RS: Here's a question I've been meaning to ask – I live in
Nashville, Tennessee. I follow the dance scene pretty much
internationally, and there's one singer who there seems to be so much
buzz about in New York and I don't know anything about her, and I want
you to explain why she's the next big super star. Would you do that
for me?
Dee Robert: Sure – who is it?
RS: Luz Divina.
RS: Luz, OK.
Dee Robert: She's amazing. I believe that she's eighteen right now
and I've known her since she was about fourteen. Her first single was
"In Your Eyes" and she was involved with Jonathan Peters early in her
career. There was a buzz on her that was incredible. She's musically
amazing, her voice is pure and angelic. I wanted to work with her
when she was fourteen, I met her in the studio and I said I would
really, really love to work on a record with you. She's got great
star potential, she's just amazing. I think that it's just a matter
of time before she gets picked up by a major label and she gets the
push to go top forty. She's beautiful and she is bilingual, she can
sing in English and Spanish. She speaks Portuguese. She is
musically amazing, one of those prolific kids that comes up with
amazing stuff. For me, I'm more of a technique writer, so she gives
me a lot of raw material to work with and I sort of plug it in and
make it work for the way my technique works, songwriting-wise. It was
really a lot of fun working with her on this new single, which is
called "You Shine on Me."
RS: I want to ask you a probably more difficult question, I
don't know how to phrase this. We're talking a lot about songwriting
and producing, and you've talked a little bit about your songs and
your shows. You're one of the few dance artists who's surviving and
doing well, what's your formula for success for being successful in
this market industry the way it is right now?
Dee Robert: My formula for success? I think I'm a unique case out
there because, I come from a songwriter/producer background even
before I come from the artist background. Maybe it sounds
presumptuous to speak of it this way, but you take somebody like a
Michael Bolton and he was always a singer but he became known as a
songwriter first and he wrote songs for other contemporary artists,
and then he pursued his career as a vocalist as well. I guess I can
say that I'm similar in that sense, just because I've written and
produced for so many other people. Then, Separate Ways came out in
2002 and that was on the radio. So I'm like multifaceted and I also
have strong connections with pretty much everyone in the industry that
I've cultivated over the years. So I can pick up the phone and call
most anybody, or if I want to collaborate with anybody I can pick up
the phone and do so, if I have like a certain idea or a project. I
guess I survive because of my relationships that I've made and by
utilizing my skills as a songwriter, vocalist, and a performer. I
would say that relationships are number one. I would say that
actually having your craft down as well. Knowing how to create a song
for Veronica almost on the spot or sit and collaborate with Luz Davina
sitting in a Starbucks, taking all her ideas that come off the top of
her head and try to formulate it and make it a song with hooks and
make it make sense - I would say that that's how I survive.
RS: Awesome. Anything you want to say to all the dance music
lovers out there?
Dee Robert: I would tell them to hang in there. I think that music
is cyclic and right now I think it's really difficult with the small
number of radio stations that actually support dance music and dance
artists. I believe that the trend is swinging back around and I think
you're going to see more and more stations switch back to the dance
crossover format. I hope that everyone doesn't get frustrated and
start switching to other genres. I would tell them to hang in there
and that there are artists and songwriters plugging away to give them
new music keep them happy. I guess you've just got to believe.
