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  I am surrounded by incredibly opinionated people who will argue with me, no matter how successful I become, and that’s exactly how I want it. I will hear them out but, ultimately, if I have my mind set on something, we’ll do it my way. Randy Berswick, who’s part of my management team and oversees my tour production, admires my courage in covering iconic songs by Van Morrison, the Beatles and Ray Charles. He and Bruce think I’m crazy going there, but they can’t help admiring it. I consider myself an interpreter, and there will never be only one interpretation of a song, no matter how great it is. My audience loves hearing those songs, too.

  So, for Crazy Love, I brought Humberto in to mike everything differently from our previous albums. We worked on one of my favourite songs, ‘Stardust’, at Bryan Adams’s Warehouse Studio in downtown Vancouver. My grandfather, who loved that song, had recorded it for me on my tape recorder and, as a boy, I’d play it over and over while I went to sleep. At the Warehouse, the a cappella group Naturally 7, from Atlanta, Georgia, and I sang with the rhythm section in the same room. We sang take after take and, like I said before, my family spent a whole day hanging out and listening to us, with my grandfather moved to tears at me singing his favourite song. I had a blast singing with the Naturally 7 guys, precisely because we were together in the same room, singing harmony like they would have back in the old days.

  When I began doing press for the album, it struck me how the female reporters were divided from the male reporters as to which songs they liked best. The women almost always preferred Billy Vera’s ‘At This Moment’, a heartrending ballad about a guy who’s lost his woman’s love. And they also liked the duet I did with Canadian songwriter Ron Sexsmith, ‘Whatever It Takes’. We set his pop song to a bossa nova rhythm, and turned it into the hidden track. The guys, on the other hand, really connected with the sad ballad ‘End Of May’, which was a very difficult song for me to record. I had to stop several times because it had such personal meaning for me. It’s a song about a romance that has ended, and it’s poignant because it’s filled with detailed imagery that captures the day-to-day experience of love, as well as the loss of it.

  I may seem like a goofball jokester and guy’s guy, but I can be really sensitive and sentimental, too. Lu is the stronger one in our relationship, seriously. I’m like the girl – I can be in tears at little things she does. When I try to convey my love to her, she’ll look at me blankly and respond, ‘Hey, I have a sore foot.’ She makes me laugh. She has no patience with sentimentality, and likes to make fun of my mushy side.

  My team did not immediately embrace the Sexsmith tune. They didn’t get it. I also had to fight for ‘At This Moment’, which is now a big hit with my live audiences. David produced half the record in Los Angeles, including the heavily orchestrated ‘Cry Me A River’, ‘All Of Me’, ‘Georgia On My Mind’, ‘All I Do Is Dream Of You’, the Eagles’ ‘Heartache Tonight’ and the Sexsmith tune. Humberto produced the classics ‘Stardust’ and ‘You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You’. And Bob Rock, famous for producing Metallica and Bon Jovi, sat in the producer’s chair for my cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Crazy Love’, Brook Benton’s tune ‘Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)’, which we recorded in New York with Sharon Jones of the Dap Kings, as well as two of my own songs, ‘Hold On’ and ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’. Bob has worked on other records with me over the years, and we have a great connection, an easygoing rapport. My nickname for Bob is ‘the Dude’ because he’s more like a close buddy than a co-worker. He reminds me of Jeff Bridges’ character in The Big Lebowski, minus the pot. We complement each other and he gets that authentic sound I’m always striving to make.

  For ‘Hold On’, I wanted Bryan Adams to come in and supply his gravelly vocal for harmony. I thought it would be the perfect juxtaposition to my own voice. We went to a Canucks game and I asked him, ‘Dude, would you do this for me?’ And he said, sure. He’s a cool, laid-back guy and we’ve become good friends. I wrote ‘Hold On’ on piano, which is a strange thing for me because I barely play. But I picked out the notes and came up with the melody.

