NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN: A SOUND SUPREME
Narada Michael Walden can pinpoint the exact moment he knew he was destined to become a producer.
It was 1974 and the then-21-year-old drummer had just been recruited to join guitarist John McLaughlin’s acclaimed jazz-fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. Being a wide-eyed newbie in a group headed by an influential talent who’d helped electrify Miles Davis’ landmark Bitches Brew would have been career-altering enough. But during a March session at London’s AIR Studios for Mahavishnu’s third studio album, Apocalypse, Walden was forever changed by the intricate yet instinctive direction of production giant George Martin.
“This is the producer of The Beatles and my first proper recording!” Walden recalls from San Rafael, California, his home since the mid-’80s. “It was a difficult album because Apocalypse was done full-on with the London Symphony Orchestra―with Mahavishnu’s rhythm section in two rooms with TV cameras. So to watch George Martin do that, with not only skill but patience and kindness, taught me a great deal. I learned how to be supportive as a producer just by watching him and his team.”
After Walden took his first stab behind the boards in 1977, he broke through with his self-produced third album, Awakening (1979), which spawned the disco-funk romp “I Don’t Want Nobody Else (To Dance With You),” a Top 10 R&B hit. Yet the Plainwell, Michigan, native, who was given the name “Narada” (meaning “supreme musician”) by Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, would see his career take an unexpected turn by the next decade. Walden’s future wasn’t in the jazz world or as a funkateer; he was, in fact, on his way to becoming one of the most successful (and ubiquitous) pop-music producers of all time.
Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, Walden’s earworm oeuvre—heavy on upbeat melodies, dramatic ballads and reach-for-the-heavens vocals—was all over radio, the charts and MTV. Among his many production triumphs: re-energizing the career of Aretha Franklin, overseeing some of Whitney Houston’s quintessential hits and introducing the world to a 20-year-old Mariah Carey. In 1987 he won the first of his three Producer of the Year Grammys.
Though he caught heat from some critics for what they perceived as fluff on tracks like Starship’s 1987 #1 “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” the perpetually sunny Walden says, “I never heard the criticism. ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ flew up the charts so fast―we knocked our other song, Aretha [Franklin] and George [Michael’s] ‘I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),’ out of #1!”
Walden, who’s still having a love affair with the drums―Euphoria, his 13th studio album, dropped in late 2023―is also a storyteller. Try to keep up.
Your first production gig was with teen R&B singer Stacy Lattisaw on Let Me Be Your Angel. What was your mindset getting into the game?
By my fifth album [1980’s Victory], I was making more dance music, so I asked Henry Allen at Atlantic Records―he’d signed Sister Sledge, Johnny Gill and Stacy―since the label had been letting me produce my own music, “Why don’t you let me produce Stacy?” And he gave me a shot! I gave Stacy “Let Me Be Your Angel,” “Jump the Beat” and “Dynamite” because by then I really understood the hit-making record world. [Narada wrote or co-wrote every song on the album.] That’s how I jumped into that box.
Tell me about meeting Aretha Franklin at Detroit’s United Sound studio. The session was for what would become her platinum 1985 comeback, Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, her 30th album.
Working with Aretha was intimidating. She walked in wearing a big fur coat and jeans with this fire in her eyes. We never talked about making a so-called comeback record because Aretha’s father [minister, gospel great and civil-rights activist C.L. Franklin] had been in a coma for years. She’d taken time off to look after him, and when he died, she was grieving. So she hadn’t done any recording for a while.
What surprised you most about your time with her?
I was working with [co-writer/co-producer] Preston Glass and the team laying down “Until You Say You Love Me” and “Who’s Zoomin’ Who,” and Aretha was very tender on those records. She was just getting back into form. She was still a genius, of course, but very tender from grieving.
And people generally just think of her as this powerhouse. But then those sessions resulted in her Grammy-winning critical and commercial return, “Freeway of Love,” which you co-wrote. What can you tell me about the production of that song?
Aretha was never signed to Motown, but everyone associates Aretha with Detroit and Detroit with the Motown Sound, so I started to think, “What can I do to combine something old and something new to make it a hybrid?” I took the drum fills that were used on those classic Motown records…
As a drummer, that must have been super-cool.
Loved it. And the vibraphones—that was very Motown! I used the symbolism of the pink Cadillac [cited in the lyric], made in Detroit, and the vroom sound from the car factory and updated it with a synthesized bass line. Then we added Clarence Clemons, who was the hottest saxophonist in the world, playing with Bruce Springsteen’s band. So the combination of something old and something new was premeditated to create a fresh smash for the Queen.
The legend goes that when you were first offered the opportunity to produce Whitney Houston, you turned it down. What changed your mind?
I got the call from Clive Davis’ ambassador at Arista Records, Gerry Griffith. He was the one who actually brought Whitney to Clive. I didn’t think I had time to work with her because I was 100% into creating this great album for Aretha. And he said, “No, you don’t understand. This is Cissy Houston’s daughter―you have to make time for her.”
He played the Cissy card.
