Talking With Oleta Adams – October 23, 2023

Ira Sternberg: Not only is my guest a triple threat artist, singer, songwriter, and musician, but she is also a four-time Grammy nominee, a BMH Honors Legends award recipient, and a Jazz Walk of Fame inductee. So that would make her a six-fold threat. Oleta Adams, my guest, is performing in Myron at the Smith Center this Friday and Saturday, October 27th and 28th, at 7 p.m. For ticket information, go to thesmithcenter.com, and for everything about Oleta Adams, go to oletaadams.com. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And Oleta, welcome to the show.

Oleta Adams: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to have you.

Ira Sternberg: What informs your approach to music? Is it your roots in gospel, or life in general, or both, or other things?

Oleta Adams: I think it's all of that. It's really all of that. I love, for example, when I get up in the morning, I love to listen to Chopin, or to Brazilian music, or to Alan Pasqua, or anyone else like a pianist. But yesterday, listening to classical music, I came across the music of Carlos Simon, and you know, classical music of Negro spirituals, you name it, all of that is inside me because I've been trained classically. I was trained as a lyric soprano, but my gospel roots led me to be able to do popular music in R&B and prepared me for the break that I received from a British pop group. It's like all of the above. Most of all, if it has emotion, if it has beautiful melodies, great chords, I think that's important, and great lyrics, that is also very important.

Ira Sternberg: How about doo-wop? Could you do that?

Oleta Adams: I could probably do doo-wop. That's slow enough, you know. That could be your next album. What do you think?

Ira Sternberg: Oh, maybe. It'd be such a departure. I think people would get a kick out of it.

Oleta Adams: Oh, absolutely. I was fascinated by your background in church and gospel. I think it's funny, people don't think of classical music necessarily as having emotion, but I think you made the point that it does.

Oleta Adams: Oh, classical music has soul. It has soul. And when you hear any of those singers, I go all the way back to Jessye Norman and Leontyne Price, they make you weep. It's just some really beautiful music. And of course, you know, they build all of the arias around operas, and in the opera, somebody's going to lose love or something important to them, and somebody's going to die. There's got to be some emotion there somewhere.

Ira Sternberg: So you're here to tell us that Chopin was a Brazilian, is that what you're saying?

Oleta Adams: No, why not? I mean, you synthesize both of them. I love that. And I want to go back to gospel for just a second because it is a very emotional and at the same time uplifting experience to hear gospel music. So when you were growing up, you were the daughter of a pastor, so that was in your blood, that was in your DNA, that was part of, and still is part of you. Do you integrate that into anything else that you approach, regardless of the genre of music?

Oleta Adams: Oh, yes. There are, I was thinking about a Frank Sinatra song that I recorded in '16 or '17, and I sang most of it like a standard, and then at the end, I put my own vamp on it and brought in a little bit of those gospel mixed with some jazz roots. That song was "Only the Lonely," and that's what I do. It's loving, adding that little bit of hot sauce or a little bit of cha-cha, a little spice. Everybody else said a little bit of spice, right?

Ira Sternberg: And that's the difference, and love and passion, and that's what it is. We're talking about passion. Absolutely, that's what makes music worthwhile, even if it's not R&B or gospel music. I was thinking about all of the people who, you know, during Woodstock, you saw a lot of the ladies or guys out there in the wild with all those people there, and you see somebody just start dancing like nobody's watching. Well, not moves that I grew up with, but nonetheless, it was passionate. It's what they felt like. It's like no limitations whatsoever. And sometimes we have to go there. Maybe when you're by yourself, I dance in my house, in this room. I sing and I dance to the music. I get excited listening to my own music as well as others. And I think that's the key. If you can't be moved by what you do, then you will have to dig deeper inside and try to find that. That's what makes performing special. When it is no longer like that, then I'll give it up.

Ira Sternberg: Oh yeah, but we're not at that point. So you're not going to give it up, not yet. I was just thinking, a great double bill coming soon to your city: Oleta Adams and the Spice Girls. What do you think?

Oleta Adams: Oh, that would be fun. I would want to be able to dance with them. That's the truth. Spice and spice, I can just see it working.

Ira Sternberg: I was curious about artists that have a long career, and you're one of them. There's something besides talent that sustains an artist over decades. I don't know what that is. What is it for you, Oleta Adams, who again is performing in Myron at the Smith Center this Friday and Saturday, October 27th and 28th at 7 pm?

