Howard Hewett Say Amen

Award winning recording artist Howard Hewitt recently sat down with The Certain Ones talk show host Vanessa Richardson to discuss his up coming projects and the origination of his cross over hit inspirational song “Say Amen”.

The Certain Ones Magazine: “Say Amen,” is such a timeless piece. It resonates with listeners both in the secular and gospel industry.

Howard Hewett:  A couple of years before I left the group Shalamar. I remember praying a prayer; I was just looking over my life, taking stock of what was happening.  I had promised the Lord that when I would become a solo artist which had always been the focus from the time I’d joined the group Shalamar, I would always honor Him on every project that I would do.

In 1985 starting my solo project, I went into a scheduled meeting with new management under my new record company.  I greeted them, and expressed fully; that before we got too deep into the meeting; I wanted to do a song to the Lord on the album. It got so quiet in the room one could hear a pin drop.  This is the year of 1985; this was a time when people were not mixing gospel or inspirational music with R&B music.

The record company management and people from my camp were against it. They stated that doing a song to the long was not conducive to the direction they wanted to take my career. I sat very quietly listening to what each one had to say. I responded to them that I heard and understand what they were saying, but maybe I approached the situation the wrong way. Let me put it as this, ‘I am going to do a song to the Lord on this album.  As time went on Monty Stewart a friend and great writer. Co-wrote and produced the track to “Say Amen” with me.

The Certain Ones Magazine:  In Hollywood and the music industry there is always the fight to remain true to one self and conform to the suggestions of others. How do we stay true to both yourself and faith in the musical industry?

Howard Hewett: The first thing is as you’ve just mentioned is to ‘stay true to yourself’.  Stay true to the artist that you are, and the type of artistry that you want to convey.  In this business it’s very easy to be swayed this and that way. I have witnessed many of my peers get taken out by the whole game. When you are not true to what you do, you not only stand the chance of losing your audience, worse than that, you run the risk of losing yourself as an artist.  So, it’s very important to know the direction you want to go in. This can be especially hard for multi-talented artists.

Hone in on your talent; focus on what type of music, image, and situation you want to surround yourself with and stick with that. I am not saying for you to not experiment or be creative with other ideas, but to take care of your base and the people who followed you over the years, ensuring that they will be satisfied with the things you’ve given them.