  Of course, ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’ was a complete departure for me, because it veered off entirely from the swing jazz tunes I’d become famous for. But I’ve always had a penchant for writing pop songs, and I’m only now getting the chance to show that side of me. My co-writers will also tell you that I have a natural ability for writing country music, so I’ll probably continue to diversify on future albums. It’s not unusual for an artist to borrow from many styles. Anyone who knows Ray Charles’s repertoire is aware that he straddled soul, gospel, country and pop.

  Usually when I’m recording an album, I’ll come up with nine or ten songs, then have to find a couple more to round out the record. However, with Crazy Love, I had so many songs I had to start cutting them, which was a painful process. David wanted to lose ‘At This Moment’ and ‘Stardust’ and make a shorter record, but I was determined to keep those songs.

  I decided to omit ‘End Of May’, and I really came to regret it. But I knew I would find a place for the song somewhere, because I truly believe it’s one of the finest recordings I’ve ever made. Someone suggested it could be a bonus track, but I thought it was too good for that. I wanted to save it for a soundtrack or my next record.

  A Seattle singer-songwriter named Tim Seely composed the song and, incredibly, he was only nineteen when he wrote it. I found it through my musical director Alan Chang, who knew Tim. Tim had had a heart attack at the age of thirty-two, and he heard about our recording while he was in recovery. Like I said, the song was intensely personal for me, and emotionally, I found it hard to sing because it took me back to a tough time in my life. We kept the arrangement super-simple, just like Seely’s original version, and released it separately on my Hollywood the Deluxe EP, along with another song that didn’t make the record, which would become my fifth single, ‘Hollywood’. ‘Hollywood’ is a catchy pop tune, but it didn’t fit thematically with the rest of the album.

  I co-wrote ‘Hollywood’ with the piano player I’d worked with in Toronto, when I’d played shows at a club there. His name is Robert Scott. It’s a song about disillusionment with the celebrity culture we live in, and how sensational behaviour has replaced artistry – artists used to be singers, dancers, actors, comedians, choreographers, writers and directors. Sometimes, when I’m on a red carpet, I see people on that carpet with me who definitely did not get there because of any discernible talent. Rather, they are famous for being famous.

  Crazy Love was not a cheap record to make. The symphony orchestra on ‘Cry Me A River’ alone cost $100,000. Also, because I wanted that old-school sound, it took a lot of time to make, and I worked with my producers for months on end. That album took longer to record than any other I’d made. I worked with David, for example, for three straight months. We recorded in the basement studio of the iconic Capitol Records building in Los Angeles – it looks like a stack of records. It is a fantastic place to work because the white walls are lined with photos of all the legends who’ve recorded there — Sinatra, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole. I worked ten-hour days in the same labyrinth of studio rooms where Sinatra hung out. I recorded in Studio B, next door to Studio A, where Sinatra recorded in 1956. Throughout these sessions, David and I would jokingly call each other vulgar names, as we often do, much to the confusion and amusement of everybody around us.

  When it was my turn to sing, I’d take a breath on my inhaler because I have slight asthma, pop a lozenge into my mouth and head into the booth. David would say something to the piano player such as, ‘Do it like Vince Guaraldi’, the jazz pianist best known for his work in composing pieces for the Peanuts comic strip. David would lean back in his chair, wearing his trademark Converse running shoes, feet up on the console, eyes closed, grooving to the music. After I’d nailed ‘Pennies From Heaven’, which we had briefly considered including, he said, ‘It’s far from bad. You swing harder than anybody I’ve met.’ We’d end each day
by going out for dinner and sitting around, reviewing our progress. I’d then drive to my rented Hollywood Hills house and put my feet up by the pool, listening to songs I had written on my laptop. I’m always working on some song on my laptop.

  My surroundings were hilariously L.A. The house looked like the set for a porn video, with a sunken circular living room, palm tree in the middle, and black granite everywhere. The bathroom walls were covered from floor to ceiling with mirrors. The house wasn’t exactly inspirational for creativity.

  David has a big white-walled apartment in Malibu, where we also recorded part of the album. I love working there because it’s so comfortable. Whitney Houston had been working there with David just before me, on her 2009 album, I Look To You, which was her first to go to number one since The Bodyguard.