Oleta Adams: I think quality music, music that is not trendy, music that speaks to the human condition. It is music that people have invested in and is relatable. And I think classic music does that. When you hear some of those songs, including certain Beatles songs, people remember the time they first heard it and when they were growing up. That's really right now what that huge big bang phase is going on about Taylor Swift. All those people crowding those stadiums and saying, "I will spend any amount to be there," they all said, "I grew up with her music." That means they were invested in it; it spoke to them. And for those young people, they're going to be playing her music for a very long time. For my audiences, songs like "Get Here" hit them at a time when they were in need, a time when they needed support, their loved ones were over in Desert Storm somewhere in the Middle East, and they needed comfort. And you and I both know that before we want to feel better, we want to feel worse. That's just the way it is. We want to play the blues before we go to church and be lifted out of it. It's definitely Saturday night comes before Sunday.

Ira Sternberg: Yes, always. But it's part of life, isn't it? When it's authentic, when it's real, and it speaks to you personally, I think that's what gets people. And I haven't changed that because I haven't tried to go for music that simply will be a hit. I sing what I really feel suits me and suits my audience. I think that's important. I think they call that, I'm making it up here, the Sinatra standard. He did, with few exceptions, stick to his guns in terms of what was authentic, what represented him as an artist, and that sustained an incredible career, just as it sustains your career. You're sticking to your guns, you're sticking to what works for you, and even though you can explore all kinds of music, it still has to reflect you. And that, I think, may be the secret to my original question, which was what sustains you over decades. And I think you answered that, which is great.

Oleta Adams: Thank you.

Ira Sternberg: Now, you're always touring. Are you at home on the road, or would you rather be staying home? How does that work for you? Because you've been doing it so long, it, I would think, is a lot of stress.

Oleta Adams: I would say the travel hurts, especially at this stage in my life. I love travel in general, I did love it before it got to be so complicated. There's so much to worry about with flights and delays, and then there's the time zone issue too. So if you are flying to Japan, you've got to have a little time to recover from jet lag. Those things hurt, and as we grow older, you keep asking questions like, "Why is my body behaving like this?" But when you're on stage creating magic, that is the part where you don't feel the pain. It's when you walk off the stage that it hits you. I'll keep going until it's like, "Oh, I can't do this anymore." But that doesn't mean that I'll necessarily stop singing. I can certainly record and also travel to venues and cities near where I live in Kansas City.

Ira Sternberg: You're also part of the Pacific Northwest too because you spent earlier years in Seattle and Yakima, Washington, right?

Oleta Adams: Yes, I was born and raised there. I was born and raised in Seattle and Yakima. My dad had a church in Seattle, he had a church in Yakima, and I went to school in Yakima and grew up there. I still have a lot of friends there. It's wonderful coming from some of these places and then traveling around the world. I hope that I've made my peers proud.

Ira Sternberg: Well, I think you have. An interesting combination of being grounded with having grown up with a father who's a pastor involved with gospel music, as well as the church, and at the same time being in the entertainment world and touring. So you're seeing both sides of life, positive and sometimes negative on the entertainment side. But the fact that you were grounded as you were in Washington and then eventually moving to Kansas City, I think that works out for you because it gives you a much more balanced approach than a lot of performers have.

Oleta Adams: You know, I think I'm happiest about that. Even when I was out on the road with a band like Tears for Fears, I was still the same person that I am. And I think this is important for me to say out loud for other young people: you don't have to change just because you've been given a break. Still be the person that you are, and you survive. And even the 17 years before I got the break, you go to the club and you perform the songs, and you meet all kinds of people. It's really important that you maintain the character that you've been taught, that has been rooted and grounded in you, because you're going to need it. You'll have a lot of people whispering in your ear and telling you this and that, and you need to surround yourself with people who will be completely honest with you. I've said no a lot, and I probably caused my career to not be quite as big, but I'm doing what I want to do. I don't feel like I've really missed out on anything at this point.

Ira Sternberg: That's important. I think they call that self-respect. You had self-respect, and that allows you to take the blows and take the praise. It's part of life, isn't it? When it's authentic, when it's real, and it speaks to you personally, I think that's what gets people. And you haven't changed that because you haven't tried to go for music that simply will be a hit. You sing what really suits you and suits your audience.

Oleta Adams: Absolutely. That's what makes music worthwhile.

Ira Sternberg: Before I let you go, what are you bringing to the Smith Center? Have you decided what the repertoire will be?

Oleta Adams: Oh heck, no. [Laughs]

Ira Sternberg: Thank you. I love that. Most people I talk to say, "Oh yes, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that." Let's leave it at that. That's perfect. That's a great way to leave it. My guest has been four-time Grammy nominee, singer, songwriter, musician Oleta Adams. She's performing in Myron at the Smith Center this Friday and Saturday, October 27th and 28th, at 7 pm. For ticket information, go to thesmithcenter.com. For everything about Oleta Adams, go to oletaadams.com. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Oleta, thanks for being on the show.

Oleta Adams: Oh, thank you. Thank you again.

Ira Sternberg: See you next time.