- Welcome back y'all.
We are very lucky to have one of the greats with us,
Miss Dionne Warwick.
(audience applauds)
Our next guest is a talented musician
and an Oscar nominated record producer who's worked
with artists like Macy Gray, Pink, and Beyonce.
Never heard him, I'm just kidding.
He also happens to be Dionne's son.
Together they have a new single out now.
It's called I Kneel
and they'll be releasing an album next year
called Songs of Inspiration.
Please welcome Damon Elliot, everybody.
(audience applauds)
(upbeat music)
Man, Dionne's your Mom.
Let's just start with that.
That's crazy.
- That's pretty cool.
- Yeah.
What did you think? How old were you when she scolded
Snoop Dogg and Suge Night?
- Oh, are we going to that story?
Okay, yeah.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- I'm still reliving that.
- I know, like where, what year?
- I think I was around seven 18.
Maybe 19.
- [Kelly] Oh my gosh.
- Right around the Declaration of Independence time.
(audience applauds)
Throwing me under the bus Ma.
We the people, that's...
- That's how it starts.
Do you, were you ever, were you the kid
that like snuck out at all?
Did you ever get busted?
- Did I ever?
- Oh man.
- Did I ever, that's why I got sent to military school.
- Oh, you went to military school?
- I did, I did.
- You really needed to be straightened out.
Okay, okay, okay. okay.
No, but that's awesome though.
And in the sense of like, just growing up around,
I don't know, just growing up in the industry so much.
I often wonder about my kids like,
'cause they're always around people
and they think it's so normal.
Like, and then you obviously gravitated towards the
same line of work.
- Sure.
- [Kelly] Was it always in the cards for you like that?
Did you always...
- I knew from like day one
or at least maybe day six years in,
seven years into my life.
- Yeah.
- Not day one, but that I wanted to be in music
and I never wanted to be a firefighter or a police officer.
I always wanted to do music.
I drove my mom absolutely crazy singing all in the house.
Maybe not being the best singer in the family,
just being honest.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- So I turned into a producer.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And it worked out okay.
- [Kelly] It worked out real well.
- Thank God.
- I'd say so, yeah.
I mean, even the names listed,
those are incredible names that you've been able
to like work with over the career
and now you're doing something together.
- Yes.
- Who thought of this?
Who thought of the idea to do the gospel album?
- Me.
- [Kelly] You did?
- Yeah, I did.
I feel what we're going through now, universally.
- [Kelly] People need it.
- We need some words of inspiration and of courage.
(audience applauds)
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- You know, coming from a gospel singing family,
you know, understanding that gospel is
actually the Bible in song.
And that those that,
well maybe we're getting too far away from the Bible
and what it really means.
So let's put some of that back into people's ears
and hearts.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
(audience applauds)
- [Kelly] I love that.
So what was the inspiration for I Kneel?
That's the song, right?
- So I kneel is a really, really personal song
to both Mom and myself.
When I co-wrote the song with Greg and Jared
and the guys, it actually was inspired
by a young lady who's here today.
Her name is Alexis Silva.
And she went through this bout at 15 years old
well she was 14 at the time.
And it was amazing to see how Mom turned to God in prayer.
And I remember she said specifically to Alexis's father,
God's got this.
And we just absolutely, we prayed
and we prayed and we prayed.
And ironically the same time when the song was coming out,
she beat what it was that she was going through.
And it just shows the testament.
It just shows that how, when you really believe
and you really get down on your knees and pray
God will answer.
- [Kelly] And God's timing.
- [Dionne[ It's powerful.
- [Kelly] Yeah, it's powerful.
- Yeah.
And the timing of that is incredible.
How do you dismiss that?
You know what I'm saying?
Like how does that...
- You don't.
- Yeah, don't dismiss it.
Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely.
So what's it like to see,
I mean, you had to be a little nervous
with him going into the business.
It can be a very hard business.
So watching your kid get involved in that, like what is
that like to see him succeed?
- It's wonderful.
You know, it's like I told him, I said,
if you're going to do it, make sure you're the best at it.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- You have to hone your craft.
- Yeah.
- It's not given to you.
You will earn it.
And that's exactly what he did.
- Driving her crazy every day.
Playing her demo after demo after demo.
Woo.
- Look, I apologized to my mom too.
I sang so much.
We had lived in a tiny duplex, so yeah, yeah.
Or an apartment.
So she was like, shut up.
(audience laughs)
And I'm out there like, singing Ariel
part of your world or something.
Like I was, I never shut up.
But it worked out Mom.
- She does this thing with her head
where if you're not hitting the right notes, she's like,
kinda like (makes screeching noise)
so I probably gave you some neck problems quite a few times.
- My mom would not nod her head, she'd just be like, no.
(all laugh)
She'd be like, she's very truthful.
But it's working out now.
It's working out for both of us now.
- Yes, indeed.
- So if you have a kid
that's driving you crazy in your home, it's gonna be fine.
- [Damon] It's gonna be fine.
- We have to take another break.
You can listen to Dionne and Damon's single I Kneel,
wherever you get your music,
and look for their album as well.
It's called Songs of Inspiration.
Next year that's coming out.