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Rick Nowels on Madonna - SongwriterUniverse Interview


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http://www.songwriteruniverse.com/rick-nowels-2015.htm

Hit Writer/Producer Rick Nowels Talks About His Great Career, Working With Lana Del Rey, John Legend, Madonna And Santana

By Dale Kawashima June 11, 2015

(relevant part of Q&A)

DK: You worked with Madonna on her acclaimed Ray Of Light album. What was it like working with her?

Nowels: I always wanted to work with Madonna. I loved her voice, her songwriting, and the great records she made with Pat Leonard, Stephen Bray and Nile Rodgers. In 1997 I was in New York for the Grammys. I was up for Album of the Year (as one of the producers) for Celine Dion’s Falling Into You. I was in Barney’s (store) getting a tie for the Grammys and I saw Madonna there. I introduced myself, and I told her that she didn’t get the credit she deserved as a songwriter. Which is true, but it’s also an awkward thing to tell a huge superstar! She was very cool and gracious. I ended up getting a meeting with her in L.A. a few weeks later.

We wrote nine songs together—three made the Ray of Light album: “The Power of Goodbye”, “Little Star” and “To Have and Not To Hold”. “The Power of Goodbye” was a number one song in U.K. and Europe. It was a career-changing experience for me. Before that I had always done my co-writing with friends. But working with Madonna…it was the first time I had ever written one-on-one with a great artist/writer. After that I changed gears a little, and now I mostly collaborate directly with artists.

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Great article. Thanks for posting Nemo.

Love how song-writers, producers, musicians all rave about Madonna's talent as a singer and song-writer and also how gracious and professional she is. I love Rick Knowles as well - such a talented and prolific song writer. Great praise indeed.

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Guest bluejean

"The Power of Good-bye was a number one song in the UK"

:lmao: Maybe she should include it on her Number Ones album

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Which were the other 6? Do we have info? I know so much info is out there about unreleased tracks, that i don't remember everything.

Love some Rick Nowels songs, especially the ones written with Belinda Carlise. Vision of You is simply the perfect song.

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We only have the three RoL leaked ones don't we?

Revenge, Like a Flower and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Maybe she wrote those with Rick Nowells. Though Like a Flower sounds like a song she did with Babyface

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"...and I told her that she didn’t get the credit she deserved as a songwriter."

Ain't that the truth.

Indeed

Thx for posting Nemo

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We only have the three RoL leaked ones don't we?

Revenge, Like a Flower and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Maybe she wrote those with Rick Nowells. Though Like a Flower sounds like a song she did with Babyface

Yes, they are all RIck Knowles, but I dont know of any others. Funny how some songs leak and others dont ...

Ive wondered if Beautiful Scars was written recently, or whether it was from ROL originally and she just dusted it off and maybe changed a few things with a new writer? The bridge sounds like it was written for this album, but maybe she found this old song and that inspired this whole album...

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Why would she if she had 45 songs to choose? Imagine her "oh, i have 45, let's take this song from 15 years ago to see what happens". We had Your Honesty because she wanted to add somethng else to that weird R&R and that was surely the first folder her assistant opened. And that was becase Bedtime Stories starts with a B.

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Guest Rachelle of London

Rick Nowels is lovely, and will answer all fan questions on Twitter. HE doesnt get the credit he deserves. The work he's done with all artists is always exceptional. He told me that THANTH is one of the best songs hes worked on and will always remain special.

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"The Power of Good-bye was a number one song in the UK"

:lmao: Maybe she should include it on her Number Ones album

It wasn't exactly number 1 as a song, but the album had a huge surge up the charts in Europe around November/December of 1998 and even reached number 1 again in Germany. And for a record producer/writer/artist etc, that means a lot more than a song reaching number 1 on the singles charts. More money, that is.

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Guest bluejean

It wasn't exactly number 1 as a song, but the album had a huge surge up the charts in Europe around November/December of 1998 and even reached number 1 again in Germany. And for a record producer/writer/artist etc, that means a lot more than a song reaching number 1 on the singles charts. More money, that is.

Okay but I was just pointing out the inaccuracy. It seems weird that he would think it went to #1 when it didn't. Maybe he meant that it was a top 10 hit?

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"...and I told her that she didn’t get the credit she deserved as a songwriter."

Ain't that the truth.

even in the title of another article they say he writes songs for M, not that they write songs together. so he talks about her not getting credit as a songwriter and the article proves it... (not this one though, another one)

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Why would she if she had 45 songs to choose? Imagine her "oh, i have 45, let's take this song from 15 years ago to see what happens". We had Your Honesty because she wanted to add somethng else to that weird R&R and that was surely the first folder her assistant opened. And that was becase Bedtime Stories starts with a B.

maybe she re-recorded beautiful scars before she wrote the other 45 songs? it just seems odd that if that is a new interview with Rick he didnt mention writing with her recently?

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Maybe she forgot about Beau Scars' existence all these years :lmao: and when browsing her folders for pictures to post on Instagram she saw an MP3 of it and decided to remake it. :chuckle:

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I had no idea he also wrote for Geri Halliwell, Laura Pausini, All Saints, Craig David, Nelly Furtado, New Radicals, Melanie C, Sonique and Eros Ramazzotti among others

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"Like A Flower" is definitely a Rick Nowles collaboration. Laura Pausini wrote new Italian lyrics to it and released it as a single in 2004 ("Mi Abbandono a Te"). It's credited to Laura Pausini, Madonna and Rick Nowles.

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Great article. Thanks for posting Nemo.

Love how song-writers, producers, musicians all rave about Madonna's talent as a singer and song-writer and also how gracious and professional she is. I love Rick Knowles as well - such a talented and prolific song writer. Great praise indeed.

Indeed

Thx for posting Nemo

With pleasure! Love it when established people in the industry praise Madonna, and even more when the articles/interviews are current.

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He wrote the wonderful Standing Still with Jewel. Her last great song.

He worked with Kylie too! Well, he has worked with so many people and i can't recall a single time that it has been a wrong decision. But to be fair i would love it if Belinda Carlisle released a new album with him. Her last first single with Nowels was In Too Deep, which is so beautiful.

Oh, and i'm such a dork, i thought people were speculating about Beautiful Scars being written with Nowels, i didn't know it was official! OMG, we need those damned RH credits.

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"Like A Flower" is definitely a Rick Nowles collaboration. Laura Pausini wrote new Italian lyrics to it and released it as a single in 2004 ("Mi Abbandono a Te"). It's credited to Laura Pausini, Madonna and Rick Nowles.

Yeah, I thought this was common knowledge. The songs's even registered at ASCAP, there was no mystery about it.

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