We were lucky to catch up with Herbie recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Herbie, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The Most meaningful project I’ve worked on was the remake of the 80’s hit song ” We Are Family ” by Sister Sledge . I co- produced this remake record alongside Iconic music producer Nile Rodgers .The remake was in response to the tragic 9/11 attack on the twin towers in NYC 2001 as a unity campaign . I re-recorded and played all the music including synths ,electric bass ,programmed drums and electric guitar and Nile added his funky guitar and recruited an impressive multi generational star studded cast of singers for the celebratory Unity recording sessions including : Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, Peaches n Herb, Roberta Flak, Faith Evans , the B 52’s , Angie Stone , Dionne Warwick , Queen Latifah , Jackson Brown , David Hasselhoff and many more .

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was discovered in the Chelsea district of Manhattan , NYC at a gourmet deli by a recording Artist newly signed to EMI records who was drawn to my look and was seeking a keyboard player to join his band on a promotional tour . The next thing I knew, 2 weeks later, I was performing on the iconic TV show “Soul Train”. From that point on my life completely changed!
As they say “One thing leads to another ” life led me to co+producing records with Nile Rodgers , working on big jingles , joining the group Pm Dawn as MD ,
and remixing the BeeGees song “Staying Alive ” and performing it with them on the VH1 fashion awards at Madison Square Garden. This was just the beginning . As a music producer , multi instrumentalist , singer- songwriter, composer and remixer I was taking the industry by storm . My Sounds is like a Cutting edge pop soul funky genre blending style with strong bottom end presence. In the studio I spend a lot of time with vocals to capture vibe , emotion and accuracy . At times I like to create layers of lush background vocals using vocal arrangement and production techniques I learned when I was in Pm Dawn. Im a great song doctor too !

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe that the primary way to support musical creatives is to help protect copyright laws pertaining to master recordings , songwriting / publishing and sampling . Second in importance would be raising the digital streaming statutory rate to something that’s actually “Fair” instead of creatives being paid less than “slave wages” .Also master recording ownership reversion from record labels needs to be enforced as well as audits of record labels accounting..

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I would say that writing and recording a song or a live performance that touches , emotionally moves and or helps other people is extremely rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.herbiesoul.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herbie_soul?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HerbieSoul?mibextid=ZbWKwL