*Before EURweb’s Lee Bailey could ask Q Parker a single question about The Living Legends Foundation, the founding member of 112 had already turned the Zoom interview into something considerably less formal.
“I’m loving the voice,” Parker told Bailey about his legendary dulcet tones, in an exclusive interview. “The voice is everything.”
Then came an accidental phone call, a reference to Monica’s “Just One of Dem Days” and, almost inevitably, Parker singing.
“Got you singing, too,” Bailey told him. “Man, this is gonna be good.”
It was a fitting introduction for an artist who, after more than three decades in music, is still singing — and increasingly talking about something else: giving people their flowers while they’re here to receive them.
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That’s part of what drew Parker to the Living Legends Foundation, which will hold its 35th anniversary gala Oct. 2 at Flourish Atlanta. Parker is serving as an honorary chair.
“I just believe in giving people their flowers,” he told EURweb. “So much is going on in our world today, and it would be unfortunate for those who have done major works to not be here and not ever feel the acknowledgement and the respect.”
‘We Don’t Achieve All of This Success by Ourselves’
Parker was introduced to the organization through music executive and Living Legends Foundation president Azim Rashid, one of his business partners. After attending last year’s celebration, Parker said he wanted to become more involved.
His reason goes beyond nostalgia.
“As an artist for going on 31 years, I realized that we don’t achieve all of this success by ourselves,” Parker said. “There are so many people that contribute to an artist’s success.”
Many of those people never become household names. They are executives, promoters and other industry professionals working behind the scenes — precisely the community Living Legends was created to recognize and support.
Parker believes younger artists should know who those people are, particularly in an era when many musicians are building careers independently.
“The reality is everybody’s not going to sign a major record deal,” he said.
Going independent, Parker cautioned, doesn’t mean going it alone.
Artists still need to understand “all of the areas, all of the lanes” and the people who can help turn talent into a sustainable career.
“I’m always telling the next generation to know the business and know all the players of the business,” he said.
Enter the ‘Romance Dealer’
Parker, meanwhile, is deep into another chapter of his own career.
He’s promoting “Stare,” the lead single from The Evolution of Romance Volume 2, which he says arrives in November. It’s the second installment of an ambitious five-volume project, with a new volume planned each November through Volume 5.
And apparently, regular old “R&B singer” no longer adequately describes the mission.
“I’ve called myself the Romance Dealer,” Parker said, “because everything about me is about dealing and promoting and singing about romance.”
He’s taking that concept on the road with his Romance Dealer Tour, playing City Winery venues around the country beginning Oct. 10 in Chicago.
That means Parker will go from helping salute music-industry veterans in Atlanta to dispensing romance onstage eight days later.
Just don’t necessarily expect him to sing at the gala.
When EURweb asked whether honorary-chair duties might include a little performance, Parker was clear.
“Not this year, not this year.”
Rashid, interviewed separately by EURweb, left the door cracked ever so slightly.
“He’s not scheduled to,” Rashid confirmed, before adding that Parker keeps “fresh vocals in the back pocket at all times.”
“If the music is on, and it’s feeling, the vibes are right, you never know what you’re gonna get.”
Scheduled performance or not, Parker says his Oct. 2 mission is to use his visibility to bring more attention to the people who helped build careers like his.
“It’s nothing like hearing someone say, ‘I appreciate you,’ hearing someone say thank you, by their presence and by their words.”
After 31 years in the business, Q Parker knows something about receiving applause.
At Living Legends, he’d rather help redirect some of it.
Click HERE to get more info on The Living Legends Foundation Gala, in Atlanta on October 2.
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