INTERVIEW > Beyoncé: Me Myself and My Boy's

Over 40 million albums sold worldwide! Not a tale too many artists can tell, and that?s just the beginning for R&B/Hip-Hop superstar Beyoncé Knowles. Beyoncé, who is best known for her role as founding member and chief songwriter of Destiny's Child, is also the reason for much of the group's success.

Not only has this hard-working woman won over fans worldwide with her group efforts, she's also won over the entertainment industry with her solo endeavors. In 2001, MTV took a chance and cast Beyoncé in the made-for-TV movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera (a modern retelling of the 19th century opera Carmen, by French composer Georges Bizet.) In 2002, her role as Foxxy Cleopatra led Beyoncé from the stage to the silver screen in Austin Powers in Goldmember with Mike Meyers. Shortly thereafter she appeared as Lilly in The Fighting Temptations with Cuba Gooding Jr. In 2003, Beyoncé collected MTV Awards for Best Female Video, Best R&B Video and Best Choreography and The Vibe Award for Coolest Collaboration. On Feb 12, 2004, Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé's first solo album, was certified 3X platinum by the RIAA and later earned her five Grammy awards!

Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love was laced with interesting collaborations - everyone from Jay-Z and Missy Elliot to Luther Vandross. Since she obviously made the right choices in selecting great artists to join her on the album, there's no doubt she handpicked the best of the best to accompany her on tour. Along for the road trip are Joe 'Flip' Wilson, Luke Austin and Jeff Motley. We caught up with these three keyboardists to see if they could teach us a thing or two about their musical upbringing, how they landed the gig and the gear they use to support a hugely successful pop diva...

Proview: How about some background on you guys?

Joe: I'm from Newark, NJ, where there is a nucleus of talented musicians. I grew up in church, and there was always music, which exposed me to some awesome musicians. I didn't go to school for music, but I purchased some music books and tried to learn as much as I could about music. After this tour I am definitely going to enroll myself into a school, because the movie industry is waiting for me - you have to read and write music for that!

Luke: Well I started taking piano lessons when I was real little - around seven years old until I was 14. Then I started playing by ear. Playing in church and around town. That's how it got started.

Jeff: No one in my family played anything. My father just bought an organ one day. He had five kids, and I was the only one who really took an interest. I got inspiration from other musicians locally and played at church for a while. From there I played at local clubs. Then I started getting connections for these R & B gigs, which I've been doing since about '93 or so. I got referred to one gig and from there just buddied up with other musicians.

Proview: Can you tell us some of the other projects you've worked on?

Joe: I produced and performed on a lot of recordings - Dru Hill's first single Tell Me, Lauryn Hill's Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Brandy's Full Moon, Aaron Hall's Inside Of You, Natalie Wilson and SOP Chorale, Trinity 57 and Kirk Franklin just to name a few. The list can go on and on. I've been very blessed.

Luke: I've been doing this for about ten years. I went from Mary J. Blige to R. Kelly to Puffy to Teddy Riley - you name it! I've been touring since about '95.

Jeff: I started out with Teddy Riley with a group called Blackstreet. I played with them for about 4 years. I also did the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Tour. I was her piano and synth player. I've worked with Faith Evans, a group called 112, a solo artist named Mario, the rap artist Juvenile, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Carl Thomas and of course, Beyoncé.

Proview: How did you get hooked up with the Beyoncé tour?

Joe: My long time friend, Kern, called me and asked me if was I interested in doing the tour. We have toured since 1990 with just about every number number-one artist, like Teddy Riley and Guy, New Kids On The Block, Mary J. Blige, SWV and now the Beyoncé tour.

Luke: The musical director, Tom Brennan, called me along with Jeff (Motley). Actually, Tom and Jeff were both on the line! It kinda happened all of a sudden.

Jeff: Yeah, we've been joking about that. Lately Luke and I have said 'we are going to start selling ourselves as a package.' Basically I just got the Beyoncé gig from the other musicians I've been working with over the years. The musical director for Beyoncé called and asked me if I wanted to do the gig. I've been sticking with it since then.

Proview: What do you like best about this tour?

Joe: We've worked with a lot of artists through the years, but it is incredible to work with a person like Beyoncé, who is in touch with every aspect of her music. She's a beautiful and very talented lady who made it very easy to work with her. Also, she allowed me to do some arrangements on the songs along with her and the band for the tour. That made it so much fun to play every night! She even gave me a keyboard solo at the beginning of the show on the song, Me, Myself and I! On the tour I had the opportunity to work with some of the greatest musicians in the world, who all happen to be from church.