Right! And then I remembered that Cissy sang on my first album. And she brought this 10-year-old kid to the studio with her―little Whitney! And Gerry says, “Yeah, she’s grown now. She’s 19, and she’s a killer.”
What’s your favorite Whitney story?
I had to call this new artist to find out how high she could sing. I said, “Hi, this is Narada. I’m over here tracking this song called ‘How Will I Know.’ I purposely made the first line super-high. Can you sing high?” And Whitney calmly says, “Yes, I can sing high” and she sings the first line: “There’s a boy I know/ He’s the one I dream of.”
How mind-blowing was that?
I couldn’t believe it. And when I flew out to New York to work on the track with Whitney at Media Sound, in she walks looking stunningly beautiful, wearing just jeans and a sweater. We only had two hours for her to sing her verses on “How Will I Know,” but Whitney already knew the entire song from top to bottom and sang it just like the entire world heard it: a #1 smash. Then she sat down to hear the playback―and looked at me like Muhammad Ali, with that smile and confidence in her eyes.
She already knew the power of her voice.
I was one of the first to see the video for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” [Houston’s fourth consecutive #1 single, one of six chart-toppers Walden produced for her]. There was so much power in that video. She was even more confident because, by then, she’d become a star.
Whitney was booed by some fans at the 1988 Soul Train Music Awards because they thought she’d strayed too far from her R&B and church roots. What was your response to that?
I was trying to get all the ears of the world, not just the R&B ears. That was intentional. Things were changing so quickly in music. New Jack Swing was coming up; Teddy Riley was killing it. I think Whitney got into a more R&B sound later. But I wanted to create something for everybody―where you couldn’t say no.
After working with Aretha and Whitney, you began collaborating with Mariah Carey. Did you anticipate how big she would be?
I’m not going to say I instantly thought Mariah was on that level, but she definitely displayed the control of a master. Her team sent me this beautiful song called “Vision of Love.” All I really had to do was remix it to make it stronger. [“Vision of Love” would top the pop chart for four weeks. Carey’s eponymous debut album has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.]
But when I first met Mariah, she was so shy. She could only look at you out of one eye. I told her we should go to Sony Studios, where I could get a keyboard and a microphone and we could see what we came up with.
What did you walk away with from that first session?
When I heard her sing, it hit me so strongly that I jumped back to the time I was 12 and saw Stevie Wonder perform “Fingertips.” At that same show they brought out a guy in a wheelchair named Walter Jackson who had a song called “It’s an Uphill Climb to the Bottom.” And in the middle of the song, he falls out of the wheelchair and all the girls started screaming. You wouldn’t believe the pandemonium caused by him singing on the floor.
I told Mariah, “You need a song that has that kind of drama.” And from that conversation God gave us the idea for [Carey’s fourth consecutive #1] “I Don’t Wanna Cry.” I knew Mariah could sing; I knew she could handle any song as a vocalist. But then I found out she was a badass songwriter, too! She was coming up with these verses that were super-intelligent. I knew we had a serious artist on our hands.
Do you consider working with women your comfort zone?
I do love working with women. There’s a sensitivity and a depth. I think back to when I was five years old, playing my little drums while listening to Nina Simone Live at Town Hall. That was my awakening to the female voice.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get a particular vocal performance from a singer?
We put a brass bed in the room for Lisa Fischer for [#1 R&B/Hip-Hop hit] “How Can I Ease the Pain.” We were trying to capture the mood of a women who’s been taken advantage of by someone she loves. Lisa, Mariah and Shanice Wilson [whose Walden-produced and co-written 1991 single “I Love Your Smile” was a pop #1] were the only three who could muster that five-octave range.
You were also one of the producers on teen talent Tevin Campbell’s platinum 1991 debut album, T.E.V.I.N. How have you managed to get in on the ground floor with so many great artists.
The late, great Clarence Avant said, “Make sure you’re working with artists you can not only produce but write for.” Sometimes that means writing for a new or up-and-coming artist. My mentor, Quincy Jones, signed Tevin. I told him I’d love to work with him. The first time I met Tevin, I said, “Sing this [the chorus of Campbell’s Top 10 hit “Tell Me What You Want Me To Do”]. And Tevin sang it so effortlessly! I’m thinking, “Here you are again with another great, great singer.”
What has been your proudest moment as a producer?
I’m just grateful that God has given me such a wonderful ride. I want to continue it as long as I can be on this earth. When you have a nine-year-old, an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, you’re so focused on making enough money to feed these kids and put them through school… I’m more focused on the next project.
How does it feel to have just dropped your thirteenth album?
Wonderful. On this album I teamed up with a new partner of mine, Lino Nicoloci. It’s very current. He’ll take what I do and make it even more current for Europe and the world. I have a re-mix for a song called “The More I Love My Life” with Sting on vocals, Carlos Santana on guitar and Stevie Wonder on harmonica.
That’s quite a lineup.
Man, I’m just really happy to stay alive as a producer, writer, drummer and vocalist. And I’m not done yet.
