UB Interviews: Songwriter/Singer Gordon Chambers Speaks to UrbanBridgez.com

Recently Gordon talked to Aries from UrbanBridgez.com about his latest release “Sincere,” writing some of the biggest hits for other artists, still being relevant in the music business, his friendship with Whitney Houston & how she encouraged him and much more!

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UrbanBridgez.com: Tell everybody about your latest album “Sincere” and why they should go out and pick it up?
Gordon Chambers: It’s Sincere, It’s a story telling album, live instruments, etc. Not just songs about the clubs or getting Jiggy with it, but songs that are really from the heart! Really vulnerable, really optimistic music, just really classic of what R&B is all about.

UrbanBridgez.com: Your song “Missing You” to Phyllis Hyman and Gerald LeVert is touching & we’ve heard it before, tell our readers about that one?
Gordon Chambers: I re-recorded that song for the album, I had originally wrote it for the film “Set It Off” and it was a Grammy nominated song with Brandy, Tamia, Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan. I figured it was about that time that people may want to hear that song again. So I decided to make a new version of it and dedicate it to some friends of mine in the business who have passed. So I dedicated it to Phyllis Hyman and Gerald LeVert, but now I think when I sing it I will forever dedicate it to Whitney Houston. I had no idea I would loose her in my journey, but she has been really instrumental in my career. She was the person who told me during one of my sessions with her that is was time for me to go solo.

UrbanBridgez.com: “Moody Love” is my favorite I think, what you would pick as your favs from this album?
Gordon Chambers: Thank you! From this album I would say the single “I Can’t Love You (If You Don’t Love You)” one of my favs. That’s why I decided to release it as the first single. I also love the video, we shot it on my block at my house in Brooklyn. I also featured a good friend of mine, a singer named Sy Smith. She did her thing in the video from the level of emotion and performance. So that one is a favorite. My second is “Lead Me (The Ocean)” because it’s sort of like a contemporary gospel song but you don’t know it is. It’s just me really talking to God, I wrote it on a day I was feeling a little vulnerable and emotional. Music is the best way I know how to express myself. So that song is very therapeutic to me, that’s one when I do in concert and the audience seems to be really moved by. Especially the men, I have seen the brothas crying from that song (laughs). Which means it must be really powerful.

UrbanBridgez.com: You’ve been going strong in this music business for so long as not only an artists but a Grammy award winning songwriter, what is your secret to success?
Gordon Chambers: I would say relationships. Like any career in the music business or whatever, it’s all about who you know, building relationships and staying in touch with who you know. As well as having a quality product and having a way of marketing that project so you draw people to want to support it. Mine from day one and will remain til the day I die, it’s being who I am which is heartfelt and sincere. Writing and singing music that’s really deep from my heart and that pulls on peoples heart strings. That’s why this new album is one of the things I’m the most proud of because it’s so personal and so deep!

UrbanBridgez.com: When did you first discover your gift of songwriting?
Gordon Chambers: I started writing songs when I was 7 or 8, it was a childhood hobby. My mom said even as a baby I was grabbing vinyl and trying to play them, breaking the record needles (laughs). In the 70’s way before MP3’s and digital. So as a kid I was always showing people my songs, like mommy here is a painting a drew instead here mommy look at the song I wrote. It was a 6th grade music teacher who thought one was really good. She had the whole graduating class learn the song, they performed it in a assembly in front of hundreds of people. In High School I got more serious about writing and a friend had passed, she was murdered. I didn’t know how to process my feelings so I wrote a song dedicated it to her and one of the teachers heard it and said it was very profound and meaningful and would help with the healing. So she had the dance group choreograph something for the school. It was performed in front of thousands of people. So those experiences early on taught me the purpose in my life to use me as a writer. To express myself and to create healing for other people.

UrbanBridgez.com: You’ve actually wrote some of my all time favorite R&B sings from Usher’s “Final Goodbye,” Brownstone’s “If You Love Me” and to Deborah Cox’s “September.” Out of your catalog what few songs are you the proudest of?
Gordon Chambers: Oh you took it back, thank you brother for taking it back that far! I think “If You Love Me” will always be the dearest to me because that’s the first song I wrote that I heard on the radio. It was a complete surprise because the group was brand new, they were an unknown group and I was an unknown songwriter. That song was the top radio played song of that year and Grammy nominated. Anita Baker’s “I Apologize” was also rising up the charts around the same time and that won a Grammy and Anita was a legend. I’m proud that in my time I have been able to help alot of the legends and work with new artists. Like with Brownstone, I worked on Usher’s first album and I wrote Beyonce’s for solo appearance single. So I feel like I’ve helped build new legends as well. I’m just grateful to God and again Whitney Houston who gave me encouragement when I was producing her in 2003 for her Christmas album. She said “Baby I think you want to do what I do, I think you want to sing and if you do you should go for it!” So I’m grateful to god for the albums and the concerts that I’ve performed in front of thousands of people. I’ve done private parties for people like Magic Johnson, Star Jones and a Valentines day party for President Obama! Just very grateful.

UrbanBridgez.com: One of my other favorite songs from you that come to mind & we talked about it earlier is “Missing You” and with the recent lost Whitney Houston can you share with our readers the Whitney you knew and why it’s such a loss in your eyes.
Gordon Chambers: Whitney was kind, very warm and very funny. Just a beautiful spirit, so many of the things people said at the funeral were just the exact qualities that I saw during the time we spent together. Very encouraging, Alicia Keys said it best, when you were in her presence she always made you feel strong. She lit up a room, she made people very happy and gave them joy. She kept her family with her always and was very loyal to her friends. I think she had alot of real Christian qualities, of kindness, giving, supporting and loyalty. I feel devastated that she has passed, but I have no doubt she is in heaven!

UrbanBridgez.com: What’s next for you after your tour?
Gordon Chambers: I don’t know, I’ve been writing. So I think their might be a book in me soon. Some television opportunities as well. I’m opening up to expanding my brand. So I think there will be some multi-media things in store for me!

UrbanBridgez.com: Any last words for your fans?
Gordon Chambers: I want to say thank you to those who support grown folks music and to the people who support independent music. It’s great that people are discovering independent artists and ones like me because I think alot of us are the pit pioneers trying to keep soul music alive. So I’m just thankful (gordonchambers.com, twitter.com/gordonchambers and
www.facebook.com/GordonChambersMusic)

[Download] Gordon Chambers “Sincere” from iTunes!