RS: Have you ever considered doing a jazz standard CD? You've covered some jazz songs and your voice seems perfect for it.
Mick: Sadly, I was in discussion to do this several years ago with Nesuhi Ertegun, who with his brother Ahmet founded Atlantic Records, and we were talking about that. I was also talking to Miles Davis's people about this, of doing the record with him before his untimely death, with Tommy LiPuma his producer. So I have reached out and tried to do this kind of thing, but the two times that I reached out, tragically both the two people had illness and passed away. So I think you understand why it might put me off a little bit.
RS: I can fully understand but sometimes third time's the charm.
Mick: Yes.
RS: Speaking about three times, Love to Infinity has remixed the first three singles from the album. What about their sound, do you feel compliments your music so well?
Mick: Well we've hit a good run with these guys, they're doing a really good job with the music. The good thing is, this time round we're distributed by Ministry of Sound in the UK and that has given us a good connection with the various DJs and stuff. They help us find these people and choose these people and they've done a really good job with us. Obviously Ministry's got a great reputation within dance music and I think that it's helped us enormously with this new project. I've been absolutely thrilled that we've had two number ones in America in the dance chart. I don't think that America would've imagined that, they see Simply Red very different than I think people do in Europe. I think in America some of the establishment see us as some kind of 80s nostalgia band, which is quite bizarre considering in the UK we're the biggest selling act of the whole decade of the 90s. We've clearly had more success in Europe than we've had in the United States, I guess that's probably why it is.
RS: Well I consider having more success in Europe than the US being a sign of your personal success and quality. Success in the US doesn't really mean much to musical integrity, but that's from someone who lives here.
Mick: Yes, but the thing is my influences are so rooted in afro-American culture especially that it's quite sad to not enjoy the same success because the influences are so strong from there. That was really down to a sort of huge deterioration of my relationship with the record company when they failed so dismally in doing a proper job working Stars; I think we should have sold twice as many albums as we did. I remember a few years ago Elton John saying to me that he couldn't believe that Stars didn't sell in America.
RS: That is an incredible record.
Mick: I wrote all of those songs on that album and that could well be seen as my masterpiece. The record label had a budget and they chose to promote En Vogue. We didn't get much support after they'd made that decision and I never really forgave them for it. From then on, our relationship just went from bad to worse and by the time 1998 came around, I said to my management let's get out there and find another deal because I don't want to do it this way anymore. I want to own my own work because I've paid for it, as far as I'm concerned I own that work that you might have on your table right now, a greatest hits or whatever, I own that work, I paid for it. They are currently custodians of my work, they think they own it but they don't own it. They don't own it morally, they don't own it financially and the only way that I can really get back at them is if the law won't enable me to have what I own, is to create my own record company and create my own catalogue that would be in direct competition with that. Until they see the light and see the day that that work belongs to the artist.
RS: And also, in just a couple of years, can't you rerecord your masters and own them yourself anyway?
Mick: It's a funny thing you say that, that's exactly what we're doing. For legal reasons, I can't sing though, this is how absurd it is. We're now five years away from the termination of my contract and I still can't rerecord any of my old vocals, but they can't stop us rerecording the rhythm tracks, which is what we're in the process of doing.
