Steal Away, Boxing, Performing: Singer Robbie Dupree Chats – Music News
Exclusive Interview by “Bad” Brad Berkwitt
(Interview conducted in 2010)
Over time I’ve observed that I have a special affinity for artists that hail from my hometown, New York. What attracts me is a certain down-to-earth realism that not only influences choice of subject matter, but also how it is expressed. I believe the operative word here is “soul”. Robbie Dupree is from New York, and indeed possesses soul in great abundance.
You can feel this easy, pragmatic, earthy realism in Robbie’s songs. I always enjoy an artist whose CD you can put on…. and leave on. Robbie is such an artist. Easy to listen to. The songs are melodic, the rhythms engaging and his vocal delivery effortless.
I noticed he released his new CD on Spectra Records; and it so happens that I have recently licensed a CD for release on Spectra as well. I guess this makes us label-mates……. partners in crime, as it were. – Gregory Abbott (Singer & Songwriter)
“In my opinion, Robbie is and will always be one of the best both in the studio and on the stage. He has shown staying power throughout the years and his music is still a bona fide KNOCKOUT!”– Bertie Higgins (Singer & Songwriter)
The phone rings…. An easy voice on the other line says “Hey Brad, how are you?” From that point, the tape rolls. For the next two hours, we spoke of 80’s hit maker Robbie Dupree’s musical career and for the follow up to his stinging jab, a right hand right in the kisser, but in a good way, to the RSR readers where he talks extensively about his love for the sport of Boxing.
Rewind…..
The year was 1980, and the airwaves were filled with some great tunes and one of those included Robbie Dupree’s smash hit “Steal Away” on his self-titled debut album from Elektra Records. I can remember being in the 6th grade at the time and living on Miami Beach where you had radio stations like Y100 that played the track over and over again. “Steal Away” hit number # 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1980. His follow up track from the album was “Hot Rod Hearts” and that hit number # 15 as well on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1980. Robbie would go on to record many albums over the years staying true to the music he sings and loves. He is very big overseas where many artists from his era of music have found success, and in between those long trips on a plane, he also performs gigs throughout the US.
Ladies and Gentlemen, RSR welcomes Robbie Dupree….
BB: First off, let’s catch the RSR readers on what you are doing today.
Well, I have been doing the same thing steadily since Steal Away came out in 1980 which is touring. We have been doing it particularly in Japan, Scandinavia and Europe along with doing it in the states, but not as much as I have overseas. I still make records and put a new one out on Spectra Records called “Time and Tide,” which I feel is very good. I have tried to maintain the integrity of my career and just don’t make records to just keep doing it, but hope they are still relevant along with me staying true to the music I love.
This past May, I came back from Europe to do The Jimmy Fallon Show which was fantastic and a lot of fun. It was really cool how I got on Jimmy Fallon’s Show. He is a big fan of the 80’s music period like you are. So they put me in Rolling Stone Magazine when they asked him: “Who would you like as your number one guest who you haven’t had on yet?” He said, “Robbie Dupree.” Could I believe that? It was unbelievable and next thing I did was have my management contact his people and they were thrilled to have me come on and play with The Roots. More recent, I have been touring around the country in Missouri, Illinois, Florida and New York to name a just a few.
Steal Away this year actually wound up in two Hollywood Films (MacGruber with Will Forte from SNL and in a Jim Carrey movie that is coming out later this year called “I Love You Phillip Morris”). It’s been a lot of fun to continue to have a career all these years later.