Aretha gets respect from Babyface - record producer - Interview

Interview, March, 1994 by Aretha Franklin

ARETHA FRANKLIN: Face?

Babyface: Hey How you doing?

Aretha Franklin: I'm O.K. How are you?

Babyface: I'm doing good

AF: You know what my pet name for you is? Kennyface. It acknowledges your real first name and your nickname. [laughs]

B: I like that.

AF: All right. This is going to be painless. Who has influenced you as a producer?

B: In terms of who I looked up to, Quincy Jones, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis when they first started. I kind of just stumbled into producing. It was more that I was a writer, and the only way you were going to get your songs done was to do them yourself. But at certain points in my life, I have been influenced musically by different people. Initially, it was the Jackson 5 and the Beatles. Then, at one point, I started getting into Stevie Wonder heavy time. I tried to talk like him and move my head like him. I even wrote a copy of "Until You Come Back to Me" that sounded just like it. [AF laughs] Then as I got older I started getting heavy into your records. There was a guy that I knew - he had every record, and he knew every place you'd been and why you went there.

AF: [laughs] He wasn't with the internal Revenue [Service], was he?

B: He went on this campaign to show me that I really needed to listen to Aretha, to sit down and listen to all the things you were doing. That was the point when I, along with many others, crowned you the Queen of Soul. To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous when I went into the studio with you because I didn't know what you thought of me as a producer or writer or artist. I didn't know if it was just a hookup organized by Clive [Davis, president of Arista, AF's record company and the distributor for Babyface's LaFace label]. And because of your talent, I didn't know if you would think anything of what my opinion would be. I have worked with people who don't hold a candle to your credit but have far more attitude than they should, acting like they should be Aretha. But I'm glad to say I was very happy about how things went.

AF: And so was I. Long before we got to the studio, I knew that you were highly qualified, and I didn't have any reservations at all. I was just hoping I'd really get a good one! And I did - I love both of the songs we did.

B: What is your favorite record of all time that you've done?

AF: Hmmm. I have a lot of them.

B: Well, give me three.

AF: "A Natural Woman"; "Sweet Bitter Love"; and, uh, "Day Dreaming."

B: Two of those are favorites of mine, too. What female artist do you think will be around for a while?

AF: Vanessa Bell, for sure. Patti [LaBelle]. Gladys [Knight]. [pauses] Myself! Let me put myself in there. What was it that made you want to sign TLC and Toni Braxton to your LaFace record label?

B: With TLC, it was their personalities. They gave off the vibe that made you feel, O.K., these kids are stars, and you just needed to put the right music with them and let them go. Toni Braxton auditioned with her sisters, and she just shined. And I thought, "I can write for her." She can deliver something emotional and get it across. That's really what I look for - someone who can pull off that emotion.

AF: She's a very compassionate vocalist. You know, you really are a lot deeper than people know. In what way do you feel your music contributes to society?

B: I like to think I write romantic songs that affect people strictly in the heart, which is my only concern. I don't look to save the world.

AF: Do you think it's important for young people to attend church?

B: I wouldn't say yes because I'd be a hypocrite. I don't attend church that often. I believe in God, and I believe in Jesus, and I feel that I've been very blessed with my life. I've tried to lead my life without hurting anyone - not intentionally, anyway - and just trying to be a good person. And I think for those reasons, God has blessed me.

AF: Well, I'm very happy to hear you say those things. Now, do you read a lot?

B: The last fiction book that I read - and I kind of read it with my wife because she was reading it - was by Terry McMillan. What was that book she just had out?

AF: Disappearing Acts?

B: The one after that.

AF: Waiting to Exhale. That was a good book, but I've got some stories that would make you - well, we'll get around to that when my book comes out. I just read Diana [Ross]'s book, which I enjoyed very much, as a parent more than anything else. Lots of good things in that book. How do you like married life? Do you have one of those contemporary do. mestic contracts about who's gonna do what?

B: No, there's no rules. She might cook something for me sometimes, and I might cook something for her. I cook pretty good.

AF: You're a man after my own heart. I love a man who can throw in the kitchen! What do you cook?

B: Baked chicken. Steaks. Chili. I've tried to do my mom's fried chicken, but I can't get that down.

AF. [LaFace producer] Daryl Simmons's mother is real rough - she made macaroni and cheese and barbecued ribs for us when I was in Atlanta. We ate all the way back to Detroit. She's a knockout. I've been trying to get in touch with him to get in touch with her to get that macaroni-and-cheese recipe.