Catching up with Howard Hewett: after Shalamar, he's till making beautiful music

HOWARD Hewett's smooth voice and sexy looks were major attractions when he was the lead singer of the R&B group Shalamar in the 1980s. Today, he is still adored by those who loved him then--as well as many of their children.

"The audiences are still great. And it's really interesting because now the older audience has been following me for all these years," he says. "My first album with Shalamar [which included Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniel] was The Second Time and that was in 1980."

When he left Shalamar in 1985, the Akron, Ohio, native who had been a Soul Train dancer enjoyed a number of solo hits, including "I'm For Real," "Show Me" and "Stay." The one song in his repertoire that is perhaps the most requested is the inspirational song "Say Amen," which has become a standard that fans insist he sings wherever he performs. He points out that every album he has done since Shalamar has included one inspirational song.

"I don't call [my music] gospel because [to me] gospel is more like Shirley Caesar and the Blind Boys of Alabama," he says. "I was raised in that, and I have such respect for it. But I call [my music] inspirational. Gospel brings a whole other emotion to the soul."

Whether it was the world of R&B or "inspirational," Hewett has never stopped recording and has never stopped touring the world. "I do about 110 shows a year in the U.S. and overseas. I've done that for the last six or seven years," he says.

Always a part of his spiritual life and solo albums, inspirational music re-emerged to the forefront of his consciousness when he recorded the album The Journey in 2001. The following year he recorded The Journey Live: From the Heart. "I always wanted to do a complete project honoring God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit," he says. "It took me a while to put it together, and I went through my period where I was running away from God for a while. But God has a way of bringing people back to where they're supposed to be if you're open to Him."

When not traveling, Hewett loves the quiet life that he and his wife of 13 years, Angela, and their 10-year-old daughter, Anissa, enjoy in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Angela has her own event-planning business called "Moments In Bloom," one of the top African-American businesses that focuses on wedding planning. "I started the business with our [wedding]," she says. "I have a passion for weddings, but I don't do more than seven a year."

Sitting next to Angela in their expansive kitchen, Hewett laughs and nods his head when his wife talks about their wedding. "[While she planned], I was thinking of ways to cut costs. Finally, she said, and this is her exact quote: 'Howard, right now you are the main source of my stress. I'm not going to let you turn our wedding into a backyard barbecue.' So, I learned the most important two words in a marriage--'Yes, dear!'"

At the end of each performance in venues around the world, Hewett says he's always anxious to get back to their 5,000-square-foot, six-bedroom home and participate in the ritual he and his wife enjoy upon his return.

"When he gets home, I'll have a Jacuzzi drawn for him and candles all around the tub," says Angela, who has been collecting angels for 15 years and points out that her name means "heavenly messenger." Sometimes, she says, she'll have a bottle of red wine open and "breathing" for him when he gets out of the tub.

"That makes me want to come home faster!" he says, gleefully.

The Hewetts have what Angela calls a "blended" family, with both having children from previous marriages. He has three other children, and, in addition to Anissa, she has a son. "We went through 11 months of premarital counseling," Hewett says. One of the issues that kept emerging was Angela's work status, he says. Both agreed that even though she was spending a lot of time tending to the needs of the children, she still needed, for her own sake, to have a career.

"I like to see Angela grow, and I like to see her blossom. I like to see her do things she wants to do," Hewett says. "A lot of guys might get intimidated, but I want to see her grow. Maybe she can take care of me some day."

Angela, in response to that comment, laughs, saying: "I already take care of him."

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning