"I feel that every human being’s purpose is to do what their inner voice says to do. And my inner voice, my driving force, wants me to put out music and keeping making better records," says Lee Fields.
Now in his mid-60s, Fields has been answering his driving force for the best part of half a century: "I put my first record, a single, out in '69," he says.
Despite such a lengthy career, the North Carolina-raised (now New Jersey-based) soul/ R&B singer has largely been a name revered only by Northern Soul aficionados and crate diggers until relatively recently. Over the last decade or so, audiences have been growing and releases have been increasingly well-received, the latest of which is Special Night, a crisp 10-tracker that harks back to the output of Stax/ Atlantic, Fame, even Motown (check out the Temptations/ Ball Of Confusion-esque Make This World). Yet the arrangements and songs never fall into the trap of retro pastiche, combining a timelessness with a contemporary inventiveness.
Oneof Special Night's central tracks is the eco-warning Make This World – how did that song come about?
That song came to be in a dream. I went into the future and it was both a nightmare and a dream. I was asleep and I dreamt that I was taken into the future and I saw calamities, I saw anarchy, I saw strife, I saw all the green foliage had been messed up, I saw water contaminated at a grand level. It was so frightening that I woke up in so much discord. When I went back to sleep, I was taken on the same journey and I saw harmony, I saw a lot of love, I saw green foliage, everything was so pristine and nice. And then I finally woke up and thought, what was the purpose? When I woke up I realised that with the second part of the dream, that it’s not too late, we can make the world a better place, the second part can be the future, everything can be saved … but we have a choice: it could be like the nightmare. We have to preserve this planet. There don’t have to be wars, there don’t have to be all this trouble and calamity, there can be love and tranquillity.
You've been working for 50 years - have there been any periods that were particularly tough?
It was hard in the '80s. The '70s was busy for me but it did slow down for me. I had to earn enough money to survive, for me and my family, so I became a landlord, and that primarily how I earned a living. I have a few properties, which I’d look after and have to keep in good condition. But all the time I was reading … I believe in the Bible and I was considering things happening to me at that time. I was still pursuing music, but not like I was in the '70s. I’d read the Bible every day and did a lot of research, looked into things, and that made me more of a believer. Then, at the beginning of the '90s, music re-opened its doors to me, and those doors have never closed … and it’s been a truly beautiful thing.
I thought that in the '80s that I was done – but it didn’t happen. In the 80s it was slow, there were only gigs here and there, but in the early '90s I became very busy.
For those unfamiliar with your output, can you recommend a record from your back catalogue?
I really don’t want to go back. The recorded stuff I’ve done, I’ve done, if you go back, you go around in circles! Of course, things are in circles, but you finish one circle and then move on to a greater circle, until your time has run out. Everything is built on circles. The entire universe is built on circles – that’s why you see comets coming around again. To go back and repeat a circle is just not something that I want to do.
What are your plans for the future?
I want make music, to do better quality music, with better content, better themes, that’s something I see as very positive. I’m saying that I’m a responsible artist. I appreciate success on a lucrative scale, lucrative-wise, but I must put quality in the song and hope that it will be a success, moneywise. When I’m writing a song, I think about how it may affect people.
Not every artist would consider the affect their songs - the messages and ideas within them - have on their audiences ...
What we do today affects people of future generations. I believe that. Artists and movie-makers have a great deal of responsibility for our future, even people who make buildings – everything should be built better, everything should be done in a good way. My way is evoking passion ... I’m passionate about what I do.
Are you looking forward to appearing at Mostly Jazz Festival?
It’s great to be playing the festival and to get a chance to meet people who support my music. I get such a joy ... it brings me such joy, words cannot describe! I am really looking forward to meeting everyone in Birmingham.
Lee Fields and The Expressions play Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Saturday 8 July 2017, along with The Atlantic Players, Omar, New Street Adventure, Craig Charles and St Paul and The Broken Bones. Other artists appearing include (Fri) Soul II Soul, The Sugarhill Gang, The Pharcyde and Don Letts; (Sun) Chaka Khan, Crazy P and The Comet Is Coming.
"I feel that every human being’s purpose is to do what their inner voice says to do. And my inner voice, my driving force, wants me to put out music and keeping making better records," says Lee Fields.
Now in his mid-60s, Fields has been answering his driving force for the best part of half a century: "I put my first record, a single, out in '69," he says.
Despite such a lengthy career, the North Carolina-raised (now New Jersey-based) soul/ R&B singer has largely been a name revered only by Northern Soul aficionados and crate diggers until relatively recently. Over the last decade or so, audiences have been growing and releases have been increasingly well-received, the latest of which is Special Night, a crisp 10-tracker that harks back to the output of Stax/ Atlantic, Fame, even Motown (check out the Temptations/ Ball Of Confusion-esque Make This World). Yet the arrangements and songs never fall into the trap of retro pastiche, combining a timelessness with a contemporary inventiveness.
One of Special Night's central tracks is the eco-warning Make This World – how did that song come about?
That song came to be in a dream. I went into the future and it was both a nightmare and a dream. I was asleep and I dreamt that I was taken into the future and I saw calamities, I saw anarchy, I saw strife, I saw all the green foliage had been messed up, I saw water contaminated at a grand level. It was so frightening that I woke up in so much discord. When I went back to sleep, I was taken on the same journey and I saw harmony, I saw a lot of love, I saw green foliage, everything was so pristine and nice. And then I finally woke up and thought, what was the purpose? When I woke up I realised that with the second part of the dream, that it’s not too late, we can make the world a better place, the second part can be the future, everything can be saved … but we have a choice: it could be like the nightmare. We have to preserve this planet. There don’t have to be wars, there don’t have to be all this trouble and calamity, there can be love and tranquillity.
You've been working for 50 years - have there been any periods that were particularly tough?
It was hard in the '80s. The '70s was busy for me but it did slow down for me. I had to earn enough money to survive, for me and my family, so I became a landlord, and that primarily how I earned a living. I have a few properties, which I’d look after and have to keep in good condition. But all the time I was reading … I believe in the Bible and I was considering things happening to me at that time. I was still pursuing music, but not like I was in the '70s. I’d read the Bible every day and did a lot of research, looked into things, and that made me more of a believer. Then, at the beginning of the '90s, music re-opened its doors to me, and those doors have never closed … and it’s been a truly beautiful thing.
I thought that in the '80s that I was done – but it didn’t happen. In the 80s it was slow, there were only gigs here and there, but in the early '90s I became very busy.
For those unfamiliar with your output, can you recommend a record from your back catalogue?
I really don’t want to go back. The recorded stuff I’ve done, I’ve done, if you go back, you go around in circles! Of course, things are in circles, but you finish one circle and then move on to a greater circle, until your time has run out. Everything is built on circles. The entire universe is built on circles – that’s why you see comets coming around again. To go back and repeat a circle is just not something that I want to do.
What are your plans for the future?
I want make music, to do better quality music, with better content, better themes, that’s something I see as very positive. I’m saying that I’m a responsible artist. I appreciate success on a lucrative scale, lucrative-wise, but I must put quality in the song and hope that it will be a success, moneywise. When I’m writing a song, I think about how it may affect people.
Not every artist would consider the affect their songs - the messages and ideas within them - have on their audiences ...
What we do today affects people of future generations. I believe that. Artists and movie-makers have a great deal of responsibility for our future, even people who make buildings – everything should be built better, everything should be done in a good way. My way is evoking passion ... I’m passionate about what I do.
Are you looking forward to appearing at Mostly Jazz Festival?
It’s great to be playing the festival and to get a chance to meet people who support my music. I get such a joy ... it brings me such joy, words cannot describe! I am really looking forward to meeting everyone in Birmingham.
Lee Fields and The Expressions play Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Saturday 8 July 2017, along with The Atlantic Players, Omar, New Street Adventure, Craig Charles and St Paul and The Broken Bones. Other artists appearing include (Fri) Soul II Soul, The Sugarhill Gang, The Pharcyde and Don Letts; (Sun) Chaka Khan, Crazy P and The Comet Is Coming.
For more information visit mostlyjazz.co.uk
By Dave Freak