Virtual swan song
Ready to hit the road, Anthony Hamilton plays one last online show
R&B superstar Anthony Hamilton has sung to stadium crowds, and he’s sung in the Obama White House. But this weekend, he’ll sing to nobody. His webcast tonight (beginning at 9 at sessionslive.com) will likely be one of the last all-virtual shows from a major artist before live shows rev back up again. And he plans to make the most of it.
“I want to bring people some hope and happiness after being cooped up for so long in the pandemic,” he said this week. “We’re doing three new songs and a lot of the old classics, and there’s an acoustic set that’s really beautiful. There’s no audience but when I’m onstage with my band, we lock in and we remember what it felt like before. You never forget life at its highest peak.”
Hamilton’s pandemic experience was worse than most. Though he didn’t go public at the time, he had a serious case of COVID-19 in December.
“Yeah, I had it pretty bad and I was in the hospital for two weeks. My three younger boys, my best friend and business partner all had it, but I had it the worst. I take care of myself and eat really well, I was vegan for two years — that and my faith in God pulled me through. But there were moments of fear, when I was lying there on oxygen and I didn’t know how it was going to affect me later on. I had pneumonia and I hadn’t even been sick in 15 years.”
The turning point came when he tried singing one of his own greatest hits.
“There was one moment when I was there and it was quiet and I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m on oxygen and my lungs are compromised right now.’ But I started singing ‘Charlene’ and it came out pretty good. And I thought, ’Alright, I’m restricted now but I can do this.’ When I got better one of the first things I did was get on my bike and opened my lungs back up. So it was hard, but now I’m back.”
He’s now wrapping up his first album since 2016’s “What I’m Feelin’,” whose title track won him the most recent of a dozen Grammys. As usual there will be an eclectic mix of old-school soul and hip-hop influences, and probably a few surprise collaborations.
“We’ve got Rick Ross on the album, a few more that I’m waiting on, and I’ve done a duet with John Legend. But I’ve got two bodies of work coming out, and I may save that for the second one. Otherwise I’m just being true to me and the people I sing to, what they like and want to hear. After a while you become a brand, and you want to stay consistent with that.”
That’s not to say he won’t throw in some surprises. Last year’s single “Back Together” was a duet with the late Rick James.
“I was leaving the studio with (producer) 9th Wonder, just putting my backpack on, when I started thinking about that sample he’d played. I took the pack off, went back in and we finished it that morning.”
More recently he’s released “You Made a Fool of Me,” one of the more lowdown lost-love ballads he’s done.
“I’ve been made a fool of and I’m not ashamed to say it. Love can get intense, relationships can get intense. And I’m just the man to sing about it.”