Artists Against Hunger & Poverty
national artist

Michael McDonald

Soul — real, honest and unforced soul — is at the core of Michael McDonald's long and varied career in music. Whether playing with his early bands like Mike and the Majestics in the midwest, working on the road and in the studio with Steely Dan, famously revitalizing the sound of the Doobie Brothers, or, most recently, following his own muse as a soul artist, McDonald has always made music graced by a radiant and dignified sort of soulfulness.

With 2002's surprise smash Motown album, McDonald and his collaborators like producer Simon Climie effectively showcased the groundbreaking and still relevant music once known as "The Sound of Young America." A respectful yet contemporary salute to one of our most beloved musical legacies, McDonald's album proved once again that the music of Motown is a global phenomenon that speaks not to just the Big Chill generation but to every generation. The great admiration and deep love that McDonald, his producers and fellow musicians conveyed for the great artists and songs of Motown came through loud and clear on his platinum, Grammy-nominated album. And in the best spirit of the music itself, Motown -? and now its brand new, equally impressive sequel Motown Two -- crossed over any imaginary boundaries of race or genre, something that McDonald's music too has always done along the way.

Michael McDonald comes by his own distinctive soulfulness quite naturally. He was born in 1952, not in the Detroit of Motown fame, but not all that far way in another urban center of the American Midwest, St. Louis, Missouri.  

"You could very easily develop a love of rhythm and blues in that town without really trying," McDonald explains.  "Even when I go back there today, it's still a town where people put on some obscure soul records and go, `Have you heard these guys?'  The town seems to be just filled with kind of people who are connoisseurs of rhythm and blues. I grew up around guys like who were well versed in all the soul singers, and ended up playing with lots of them in bands. I remember thinking, at a young age, `These are the kinds of records I'd love to make some day.' At that point the world was filled with the sounds of the Troggs and the Kinks ? groups I loved too. But my leanings were always towards classic soul music."  

For McDonald, finding his own place in the joyful and meaningful music of Motown was not exactly a struggle. "I think the only reason I even considered doing the first Motown album was how much fun I thought it would be to sing these incredible songs," McDonald explains. "And the experience didn't disappoint me at all in that respect. It was probably more fun than I could have ever realized for all kinds of reasons."  Recording in the South of France was a pleasure, and not just because of the fine weather, food and accommodations.  "Working with Simon Climie? and the whole team that made these records?has been just a complete joy," McDonald reports. "Certain projects, you feel like you're pulling teeth. Other times you think, `This has to be good on some level because it's just too much fun not to be. This has been one of those kind of projects."  

Of course, Motown became a massive commercial success, helped in no small measure by exposure "Ain't No Mountain High Enough' and "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" were given in commercials for MCI. "The commercial was huge definitely, but in terms of the way that I tend to judge the success of an album, commercial success is one aspect, but not always the key ingredient.  For me the album was a success when Simon signed on and I could see pretty clearly we were going to do the kind of record I hoped -- very respectful and possibly even bringing something to these copyrights that I love so much. We wanted to show our respect to the original performers and their original performances, but also to real qualities of the songs themselves."  

Since Motown was arguably Motor City's single greatest production line, it seems only fitting that McDonald and company have a new model of Motown, a soulful sequel of sorts. "I think we all left the first record going gosh, some day we'll do a Motown Two, whether it's right now or not," McDonald remembers.  "Then the success of Motown made it all the more possible for us to actually do that. We didn't blink because we already knew we could probably do five Motown records and never exhaust the catalog of great songs. At some point in the future there might be a Motown Three, for all I know.  It's just such a rich and resourceful wellspring of wonderful copyrights and wonderful songs and incredible performances to go to school on."   

Finally, Michael McDonald is asked what makes him most proud of the Motown albums. The characteristically soft-spoken and humble singer-songwriter thinks for a moment, then says, "I think the thing I'm most proud of -- and hopeful that --  it, even in a small part, makes obvious , one more time  -- for the 150th time probably -- just how great these songs are, no matter who is singing them."