many little bits and pieces and bites, man! Everybody that I've ever worked with has taught me something. Some of them are not musicians!
A lot of the artists—we're pretty insecure. We feel everything on 10. Everything is big. Everything is huge. If it's a good cup of coffee, it's a spectacular cup of coffee. If you're having a bad day, you're ready to go out and put your head in the sand. A big part of our development is in learning how to move that energy through our music or whatever our particular art expression is. And you need other people to help you with that.
So, my parents, my peers, those who are musicians, the people I met along the way, publicists, radio (especially Black radio), disc jockeys, I guess we would have called them back in the day, radio personalities…
What do you think every artist should learn in the entertainment industry?
A long time ago, Quincy Jones called me to the side. I must've been about 15 years old and he said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “Oh, sir, I want to write, I want to write for film and TV.” He looked at me and said, “Wow, first of all, you're going to have to be real, real good.” Which I thought—even at 15—that was a little odd because why wouldn't you be trying to be good?
Then he said, “And you need to diversify. You need to find out as much about all of the things that affect what it is you want to do…as you possibly can.” That went over my head. What he was trying to say was—your talent won't be enough. You're gonna have to pay attention to all of the other things that surround that.
Your episode of the documentary series Unsung was unique in that it didn’t have you going to jail, having a wardrobe malfunction, or throwing piano benches at somebody during rehearsal. What is it like having such a long career be drama-free?
Great for me! Worrying for Unsung though. Their format is mostly stories that seem like it's going to be running off the rails, and then it comes back. They don't have a lot to say about the “slow-and-steady.” The hard worker, the one who tries to surround themselves with excellence, where the whole goal was to remain drama-free so that we could get where we wanted to go. What we [do] actually inspires and helps other artists, and for some people that is so boring. [Laughs]
You’re known for your big hit “Forget Me Nots” from Straight From the Heart (1982). What’s the story behind it?
“Forget Me Nots” is on that Straight From the Heart album, which also had “Number One” on it, “Remind Me,” a lot of things that ultimately became very much associated with me, but [Elektra] didn't “hear” this album. The record company was like, “Well, we don't know what we're going to do with this.” And we were horrified!
We had done our homework. We played some of those cuts in clubs and had seen the reaction. We said, “How can they be so out of touch with what is gettin’ ready to happen?”
We pooled our limited resources and bought three weeks of independent promotion. You don't want a record person going in with a stack of recordings and yours is on the bottom because the record company don't really believe in it. You want a chance! If people don't like it, you can't make—especially Black people—you can't make us like it. Black radio had always been really, really important for me. And we did not want to lose this opportunity. And people loved it and it took off.
I was listening to “What's The Story” from Before The Dawn (1975) recently. I thought, “Wow! Patrice sounds different!” I assumed that was you singing, but it’s not. Who is the vocalist?
Josie James. We were in a group together called Red Beans & Rice! We would play house parties and dances and functions and stuff like that. I'm trying to get the plan together, write the tunes, and I didn't feel that confident singing, especially around somebody that was a friend of mine who I knew could really handle all these different kinds of music. When we did “What's The Story,” that's the voice that I heard. And it came out of us working so often in that group. She has a tremendous voice and is a tremendous person.
When did you get the confidence to show up in the front as a singer? You didn’t start singing on your records until Shout It Out (1977). And was the desire to sing part of your leaving Prestige and moving on to Elektra?
Great question. On that last album for [Prestige], I did a song called “Let Your Heart Be Free” and I just went for it! It was my last album for them and I wanted to do something [different]. I wanted to play bass. I played bass on that song. And I decided, okay, well, I'll sing also. Just because! So, I did.
When Elektra came around, they locked into asking me to sing more—which I thought was the biggest joke going—but okay. I know all these great, really great singers, and I'm like, “Really?! But okay!”
Nearly 25 years have passed since you did your last album, the GRAMMY-nominated Signature (1997).
Really??? God! That’s a long time!
What is your interest in recording again whether as a vocalist or an instrumentalist?
