[ t e x t . o n l y . v e r s i o n ] [ b y . c y c l o n e . w e h n e r ]
Eagle-Eye Cherry's family name may have opened doors for him, but he has
managed to find success on his own terms. Today the singer-songwriter
speaks breathlessly down the line from Los Angeles, where he picked up a
platinum plaque for his Grammy-nominated debut album, "Desireless". Eagle-Eye's album has proven to be a sleeper in the US, but sales picked up
when radio took to his tender single, "Save Tonight".
Eagle-Eye -- who was given his name for his intense gaze as a baby -- has
music flowing through his veins. After all, his father is the late Don
Cherry, the celebrated jazz trumpeter, and his half sister is alt-rapper
Neneh Cherry (yet another sister, Titiyo, is a Swedish pop star). In fact,
Cherry's father introduced him to the drums as a child. 'I actually knocked
one of my first teeth out playing the drums when I was three -- missing the
cymbal and falling on my face.'
Eagle-Eye spent the first few years of his life in rural Sweden, before
moving with his family to the very different New York, where his mother
encouraged him to enrol in a performing arts school. While a musical career
seemed inevitable, Cherry didn't even start making his first album until
well into his 20s. Instead Eagle-Eye was 'sidetracked' into an acting
career, working in theatre and television, at the same time jamming in
bands around New York. At one point Cherry even hosted a late night World
Music show in the UK called "Big World Cafe". 'I hated it. It was the worst
experience of my life. I'll never do it again,' he says ruefully. 'Pretty
much every musician I interviewed was in a really bad mood. There's nothing
worse than interviewing a pissed off artist.'
Musically, the Cherrys have defined themselves as individuals. Though
Eagle-Eye had long loved 70s music -- whether R&B, soul or rock -- he went
back to study classic records by Bob Dylan and Neil Young after discovering
the acoustic guitar. And so, with "Desireless", Cherry has followed an
altogether different route to sister Neneh -- making a folksy, funky and
organic album of both urban tales and sensitive love songs. ('I can't rap
for my life,' he jokes.)
It wasn't until Cherry returned to his childhood home of Sweden that he
began to seriously pursue a musical career. He had begun to tire of the
frenetic New York scene. Eagle-Eye was considering a move to San Francisco
to join his father before his untimely death. In the meantime, Eagle Eye
had fallen in love with a Swedish girl. He eventually followed her back to
easygoing Stockholm, after living in the Big Apple for 15 years. 'I was
looking for a town that is a lot more laid-back, a lot cleaner and just not
so stressful,' he says. 'I got to Stockholm and it was quiet, dark and
winter, and there was really nothing else to do other than start writing
tunes. It was a place where I could really focus and get into the music. I
think the album has a lot of New York stories, but I wasn't really able to
get that perspective until I got out of New York, and that was really a
trip.' He continues, 'The thing about Stockholm is there's a really big
music scene there right now. There's a lot of good music and musicians. And
there's just a bit of a buzz, so it wasn't like I was kinda moving to some
bubble where I would be closed off from the rest of the world.'
For Eagle-Eye, the loss of his father signalled a wake-up call. 'When my
father passed away -- even though it was really sad he died when he was 59,
which is a bit young -- he'd really lived a full life and it didn't feel
like he'd died before his time. And I think that in a lot of ways it made
me kinda question if I had really set out to live -- do what I wanna do
with my life. And I think it was a kick in the butt, because it got me to
start really focussing in a way I hadn't done.' By way of a tribute,
Eagle-Eye recorded his father's song "Desireless" for the album, later
making it the title-track.
In late 1997 Eagle-Eye released his album on an Indie label in Sweden,
where it has since reached double-platinum status. He was encouraged to
hook up with Polydor in other territories. 'I do know for a lot of people,
they probably signed that contract for a long-term experience and [they
find that] there's just so many other elements to being a musician once you
get a big album deal. It's not just writing, recording and performing
songs. There's all the promotion and videos ... And so I imagine a lot of
people get into it and hate it and realise, 'Oh my God!'. But I definitely
don't feel that. I'm having a ball. So I'm in it for the long haul. I'd
love to be able to do this for a long time.'
Now, with his recent breakthrough in the world's biggest market, Eagle-Eye
accepts that he may have to spend more time back in the US. From time to
time he misses the Big Apple and would ideally like to spend part of the
year there. 'I can't imagine going back to New York trying to wind down.
It's such an intense town.' But Eagle-Eye won't be settling anywhere in the
immediate future. Indeed, he has been working with other artists including
Sheryl Crow and guests on Carlos Santana's latest album "Supernatural".
If Eagle-Eye is feeling a little jaded after travelling for much of the
past year, then he is nevertheless looking forward to recording his
follow-up album. He has five tracks already in the can. These have 'pretty
much the same vibe,' he says, but will show his growth as a lyricist.
Eagle-Eye enthuses, 'I'm not gonna change it up too much.'
"Desireless" is out through PolyGram.
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