Seal Sings Soul
Seal remembers the exact moment he realized he had to start singing soul. He was driving with his wife. They were in the Napa Valley of Los Angeles. The couple had the car radio on and the song ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ started playing. It was one of Sam Cooke’s hits of the sixties. Unexpectedly Seal was so ‘moved’ he had to find a place to park. He explains how he has heard the song many times but this is the time that he really listened. He says the result was ‘it broke my heart’. Seal was so moved he had tears. He came to the realization that the song written forty years previously was a message that was still relevant right now. He thought about the disappearing ‘family and social values’. He made up his mind that he wanted to sing this song to a ‘new generation’.
The singer known simply as Seal had his first success in the beginning of the nineties. His music has sold albums totaling fifteen million. Seal’s last big hit was way back in nineteen forty four. It was when he sang the unforgettable ‘A Kiss For A Rose’. It turned out to be the song that would be the ‘most played’ in the United States. His style was more of a ‘slick dance’ type. But this change of heart could be from his relationship with the supermodel Heidi Klum. The two are known as the most ‘in love couple’ in the business. After a month of dating Heidi revealed she was expecting a child. The father was her ex. Unphased, Seal continued with the relationship and the two are married. The singer calls Heidi his wife and best friend. They are a close family made up of Seal’s stepdaughter Leni and the couple’s two younger boys.
The singer was named ‘Sealhenry Olumide Samuel’ and he had a difficult childhood. But he says from the beginning soul music was ‘a part of his DNA’. Throughout the hardships of his years growing up he turned to the music by James Brown, Cooke and Redding. Seal explains at that time he lived between foster-parents who were extremely loving and his mother and father who was often violent. He remembers his mother mainly listened to Motown on the radio. Seal admitted that when he had to actually sing and record these great songs he thought maybe he had ‘bitten off more than he could chew’. He says the songs are so extraordinarily good that all that had to be done was ‘come up with good arrangements’.
The name of the album is ‘Soul’ and will be released on 10 November. Seal’s fans can hear numbers like ‘I’ve been Loving You Too Long’ originally sung by Otis Redding and ‘Here I Am’ originally sung by Al Green. Seal’s trademark is his ‘rich, powerful voice’. The six foot four British singer is a deep thinker. He never gives an answer before spending a few minutes thinking it through. He says his greatest inspiration is his Heidi, stepdaughter and two sons.
