Meet Millennial Crooner Ryan DeHues, Whose Heart Beats To A Bossa Nova Rhythm
10 questions with Ryan DeHues is all it takes to see that this artist is redefining the tradtions of Crooning.
by Scott Adams
10 Questions With Ryan DeHues
You’re off to a great start for 2024. First, you were a featured artist in February’s Rhythm & Romance Music Showcase, and then JAZZIZ magazine tapped you for its Spring issue on Brazilian music. Have you had time to even take a breath?
Well, the entertainment business never really lets you catch your breath: Too much fresh air can be harmful to one’s career!
And, yes, I’m thrilled to be featured in JAZZIZ and for the continued support from trendsetting outlets like Connect Brazil. I’ve been very busy this year performing with the best jazz musicians here in the Midwest.
You started your career by winning one of the most prestigious talent competitions at a young age. What was that experience like?
It was my senior year of high school. I went from complete obscurity to suddenly landing in Hollywood, under the nurturing wing of Pat Boone. Actually, I was following in his footsteps.
When Boone was 18, he won the East Nashville High School Talent Contest, and the prize – an audition for The Ted Mack Amateur Hour – was his big break into show business.
Later, Boone paid it forward with his own competition called The Search for America’s Next Great Crooner, which I won at the age of sixteen.
I soon found myself doing national radio and television. I was working with Sinatra’s former PR agency. I remember doing an interview with the Associated Press and they didn’t even know what a pop crooner was until they heard me sing.
It was like a beautiful dream coming to life. Thanks to Mr. Boone’s support, I was able to record a couple of albums in L.A. with a full big band, A-list musicians, top-notch studios, and great producers. What an honor.
Event:
- Catch Ryan DeHues live at Detroit’s famed London Chop House on Saturday, May 11th! Details
Do you come from a musical family?
My parents met touring as vocalists with Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians in the mid-70s.
From the 1930s through the ‘50s, Fred Waring was one of America’s top-selling pop performers. He was known as “The man who taught America how to sing”.
He toured Europe with Cole Porter. He was a million-seller at Capitol Records. Waring shared top billing with the likes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and recorded albums with both in the mid-60s. He was also a heavily featured artist in 1950s and ‘60s television.
I was all of one year old at his funeral. Fred Waring had the best choral group that ever existed. So many tried to copy him that followed.
Frank Sinatra created nicknames for people he liked. He gave Fred the honor of being called “Fritzy Boy.”
You moved to France, which led to the recording of Private Parlour (Bossa Vibes). Tell us about that decision to live abroad, and why did you choose France?
Curiosity. I was simply looking up bossa nova-oriented artists on YouTube one day, and I came across Maxence and Elisabeth Jutel, also known as the French musical duo, Double Françoise.
I was deeply touched by their charming performances and originality. So, I reached out to them, and we became friends.
It’s very easy to live abroad when you have friends who want you at their home for an extended stay and speak the same language! I would stay in France for a month at a time and then return home to whatever I was doing.
That’s pretty much the history of Private Parlour (Bossa Vibes).
Who are you listening to these days? And why?
Oh man… how long can the list be?
Well, I’m a vinyl collector. I love Bossa Nova, Modal Jazz/Jazz Club, Nu-Jazz/Electronica, and Japanese City Pop of the ‘70s and ‘80s. I dig iconic soundtracks, Vaporwave, Yacht Rock, Disco, and dance music.
I even like vintage Halloween Records.
Let me list some 20th-century artists that are influential to me, followed by some contemporary ones.
I love Sinatra, Jack Jones, Mel Torme, Bobby Darin and Nat King Cole. There’s Joanie Sommers’s Come Alive! album, Nancy Wilson, and Ella Fitzgerald.
I absolutely have to include Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘65 and ‘66, Marcos Valle, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and so many more.
Contemporary favorites? Smoke City (Nina Miranda and Chris Franck), KOOP, Italy’s Nicola Conte, and the duo, The Bird and The Bee. There’s De-Phazz, John Beltran, Kurt Maloo (Double), and DJ Krush, Double Françoise, and most recently, Ella and the Bossa Beat.
Hey, let’s all do lunch!
10 Questions With Ryan DeHues
From a creative perspective, what is it like to be a contemporary crooner?
It feels like there are no limits, artistically speaking. The umbrella of jazz is endless. From Bossa Nova or Big Band Swing to DJs cutting up jazz, there is one common denominator, great taste.
What are your hobbies or outside interests?
Musically, I’m open to anything weird, beautiful, or interesting from the ‘60s to the early 2000s.
I am a cinephile, so I’m decent with a camera and I enjoy editing film. The Criterion Collection is on the shelf, featuring contemporary cinema from around the world.
I also used to be a great fan of Adult Swim at Cartoon Network. So much so that I was one of just a handful of people who tagged all the bump music used for their programming at a popular site called Bump Worthy.
I was able to go to Atlanta and visit with executives/creators of Adult Swim, thanks to a mutual friend.
The music that was programed there in the 2000s was very influential in my love of jazz laced tastefully with electronica.
What’s the story behind your new single, ‘A Little Bit of Englishness’?
So, Maxence & Elisabeth Jutel of Double Françoise wrote this song. I was enamored with it because it reminds me of something we never got to hear from Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66.
Elisabeth and I got together and penned the English lyrics. The song describes an adventure, driving through the English countryside, with stops in London, Piccadilly, and Camden Town. Hence, ‘A Little Bit of Englishness’!
I’m very pleased that the publisher at JAZZIZ discovered Private Parlour (Bossa Vibes) and selected ‘A Little Bit of Englishness’ for the CD companion to their 2024 Spring Edition. It didn’t hurt that Connect Brazil has been spinning my album for several months.
What would you be doing if you were not a professional entertainer?
Something less vain and more profitable. Haha! God pointed at me and decided to make me a singer. If I had been born with a natural talent for mathematics or cooking, I’d be passionately pursuing one of those.
These are things we’re just born with. It can’t really be taught. We just do what we do.
So, what else is in store for ’24?
I’m presently preparing for a return engagement at Detroit’s famed London Chop House this April! I’ll be joined by a special guest vocalist, Elena Zelinko. I would very much like to follow up this album with another exciting recording this year, be it a single or two, or even an EP.
I’d also like to return to France, see my friends, perform, etc. I’m always booking the next gig.
Ryan DeHues
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10 Questions with Ryan DeHues
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