Warren Dean Flandez was born in Yellowknife on Jan. 18 in –40 C weather, which is not exactly the typical back story for a soul singer. But like other soul artists, Flandez grew up surrounded by music. As a kid he would drum on pots and pans along to his parents’ Stevie Wonder records. As a teenager, he sang in a gospel choir under the direction of Checo Tohomaso, former backup singer and keyboardist for Marvin Gaye. As one of the final four contestants on Cover Me Canada, Flandez had the opportunity to showcase his soulful voice to the nation. You can hear all those influences in his debut album, Vintage Love. Flandez recently chatted with me about his soul roots, and life after Cover Me Canada.
Q: How did you become a singer?
A: My dad is a singer, but he never pursued it. He’s an architect by profession. He used to sing all the time, and it was never something that I thought I would do. I had severe asthma when I was eight and my family doctor told my mom to put me in either voice lessons or sign me up for a wind instrument. So she put me in voice lessons and it was really something that I excelled at. But my first vocal coach told me that I couldn’t sing, that I should pursue acting. But I was so passionate about [singing], I just continued on.
Q: Did you always have a soul sound?
A: I’ve always had that kind of voice. When I was 18 I used to do session work, and at that time it was a very pop world. It was difficult because the soul in my voice, the vibrato would always come out. Soul music to me is any music that you can feel. I sing country songs and they can sound soulful.
Q: How did gospel influence you?
A: I joined a soul/gospel choir, one of the very few at the time, the Vancouver Outreach Community soul/gospel choir led by Checo Tohomaso, who was a former keyboardist and background vocalist for Marvin Gaye. That was an interesting time, because I was just a kid and his knowledge and his stories of growing up surrounded by Motown were just awesome and it really reflected in the choir. What I admire most was that it was a non-denominational choir and it was open to everyone. It was a tight-knit family. And gospel music really spoke to me, and in a lot of ways I think made me who I am and instilled certain values that have presented themselves in my adulthood.
Q: You covered Donny Hathaway’s version of “He Ain’t Heavy” on Vintage Love. Why did you pick that particular song?
A: I’ve been obsessed with Donny Hathaway forever and a day. And he’s definitely someone that I look up to stylistically. What I like most about Donny Hathaway is that he can take songs from any genre and make them his own. And that’s something that I wanted to do. I did his version of “He Ain’t Heavy,” but I wanted to put my stamp on it. For some reason it hits close to home and I honestly can’t explain it, because there’s nothing in my life yet that mimics what that song is talking about. But there are certain songs when you hear them on first listen, they just envelop you.
Q: Do you remember the first time you heard it?
A: The first time I heard it, I was a kid, and it wasn’t the Donny Hathaway version, it was in some public service commercial back in the ’80s. I remember hearing it on TV, and then hearing the Donny Hathaway version, and there was an immediate connection and I thought whoa, is this even the same song?
Q: Does the title Vintage Love represent an overall theme for the record in terms of sound and aesthetic?
A: The original title for the album was “Mayfield Park,” which is a song on the record that talks about my childhood. And Mayfield Park was the park across the street from where I grew up, in Edmonton. But it was something that was just so close to me that I knew no one would really know.
“Vintage Love” was another song on the album that was one of my favourites, and it just encompassed the whole vibe of the record. It was throwback, vintage music but produced in a modern way. You have Raphael Saadiq, you have Joss Stone, you have a lot of artists that make it sound like it was recorded, written and performed in that era. I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to use programmed drums and use samples and cool loops but also incorporate live horns and live strings and live background vocals, just to put my spin on it, much like Donny Hathaway puts his spin on cover songs.
Q: How did you get on Cover Me Canada?
A: My keyboardist and I threw together a cover of Bryan Adams’s “Run to You.” It was a one-take thing. I was reading the words even though you can’t tell in the video because I was wearing sunglasses. We put a little soul vibe on it and all of a sudden I got the call. It was really exciting.
At the time my record just came out and it seemed like something to do. It was a platform to be seen. That was really my goal on Cover Me Canada, to be seen. It was never to win. Every day I was just grateful to be there and every episode that aired I knew that millions of people were seeing a Canadian soul artist on TV. That to me was amazing.
Q: What was your favourite song to perform?
A: I loved all of them. I think my favourite one to perform would be “Diana” by Paul Anka. It was so out of my world. I just wanted to take that risk and it just felt so liberating and cool to take a song as iconic as “Diana” and, like Lego, just rip it apart and reconstruct into something else.
Q: Has your career changed since Cover Me Canada?
A: Definitely it has changed. During the day I’m a business man. Not really, I don’t wear suits, but I do own my own artist development studio. Something I’ve had for a few years and it has grown quite a bit since Cover Me Canada, and my own career has grown because now I’m recording and doing some new material. Doors have just completely opened and it’s really up to me to just walk through and continue to grow as an artist.
Related links:
Warren Dean Flandez
Cover Me Canada