Veteran singer Siedah Garrett talks co-writing “Man in the Mirror” for Michael Jackson, idolizing Chaka Khan, and why Madonna is the hardest-working artist she knows
. She called us up from her home in Los Angeles to look back at all of it, and to give us an update on her battle with MS.Man, I have been thriving. Creatively thriving. It’s been a complete reset for me. I know it’s been very, very difficult for a lot of people, and a lot of people I know personally are not faring well. With the further restrictions that are being required, they are just getting more and more fearful of losing their livelihood.
I didn’t really get it until I was about 16. My mother was a wallpaper hanger. She was working on R&B singer D.J. Rogers’ home. She kept telling him, “My daughter can sing.” He said, “Sure … your daughter, my plumber’s cousin, my maid’s nephew, everybody can sing!” Dennis Lambert and Franne Golde saw me at these auditions and asked me to do a demo for a song called “Don’t Look Any Further.” I was like, “Sure.” Went and did the whole song. A few weeks later, Dennis Edwards came in and put his half of the song down. And so Dennis Lambert called me and was like, “I think this is going to be a record.” I’m like, “Great. When can I come and redo my vocals?” He goes, “No, we’re using your demo vocals.
Stephen Bray said, “We’re going to do this song ‘Where’s the Party’ and we’re going to need you to hire another singer.” I hired this girl that I knew and loved a lot. She had perfect pitch. Her name was Edie Lehmann. I hired her and I looked at Madonna and said, “Do you want to sing on this?” And so I hired Edie Lehmann and Madonna for Madonna’s record. [I thought the song was very edgy. I knew it was going to be controversial. That was Madonna’s thing at the time. She loved controversy.
I said, “Quincy Jones? OK.” I didn’t know Quincy from the man in the moon. He said, “You need to go. It’s a big thing.” I said, “What time is it?” He said, “I don’t know.” But he gave me the address. I didn’t know what time, so I showed up at 7 a.m. The real auditions didn’t begin until noon. I was third in line. By the time that noon rolled around, the line was around the block.
And don’t let three people be in the room, because then it’s even more. I said, “I don’t want this writing deal. I’m not a writer and I don’t want to be on the wrong side of a publishing contract with Quincy Jones, so no.” The boys were like, “Fine.” They took a meeting with Quincy and signed. Quincy said, “Where is Siedah’s name?” They said, “She doesn’t want the publishing part. She just wants the recording-artist part.
Cut to two years before this day. I’m writing with jazz keyboard player John Beasley. He’s amazing. We were writing this song and the phone rings and he takes the call instead of letting the phone ring, and he begins this banal conversation with I-don’t-know-who. I remember flipping through my lyric book and going, “He is not taking a phone call while we’re trying to write this song.”
It was a Wednesday evening. Glen said, “You go home. You finish the second verse. I’ll finish the track. We’ll demo the song on Friday.” I said, “Great.” We got back on Friday afternoon. Finished the song on Friday evening. I then took the song to Quincy’s house.He called me two hours later. I was at my house making dinner for myself. The phone rang. I picked up the phone and it was Quincy Jones. He said, “Sied. This is the best song I’ve heard in 10 years.” That’s an exact quote.
In my little brain, I’m on the phone with my husband! I had to just rein it in. I didn’t want to be fan girl. I didn’t want to be what I was. I didn’t want to let him hear, “Oh, my God, Michael. I love you so much. You have no idea. You’re my husband!” I didn’t want any of that to be heard in my voice. He said, “Hello,” and I went straight-up hotel operator. “How can I help you?”
I walk into the studio and it’s [engineer] Bruce Swedien, Quincy Jones, and my husband! Oh, my God. But I’m still not fan girl. I’m still going to be cool. And then Michael introduces himself like he needs an introduction. It was crazy.
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