The Rise Of Robbie Nevil
Creative. . .diverse.. .sexy. . .these words come to mind when describing Robbie Nevil, one of rock’s newest rising stars. Robbie Nevil is the young talent behind such hits as “C’est La Vie,” “Dominoes” and “Wot’s It To Ya.” His rise to the top of the music charts began with his first album, Robbie Nevil, which gained popularity because of Robbie’s stylistic diversity, his commitment to direct communication, and his dedication to each individual creation.
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The Rise Of Robbie Nevil
Creative. . .diverse.. .sexy. . .these words come to mind when describing Robbie Nevil, one of rock’s newest rising stars. Robbie Nevil is the young talent behind such hits as “C’est La Vie,” “Dominoes” and “Wot’s It To Ya.” His rise to the top of the music charts began with his first album, Robbie Nevil, which gained popularity because of Robbie’s stylistic diversity, his commitment to direct communication, and his dedication to each individual creation. Oh, and great songs.
On Robbie Nevil, he shows his broad range of musical abilities, as he mixes rock with pop intertwined with R&B. Robbie Nevil’s musical influences stem from an odd variety of performers, including Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Wonder. He turns a variety of sounds into what he calls “mood development.” Robbie explains: “That’s what generally captivates me when I listen to music. On the album, I worked to write songs that don’t just sit in the speakers, but ones that create their own pictures in the mind and envelop you in their own atmosphere.” He does this by including “a lot of attitude in the music. It’s not subtle. Subtlety in this day and age doesn’t seem to have much impact. In a song, I like to say what it is that I have to say and do it with a lot of conviction.”
On his debut album, Robbie achieves his goal of communicating common experiences and emotions through words and music. “When I write, I try to put myself in a lot of people’s shoes,” he explains. “I’m hoping to hit a nerve with my lyrics, to capture with a single story something that happens to everyone. For example, in ‘Look Who’s Alone Tonight,’ I’m writing about a situation that happens in every relationship, the unnecessary fight that you or I or a truckdriver on a cross country route has had happen to them. And in relating that specific, I’m able to create something much larger, something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. That's one of the things that I enjoy about songwriting,” Nevil explains, ‘‘taking my ideas and putting them into a format that allows me to directly communicate with others. Playing guitar is an extension of that—perhaps it’s an even purer form of communication. With the guitar, there are no words to interpret. It just goes straight for the heart.”
Producer Alex Sadkin (whose credits include records by Duran Duran, Arcadia, Thompson Twins, Foreigner and Grace Jones) and Phil Thornalley (former member of the Cure) helped Robbie Nevil add what he calls “teeth and claws” to his hit album. “Alex likes to use a lot of percussion and that gives it a little more of an ethnic feel,” Robbie explains, using “Simple Life (Mambo Luv Thang)” as an example. "Then you take a song like 'Wot’s It To Ya.’ It’s a pop song but the lyric has a kind of ‘done me wrong’ attitude, so there’s an added element of irony.”
On “Back To You,” Sadkin, Thornalley, and Nevil used simple production techniques to emphasize the song’s revealing sentiments and emotions. “What I liked especially about working with Alex was that he’d combine his input with what I wanted to express,” admits Robbie. This creative collaboration was exactly what Nevil wanted. “I’m a strong believer in it,” he says. “I love to work with and be around talented people. It brings out the best in me.”
The willingness to experiment with different musical elements is what makes this talented guitarist, songwriter and singer tick. “Songs have a real strong edge to them,” he explains. “English music lends itself to mixing and matching styles which, for me, is the key,” Nevil says of his album, recorded in London. “Almost anything goes. Just because it’s a reggae tune doesn’t mean you can’t put a fat R&B bass line in it. Or you can be in the middle of a Latin song, do a rock guitar solo and it’s still OK, because what comes out of that experimentation is a new sound with its own definition.”
Nevil’s consistent goal of direct communication and his dedication to making each song the best it can be is the basis of all his work. “I consider it a privilege to be able to do what I'm doing and to have people respond to it,” Robbie concludes. “It’s the ultimate compliment. So before I put my tag on something, I want to make it good for the people who will listen because they deserve it. With the album, that’s me out there now, and I want to make it something exceptionally good.”
Karen Levitt