I'm interested in recording again. When I stepped back, the music business was going through a tumultuous change. I wanted to see where things settled, out of the ways in which people would receive their music. And I knew that the categories and the lines being blurrier as opposed to them being so strict was going to be a positive for me. I just didn't know when.
You're gesturing and I'm thinking, “it's Baby Fingers right in front of me!” Who gave you that nickname?
My first lawyer! We were trying to set up a corporation and he said, “You need a logo.” Looking around the room, I'm going, “well, I don't know.” I speak with my hands and he just [paused]. “Lemme see your hands!” So that's where it came from: Baby Fingers!
Someone asked about your celebrity crush in an interview and you said it's Prince. From what I understand, “I Feel For You” was written for you, and “I Wanna Be Your Lover” was written about you. So, if you had mutual crushes, what kept a romance from happening?
Wow. What did I say? [Laughs]
I think that our friendship was really based in the music. A recording engineer of my project said, “I need you to meet someone that has the same kind of interest as you in terms of playing a lot of instruments, writing material, introspective about the industry, and is a fan of yours, and wants to meet you.”
We met over the phone and the whole idea of what he was about musically was intriguing. He was very curious about the music and that's what started our friendship. Now, because we were contemporaries, and because this industry has always been kind of set up with the what-ifs, “What if so-and-so was with so-and-so?”, I think that may have been a little bit more perpetuated than I was aware.
I find out probably the same time you find out! You open up the CD or whatever, and you're reading the “Best Of” [liner notes] and find out a particular song was written about you or for you, or with you in mind or something like this. That came as news to me!
What was your friendship with him like?
Our relationship was always kind of distanced because we didn't run into each other that often. But when we did, we used to have some pretty deep conversation. And the one I remember and respected the most was before Purple Rain came up. He was terrified.
He was really concerned about this movie: “I may have bitten off more than I can chew on this one.” I said, “Well, did you do your best?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “Well then that's all that's all you can do.” And he said, “Well, from your lips to God's ears.” I said, “If this is about your path and in your truth, you're going to be okay.” Boy, the thing came out and the rest is history!
There was one other time when I had a conversation with him actually at the GRAMMYs. My first GRAMMY Awards as [music] director was the show that he and Beyoncé opened. Because of the scope of—just the spectacle of this show, the bigness of it and everything…he wanted to rehearse and get things right, and so [did] she. Very hard worker. Wants it right. Doesn't mind doing things over and over until it's just so. I admired that about both of them.
Some of the music was prerecorded so that it would be consistent. This is very, very common. Especially when it’s going out live like that, in a basketball arena! It's not a concert arena. So, you want to control the sound, blah, blah, blah. This particular day, the producer just thought, “I know we've rehearsed it like this, but I want to do it [live] over the air.” That’s kinda dangerous on the day of the show! He said, “I want you to go and convince Prince that that's what he should do.”
I’m knowin’ this is not a great idea!
And on the way to the stage to talk to him, I’m going, “Okay, so how—how do I deliver this message, knowing that I'm getting ready to talk to my friend about doing something that wasn't a great idea?” So, I went to him, delivered the message, and he says, “What do you think I should do?”
I said, “I think you should follow what you feel is right. Just remember no one else is set up for this right now. Nobody. It can be done, but you could be rolling the dice in a situation [where] others are not prepared.” He got it.
That's the relationship that we had. “What do you think I should do” doesn’t come out of the mouth of a major star who has done a thousand shows, loves playing live, but knows that this is one of the biggest nights on television and the world stage. He got one shot and he gon’ ask what do I think? With all of the other bravado…at his core, he was an artist. He wanted opportunities to express himself in the clearest ways that he could.
I know that he listened to a lot of the music that I did because I could hear little quotes and stuff here and there, now and again. That's wonderful to feel like you touched somebody in that way. And whenever I would see him, he was always polite and cordial and inquisitive.
Speaking of quoting your music, your work has been sampled a lot over the years. What are some of your favorite uses of your work?
One that stands out is Kirk Franklin’s use of “Haven’t You Heard” in “Looking For You.” I think they killed that. They killed it. Absolutely killed. A friend of mine was playing with him at the time, called me on the phone and said, “Listen to what we're working on.” I was like, “OMG!” That was fantastic. And they did a great job. That piece in and of itself stands alone as a very dynamic and wonderful homage.
