Send this Article to a Friend
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Today, his journey has brought him to Sony headquarters in Manhattan, and he’s in a good mood. “Where’s my guitar?” he asks to no one in particular as his eyes scan the room. While waiting for his next wardrobe change for the photo shoot, Howard picks up his acoustic guitar and begins plucking the intro to “Spanish Love Affair,” a song from his debut album, Shine Through It. Howard has crafted an album that is musically and lyrically uninhibited — a testament to his newfound piece of mind and self-knowledge. For the actor-turned-artist, the process proved to be cathartic. “I can’t say [that] I did it,” he says, his voice tinged with an undercurrent of disbelief. “It’s like all those songs just poured through me and those musicians did everything I wanted them to do — with just me dancing in front of them, or with just my nod, or with just a slight look, [and] it came together. Almost like angels were orchestrating it and I just had to show up and be open.” Cynics tend to scoff whenever an entertainer decides to venture into a field other than the one they first came to prominence in. Once the media catches a vocalist reading for parts or discovers a talented actor moonlighting in a band, the typical reaction is one of bemusement, quickly followed by dismissal. But Howard’s love affair with song runs deeper than the average actor-turned-singer vanity project. His original motivation for leaving his native Cleveland, Ohio and heading west to Los Angeles was his desire to record. His audition for the 1992 television mini-series “The Jacksons: An American Dream” was at least partially inspired by his hopes of launching a recording career. “I came up there ‘cause I had this really pretty, high-pitched voice — I used to sound like Bread or DeBarge before cigarettes,” he says with a laugh. “But I came in and met with Suzanne De Passe because I knew that the Jacksons were actually producing it.” The eager, young actor was hoping to impress the First Family of Music and land a record deal. “I was like ‘I could get on set and I could sing for Jackie [or] I could sing for Michael,’ ” he explains. “I was writing these songs … but I didn’t know how to play an instrument, [so] they put me in the movie and I sang a couple of songs for them, and somebody put me with a producer — and he tried to bastardize my sound.” The restrictive environment of his first studio experience would be a blessing-in-disguise for the aspiring star; it would force him to become self-reliant. “I thought then, at 20 years old, that I would have to basically learn how to play all those instruments so I could do it myself because these people couldn‘t get it.” Howard’s greatest gift as an artist, whether on-screen or onstage, has been his willingness to remain open. But it wasn’t something that the 39-year-old always knew how to tap into. It took years for him to gain that self-awareness. “Oftentimes we get in our own way — [and] we get in God’s way,” says Howard. “God is forever trying to help us down a path and He keeps telling us to be humble, so we don’t trip over ourselves. If we’re humble, He’s able to move us and we can go wherever He needs us to go.” Howard and his band recorded and arranged the album in less than a week, and each song on the album is essentially a live performance. “It’s like the way the true God made the world in six days,” he says. “This album … was almost called Six Days to Sanctuary.”
Howard was moved to create the album after hearing singer-songwriter Ilsey Juber of Los Angeles. Juber is the best friend of Howard’s … Flow co-star, Taryn Manning, and the daughter of former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber. Motivated to get her signed, Howard was turned down by the labels when he approached them with the youngster, but they did offer to give him a deal instead. He decided to use his album and name as a launching pad for Juber, with whom he co-wrote the lead single, “Sanctuary.” “When we write together, we bring the lines out of each other and we bring the melodies out of each other,” says Juber. “It’s magic when you collaborate; we’re able to go to another place.” Howard agrees that he and Juber had a strong musical bond. “Ilsey came in [and we] let it take off,” he says of his collaborating with the gifted young artist. “Now, I could’ve been a megalomaniac — ‘no, I want it like this’ — but we wouldn’t be here.” In writing songs, Terrence Howard had to take a long, hard look at Terrence Howard; and the singer-songwriter became a better man after that introspective examination. “I’m no longer a character — I had to see who I am,” he shares. “I had to [hear] the raspiness in my voice, I had to see the raspiness in my nature … and I had to find my way out of it — I had to find [a] way to be the best person I could [be.]” Soon, Howard began to break free of his admitted ‘raspiness,’ and found his voice as a writer. “Now, I feel naked,” he says. “You can [listen to] the album and know what happened between me and my wife, you could know what the little boy in me dreamed about, you could know how I would [romance] a woman if I was to talk to her. I’m completely naked now — in front of the entire world. Before, I hid behind characters.” Howard’s music has been able to grow because of the songwriter’s commitment to the process, and he’s found inspiration in every aspect of the world around him. The stomping final track, “War,” was created after an argument between Howard and co-producer/bassist Miles Mosley — almost spontaneously. The coda for “Love Makes You Beautiful” is Howard and his daughter reciting Corinthians I over the phone to each other. “To me, teaching my child about the truth was beautiful and that’s what will lead us into a more beautiful place,” he explains. Creatively, Howard found kindred spirits to draw inspiration from, not only giants of biblical history such as David, but in his contemporaries — some of whom burned out too soon. He views those casualties as a window into how commitment to one’s art can take a dark turn. “Look at Heath Ledger’s performance in [The Dark Knight],” Howard says. “[It] broke my heart because I saw how sad he had to become in order to become that indifferent to life [as the Joker]. He had to push his life away — he had to. He had to lose every reason to be alive [till] death was a beautiful option.” He pauses for a moment, visibly saddened by Ledger’s tragic fate. “If he hadn’t had that terrible moment, he would’ve worked things out with [his wife] Michelle [Williams] — they would’ve been all right.” While Howard notes the tragedy in that side of creativity, he also acknowledges the commitment. “It’s about how much you give — [was] it ‘a lot’ or everything? The difference between the two means success or failure,” he says. Since he began showcasing his material in live shows, he’s had to continue to push himself out of his shell. “My first couple of shows, I tried to ‘perform,’ ” explains Howard. “[I] can’t perform. A performance is always a lie, it’s always deception. I used to think, as an actor, [that] the better liar is the better actor. [But] it’s looking for the truth and then sticking to it, no matter how loud or how quiet it may be.” For Howard, now the essence of the stage is sharing an experience with the audience, and having them connect with what he’s trying to say. “I pray before I go out there ‘please, please, please listen to this message,’ ” he says. There’s one song in particular he hopes that listeners receive, a mantra for the singer-actor whenever he feels weakened by the temptations and pressures of fame. “I make [the audience] sing ‘Shine Through It’ with me,” he says. “I’m in love with this wonderful woman right now, [but] there’s always a ton of girls trying to find their way to me, [so] the one thing I say to myself is ‘shine through it.’ I remind [the audience] when they talk to their friends and [they’re] going through something, no matter what it is, just ‘shine through it.’ ” That has become a mantra for the actor. “It’s my medicine and it’s helping because I was out of control,” he shares. “Now, I found that I can make a commitment moment-by-moment. It’s making me a [godlier] person. When I want a cigarette, I say to myself ‘shine through it.’ ” And he continues on his path of self-realization, convinced that he is in touch with a higher purpose — and a higher power. “I made sure that the message [in my music] would be clear for anybody in the world to hear,” he says, before pausing again. “If Jesus came to visit me today, would I have to turn my music off? Would I have to fast-forward through any of my songs? No. I can sit right next to Him and expect to see Him smile at His child and say, ‘[you] did all right — for a little dummy.’ ” Comments to date: 2. Page 1 of 1. Article Rating:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
