Motown Revue?
The Contours, Spinners, the Vandellas on the bus. The little girlfriends I'd meet on the road [laughs]. The kisses. Me throwing my tie into the audience and getting excited.
Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson of the Funk Brothers?
Benny would call me "Little Papacita." He was an incredible drummer. At that time there were no records out that didn't have that little Benny Benjamin pickup on them. He and James revolutionized the whole drums-and-bass marriage. All of the Funk Brothers ... forget about it. They put together Latin rhythms, African rhythms, blues, jazz, New Orleans, all that.
Benny and Marvin Gaye were the first to show me how to play the drums, how to hold the drumsticks right. Marvin was very well-read and intelligent. He loved football, basketball and music. We would sit in the studio when I was 11 or 12, me playing drums and him playing piano. Just having fun.
The Beatles?
I have such respect for where they were coming from as a group and individually. I think of my life when I listened to them; of those in my community who couldn't relate to them and called me "white boy" for listening [laughs]. Me just having a great love for their music. When I heard "Michelle," I loved that song so much I was inspired to write "All I Do."
Bob Dylan?
When I talk about great lyric writers, Bob Dylan is very high on that list. He has done some incredibly great songs. His creative rhymes are done in a unique way. You go on a kind of excursion with him when those lyrics come into your head.
And Minnie Riperton?
That was my heart. I was crazy about Minnie Riperton. Even before I met her, I heard her sing. I felt like no one in the world could come close to singing like Syreeta. Then I heard her and got these thoughts in my mind [laughs].
It's funny. Syreeta and I always loved each other, but we agreed that we disagreed and got divorced. When I was separated, I later saw Minnie. And I'm like, "Oh yeah, I want to get with her." Then I hear [adopts a deep voice]: "Hi, this is Dick," her husband. Oh, man, I wasn't trying to hear that.
But we became great friends. Actually, I talk about Minnie on the new album.
Let's talk about your post-"Songs" albums. Would you say "Hotter Than July" launched your activist alter ego in earnest?
I was focused then on the Martin Luther King Day holiday, and we, in part, did the Hotter Than July tour to promote that idea and get petitions signed to demand a national holiday. And Berry supported that.
I think it was 1980 when I told Coretta Scott King about this song ["Happy Birthday"] I had written and that I thought it was possible for there to be a national holiday. She wished me luck but didn't think it would happen under that current administration. The numbers on the signed petitions had to be half a million, but we got more than that.
Also on that album is "Cash in Your Face." I wrote that about someone who worked for me. He was in an interracial marriage. When he and his wife went in person to see an apartment they had called ahead about, they were told the landlord didn't have anything available. And this was in California. From that I wrote, "You might have the cash but you cannot cash in your face."
On "In Square Circle" I was working with the whole apartheid thing. I'd already done "The Woman in Red." I marched against apartheid, was arrested, all that kind of good stuff.
When "I Just Called to Say I Love You" was announced as the Oscar winner for best song, I couldn't believe it. Then I began to think this deep thought: "Wow, in another part of this world there's a man who has been in prison over 20 years." So when I went up to the podium, I said I accepted this award in honor of Nelson Mandela. I could just hear TVs clicking off and people saying, "What the hell?!"
My thing was not to use the Oscars as a political platform. But it was time for me to speak on what was on my heart. So even if it was taken as me using this platform for making a statement, it was my moment to speak on what I felt. I didn't regret it.
And when Motown said, "They've banned your records, and they're not playing them in South Africa," I said, "Well, OK, that's what that is." So on "In Square Circle" I did "It's Wrong (Apartheid)." We even had some singers from South Africa singing on there.
"I Just Called ..." also prompted a plagiarism lawsuit.
It was said that I'd stolen the song. That wasn't the case at all. I used to play the beginning of what ultimately became "I Just Called ..." at different birthday parties. The reality was we had that history, plus proof through tapes and other things.
That experience was a deep one: It was my first time going to court. And it was an amazing pain to go through, feeling that you've failed. But God got me up and out of that.
It's amazing what people will do. I don't know particulars about all the Michael Jackson stuff, but I feel bad about how everyone has gotten on the bandwagon, from the district attorney to people who used to work with him to people who know very little about him to the media. It's easy to make fun of a situation when it's not you in that position.
If you live in a glass house, you shouldn't throw any stones. I'm really disappointed in Eminem [who mocks Jackson in the video for "Just Lose It"]. Kicking someone when he's down is not a good thing. I have much respect for his work, though I don't think he's as good as 2Pac. But I was disappointed that he would let himself go to such a level.
He has succeeded on the backs of people predominantly in that lower pay bracket, people of color. So for him to come out like that is bullshit.
Were you satisfied with the performance of your last album, "Conversation Peace"?
I enjoyed doing [that album] a lot, because the title song itself speaks truly on how I feel. Unless we come together as a united people-whatever the ethnicity we belong to-the prospect of peace is impossible. But it must be inevitable. The world's salvation isn't happening unless the conversation's peace.
Because of the changes that were happening at Motown at the time, people really didn't get a chance to get into the album. If they could have, maybe they would have understood it a little better. But I'm hearing that more and more people are listening to it now.
That's why I'm very excited about "A Time 2 Love." There's a lot for people to hear, and they will feel it. We're doing some classic Stevie, but there is always new ground to break. And I believe we're breaking some of that ground.
You have talked about moving to Ghana. Is that still an option?
I do see myself moving to some part of Africa. Most likely the place would be Ghana. I like the people there; it's slow but not too slow. It has culture, the history of being the first country where they talked about Pan-Africanism. I also like the fact that it accepts people of the various ethnicities.
Research on your career shares one assessment: that you peaked in the '70s. Your response?
Obviously, sales help with your livelihood. But my focus really is on working with music and doing different things. The '70s was my first chance at total expression; being able to do things the way I felt. But I am as excited now as I was at the beginning.
For me to say I've reached my peak is to say that God is through using me for what he has given me the opportunity to do. And I just don't believe that.
