Canadian singer Luke McMaster is sharing the video for “Soul Love,” a song he wrote and recorded with music icon Felix Cavaliere.
“My whole career I've been labelled a ‘blue eyed soul singer’ and so to have the opportunity to write a song with the king of blue eyed soul was beyond belief,” said McMaster, the 43-year-old Manitoba native who had success in the early 2000s as half of pop duo McMaster & James.
Cavaliere, 76, was a member of The Rascals, which had hits like “Good Lovin’,” “Groovin’” and “People Got To Be Free.” The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and Cavaliere was welcomed into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.
McMaster recalled how he and his writing partner Arun Chaturvedi went to Cavaliere’s Nashville studio and got to work on crafting a song.
“We sat down next to the Hammond organ and started jamming. I was on an acoustic guitar and Arun laid down some drum grooves,” he said. “When we found a sexy Al Green-inspired groove to play to, the music started to gel.”
Their song needed a title. “Felix had an idea for a really simple line that he threw at us… Soul Love,” said McMaster. “I mean, what can you say?”
The result is more than a song about loving someone from the soul – it’s also about the artists’ common love of soul music.
As seen in the video, Cavaliere played the Hammond B-3 organ on the track and sang harmonies.
“I still can't believe it all happened,” said McMaster. “It felt like I'd been knighted by the king of blue eyed soul that day!”
“Soul Love” is part of Icons of Soul, a multimedia project by McMaster and Chaturvedi that consists of an album (released last November) and a forthcoming documentary series.
Watch the video below: