Ben l’Oncle Soul became Ben in 2020. He quickly counted thanks to the enthusiasm around his voice, his personality, his look too. It was in 2009 with his self-titled debut album and the single Soulman released in 2010 that it comes out of the shadows. He has just released a fifth album, Red Mangocontaining nine covers in reggae soul version.
franceinfo: This new album seems to bring you closer to what suits you best.
Well: In any case, it brings me closer to the origins on my father’s side which are Caribbean, from Martinique and I had never integrated this swaying side too much into my music. Finally, it seems quite natural.
Listening to this album, I realized how long you had been looking for each other. You’ve tried a lot of things, but this one is different, it’s really tailor-made.
There is pleasure, perhaps even more than on the others. Doing covers also takes a lot of distance from the music. We’re here to have fun, to rearrange well-known songs and suddenly, the freedom is total and we had a good laugh.
It goes back a bit with your first contract with Motown. When we say Motown, we think of Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson… How did you experience this recognition?
It immediately propelled me, put my foot in the stirrup. It gave me a nice dynamic. I was very happy to do so many concerts, to also have a good exposure on this first disc. And then it created the trademark ‘Ben l’Oncle Soul’.
It’s true that this bow tie that represented your grandfather was also a way of giving you strength.
Yes of course. And then also to be respectful of the elders.
“In my music, I was a little respectful of the codes of Motown, Stax. Today, it’s more mixed, there’s more mixing and that’s what I love.”
There is a huge work that has been done on the voice. Does that mean that this voice has a different place in your life today?
Yes. We will say that I may have found it as I wanted to hear it. It’s true that it’s not so obvious when you’re a musician, a music lover, to find the work of the voice, the place of the voice in the music. Me, at the beginning, I tended to bring in the voice, not to hear it too much, to have the music take up a lot of space and more and more, I’m moving towards more acoustic things too where the voice is a boulevard.
Does it become a way of paying homage to those you take on?
Yes. These are voices, in my opinion, too little listened to or too little heard. For example, Conceived by John Lennon, is a song that everyone knows, but do we still hear it? Do the words resonate? Does this message still get across as well in a revolutionary way? By giving it a little freshness, we say: “Ah, listen to the lyrics again. There was a message that was important“.
This album is also a nod to your family, with reggae sounds, of course. A nod also to your mother who made you listen to Bob Marley very early on.
First track was No woman No Cry and it sounded very loud in the living room. I loved the voice, I loved the atmosphere, then the songwriting. Bob Marley was still gifted!
Tell me about some tracks you chose from this album.
I therefore chose Conceived by John Lennon, there is also a piece by Sixto Rodriguez called sugar man. I often chose songs that resonated for different reasons. Sixto Rodriguez is a kind of destiny where success came super late and he was absolutely unaware of it. He lived in extreme poverty while he was undoubtedly rich thanks to this tube in South Africa. He offered a world tour to present his album and then finally, he returned to the shadows because it was not his thing, the light, the spotlight. There are people like that who need to give messages to the music. And finally, they may not be cut out to go in front of millions of people like that either. It’s intimidating too.
You are your passion. Have you had a bad experience of this notoriety at times?
Its not always easy. Sometimes you want to step back, the diving board is a bit too much. I haven’t always had the opportunity to go back on a concert, I often jumped! Bill Withers had a speech a bit like this where he said, “But in fact, for me, it’s hard to go and pretend to soften up with a speech because there’s promotion, you have to look good, etc…“And he in fact only had very personal things to offer and he did not always find the frameworks to deliver it. For him the music was ideal, but it is a bit the only framework.
You have been lulled to the sound of Otis Redding. It still runs through your veins!
Otis is kind of my landmark. It’s the voice I heard the earliest in my youth and it’s the voice I still hear the most today because I listen to it a lot.
I would like to talk about the tour. What does it mean to get back on stage?
“The stage is a lot of fun, it’s liberating.”
It’s a bit of a first meeting with the public. It seems surprising to me to rediscover this pleasure. And at the same time, it’s a bit like a wasteland. It’s good for the earth to let it rest for a few years like this. So finally, we come back with a lot of freshness. That is cool.
Ben will be in concert on May 31 in Corbeil-Essonnes, June 23 in Trélazé, 24 in Audun-Le-Tiche etc… And in Paris on December 13, 2022.