  When I’d finished the record, I truly believed it was the best I’d ever made. I know that’s a cliché thing to say, that your most recent record is your best, but I believed it to the extent that I considered not doing interviews because I didn’t think it needed promotion. Of course, the world doesn’t work that way. Everything needs promotion.

  I started doing press in the late summer of 2009, and by now I’d learned to be more careful with what I said to reporters. My relationship with Lu was in full swing, but I didn’t talk about it the way I had with previous relationships. Because Lu is a star in Argentina, though, I did get bombarded with questions from pushy reporters who wanted a quote or a photo of me with her. I learned to shut them down. Lu is used to media attention. The paparazzi hound her in Argentina. When we were dating, she’d just released a hit Spanish-language film called Dad for a Day, which was bigger there than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

  We both know that if you start sharing personal information with the public and giving it away, it’s not yours any more. Your relationship becomes tabloid fodder. Also, the more you speak about your private life, the more people expect you to speak about it. So, for the first time in my life when I was doing interviews, I would say, ‘You know what? Ask me about anything else, but I want to keep that part of my life private.’

  I’d been through a lot of heartache and seriously dark periods in my life, which had served me well on that album. I’d been forced to face my insecurities and weaknesses, to become a better man. I had more focus. I was living in the present. I was mentally and physically stronger. On previous records, I’d been reckless with my voice and my body, not taking care of myself, not working out. But I was in good shape while making Crazy Love. I felt good.

  As a consequence, I had a lot of fun making the videos for the record. As in almost every other aspect of my career, I had taken more control of the video-making process too. For ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’, I sent a treatment of the video idea I had to a high-profile director named Brett Ratner, whom I’d met at a dinner party. He absolutely loved the idea, a cross between an Offspring music video and a scene from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which has always struck a chord with me. I loved that movie as a kid, particularly the scene where Ferris is on a float in a massive parade, singing ‘Twist and Shout’.

  My launch point for the idea came from watching the Offspring video for ‘Why Don’t You Get a Job?’. In it, singer Dexter Holland walks through town with a marching band. Amy suggested I use a marching band in a supermarket. I thought that the store would come alive once a bachelor guy comes in to buy frozen pizza and other bachelor food and spots this amazing girl. The supermarket turns into an old-time musical, with the shop assistants and old people dancing, a marching band and the parking lot full of people dancing. Of course, at the end, it all turns out to be a big fantasy, and the girl of his dreams walks into the store and saunters right past the guy.

  However, because of budget constraints and scheduling issues, Brett couldn’t direct the video. I was getting pretty frustrated trying to find a director. I remember I was at a photo shoot for the Crazy Love album cover, and I was sitting on a patio on a conference call with my management team. They put this guy, Rich Lee, on the phone. Rich had an impressive resumé. He had directed videos for Eminem, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas, but we’d never talked before. Bruce thought he might be the guy for the job. Rich said, ‘Hey, man, I think we should do this and this and this.’ He had all these ideas.

  I was almost rude, to be honest. I said, ‘No. With all due respect, this is not a collaboration, this is me telling you what I want. I’ll explain from the start. The music starts up and I’m pushing a buggy with a shaky wheel. I want a camera underneath the buggy ... ’ and on I went. I already had every scene worked out in my head.

  If you ask anybody who works with me, I’m quite confident in my ideas, and might even be a control freak.

  Rich said he thought it was a cool idea and that I had a strong concept. He was surprised that I had the whole treatment already figured out so well. We began to work together, and I liked his ideas, such as having the fantasy girl and me on a bed rolling down the aisles, or the two of us in a spinning phone booth. He also had the idea that we should contact choreographer Kenny Ortega, who had done the dance sequence in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He called him and said I loved that dance scene and would he mind if we used the choreography from it? He said to go for it. So, the choreography from that movie is the same choreography in my video.

