BuzZ  meets Jeffrey Osbourne
Local Vibes
February 10, 2006
BuzZ meets Jeffrey Osbourne

Well, the mature ladies also got their fill of a night of serenading at Blues Fest on Saturday February 4 at Buccama on the Bay from the soulful Jeffrey Osbourne. BuzZ again has gone all out to get behind the scenes to give you the scoop. Here’s what Jeffrey had to say.

Q. HOW DID YOU ENJOY THE SHOW TONIGHT? {{more}}

Jeffrey: I had a wonderful time! It’s my first time here on the island and everybody is so warm, everybody made me feel right at home and I had a wonderful time performing. I’m sorry it rained a bit but I had a good time and I’m looking forward to coming back soon.

Q. WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS IMPRESSIVE ABOUT BLUES FEST?

Jeffrey: Well, you know I didn’t get a chance to see the whole show but I think it’s always impressive when you bring a mixture of different artistes. I think variety is probably the spice of life and it’s nice to have so many different artistes. I missed the all-girl group from Cuba (Canela) I wanted to see them and I heard that they were very attractive ladies (laughs).

Last night they had a group for the younger people, tonight they had performances for the more mature people so that’s nice when you get to a chance to share a little bit of all different types of music.

Q. HOW HAVE YOU ENJOYED THE COUNTRY SO FAR?

Jeffrey: I had a great time so far. I haven’t had enough time to really enjoy it and get out and see the other (Grenadine) islands. But I’m gonna come back to enjoy the beauty of the islands.

Q. YOU REPLACED ISAAC HAYES BECAUSE HE FELL ILL AND CANCELLED. DO YOU THINK IT WAS FATE THAT BROUGHT YOU HERE TO PERFORM?

Jeffrey: Unfortunately it’s one of those things that just happened, because Isaac is a dear friend of mine and I know he got very sick, so I hate to see anything like that happen to a fellow entertainer. But at the same time it opened the door for me and I really appreciate it and I’m glad I got the opportunity to come here because I’ve never seen this wonderful island before. So I guess it is fate that brought me here and hopefully we all made the best of it and I can come back and enjoy it again. Now I know what I’ve been missing.

Q. YOU ARE ONE OF THE VETERANS IN MUSIC. BESIDES YOUR GOOD PHYSIQUE AND YOUR GOOD VOICE, WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES YOU KEEP ON TICKING?

Jeffrey: (laughs) Well I love what I do. I’ve loved music; it’s my first love. I’ve been fortunate enough to make a good living doing something that I love to do. It’s easy for me; I don’t have to work hard at it. I would sing for nothing, so it’s incredible that people would pay me to do what I love to do.

I think what keeps me going is the audiences; as long as they are enjoying it, then I’m gonna continue to do it. It’s like a happy marriage between an entertainer and an audience, it’s a chemistry feed back. You give and they give it back to you and I kind of ride on the energy of the audience.

The recording studio is very cold and you don’t get the feedback; it’s just you and the studio engineer. So I love performing live.

Q: WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR CAREER?

Jeffrey: I think the next big thing I’m gonna do is an album with James Ingram and Peabo Bryson. The three of us are just getting ready to sign a deal to do a CD together, so hopefully we will get that done this year and maybe the CD will be out by next year. I have some touring to do for the summer and I also have some other performances before that in the States.

Q: WHO WAS THE BEST “WOO WOO WOO” SINGER TONIGHT?

Jeffrey: The local entertainer Bomani was very good, then there was the guy who was “WOOING” to Vida Bernard, (laughs) but I think overall there were some pretty good ones. The lady with the really high voice she was very interesting. I don’t think I could sing that high. (laughs)