Interview 4

“Istarted to notice that people were

starting to lose a bit of hope due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns... So I tried to write a song that was uplifting and that gave people a feeling

of positivity.” EURYTHMICS reunited - Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart on stage together

of the local people, and I got a lot of local people involved in the song.”

And this connection and love he shares with the people of Harbour Island is also reflected in the song and its accompanying video.

“Local people are singing the chorus. It became a kind of healing process for me and the people involved in it. And then when we started to shoot the video for the song it started to feel quite joyful,” he said.

Stewart, who is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer, is always listening to his surroundings, looking for his next inspiration. He was able to remain productive and creative even during lockdown last year.

“I kept myself entertained by creatively using my time, making music, recording an album and writings with different people remotely,” he said.

Stewart’s work ethic and vision has allowed him to churn out hit after hit.

He won Best British Producer at the 1986, 1987 and 1990 BRIT Awards. He produced or co-produced all of Eurythmics’ albums and, once the band became established, he also became a producer for other artists. In 1985, as well as producing Eurythmics’ hit album “Be Yourself Tonight”, Stewart co-produced the album “Southern Accents” for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as co-writing several songs for the album, including the hit “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. The same year, he also produced the debut solo album by Feargal Sharkey, formerly of the punk band The Undertones, which included the UK number one hit “A Good Heart”.

Stewart went on to write and produce for a variety of other artists throughout the decades, working with an eclectic mix of international talent as a songwriter and producer. He has worked with the band that made “The Voice” star Gwen Stefani famous, No Doubt, co-writing “Underneath It All” (featuring Lady Saw) for their 2001 release “Rock Steady”, and “Sparkle” for their 2012 release “Push and Shove”.

Beyond music, Stewart also became involved in the film industry in 1989, contributing to soundtrack scores for movies like “Alfie”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “The Flintstones”, “Ever After”, “Lara Croft-Tomb Raider” and many more.

He made his feature film directorial debut in 2000 with “Honest”, a black comedy set in Swinging London in the late 1960s featuring three members of the famous British girl group All Saints. Stewart is also the co-creator and executive producer of the 2012 ABC sitcom “Malibu Country” starring famed country singer Reba McEntire.

Additionally, he created and executive produces the NBC unscripted series “Songland”, which gives new songwriters a chance to have their original compositions recorded by an established artist, with a single released immediately following each episode. The series premiered in the summer of 2019 and averaged 5.1 million viewers per episode, the most for a new unscripted series that summer. Coincidently, the winner of the first season was an American-Bahamian songwriter, Tebby Burrows.

Stewart’s vast experience in music, film, television, theatre and live events has earned him many awards and he is highly respected as a creative force. He was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and won the Music Producers Guild Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award in 2015. Eurythmics were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Adding to his already long list of accomplishments, Stewart is now building a studio compound on Harbour Island.

“What is next for me is always a tricky question because I’m always doing a few things at once. I love my label, Bay Street Records, and while that is happening, I have also been writing a movie about my life as a young teenager. I have also written lots of music for it. It will be made into a movie and then it will be on stage as a musical,” he said.

The premiere of “Love’s Coming Back” can be viewed on the website www.lovescomingback.com as well as on social media platforms YouTube, Instagram and Facebook @

lovescomingback.

DAVE Stewart meets Nelson Mandela BEYONCE with Dave Stewart