Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 300 – January 24, 2017

I heard that you were
the surprise star of that
movie.
I was a main star. It was
pretty much my movie.
That’s what I heard from
Eric, the writer/director.
I walked away with it.
But, everybody was
good. They were all very
good. I channeled Frank
N. Furter from “Rocky
Horror.” That was my
inspiration.
So what do you hope
will happen with your
new smash single?
I want that Grammy
Award. Or at least an
MTV VMA. I’ll take
anything.
How did the actual song
come to be created?
Tyler Stone asked what I
would like to do a song
about. One of my ideas
was something like,
“I’ve got your back,”
about being there for
somebody, sort of like
Rihanna’s “Umbrella”
song. He then took that
idea, and he totally wrote
it. He put a reggae flavor
to it. It’s kind of reggae,
pop, R&B, it’s everything
mixed together. There
was one line where he
wrote something about
a taxi, a bike and a train,
and I added Uber into
the ad-lib. This has to be
the first pop song that
has Uber in it. It’s really
time that somebody took
note of it. It’s a bizarre
phenomenon. It’s very
me, because in the song
they talk about deadlines,
my bicycle...it’s very
personalized. At first I
was thinking about doing
something where I dished
on New York nightlife,
but that would be too
cute and inside. It would
only appeal to some
people, whereas I wanted
to make something
broader in scope where it
was just like a pop song
that everybody could like.
This recording had to
take some time and
effort going into the
studio and all.
I did a single in the ‘80s
with Cindy Bullens, who
transitioned, and he’s
now Cidny, a Grammynominated
artist. Back
then she was Cindy, and
she wrote a song called
“Jimmy Give Me Your
Love.” In the ‘80s she
produced me and my
band singing that song,
and we did a video for
it. It wasn’t released as
a single; it was released
as a video. This is really
my first single. We were
asked to sing “I Love the
Nightlife” by the director
of the “Vampire” movie.
So we were together
on the beach at Coney
Island singing, and it
sounded really good.
When Rachael said I
should do a recording
on Trax Records, I told
her to hook me up with
Tyler Stone. I actually got
Tyler Stone his contract
for his band on Trax
Records when Rachael
was looking for artists.
I ended up in Tyler’s
Brooklyn apartment,
which became the
recording studio. I felt
very comfortable with
him, and I learned the
song right there on the
spot. I just sang bits
of it, background and
everything. Tyler loved it.
He kept playing it.
I put it on my playlist.
It’s so infectious.
It is, but I wish it were
longer. You kind of have
to keep playing it over
and over.
It should be longer.
I’m sure we’ll have an
extended play. Richard
Johnson from
“The Post” loved it.
Visit getoutmag.com to
read the full interview.
Photo by Brian Christopher Cummings