The Go-To Guy
RICK NOWELS' work on the new Yusuf/Cat Stevens album is the latest milestone in the career of one of pop music's most consistently excellent songwriter-producers
Rick Nowels has a tried-but-true theory about his 20-plus years as a hitmaker. Sure, the songwriter-producer-multi-instrumentalist has a tremendous gift for creating music, but, most importantly, no matter how scared or vulnerable he felt, he showed up. "My entire career, that's what I've done. You just show up and do your best."
And his best has been more than good enough. Among his dozens of hits are "The Power of Goodbye" by Madonna, "Standing Still" from Jewel, the Grammy-nominated "White Flag" from Dido, "Heaven is a Place on Earth" by Belinda Carlisle and ASCAP's 2004 Pop song of the year, "The Game of Love," recorded by Santana and Michelle Branch.
Nowels, who grew up in the Bay area, first started writing when he was 13. He went on to study music at UC Berkeley. While there, he worked with Sam Shepard, setting the playwright's lyrics to music for Tooth of Crime and serving as his musical director. He moved to San Francisco and played in bands that developed large local followings but could never progress beyond hometown hero status.
His big break came when he reconnected with Stevie Nicks, whom he had known as a teenager through a friend. More than a decade later, Nowels played Nicks his composition, "I Can't Wait," and the next day, with her own lyrics added, Nicks recorded the track with Nowels producing.
The success of Nicks' 1985 album,
Rock A Little, led to Nowels getting the nod to write and produce Belinda Carlisle's 1988 multi-platinum album,
Heaven on Earth. With only three months to prepare, he circled the wagons, penning tunes with co-writers such as Ellen Shipley, and calling on fellow writers like Diane Warren to contribute tracks.
"I knew that my career was going to depend on whether I had hits on this record," he says.
While Nowels is a lyricist and contributes words when appropriate, he is most in demand for his melodies. "You work with Madonna, she doesn't want to know about your lyrics," he says. "The artists I work with are poets and that's what attracts me to [them]. To me, a meaningful artist has their own story to tell."
Over the years, his own songwriting process has become more economical.
"I leave a tape recorder running when I write and the first two minutes on the tape recorder are really the golden time, your original stuff that's coming out of you intuitively and emotionally before your brain takes over," he says. "Sometimes [later] you get lost. I always go back to the first two or three minutes and most of the answers are there."
Nowels works out of a former film editing studio on a tucked-away street in Santa Monica, Calif. "It feels like an art gallery," says Nowels of the open, bright area. Indeed, stunning black and white photographs share wall space with one of his most prized possessions: a framed letter from George Harrison that includes instructions on how to mix his guitar appearance on Carlisle's "Leave a Light On." In a handwritten postscript, Harrison notes he got a blister playing the song.
When Nowels is not in Santa Monica, he can often be found in London. Years ago, Nowels smartly saw the advantages of being trans-Atlantic.
"I've always loved British music and I quickly realized there are British artists who sell everywhere in the world but the U.S. And then there are American artists who break over there, so it is two entirely different marketplaces." In addition to Dido, the EMI Music Publishing songwriter has had tremendous success with such U.K. acts as Ronan Keating, Texas, girl group All Saints, former Spice Girl Mel C, and Craig David.
He snared ASCAP song of the year honors for "The Game of Love," co-written with Gregg Alexander, with whom he also penned the New Radicals' "You Get What You Give." "The Game of Love" sat on the shelf for a few years until it found its way to Clive Davis, who plucked it for Santana. It then waited for several more months while a rotating cast of guest singers, including Macy Gray and Tina Turner, were considered before Branch added her vocals.
While the basics of a good melody and strong lyrics are timeless, Nowels credits his longevity to staying current. "You gotta keep up with the beats," he says. "If you listen to the radio and pay attention, you kind of have an ear [for] what's going on."
Nowels works with "whoever the most interesting person is, who would be fun to work with," but he adds, "there is a inspirational slant in hopefully everything I'm a part of. I think good artists do put positive or transformative messages out into the world."
That was one reason working with Yusuf/Cat Stevens, was such a milestone. Nowels pursued Yusuf for more than three years before the two eventually entered the studio for Nowels to co-produce his first pop album in 28 years,
An Other Cup. Yusuf came to the studio with the material in hand, so there was never a question of co-writing. "I wasn't trying to insert my personality into his songwriting," Nowels says. "I wanted his pure songs."
But make no mistake, regardless of with whom he is working, Nowels wants to have hits. "I'm in the pop world, I'm in the world of getting on radio," he says. "I already spent plenty of years being obscure myself. I've done the obscure thing."
— Melinda Newman
TOP
