Submitted by KATTI GRAY — Correspondent
Once singer-songwriter Eric Benet has crafted the lyrics and paired them with instruments, the last decision he makes is where, within his own top-to-bottom vocal range, he'll actually record the song: "When I'm first conceiving the melody - from whatever God-given place that comes from - all kinds of production ideas are happening at the same time ... 'The horns go here, strings go here' ... "
If in "Spend My Life With You," his hit duet with Tamia, he crooned a clear first tenor, his newest title, "Real Love," is pitched a few octaves higher. "The personality of the music pretty much dictates where (my voice) goes," said Benet, who's been singing since he was kid and started his first band with relatives in his native Milwaukee.
The new single is on sale and in the lineup on "The One," an album slated for release May 8. As are most of Benet's songs, the latest titles are largely autobiographical and very much about love - broken, rejuvenated, old, newly found. And, right now, his own heart is just fine, Benet said.
Last year, he married Manuela Testolini, founder of CEO of Gamillah Inc., which produces the Altru home fragrances line, and became a father to infant Lucia Bella. That the women in his life are thriving brings him a singular comfort and joy, said Benet, 45, whose college student and musician daughter, India, will be featured in a duet on "The One."
"Things are just wonderful," said Benet, who mainly raised India as a single parent after her mother died in a car accident. (Benet is Halle Berry's ex-husband and Testolini, Prince's ex-wife.)
The new album is Benet's sixth but the first from his new record company, Jordan House. It's been launched with EMI and commemorates the constant flow of music from the family household where Eric Benet Jordan - that's his full name - came of age as an artist. Under that label, he'll continue writing and extend his reach by producing others, though he has not yet determined who's on that list. The music they jointly put out, however, will be the music he knows best. "It will be smart for me not to stray too far from the R&B world," said Benet, whose promotional materials say the May release maintains his "mid-'70s soul groove signature."
Benet decided early in his career to stay on that path. "I wanted to be true to myself. And I hope that doesn't sound too cocky," he said. "My very first album I wanted to be a statement of how I approached my career. I knew I wasn't going to be chasing radio - quote, unquote - and I was firm: 'Let me do what I do.' ... I'm in my 40s now and I feel I'm the best at my thing than I've ever been."
Splendor in the tunes
There are pros and cons to insisting on that level of autonomy, he said. "There's always going to be an audience for real authentic, raw R&B, with live instrumentation and realness. And, this isn't negative, but, yeah, there are times when you are not going to be at the top of the charts because what you're producing is not techno-Euro-pop meets hip-hop meets electronica or whatever it is. Some of that stuff is fun and some of it is cool but ... not necessarily for me."
Since his solo career kicked off in 1996, he has aimed to be a standard-bearer, Benet said, carrying "a torch for the Al Greens, the Donny Hathaways, The Rufus and Chaka Khans of the world." And for music-lovers who veer in that direction.
He's not entirely sure that longtime and newer Benet fans have an inkling of how much thought he expends on his work, he added. "Sometimes I Cry" was, by turns, melancholy but also a declaration of personal resilience, he said. "Spend My Life With You" had a march-down-the-aisle backbeat.
"With 'Real Love,' I want people to feel the goose bumps and the splendor and the glory of love and knowing that you found somebody," Benet said.
He continued: '(Music) is such a part of my being that it's instinctual for me ... And I don't think people know that about me. I think, early on, people thought I was this guy who sang other people's songs or who didn't write his own stuff and, maybe, was produced by other people. After this long in the game, I hope they now know me better."
