Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992 TAG: 9201140129
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DWIGHT OESTRICHER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWARK, N.J. LENGTH: Medium
PEABO BRYSON WANTS TO BE HIMSELF
Peabo Bryson in black leather for a seafaring action-adventure?Not exactly the image of a smooth, soul balladeer, but the singer was trapped in many guises as he sought success in the music business. Now, though, he wants only to be himself.
For his 1984 Elektra Records single, "Take No Prisoners," which included an Eddie Van Halen solo, Bryson made a video for the title tune in which he was cast as a leather-clad adventurer.
"I'm in a speed boat, women hanging off my arms, explosions going off," he said, laughing. "They were promoting me as a rock artist, and I could sing the music, but it wasn't me."
What also wasn't him was singing in the style and upper register of Prince on "Let's Apologize," and doing "She's Over Me" a Lionel Richie-like tune with more schmaltz than soul.
"Everything that was hot at the time they threw on that record," he said. "I didn't write, I didn't produce. It might have been my voice on the songs but I wasn't in the songs."
Bryson said his Elektra experiences taught him that, "I have to make music without giving up who I am - not for any pop dream or for any promise of greater success."
He signed with Columbia Records in 1990 hoping to grow as an artist. The result is "Can You Stop the Rain," which already has gone gold and hit No. 1 on the rhythm and blues charts.
With Columbia's promotion campaign, he's acquired a new visibility, appearing on national television with Arsenio Hall and Johnny Carson, and making the rounds of the morning TV talk-show circuit.
But Bryson, 40, is still trying to catch up with such high-powered balladeers as Luther Vandross and Freddie Jackson.
"I'm making up for lost time, he said. "Luther has become so successful that he has eclipsed most people in his category. But Epic records gave him the care and attention needed for that kind of success."
Bryson's also getting a lot of attention because of his duet with Seline Dion of the title track of the animated hit "Beauty and the Beast." This gives him a chance to prove himself after losing out on the theme to another animated movie, "An American Tail."
Bryson recorded the Grammy award-winning song "Somewhere Out There" with Linda Rondstadt, but it was James Ingram who ended up on the finished cut.
Bryson said he's been fighting career obstacles since he signed with Capitol Records in 1977.
Bryson switched to Elektra in 1984 for a chance to reach a wider audience, recording four albums for the label and hitting the Top 10 pop charts with "If Ever You're in My Arms Again." Unhappy with Elektra, he jumped back to Capitol in 1989 before signing with Columbia and making "Can You Stop the Rain."
The album includes such songs as "I Wish You Love" and "You Don't Have to Beg," a warning to women that they don't have to suffer in destructive relationships.
"So often when we go through bad times, we feel like we're the only ones who've ever gone through it," he said. "But I want them to know that the experience is universal, that I've been there."
Bryson said he's trying to decide whether to marry his girlfriend, Juanita, ex-wife of boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. Bryson, who has never been married and has a 23-year-old daughter, said he's had to endure reports that he stole the wife of his "good friend."
"We were acquaintances, not hang-out buddies, and she had been alone for over three years when I met her," he said. "My job, as I see it, is to love and protect my woman and not pay attention to what others have to say.
"You know, when it comes to love, there's always a hitch in paradise."