Fast forward from there and I got this cassette in the mail. (You remember cassettes?) A motion picture company said, “Please give us a call about your one-time payment for the small use of your song ‘Forget Me Nots’ for this new film called Men In Black starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.” I listened to it and I said, “Small sample?! I don't think so!”
So, remember the lawyer who named me Baby Fingers? He says, “Okay, this is different. This is not a sample where you're extracting maybe four bars or eight bars that recur. This is your song and you should be sharing in the publishing. Half of this song should belong to you and the writers of ‘Forget Me Nots.’”
This song which almost didn't see the light of day has this brand-new life in Men In Black. That franchise continued to use it up until maybe the very last one. There's a lesson in that for all of us. These songs and these ideas are worth something.
With the advent of technology and the way the business has evolved, we've gotten to the point where, as musicians, we're giving that away. On watch is the idea of protecting our music and offering what you can to ensure that the artists who are writing the music you love have the ability to continue to do so.
What are your five favorite albums of all time?
Woo!
I know!! I apologized last time I asked the question because—depending on how much music you listen to—it's hard to quantify.
Alright? I'mma try. I'mma try. They're not necessarily in order, okay?
That's fine. That's fine.
It's just what I think of right now. Sly Stone. There's a Riot Goin’ On? Pivotal. Game changer. Songs in the Key of Life. Stevie Wonder? Pivotal. Game changer. Speak Like a Child. Herbie Hancock. Pivotal for me, especially as a pianist…understanding and learning and going deeper into what it was that attracted me to jazz. Miles Davis. The Sorcerer. The improvisation in that particular group with Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Miles was like wow. Those were like our superheroes.
How many albums was that?
Sly, Stevie, Herbie, Miles is four.
And then I'll say, the other one for me, I'll say is Minnie Riperton and Charles Stepney. Come To My Garden.
I loved your collaboration with her on the posthumous album Love Lives Forever. Did you know her when she was alive?
Not well. We met a couple of times. Huge fan of her voice. Even before all of the big hits. Rotary Connection? I was like, whoa. And I was always attracted also to the writing. That's why I mentioned Charles Stepney because the songs on that particular album Come To My Garden are like art songs informed by Black aesthetic. And then this voice on top of that? And it was like an instrument in and of itself? Oh man. I get worked up talking about it.
Again, the thing about those artists and these albums that I've mentioned, Mark, is that these are things that gave our generation permission to not be worryin’ about the category so much. Don't get so caught up in what it is or what it isn’t. Make it great and make it yours.
And Sly, just ‘cause that album is so funky, it hurts. It’s so funky. [Laughs]
Any thoughts before we close here?
Let me offer, if I may, a shout out. I'm so excited and blessed to have received [the] Trailblazer Award for this year, so thank you so much to the Salute THEM Awards, sponsored by AARP and Toyota. You'll be able to see the shows streamed on June 6th, coming right up. It's at 7:00pm EDT. So y'all can do the math in the rest of the world. And you can also get information from www.SaluteTHEMAwards.com. So, I want to make sure I mention that so that any of you who want to tell a few other people how much fun we had today, they'll know why!
And just so we know, what's your official social media information?
Yes! Thank you. you can find me on Instagram at @PLR88keys. You can also go to my website and I invite you guys to do that because that's really where you're going to get so much added information and maybe find some things about me that you didn't know. That's www.patricerushen.com. And you can find me on Facebook and Twitter. Yeah.
I hope everybody's doing well and getting over all of the angst and issues and crazy that has been a part of our world. And hopefully it motivates us. Having come through it as difficult as it may have been, we are all bonded and stronger for it. Thank you for being such wonderful and loyal fans. And for those of you who are new, welcome! New fans, come up!
Oh, absolutely. I think hip hop and R&B are going to make sure that you keep getting new fans. Again, thank you for this time, and I hope you have a great and blessed day. And then until we see you somewhere again…
Alright! Peace!
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited from the original transcript for length and clarity.
LISTEN: