Photo by Marselle Washington
f you came of age in the 1970s, you probably remember Peabo Bryson as the stylish R&B balladeer with the blowout Afro who enraptured your mother and her friends with songs such as “I’m So Into You,” “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” and “Reaching for the Sky.” He set the standard for mellow soul in the 1980s, as he began recording romantic duets with female singers such as Melissa Manchester, Natalie Cole and Roberta Flack. If you were a child in the 1990s, you know Bryson’s voice from the Disney animated films “Aladdin,” which features his duet with Regina Belle, “A Whole New World,” or “Beauty and the Beast,” which teamed him with Celine Dion on the title track. Bryson’s endurance in the music industry is uncommon, and Charlie Wilson aside, nearly unprecedented. He released an album this year, “Stand for Love,” that finds him in familiar territory, with assistance from producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, singing about love and relationships and more love.
While the topic of a song by Bryson might be predictable, a conversation with the 66-year-old South Carolina native and father of a 9-month-old child isn’t. Calling 28 minutes late for an interview, he politely apologizes and doesn’t wait for a question before chatting at length from his Atlanta home. Bryson’s speaking voice flits from that of an English gentleman, tossing in the occasional “mate,” to a cockney accent, to a familiar Southern pitch and tone. The wide-ranging conversation that follows touches on social and political issues, time travel, Sandra Bullock, an obsessive fan, Aretha Franklin and, of course, love.
“We bandy the words like ‘I love you’ around in a very cavalier, casual way,” Bryson says. “A lot of people say it, but most people don’t even understand the true meaning of it. When someone says they love you, there’s only one question to be asked and answered, isn’t there? You want to know what the question is — will you die for me?”
Bryson, who knows how to celebrate love, says he’s been engaged a thousand times. His search for a soul mate ran parallel to that of one of his friends, singer Aretha Franklin, who died in August. Franklin, who had two failed marriages, would reassure Bryson, who is now married to a 36-year-old British singer, that someone was waiting for him.
“Yes, I was encouraged by my good friend Aretha Franklin to hold out for that one thing, that one person that was meant for me,” he says. “And to never lose faith in it.”
Franklin tops the list of duet partners Bryson has never recorded with but wanted to, along with Mariah Carey and Barbra Streisand. As a singer who has become known for sharing songs with talented women, he explains how those moments become special.
“You got to fall a little bit in love with a duet partner,” he says. “You gotta sing it like you love them in some way — you got to figure out what way that is. That creates the magic that goes on tape.”
There’s one tape Bryson remembers that was less than enchanted. Back in the day, he received a package in the mail from a fan.
Laughing at the memory, Bryson recalls, “Someone sent me a cassette tape of me and them having dinner, and all these things we were talking about, and all these epiphanies we were sharing with each other — emotionally, psychologically and physically.”
As the “date” went on, questions were asked and answered, and passionate responses were given and received, with Bryson’s music playing in the background.
“The only problem is, I wasn’t at dinner. I never had dinner,” he says. “They were asking questions, answering questions, laughing in response.”
That kind of attention might have led a different recording artist to hire someone to watch over them. Not Peabo Bryson.
“I’ve never had security,” he says. “Nah. Not ever. For what? Yeah, I’ve been in Detroit for extended periods of time, without security. And Detroit is a place where children whip their parents and send them to bed without supper. It’s true. I never had security, because I never needed it. I treat everybody like I want to be treated.”
The Golden Rule is part of what keeps Bryson grounded, along with shopping for his own toilet paper.
“If you’re sitting in your house and you don’t know where the toilet paper came from … I can’t help you. You can’t even wipe your own ass. What good are you?” he says. “It’s just a simple metaphor, don’t lose your basic perception of reality.”
Peabo Bryson performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, in the Grand Ballroom, 403 N.Third St. Kim Waters opens. $75 to $85.
