Marlon Roudette talks music, family, love for SVG

Music, Music, Music!

That is how Vincentian raised, British born superstar Marlon Roudette describes his life.

Roudette, the son of local artist Vonnie Roudette, was recently in St Vincent and last Friday, he visited SEARCHLIGHT and spoke about his career and where he’s been since his last visit two years ago.

Roudette revealed that he now has two sons, a four-year-old and a 10-month-old, so over the last few years, to spend more time with his sons, he abandoned his relentless touring schedule, restricting his performances to every weekend in Europe, and focusing more on co-writing for other artistes.

He said his decision to co-write was a great one and during his first session with an artiste called Sinead Harnett, he discovered that his creative buzz was still there. “Sinead is an amazing soul singer from London and she helped me discover that I can still get the creative buzz from writing with other people.”

The talented musician signed a new record deal with Island Records last year and told SEARCHLIGHT that was one of the highlights of his career. “This was amazing, because Island Records is part of the Universal Music Group. So, I am signed worldwide to Universal now and Island Records is a historic label, Bob Marley’s first label.” He said that his new label understands Caribbean music and pushes Caribbean music.

The dedicated artiste revealed that another of his exciting projects is a studio project in London, where he is collaborating with other professionals. “We are writing a lot for an artiste called Liam Payne, who is one fourth of the boy band, ‘One Direction’, one of the most successful boy bands ever. I got a song on his album and through that we decided to build a studio in London together, with three control rooms and a big live room and we basically wanted to have that as a creative collective of people coming together,” explained Roudette, who said that people are not charged for studio time, but are allowed in, once they have a positive attitude and a little bit of talent.

“That [studio] has created opportunities and we have two of our writers signed to publishing deals as a result of coming together through that group and that studio is a reflection of my wider philosophy in music, which is ‘nothing gets finished alone.’

“Very rarely does a song get written alone, recorded alone and released alone. For me, music is about the people, about the kindred spirits and so our music studio, our creative collective, which is called the ‘Meanwhile Collective’ is a reflection of my belief that when you get more than one person together in a creative space, the creativity can explode.”

The musician said he would love to hold a writer’s camp in St Vincent later this year and it is his love for all things Vincy has led him to a link up with local music success Joel “Dynamite” Tyril, whose song “Brave” has exploded internationally.

“I continue to try and reach out, because St Vincent and the Grenadines, per capita, has a lot of talent and so it is very important for me to stay in touch,” said Roudette, who has already written songs for Dynamite.

Despite his tremendous success, Roudette remains humble and in love with SVG. He said he was taken aback during his recent visit, when locals expressed love for his music.

“SVG is home and I went to see my old school St Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua and I didn’t realize that I was still so famous among the young people…going to the school showed me the positive effect that the music is having and that’s uplifting.”

He said that he was uplifted by the fact that he visited the Paul’s Lot area and the boys on the block knew his music and were talking about his music.

“They can listen to anything they want, but when they choose to listen to your music, that is more than any accolade, that is better than any platinum disc on the wall; it’s a powerful thing.”

Roudette said that what he has achieved in Europe has been amazing, but his next step involves Caribbean music, as he gets the most fulfilment by doing Caribbean music.

Roudette is known for his songs, “Big City Life, “Ultra Love”, “New Age” and “When the Beat Drops Out”. His most recent song, “Ultra Love”, is a top five airplay record in Europe.

His records, “Big City Life”, “New Age”, “When the Beat Drops Out”, “Finders Keepers” and “Ultra Love” are platinum hits, while “Anti Hero” is Gold and “Fine Line” is headed to gold status.

“I am feeling blessed, feeling so blessed, because I am at a stage in my career where I push out these songs and they become their own life force,” said Roudette, who has toured extensively in Europe, the United States and the Middle East.

He said that last year, he started questioning his motivation for writing hit records.

“I started asking, is it a recognition thing? Is it a fame thing? Is it a financial thing?… For me, it goes much deeper than that,” said Roudette, who explained that his motivation is the fact that music has the unique ability of reaching millions of people.

“…and at the same time to be at a concert and people are facing the same direction, feeling or singing a positive message. There is no other artform that does that in the same way and that is a mass consciousness and sometimes that humbles me as a musician to be a part of.

“Everything else, the by-products of the music business I already have, what is it that keeps me getting into the studio early in the morning and staying late at night is what I feel when I get to St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Roudette told SEARCHLIGHT.

He said that his songs are a success, because they come from everyday life.

“I tell young song writers to capture every phrase, every word anybody says to you, try to write it down. I have a long list of song titles and lyrics. To me a song is not just a result of the hours you spend in the studio, it’s the result of liming on the corner, the argument you had, a song that you heard that inspired you, your whole history, your life, then it all comes into that four, five, six-hour period that it takes to write the song.

“That’s why when you hear people say that a big song was written in two hours, that’s misleading, because it actually took 30 years or however long you’ve been around to come up with that.”