Luke: Yeah, I guess just being around the cats I'm used to playing with makes it fun.

Jeff: And I would have to say her production as a whole and the staging was amazing. There was a very big stage, a very big production and the video stuff. We've done a lot of shows, but probably not as big as this in terms of production. Other than that, just the fact that she is a great singer and entertainer was enough. It was kind of interesting musically as well to try to work out the different parts between Luke and Joe and I. Some of the songs didn't have a lot of heavy piano, there were just lead patches and hits, so working things out with the musicians made it exciting, too!

Proview: Yes, with three keyboard players on the tour, what were your roles?

Joe: We all play particular parts of the record - one might play Rhodes and another might play the strings, and the other might play a lead line on top. Sometimes we'll double up, which means we'll play the same string part but one guy plays a Legato String, and another might play World String to make the sound as thick or real as possible. I guess you can compare it to a rhythm and lead guitar player, but most R&B and Pop records today have so many parts being played in order to emulate the record, that we needed three keyboard players to play all the parts!
Luke: That's right. Sometimes we're playing the same instrument but different parts of it. For instance, Joe and Jeff might play the strings together on one song. One will be playing high strings and one will just be playing the chord. Or, Jeff and I might be playing the strings or Joe and I. It was a variation. I don't know. It just happened like that in rehearsal. Joe's the solo guy - the guy that does all the solos. Me, I'm kinda the pad man. I hold the pads down, the chords and whatever. Jeff is like strings and brass. He does it separately. But sometimes we all play the same thing, and it sounds like one big orchestra.

Proview: You are all using the TRITON STUDIO. What about it works for you?

Joe: Well, I love Korg keyboards over a lot of brands for number of reasons. The feel of the keys are very pleasant to play, I also like that fact that the TRITON STUDIO is very user-friendly. I could edit any sound that I wanted very easily - almost without reading the manuals. The sounds are and always have been so real. I don't think there are any recordings these days without a Korg keyboard, at least I never did a recording without one. They'?re very dependable. And, most definitely, you'll see a Korg TRITON in almost every church these days.

Luke: I love the string sounds in the TRITON STUDIO. I do a lot of studio work and that's one of the keyboards that I recommend for orchestra sounds and things like that. I love the strings and brass stuff that come out of the TRITON STUDIO! Plus, I love the touch screen. It makes it real easy to get to things. I'm not one to get into the technical part of the program and all that. That's Jeff. It's pretty much self-explanatory. I can get around the TRITON better than any other keyboard that I've operated.

Jeff: Yeah, on a lot of the R & B gigs that are synth-heavy, I'm the orchestra guy. Of course Korg strings, they have always cut through. So I've definitely liked the strings on Korg products as well as the lead sounds on there. Anything with strings and pads with Korg is all right with me! The touch screen is number one... the touch screen, the ribbons, the ease of getting around on it. The TRITON STUDIOs have a lot of great editing features on them as well.

Proview: Can listeners hear the TRITON STUDIO on any of Beyoncé's songs?

Joe: There are a lot of patches you will hear on the TRITON STUDIO and other Korg keyboards on Beyoncé's records. On the song Naughty Girl you'll hear patches A115 (Watcher Of The Sky) and A045 (Flute). On Baby Boy patches B083 (Indian Star) and C012 (Sine Switcher - a patch actually taken from the TRITON Classic to be used in Joe's TRITON STUDIO) and on the song Yes you'll hear patch A003 (Legato Strings) mostly every synth string on the CD... just to name a few. If I name every patch this will be a whole page!!

Proview: When you get off this tour what will you be doing?

Joe: I own a studio, so Rodney Jerkins, the multi-platinum producer, and myself have started a Gospel Label called GodsChild. We have a couple of gospel artists signed, so I will be back in the lab trying to make some more good music. Beyoncé is talking about the Destiny's Child tour coming at the end of 2004, but we'?ll see what happens. I'd rather stay in the studio making music even though I enjoy touring and playing the music as well. I always enjoy working with other artists, musicians and producers.

Jeff: I have a studio at home (northern New Jersey). I'm working, like Luke, with local artists to build up a library of tracks to start selling and distributing with some of the artists we work with.

Luke: I'm in the process of trying to get a website done. For the past year and a half I've been working in a production company with a partner of mine in Houston called Two Way Music. After the Mary J. Blige tour I'll probably be doing Destiny's Child (hopefully!). The same band. You'll probably run into us again.


Proview: Let's hope so!

To find out more about this talented trio, check out these websites: www.beyonceonline.com or www.destinyschild.com and the soon to be published www.joeflipwilson.com