Ever since releasing his first single "Bewildered" in 1969, North Carolina-born soul singer Lee Fields has been one of the hardest working men in the business.
Fields left North Carolina at an early age. While spending decades jumping from label to label, it wasn't until he linked up with Desco Records and his band The Expressions that his career really took off. "They're like my musical sons. I'm very concerned with their well-being and feel that they're concerned with mine," he said. "We're like a musical family, man."
Desco eventually morphed into Daptone Records, and along with artists like Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley, he became one of main figures of the soul music revival of the early aughts.
Since then, Fields has been touring regularly with The Expressions and has earned a reputation as one of the most charismatic soul singers today. His music has also been sampled by some of the biggest names in hip hop like J. Cole and A$AP Rocky.
After a run of shows with the reunited Alabama Shakes, Fields and The Expressions are now on tour with Lord Huron. The tour will make a stop at Coastal Credit Union Music Park in Raleigh on August 5. He caught up with WUNC music reporter Brian Burns ahead of the show to talk about his history with North Carolina and what he likes to do while he's on tour.
Tell me about your connection to North Carolina.
Well, you know, I was born in Greene County, North Carolina, and then I moved to Wilson at a young age. My dream at that time was to become a businessman because people of color at that time had very little. I love North Carolina, man. I still do.
North Carolina loves you back! What kind of business did you want to go in to?
At the time I was a paper boy and I was just starting to come up with my own dreams and aspirations. I didn't know what kind of business I wanted to go into at the time, but I knew I wanted to get married one day and provide a better life for my family than my parents could for us. They did their best, but we were poor, man. And it's no fun being poor.
Do you have any early musical memories of North Carolina?
I started out singing very young. I was about 14 when I got into the clubs in Wilson. It wasn't my ambition to become a singer, like I said, I wanted to become a businessman, but then this movie The T.A.M.I. Show came out. It had James Brown in it and everybody was telling me how much I resembled him. I went to see the movie and I liked what he did and I said to myself, "I believe I can do that."
I had a transistor radio that I used to listen to on my paper route, so I knew all of his songs that were current and hot at the time. Then my mother bought me a guitar, and when we'd have company over me and my brother would sing for them and they'd give us quarters and stuff. We'd sing whatever was popular at the time, like "Wake Up Little Susie" by The Everly Brothers. Playing those songs for our mother's friends gave me some good experience in front of an audience.
One night at a talent show in Wilson, my friend bet me that I could win if I entered. I didn't want to enter, but he kept pushing me. I put my name down on the list, and when they called my name I went up there and did a James Brown song and all the girls started screaming and hollering.
Then the house band for the talent show asked me if I'd become their singer, and they were offering to pay me a lot more money than I was making as a paper boy. It didn't take a genius to figure that decision out. So I started singing with them, and everywhere we went I got a great response, and I've been doing it since then.
One of your biggest songs is "Ladies," which is one you perform a lot live and was sampled by North Carolina's own J Cole. What's it like when you find out that an artist like that has sampled one of your songs?
It makes me feel well, man. It makes me feel great. A bunch of artists since have sampled my songs like Travis Scott and Lizzo. It's like a dream, and it brings in some revenue. I truly appreciate them doing that.
I follow you on Instagram, and one of my favorite things is when you post a picture of yourself with what always looks like an amazing meal you're having while on tour.
(Laughs) I don't really eat that much! My bandmates put all this food in front of me and it looks like I'm throwing down hard but I don't eat like that. I eat a lot, but not like that. Sometimes they'll put 15 tacos in front of me and it brings a couple chuckles so I continue to do it.
Well, what do you like to do when you're on tour?
I like riding through the city and just looking at the architecture. My brother-in-law was an architect so we used to talk about buildings all the time. He made me really interested in the subject and thinking about how exactly buildings are put up and made to last.
