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If I happen to have a title that I’m kicking around in my head, I’ll either try to write something with that title in mind or else (and perhaps more frequently) I will match the title to a track or chord progression that I already have if the fit is organic and working. Many times I will start a track and before it gets too developed I will step back, make a CD or put it on my iPhone and just drive around in my car belting out melody and lyric ideas into a lick saver until something feels “right”. Genre will often determine the jumping off point. Those seem to be the two things that most focus my writing the best. Oliver: For the most part (though there are always exceptions to the rule), I start with either a song title or a chord progression. One of these grooves eventually became my calling card song which led to my writing and producing the hits for Paula Abdul. I bought one of the earliest sequencers, the Yamaha CX5 or something like that, a DX7 and a DX drum machine (then later when I had a little more money, an OB-8 synthesizer and Mirage keyboard) and began banging out Minneapolis-flavored grooves inspired by Jesse, Prince and Terry and Jimmy from Flyte Tyme. Up until that point, I was simply a drummer and a guitar player. It was watching Jesse put together tracks, programming bass lines and keyboard parts that gave me the confidence to try to do the same. I soaked up as much as I could when I was in his presence and tried to bring what I learned to my own material. We hung out many late nights and talked about Hendrix and Prince and played blues guitar. I watched him like a hawk and listened and saw how he was putting his tracks together. Eventually I found myself playing in a band (Ta Mara and The Seen) formed by Jesse Johnson, guitarist for The Time who was making wicked funky records out of his townhouse in the whitest neighborhood on planet earth – Blaine, Minnesota (Very ironic!). I was around a lot of really inspired and creative people at the time and I became infected. It was not due to any plan or foresight on my part… funny that. The scene was so inspiring what with Prince and the Time and all the great music that was exploding out of that town at that time. If I was going to get him to spend any time with me, I better be a musician! I really started writing and producing in 1984 when I landed in Minneapolis, Minnesota for completely non-musical reasons.
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My dad, the Leiber half of Leiber and Stoller left me very little choice in the matter. Oliver: In my case, I was pretty much born into music. Q: When and how did you get your own start in the music industry? Then when and how did you end up moving into a career of writing and producing songs for other artists to perform? Find out about the interesting stories behind those hit singles “Forever Your Girl”, “The Way That You Love Me” and “Opposites Attract” and much more as we get on to some selections from my interview with Oliver Leiber… He is a musician, songwriter and producer who would be best known by '80s fans as the writer of three big Paula Abdul hits from her debut Forever Your Girl album.
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This time that awesomeness is Oliver Leiber. Again, lucky for me (and hopefully you), I do get to share a little more awesomeness with you. When the opportunity presents itself to ask a few questions to someone who contributed to the awesomeness of the 80s, I will continue to share those answers with you right here. Please keep in mind the original date because some content could be time sensitive, though the majority of each interview should be timeless and totally rad.) These are more than just interviews in a way they are more like '80s timelines or oral histories on their respective subject matters.
#Paula abdul straight up acoustic chords series
It is one installment in an incredible series of interviews that are being republishing on Rediscover the '80s for posterity and your enjoyment. (This interview was originally published Decemon the now-retired Kickin' it Old School blog.