  I wanted the part of the fantasy girl to be played by Lu, but she was unavailable, filming a movie in Argentina. People started throwing the names of Hollywood actresses at me, but I felt insecure about working with someone I didn’t know. But then Lu’s director gave her a day off and she managed to fly all the way from Argentina, arrive at five a.m., shoot in one day, and fly back to Argentina.

  We shot the video over two days at a supermarket not far from where I grew up. Rich and I worked together really well. We trusted each other, and I loved the way it turned out, which isn’t usually the case with my videos. My early videos were concepts supplied by other directors, and not all of them successful.

  It was the wee hours of the morning, we were standing outside and it was still dark. All the lights were set up, there were about three hundred extras, and the confetti machines started to blow. I was watching money being spent in every direction. Bruce was with me, and I turned to him and said, ‘We did it.’ It was one of the proudest moments of my life because I knew that it would alter the course of my career and change my image. I had been stuck in a pigeonhole for so long, as the throwback singer with the older audience. This video, in which I wore casual clothes instead of a suit and sang a pop song, changed how people would see me. I went from wearing a suit to wearing a pair of jeans, from being the Sinatra guy to a young kid doing a pop song. The song went to number one. It all came together, pop song and video.

  With the release of that video and the pop singles, my demographic has changed. About three years ago, I’d see a university-age girl in my audience and be surprised. Now my audiences are routinely one-third university age, both guys and girls, and the gay community comes out more too. As well, I’m seeing more husbands and boyfriends, and they’re clearly not dragged to my shows, like they used to be. It gives me great material to work with. I always single out a hubby type in the front row and hit on him a bit for a laugh.

  The ‘Hollywood’ video was a turning point for me where videos are concerned. It made me realize that I should never do anything that I don’t feel strongly about. For example, I was told I needed to do a video for my second single, ‘Hold On’, which had become a hit. It was a big rush, and I came up with some ideas, but I was too busy to choose a treatment I really loved. I went with one that had me skating on an ice rink, which I didn’t like so much, but I trusted the director. We spent around $200,000 on the video, but when I saw it I said I’d never release it. It was terrible. It was so cheesy it took me right back to the embarrassment I’d felt with my early videos, the ones that seem so middle-of- the-road now when I look at them. I learned a valuable lesson: that I should never settle for s
omething that I don’t believe in 100 per cent.

  That’s why, when it came time to do the video for ‘Hollywood’, I was involved in every creative decision. I called up Bruce and told him I had an idea – I wanted to play myself as narrator, but I also wanted to play myself as a bunch of different characters. A hair-metal rocker. A teenage idol. A Hollywood icon. I even envisaged dressing up as Lady Gaga or a blonde starlet. But my record label was worried that it would taint my image. They thought it was too much like an Eminem video. Someone suggested I simply get a bunch of Hollywood celebrities to play themselves while I performed for them. Of course I thought that was a lame idea. I called Bruce again and insisted that I wanted to stick with my idea, and he said to go for it. I told him it would cost around $500,000 to make, and he checked with the label. They were already reluctant, and they balked at the price, offering to spend only $200,000. I believed so much in my idea that I paid the balance out of my own pocket.

  I enlisted Rich Lee as my director and, once again, he completely understood my concept – which was a spoof on celebrity culture and my comment on how ridiculous it can be. I played a James Dean-type character and the aforementioned hair-metal rocker. I also impersonated fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, lounging in a talk-show chair, wearing a blue hoodie, with big bangs swept across my forehead. At one point, I considered Miley Cyrus, but decided to stick with an impersonation of the Bieb. I met Justin not long after releasing the video and he hadn’t seen it. He just reached out and gave me a big hug, saying, ‘We Canadians stick together.’ Sweet kid.

  As I’ve said, I’ve always loved doing impersonations. I impersonate practically everyone around me. I’d done a lot as a kid at acting school, and I find it pretty easy to inhabit a role quickly. Although music videos don’t have speaking parts, I still consider it acting because you have to convey emotion. We shot the video in two intense seventeen-hour days in Los Angeles. For the very last shot, I brought in my best friend Carsten and my brothers-in-law to appear in a convertible car with me. I flew them down just for that shot, and they loved it.