Ravinia 2019, Issue 3, Week 6

’’ I want to be as impactful as I can, make people feel good again, make people love again and give people pleasant memories . remembers of his old boss before reflect- ing on Highland Park’s ultimate summer hangout. “I had a chance to walk around just a little bit. It’s just a great environment with a great view from the stage, and also from the audience looking in and from the lawn.” But that’s not the only happy memory that brings Sharkey back to Ravinia: “My manager works with Chaka Khan, so that pitch was placed. I guess a few people thought it was a good idea, including Chaka Khan, which was an honor for me. There’s no voice like hers! I love her version of ‘A Night in Tunisia’ and so many songs like ‘Tell Me Something Good,’ ‘You Got the Love,’ and ‘Sweet Thing.’ The list goes on and on. And with Michael McDonald, there’s the Doobie Brothers and all of the hits, ‘What a Fool Believes’ and ‘Takin’ It to the Streets,’ plus his career as a solo artist and as a session singer with Steely Dan and on so many different albums. I definitely grew up [with] him.” Sharkey won’t have a ton of time onstage while in the warm-up slot this time around, but he plans to maximize the opportunity, perhaps inserting a few covers in between tunes off his brand-new Love Is the Key and 2017’s Love.Life.Live. Though he recorded an album called Skyliner as a young teenager with his family, the sing- er-songwriter/six-string slinger considers the former to be his official debut, with his artistic growth even more apparent on the current collection. “That was more of a showcase as a child doing jazz music and stuff,” Shar- key reasons. “There were some originals, but not anything I could really say that I arranged, so Love.Life.Live. was the first for me. It took about three years to construct that album from start to finish because of touring. My goal was to put out a body of work that was honest and reflected all of my musical experiences at that partic- ular time, plus to have my vocals in the forefront instead of just my guitar with me and actually writing the songs and com- positions. I was going for more of a classic R&B/soul style sonically, but I still wanted it to be modernized, so I had some hip-hop and other elements in there. Love Is the Key is a big body of work. It’s 17 songs, so there will be a ‘part one’ and a ‘part two.’ It’s more of the same [vein], but I’ve had even more musical experiences since the last album, so those will be summed up for this particular time in my life. The album talks about all different types of scenarios of love and how I view love in general.” For those wondering, Sharkey is the proud father to a daughter and is also dating these days, but the new material truly transcends any particular personal scenario and points towards the timeless side of the soul dial, though it’s not nec- essarily limited to the genre itself. “You’ll hear little influences of Curtis Mayfield, D’Angelo, maybe Marvin Gaye, maybe Ste- vie [Wonder],” he suggests. “I don’t think I’m as great a singer as those artists, but I do admire their work. You will maybe hear a little Prince, maybe a little Sly [Stone] and just soul music. And when I say ‘soul music,’ any genre of music that’s from the heart, the body, and the soul is ‘soul music’ [to me]. Whether its funk, whether it’s Jimi Hendrix, whatever it is, it’s still soul music. I want to be as impactful as I can, make people feel good again, make people love again and give people pleasant memories. I hear people say a lot, ‘I remember where I was when I first heard that song,’ and I just want to give those experiences to people and affect the world in a positive way.” Speaking of that pursuit for a near-per- fect record, Sharkey’s already struck gold in that department as a member of D’Angelo and the Vanguard (since 2009 on the road), whose 2014 soulfully and socially conscious album Black Messiah didn’t just mark a massive comeback for its leader after 14 years away from the studio, but went on to collect Grammys for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song (for “Really Love”). “It was unreal,” Sharkey muses of the entire experience. “It felt really good, number one, because winning a Grammy is such an honor and an accomplishment in the music world. Another thing was the hard work and long years of blood, sweat, and tears, practicing and trying to get good—not to win a Grammy, or to be famous, or have so many accolades, but just to do it because I love to do it. It felt good that the love brought me there. Also being a huge fan of D’Angelo, there was a moment where he wasn’t really doing much and lot of people, along with myself, thought he would never come back out and do anything. Meeting him and having him ask me to be his guitarist, that alone was great, but to be a part of such a timestamp as an album, it’s an even higher honor because it’s something you can play back over and over again. And then to win awards, again, that’s way more than I ever imagined. “It’s all been a huge blessing. I’m grate- ful for sure,” Sharkey continues. I reflect quite often in a very grateful state. I never thought in a million years that I would be sharing the stage with such great human beings and artists. As a kid, I just wanted to play guitar and to be able to play a song would make me happy. But the love, and the consistency, and the great man upstairs helped all that stuff become possible, so I’m very grateful.” Andy Argyrakis is a Chicago-based writer/photographer whose credits include the Chicago Tribune , Chicago Sun- Times , Daily Herald , Illinois Entertainer , Concert Livewire , Chicago Now , Redeye , Metromix , Paste , DownBeat , Pollstar , and Celebrity Access , among many others. He is also the founder of ChicagoConcertReviews.com and the house photographer for the Chicago Theatre. 12 RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 1 – JULY 14, 2019