HUMBOLDT 鈥� Manitoba-born singer and songwriter Luke McMaster will be performing in Humboldt, bringing soulful Motown music to the town.
鈥淲e do a set of originals and covers, all written by or written with these iconic Motown songwriters and producers, and we have all these stories that we tell people in the audiences before we do a song,鈥� McMaster said.
The singer has done collaborations around the world with singers including Rihanna, Nick Carter, Nick Lachey, Kalan Porter and Marc Jordan.
But Motown is where McMaster鈥檚 heart can be found.
McMaster said he became obsessed with Motown music from a young age.
鈥淢y dad [George McMaster] was a university professor at Brandon University and he went all over the world doing talks and sabbaticals. He came back from Detroit and he had a stack of vinyl. I think I was around 10 years old or so.鈥�
The vinyl contained Smokey Robinson and other Motown artists.
鈥淚 was kind of able to sing a lot of those falsetto notes and just love the melody,鈥� he said. 鈥淧retty early on I just started exploring music and writing songs.鈥�
Out of high school, McMaster went into music history in post-secondary and started busking.
This is where he would meet another musician named Rob James.
Together, they formed the music team 鈥淢cMaster and James鈥�, gaining gigs five times a week in clubs before recording their first record.
鈥淥ne of our first tours when we were signed were opening for NSYNC on an arena tour of Canada. Then a few years later we were lucky enough to have a gold record and tons of touring and stuff 鈥� but the band ended up parting ways.鈥�
McMaster spent the time working on his songwriting, before collaborating with Rihanna on 鈥淔inal Goodbye鈥� for her Girl Like Me album.
鈥淭hat was really interesting, that really opened my eyes to the potential I might have as a songwriter,鈥� McMaster said.
A year and a half later, McMaster created the radio hit "Good Morning, Beautiful" in a collaboration with piano player Jim Brickman.
鈥淚t started to do so well on radio that I pretty much had to go on tour with him,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just got back home and I was just like, 鈥榃ow, I want to do a record, I want to do what I always wanted to do鈥� 鈥� which was this real Motown classic soul thing, and it just made me realize I could do that.鈥�
After this, he began working on his own Motown music putting together an album called All Roads, a mixture of cover and original Motown tunes.
Once the album was released, he began doing tours again.
While in Los Angeles he met with a producer in the industry who wanted to connect him with classic Motown artists including Lamont Dozier.
鈥淗e is part of the songwriting team that really helped invent the Motown sound,鈥� McMaster said. 鈥淛ust an incredible list of songs and experiences this guy had.鈥�
After success in writing with Dozier, McMaster came back with a camera crew creating the Motown documentary.
McMaster鈥檚 latest album, released on Feb. 7, is called Songs of Smokey. Songs of Smokey features McMaster's reimagining of the soul singer Smokey Robinson's Motown hits, including "Ooo Baby Baby" and "Tears of a Clown."
Each song delivered with 鈥淢cMaster's signature style.鈥�
鈥淰ery warm, very emotive,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of falsetto. I've been very influenced by Smokey Robinson, we actually just finished an album that we worked on with Smokey Robinson鈥檚 team actually.鈥�
McMaster will be performing at the Humboldt Uniplex on Sunday, March 15.
His show in Humboldt will include songs from both Songs of Smokey and his previous release Icons of Soul: Volume 1.
鈥淭here鈥檚 just no act that would be doing anything like what we鈥檝e done because we went to these incredible lengths to get together with these icons. So it鈥檚 really a celebration of Motown.鈥�
