The School of Greatness - 907 Randy Jackson on Mastery, Health, and Success

Episode Date: January 27, 2020

“It’s not who you think you want to be, it’s who you actually are that’s going to lead you out of the darkness into the forever light.”If you had seen Justin Bieber on American Idol, do you think he would have made it to the final round? (2:20)Why do great shows stop when they are still popular? (10:33)What got you into music in the first place? (15:40)Who are the greatest musicians you have played with? (23:23)Who is the most unique artist out there right now? (25:40)What are the top 3 moments of your life so far? (27:40)How do you stay open to blessings? (30:50)How did you keep getting asked by huge artists to work on their albums? (38:55)What is unique about Unify Labs supplements? (48:15)How artists are often their own worst enemy (4:27)Where Randy came up with the idea for America’s Best Dance Crew (6:40)Why simple ideas become the most popular (12:12)Why jazz musicians are the greatest musicians in the world (20:05)How to get the best opportunities even if you’re not the most talented (33:53)How Randy got his health in order after years of being overweight (42:20)If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/907 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes

This is episode number 907 with Randy Jackson. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Robert Green said,

Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge. I'm super excited about this. applied to a particular field of knowledge. I'm super excited about this. I love sitting down with Randy Jackson and sharing stories of the past and lessons learned for today. If you don't know who he is,

he's a big inspiration to so many people. He's a music industry vet, TV producer, author, and entrepreneur. He recorded music on multiple albums for bands and artists like Journey, Maze, and Kenny G. Starting in 2002, he became a famous television personality as a judge on the popular singing competition show American Idol. Sharing his secrets of success, he wrote the 2004 book What's Up, Dog?

How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business. How to become a superstar in the music business. He became an executive producer on America's Best Dance Crew, which premiered in 2008 and lasted eight seasons. This was one of my favorite shows, actually, at the time. We talk about my love for America's Best Dance Crew. And in his personal life, he found out that he had type 2 diabetes in 1999. He changed his diet and exercise routine and underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003, which led him to losing 100 pounds. And in this interview, we talk about how he set himself apart to record with some of the biggest artists in the world in the 80s and 90s. The power of music when he knew that music and entertainment was what he wanted to master for the rest of his life.

music, and entertainment was what he wanted to master for the rest of his life. What it takes to stand out in any industry and get people to pay attention consistently. The original idea behind America's Best Dance Crew and why it was so successful for so many years. The power of taking care of your personal health and why he's dedicated to educating as many people as he can about it. And so much more. We have a lot of fun stories and banter back and forth. Super excited about this. Make sure to share this with a friend.

You have the opportunity to change and save a person's life by sharing this message, lewishouse.com slash 907. We're on a mission to impact 100 million people every single week, and we need you to share it so you have that opportunity. So please share it with a friend, text a friend, or post on social media, and let me know what you think. All right, and let's dive into this episode with the one and only Randy Jackson.

This podcast is going to be seven years in the US month. Congratulations, man. You've been doing well with this, though. It's crazy. It's probably fun. Yeah, we have 150 million plus downloads on the audio alone, videos bigger and growing. It's gonna be seven years in the US month. Congratulations, man. You've been doing well with this though. It's crazy. I had fun, yeah. We have 150 million plus downloads on the audio alone, videos bigger and growing.

It's crazy, bro, it's crazy. We were like kind of, we weren't the original podcast, but it was like, we were in the first wave before like everyone else kind of got in like a few years after me. Well, I heard about this, I got turned on to it cause I was watching Scooter's thing. Oh, Scooter's.

Interviewed with me? Yeah, he's great. He's awesome. That's when I first, where's this guy? Yeah, yeah. He's great. Yeah, he's a good dude.

We did a show last year. I did like a Facebook watch's first talk show. We partnered on that together. He's a good dude. Yeah, smart guy. All on that together. So he's a good dude. Yeah. He's a smart guy. All over the place, but he's a good guy. Yeah.

I mean, he's, God, where he came from. I've known him since the beginning. From Atlanta days when he was like a nightclub promoter? More than that. When he was like basically an intern doing social media for Jermaine Dupri looking for the next crisscross. That's how he found Justin Bieber. Wow.

Crazy. Talking about getting to finding something and running with it. And Jermaine didn't want. Didn't want Bieber. But he happened to be working with Usher and he happened to be working with Justin Timberlake who both started fighting over Bieber.

Isn't that crazy? It's just like, you know, what do they call it, the perfect storm? Crazy. You know? And he had talent and he was hungry and all these things. I mean, it's like. I mean, they just, they picked all the right horses

and Usher happened to have a deal with L.A. Reid. L.A. was running Island Def Jam at the time, and he ran it the old school way. So it just worked out. Where you could say, I'm going to bet $10 million on red and do it. And then it turned into a whole company because he came up under Clive Davis, L.A. did.

Clive would say, unless Whitney Houston is number one across the board this week, all of you are, L.A. did. Clive would say, unless Whitney Houston is number one across the board this week, all of you are getting fired. Wow. So you go, I still need my job. He's bought a new car. He's got a dog.

I'm curious. If Bieber was on American Idol and you saw him there, would he have made it through to the final round? Just like seeing him sing a song? Or was there something? Would there have to be something else? Justin Bieber would have been there. He would have definitely made it through.

He might have even won because what I think people mistake about him, he's actually really talented. He's really talented yeah he's really talented people saw how he started you know social media youtube all of that but he's really talented he's got a gift he's really got a gift man he's better i think he's better than most people even think do you think he would have made it as big as he is now without you know us kind of Timberlake fighting over it, without Scooter pushing as hard as he did, without social media. Usher happened to have a deal

with L.A. Reid. Usher happened to be in a studio with Jermaine Dupri. So was Justin Timberlake. I think all of those parts played such a pivotal perfect storm role that, I mean, you know, Scooter with his assertiveness and him being smart.

I mean, I think the whole thing, I mean, you know, LA signing, I mean, I think the whole thing was a perfect storm. Perfect storm. Because you can't look at success that huge without saying, that person must really be talented. Yeah.

And the team around them must be really smart and talented. So you got that many smart talented people that are all hugely successful for a long time. Oh my god that's a perfect storm. It's gonna work. You played with, you produced, you were you know manager with so many big artists. But it seems like a lot of big artists have some type of downfall. They have some type of like, it's too much to handle. It's too much success at that early of an age. Like you see, even Bieber had a number of years where he went through a lot of stuff.

Whitney Houston, like all these people kind of have this like a dark, I don't know if it's a dark side or if it's just the success is too big for for them i think you know we often say in the industry and this is really true artists are their own worst enemies right so i always say it's not who you think you are it's not who you think you want to be it's who you actually are that's going to lead you out of the darkness into the forever light, right? So part of the issue to me is that you see all the Disney kids growing up. So when you're a young kid, be it whomever it is, thrust into an adult world, that's an adult business world, and you're making those kind of numbers, that kind of money in the business world, they're all clamoring for you but you're a kid you have no idea how to assess how to deal with how to like what is this

who are these people what does this mean i guess that's why the team once again is so important do they have my back do they get me are they holding me down 100. knowing that i don't understand but being a visionary saying But in the future five months from now a year from now five years from now This is what this is going to mean to us moving forward So it takes an army dude. It takes a village. Yeah, literally for everything takes a village something I love that you did the most is America's Best Dance Crew, for whatever reason. For whatever reason.

My man Louis, good looking out, brother. I don't know why that show's not on air anymore. It was the greatest show. I remember a moment in the show, must've been after season two, maybe three. It was like one of the finales. You said, you came out on stage, I can remember this vividly,

for whatever reason, this memory, it's like a circular stage, you're coming out there, and you say, this is the hottest show on TV. I don't know if you remember saying this. You're like, right now, we are the hottest show on TV. And it was like, maybe it was the finale or something. And I just remember, I was like, that show brought so much joy and inspiration

to so many people, myself included. And I remember it was like a darker time for me. When did it come out? What was the first season? What year was that? I think the first season was 2007? 2006? Yeah, that was the year I got injured playing arena football was 2007. Right.

And I remember watching this show late at night on MTV and it brought me a lot of joy and inspiration just to see people going for their dreams. Well, you know, it's a funny thing about that show, you know, I had an idea of trying to create something that was different and unique. So my agent at the time at WME, Lance and Sean Perry said, hey, you should go and check out this dance competition. Howard and Karen, who have Hip Hop International, had a dance competition down in Torrance.

So I go down there and I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, wow, so this is interesting. I grew up with dance crews all around me because I grew up in the hood in Louisiana. And, you know, all around me. So friends of mine were all in Cruise, and they were doing it for like a lifestyle of living. Whether they were making money or not, they were getting together. You know, B-boys, B-girls were like popping. Whatever what it was, just that camaraderie.

And whatever what it was, just that camaraderie. And I thought, if I could take this and turn it into a competitive TV show, the world hasn't seen anything like this. You grew up in the hood. Any hood, the black hood, the Chinese, the Mexican, the white, whatever hood. You've seen something like this. You know, it's like almost having like, you know, pool players team or bowlers league or whatever. like, you know, pool players team or bowlers league or whatever. And we we scrub it up and it just

we first sold it to NBC and then the president got blown out. And we sent it over to MTV. And, you know, the guys over there, they were running in at the time. Tony and Liz, you know, graces with the show, you know, and it just, you know, it just became that thing, man. I mean, I was one of my proudest shows because it was first doing something no one else had done. So hard. The same thing can be said, though, for American Idol. We were first before The Voice voice before any of that the first one i'm hearing the lyric of a song first cut is the deepest but you know what i'm saying so when you

first and you got it dialed in and it's hot and it's happening dude everyone's paying attention everyone's paying attention and you get a chance to win. Yeah. You get a chance to win. How many seasons did that go for? Dance Crew won for seven seasons at MTV. That's pretty big, right? No, it was a great run, man.

It was a great run. And it was so unassuming because I don't think people understood at first what it was, but I'm telling you what I loved the most and one of the things that we created I wanted to have it feel like you played sports you played ball I played ball I wanted to have it feel like you were in at a pep rally in high school in the gymnasium with the bleachers and everybody going crazy picking this team yeah go rahr you know what I'm saying I really wanted it to have that like wwe like you know it was amazing it was electric dude in the place where we shot it at warner's dude it was rocking in there dude it was just electric just loud just screaming about some college pep

rally dude I loved and that was like that was man i loved that atmosphere uh because it just it really fueled the performers too wow when they have that whole audience and their cameras are on and screaming you're going oh you're popping the lock at hard right you're jumping back great djs people were dancing in the stands it was just like a good old-fashioned party so you go to this show and people will just be lined up around the block because they know they're gonna have a good time. So it was really created for that.

We're working on something else like that now that hopefully we'll get on this year 2020. But I just love that kind of electric energy. It was amazing, man. Now, why does a show like that have a big run and then why does it end? I felt like it was still great. Why why do shows? Stop when they're still you know

When you first started it's brand new Nobody knew only a couple of us thought that it was gonna work and Surprise surprise and work big so once you What did they say failures have no fathers or sisters or brothers or cousins success all of a sudden there's a million all of a sudden everybody's time I knew it was gonna work I'm the one that told them to tell the real him around the round stage of the mirrors ceilings

lights yeah I'm the one that said, do this and do that. So I think it just started kind of wearing, everyone had a different idea. And when you get too many cooks and ideas in the kitchen, it not only spoils the soup, the soup is a wrap. So, and I think most ideas, simple ideas work best, right? Keeping it simple. We know this in life, keep it simple. There's a thing over every studio in Motown

back in the day in the history of Motown Records that had, I think, 150 number one records in the history of Motown. Over every studio there was KISS. Keep it stupid simple or simple stupid, whichever you like. Keep it simple stupid or keep it stupid simple or simple stupid whichever you like uh-huh keep it simple stupid or keep it stupid when it gets too complex all bets are off that's when people lose yeah everyone's a genius that means no it's too much to think that much of us to creative it's too much thinking yeah too much thinking

we've overthought the thing that's why great songs follow a simple pattern, right? A simple... Dude, you speak it. Listen, I manage a lot of writer-producers. I'm one myself. I say this every week at our writer song meetings. Got to be simple. Simple ideas.

The Beatles were simple. Motown was simple. Stop in the name of... Whoa. I don't have to think. I don't have to think, where's the chorus? I don't have to think. I don't have to think where's the chorus. I don't have to think. Like, Let It Be, one of the greatest songs ever written in life. They say, let it be seven times in the chorus. Oh my God.

Over and over again. Over and over again. I mean, I'm just- What about Frozen? Let it go, let it go. It's just like saying, let it go over and over again. Well, there's a lot of great writers. Max Martin being one of the greatest of our time the last 30 years. He was my neighbor. Yes, I know where.

The studio is right next to my building. Yeah, I know right where you are. My neighbor in my building, C.J. Barron, it works with Max and does a lot of songs with him. So he's always over there, come back and tell me what they're working on. It's all about the simplification which makes something really pop whether it's a tv show a book a song was a simple idea yeah dance crew was a simple idea you know biggest losers a simple idea dancing with the star simple i mean you know any things that you find especially in the reality world that are simple ideas you could probably make float because I think the public has to digest them

every game show that you like it's a simple idea roll a dice password jeopardy it's a simple idea exactly no the execution has to be done you know mm-hmm cleverly but it's a simple idea yeah Yeah. Now you're an Allstate football and track. Now were you a better athlete or a better musician? I was a better musician, obviously. You know what I say to people every time I meet them? I meet a lot of people, I see a lot of prospective artists, clients, whatever. We're developing a lot of TV and I say to people this, they go, I'm an actor, dancer, singer, model, producer,

writer, TV host, dog parent, mom, dad. Okay, fine. I go, you can use this too, Louis. Where have you made your most money? And they'll answer one or the other. And I go, I guess that's what you are So this is where the public is seen and said I'm gonna give you money for this So so the rest of the stuff is a hobby you like this

You love these things, but these are not your life's calling Perse because the final what your life's calling means that you could be good at a bunch of things what are you great and best at so and how does the public view you without you having to tell them they see you and they go blah yeah so i mean you know music's always been in my heart it was never top of heart because you know like yourself when you play in sports since you're like elementary school junior high high school whatever you're just that's your focus because it takes all your time all your training all your thoughts everything but i'll never forget in high school i started playing gigs in bars like after games you know sneaking out my parents didn't know i obviously thought i was at mcdonald's with the rest of people playing in some bar and you know, sneaking out. My parents didn't know. I obviously thought I was at McDonald's with the rest of the people,

so I was playing in some bar, you know, like. So I guess thinking back on it, it's been a bigger part of my life than I ever even realized. What caught you into it in the first place? My brother was a drummer. There was music all around my neighborhood, music all around my house.

As I say, my brother was a very successful jazz drummer. He's a teacher at Southern University now in Louisiana. I mean, it just, you know, it's one of those things that when you're around it, you kind of absorb it. And I think it's almost like taking a kid, showing a kid ten things and see what they gravitate towards. Right. Oh, you really like that, right? You go do more of it do more that what about that?

Because I think it's exposing the kids to different things so they can see what they like Yeah, and were you always playing bass or you playing multiple? I started playing drums because my brother was a drummer. I started playing guitar played saxophone Wow, and I played piano. Then bass was really, bass and saxophone were the last two. Really? And that's the one that you stuck with, right? Yeah.

It just, you know, it spoke to me, you know what I mean? Like, you know, I hear bass lines in my head. I can be in a noisy restaurant right now and hear just a glimpse of the bass line and go. The little, yeah. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Right, right, that's so and so song, that's Joni Mitchell, or that's-

Joni Mitchell, Casey Neill. Paul Funkadelic, or that's Tribe Called Quest, or- Just by hearing the baseline. Just by hearing the baseline. Or that's the revolution shall not be televised from Columbus, Ohio. There you go, I like that. Yeah, yeah.

That's great, man. Yeah. Did you grow up learning jazz as the fundamentals? Or were you learning classical? I grew up learning blues, rock, R&B, all of that. Because the great thing about growing up in the South in Louisiana is you have its own forms of music being Dixieland and Zydeco, its own natural things.

And it was a lot of Indian and French and Creole and all these settlements along with the afro-cuban african-american this all these settlements that it created this sort of great potpourri of just amazing music from the meters to the wild chapatulas indians to like even second line in the streets is this whole thing when you look around now you've got like big frida you got all the zydeco stuff all the dixieland you and along with rock along with southern rock along with all the funk all the r&b all the country all the bluegrass it just it's a great i didn't know that growing up but as I started moving around the country

and meeting other people, I'm like, man, you're so fortunate to grow up there. That's cool. You know? Yeah. Because you take it for granted. Absolutely. It's interesting.

My parents were opera majors at Ohio State. Wow. So I'd hear my mom and dad singing all the time when I was growing up. You've seen some opera? No. Louis K. Louis. Exactly.

Come on, man. I wish, man. I wasn't a choir in high school and I did the musical one year just to show myself that I wasn't just a dumb jock. Yeah, you were trying to get that girl that was in the play. I know you, man. I know you, bro. I get it.

So my parents were opera majors. the play. I know you, man. I know you, bro. I get it. And so my parents were opera majors. My brother was one of the top classical classical violinists in the country for his age group under 18. Wow. Then he went to prison at 18 for selling LSD to an undercover cop at Ohio State.

Wow. Was in prison set in six to 25 years for selling one sheet of LSD to an undercover cop. Got out in four and a half years on good behavior. But during that time, he joined the prison band. And he was the only white guy. And all these older guys taught him blues, hip hop, rap. So is he still playing?

R&B and jazz. And now he's the number one jazz violinist in the world. What? What's his name? Christian Howes. He played with Les paul for 10 years in new york city he's played with all the greats all around the world and he's the baddest mfr on the electric or jazz violin she'll have a watch it's unbelievable to watch you tell him to start a band for sure man i'll have him come out here and connect with him sometime but uh so i

grew up in jazz clubs uh watching him play like every week I just my dad would take me out and after he got out of prison he was playing a lot to get his feet back on the ground and I really learned about jazz and just started to learn appreciate it like you know jazz like a sport it's like bouncing off of each other and you're all listening and you're connecting and it's improvisation well I often say that the quintessential jazz musicians are probably, in my estimation, the greatest musicians in the world.

It's unbelievable. Because you have to interpret, and you have to add your own voice to something. So you have to be able to improvise. This is why probably the biggest song learned in Berklee School of Music or any of the colleges across the country is Giant Steps by the great John Coltrane. Because the changes and the modality of which the changes follow when you play through and he's circular. I mean, it's just.

Yeah. My God. That's cool. It's amazing. Did you go to Berkeley at all or? I did not. I went to Southern University at the same time in Louisiana and my brother went with a great teacher named Alvin Batiste

and he just helped us all through tremendous, one of the greatest teachers, but I took privately and I really fell in love with Miles and Coltrane. Yeah, yeah. And fortunate enough to play with Billy Cobham, who was in the Marvish Orchestra. Speaking of Jerry Goodman, violinist, jazz violinist, and I worked while I was young with Ponty. Oh, yeah.

He was also a big jazz violinist. He's huge. And I just fell in love with it. The whole fusion thing to me is like rock and roll with every note, every mode, every time signature possible. It's kind of like being a linebacker. You got to learn everyone's plays. Everyone's playing. And when you think about Arnett Coleman and then you think about P-Funk or you think about any of those bands like that, everything worked.

Everything was used. I mean, just unbelievable high caliber of understanding of music. Yeah. I mean, Sun Ra, all the Freedom Jazz guys. I mean, I can't say enough. John McLaughlin, probably one of the greatest guitar players in the world, if not for that music the greatest

just lived and breathed Coltrane started my vision orchestra that was just oh my god I you know like yeah I was listening to something the other day this guy's just next level it doesn't get any higher it's like in the Olympics the degree of difficulty he's there with Coles train and all the rest of them I mean someone turned me on to this kid years ago his name is Joey he's this young kid piano player signed a verb I think he's just I just I just fathom that you can improvise and play hearing all the notes and all the tones and just do it so expertly well I just fathom that you can improvise and play, hearing all the notes and all the tones and just do it so expertly well. I just love.

That's beautiful. To this day, I still love jazz. Yeah. You're extremely educated in a breadth of music, and lots of different modalities of music. You've played with so many great people. You've also just seen a lot of great people that you didn't play with.

Who is the, in your opinion, the greatest person that you played with for so many years? And then who is the greatest, either singer, artist, musician that you didn't play with that you were so in awe with that you didn't get a chance to play with? God, you know, it's hard to say. I mean-

You played with so many people on tour. You made records with people. I played with a lot of people that played with John McLaughlin that were in my Vishnu. Cause I've worked with Narda Michael Walden. I work with Billy Cobham, both drummers. I work with both violinists, Jerry Goodman and Jean-Luc. And, you know, worked with Herbie who played,

him and John and all those guys played with Miles. Wow. I, you know, I, you know, some of those guys are probably the greatest. I mean, Herbie, I mean, I mean, Miles Coltrane, John, I just, I, you know, on the singer side. Yeah, the pop star side, who is the most talented singer?

Fortunately for me, I worked with, it's more like a top ten for me, from Springsteen to Billy Joel. Wow. To Elton John, to Aretha, to Mariah, to Whitney, to Celine Dion, to, you know, all those unbelievable greats. I just, I...

It's hard to pick one, huh? I mean... Because you were a musical director for a few of them, right? Yeah, but Aretha inspired so many people. God rest her soul. I mean, just, I mean, you know, and all of those greats that also, they all came with their own lane. None of those sounded the same. Right.

Even Dylan didn't sound like anyone else. I mean, you know, this is what I still challenge artists with today. I know you can copy anything out there. You can be the best, biggest trap star. People come up to me every day, music All sounds the same on the radio Well, it's some of the same writers same producers same melody same sounds all this and people kind of just want to copy each Other because they want to just be on the radio. Well, yeah, they want something like this. I'm gonna give them that but What is

Your brand what are you selling I know what everyone else is selling but give me something unique to identify you by if you can't I don't know who's the most unique person out there right now the most unique artist I'm see Bruno Mars is is etched out his own lane I would say what you've seen Lizzo and Billie Eilish do this this last couple years they is etched out his own lane. I would say what you've seen Lizzo and Billie Eilish do this last couple years. Crazy, right? They've etched out their own. I think this girl, Tori Kelly is so unbelievably talented.

Tori's amazing. It's one of Scooter's girls, yeah. Yeah, I still hate that I didn't get a chance to sign her. You did? But Tori, I love you wherever you are. Well, she was on American Idol, right? She was on Idol, yeah. She got like top 10 and then you guys were like,

yeah, you're not good at it. It wasn't me. I think, you know, I think on the country side, I think people have done interesting things. I think this girl, Ashley McBride, is amazing. You know, I don't know. I mean, I think equally on that side, I guess Dan and Shave kind of coming to their own. I think in on that side, I guess Dan and Shave kind of come into their own.

I think in the jazz world, you've got Kamasi Washington. You've got Corey Henry. You've got Robert Glasper. You've got all these guys, Esperanza Spalding, that's really come with her own thing. I think, you know, on the urban side, you've got her. You've got, I guess, SZA. You know, on the hip-hop you got her, you got, I guess, SZA. You know, on the hip hop side, certainly, I guess you got Drake, you got Kendrick,

you know, you got Travis, you know, a lot of those guys have come out with their own thing. Yeah, it's pretty exciting. Yeah. I'm curious, you've had an amazing life, like just so many cool experiences. So far. So far, it's not over in a

continuation the continue way story but so far you've had an amazing life that you know from sports to music to business to judging to management you know all the creative directing so many different moments like you've had some incredibly big moments what would you say are top three for you so far? From all the touring you did, from all the awards you won, from all the shows you produced, the moments in just some pub in the middle of nowhere

where three people are playing, but you feel you hit that note, you hit the groove. What are those top three for you? I think back as a kid in Louisiana, in Thibodeau, Louisiana, playing at a club called The Foundry, which was a big club at that time back in the day,

playing with a guy named John Fred and the Playboys. He had a Beatles sort of kind of spoof song called Judy in Disguise that became a local regional hit. I think being in the studio with Irma Thomas the queen of like the R&B blues thing from the south playing on stage with Ernie Cato and those guys at Jazz Fest back in the day I think about all the early years you know I think about the first tour with Billy Cobham, being on stage with him, the Montreux Jazz Festival, seeing Oscar Peterson

in the early days. I think about being on stage with Journey at Calaveras County Fairgrounds. You played with Journey too? Yeah, with Journey. That must have been epic. Them closing the show with the song Faithfully. And hearing everyone in the crowd sing every lyric

and every, still gives me goosebumps to this day. How many people were there? Must've been 100,000, 200,000, I don't know. Crazy amount. This is their height, huh? This is the height of this band, but. Oh my gosh. I finally realized what it meant to write a hit song that really penetrated the public.

They live, they learn every word, and they sing it back to you where you can just hold out the microphone and you go, God, thank you, Lord Jesus, I've made it. They finally understood what I was doing. I finally gave them something. They're living on every word. Wow. The power in that. That's crazy. Like, it still gives me chills to this day.

I think those moments, I think being in the studio, we recorded Jumpin' Jack Flash with Aretha in Detroit for this Whoopi Goldberg movie and being with Keith and Woody and Steve Jordan, Chuck Lavelle, myself on bass, Aretha in the recording, Steve Lillywhite, engineering, producing, mixing. Which movie was this, Sister Act? No. Sister Act. No, it wasn't Sister Act. Jumping Jack Flash. Oh, gotcha, gotcha.

It's like just recording that with them and shooting the video and just being in the studio with Springsteen, you know. Wow. Just those touches of greatness for me, just being a sponge, just even being able to be in that environment, thank God. So I always say to people, make sure you're a sponge and make sure you're open so that you can receive and learn something.

Never block the blessings, Lewis. That's right. Don't block the blessing, Joel. Don't block them. Be open to the blessings. Be open. How do you stay open to blessings? I think, you know, with wisdom and I think people like me and others saying it to you

that, you know, the person with a closed mind and knows everything probably knows nothing. So they are operating out of fear. Why are you closed? Why do you know everything? I don't know everything. Yeah. I mean, I've been a lot of places in the world. I'm going to tell you right now, I don't know everything. I don't even want to know everything. I want to learn something new every day.

So, you know, I think... What was the moment, and maybe it was this moment with Steve Perry and Journey, was there many moments or any moments where you just were playing and you were kind of in awe? Like you had the chills and you're in tears of this moment? That Calaveras County grounds. I mean, that thing. I can only imagine hearing Faithfully sung back to you guys, just screaming at you. The whole set. The whole set.

I mean, it just, you know, at the height of the band you know just being so fortunate so blessed to be in that spot and you're on stage playing dude I'm on stage playing and songs I didn't know they loved like they love wheel in the sky oh great they love all I mean just like don't stop believing I mean I mean that must have been electric as well I'm saying dude and i mean neil and terry and jonathan and mike baird the guys are all so talented i mean just to be there you know it's just it's such an achievement accomplishment it's a milestone it's just you know but saying equally you're in the studio with bruce springsteen yeah i mean you're in the studio with Bruce Springsteen. Yeah, I mean you're in the studio with Elton John you in the studio Billy Joel

What's that like? You see you were Dylan. I mean, wow, and they would have read that dude like I Don't even know what you Houston and Mariah. What was that like with all this, you know? There was a song Mariah wrote years ago for a movie called lead the way That is still one of my favorite songs in life the melody just kills me every time I hear it I mean just how unbelievably talented she is just you know being around that level of greatness that you say to yourself don't get no better than this god Wow top of

the world yeah thank you now it's undeniable that you're an amazing bassist, right? You're an amazing musician. I think I'm pretty good. You're amazing, right? You're top. I don't know about amazing, but. But there's also guys that I'm sure you saw that you're like, this guy's gotta step on me.

This guy's a little better. Victor Wooten, this kid, Mano Neon, who was ridiculous. And this girl, Dey, D-E-Y from India, oh my God. They're amazing, right? And Hadrian Freud. I mean, these guys, I mean, Thundercat. I mean, dude, there's so many great players. So what is it about, for people listening or watching,

who are great, but they know someone's better at their skill than them in the world. What is it about you that got all the big opportunities where the other potentially better bassist didn't get, they weren't in the studio with Elton and- Find out where you fit. Find out where you do better than someone else and really try and explore that.

Also, we're all a little bit different so what's your difference once again we're back to the original conversation what is your brand i know what someone else's brand is what's your brand bruno mars can sing anything this guy's so uniquely gifted i mean my god i mean you know he's like reminds me God. I mean, you know, he's like, reminds me of all the church guys. You know, the Kim Burrells, the Karen Clarks, the, you know, the Smoky Norfolk, the B Slades, the whatever. It's like, this is like effortless talent. What is your unique thing? What makes you unique? What do you do better than anyone else? I know you can do a bunch of things. Right. What is that certain thing that Lewis does that no one else does?

What was that thing that you did that no one else did? I think you know for me, I was a jazz guy But I was also a church kid I was also the R&B rock kid that I grew grew up loving R&B, I grew up loving music, country, I grew up loving everything. So I wanted to understand music on a deeper, different level and not become a music snob like a lot of the jazz guys. A lot of the jazz guys wanna only play jazz.

So my brother, I'm like, you gotta start playing other stuff. Yeah, so and also for me, fortunately, when I moved to the Bay Area to start working for Nardo Michael Walden with his production team, we would do 10, 20 records before we ever got noticed by anybody because we were jazz guys trying to cross into the popular music R&B world. But it took us a while to learn what that was really about because we could play any

of the notes. But were we with the feeling of those notes? Did we get the feeling? So was it played with the right intention? Like, you know, there's this blues guitarist today, this guy that I absolutely love, Eric Gales. This guy is so gifted. But he can play all the notes with everyone else.

But he also plays it with the feeling. The emotion, yeah. So the notes without the emotion are nothing. Might as well play it in the classical. You can do whatever you want. Play the symphony. Do whatever you want.

Where's the feeling, man? Give me some feeling. That's why the thing about B.B. King killing him with one note while everybody else has got a hundred notes he's killing you with one note you just go oh you know I grew up on Southern Rock I love the Allman Brothers I love Dwayne Allman dude not my cross the bear he makes the guitar cry dude it's like that Clapton sort of like dude oh Oh my god or like Derek trucks do like this. These guys are like just Nothing will ever replace the emotion. Hmm. So that's really the key to someone's heart and their soul Because really you're trying to get people to emotionally join you in that journey or that ride of that song or that solo

Or whatever you're that journey or that ride or that song or that solo or whatever you're doing. If you do that, you may have something. That's what we did with Dance Crew. Yeah. That's what Idol did. It touched your heartstrings. Yeah. Maybe I was that kid that's auditioning.

My eyes were too close together. I had buck teeth. I had Coke bottle glasses. I was overweight. I was skinny. I didn't know who I was. I didn't, you know, you know, whatever, whatever. That's what got me into Unified Health, what's the Unified Health Lab thing,

because I was that kid. I was all those kids. So it's funny I became a judge on Idol because I was all those kids trying to make it growing up. Wow. So I was them, so I could actually feel the pain, what they were going through. You know, I struggled all my life with my health, too.

So growing up in the South, eating the best of the best food, that, like, you know, I've been saying, we don't trust a skinny chef. There's a bunch of condiments on the table. I'm leaving the restaurant because they didn't taste that food before they served it to me. So, like, what do you mean there's too much butter and salt and sugar in this? That's the way it's supposed to be.

Yeah, it tastes better, right? It tastes, man, it tastes good. You know, what's the saying? Man, I see your belly growing. You must be doing something right. Must be living right. Your belly's growing. Yeah.

But I'm curious. I want to get to your health transformation in a second because it's amazing what you've overcome and what you're doing now with this new brand you have. But I'm curious. There had to be something special you had to keep getting asked back. To go from one person to the next person. Because you might be talented enough to say, okay okay Whitney Houston's going to give you a shot but you got to have something else to have like 10, 20, 40 other people say we need you as well

was it a relationship quality you had was it an energy I think it was the relationship thing and I also think that I did a lot of sponging and listening so I'm thinking back now, when we were doing How Will I Know,

we were doing that, and we were making a production, and I said, you know, if she went up in that beaver, somebody who, somebody who. And I was like, really? Like, you know, because she's another, she was such an effortless, talented, unbelievably talented girl that I would really listen and pay attention

and never thought I knew too much, but always was trying to bring the positivity and the whatever to the session and really trying to find the greatness in the moment in the song you know what's going to make this great and how is this going to try and get the listener to pay attention because something always has to grab you and make you pay attention right we're all busy there's a thousand things i mean one of the downsides of social media i think it's a double-edged sword is there's way too much noise going there was too much noise going on

before now with all that there's way too much noise so how do you get somebody to pay attention you got to grab them by the collar and pull them close to listen and force them to hear you out so hopefully they get it yeah but i think it's that i think it's the combination of everything i think it's that kid that grew up in louisiana with all those potpourris of music around that loved zeppelin hendrix yeah james brown p funk slide in the family stone uh elton john Elton John you want a one trick pony you can do a lot of stuff Miles Coltrane

the original you know Hank Williams senior and junior I mean I think it was that guy that loved boom chick country you know what I mean like you know they're like we gotta keep him around yeah well and also there's

a thing in the south that I always carry with me they will say to you oh this is that really you mmm meaning are you being authentic right now is that who you really are in there are you trying to fake me out with this over here and they're saying is that really you because they don't believe that's really you Wow I like that as deep keep it real they don't believe that's really you. Wow. I like that. That's deep. They keep it real down there. That's deep. That's deep down there. They keep it real down there.

Authentic. Is that really you? They need to know they like you before they're even going to ask what you do out here. Everybody you meet. So what do you do? Down there, they're going to take a minute. It may take three, four weeks before they even ask you. So, by the way, what do you do?

You've eaten with them. You've had drinks with them. By the way, what do you do? Because they want to know. you've had drinks with them. By the way, what do you do? Because they want to know, they want to know you first. They want to get to know your energy, your heart, yeah. Yeah, I mean, do I even like this person? Right. Because I don't like them, I don't care what they do.

Who cares, who cares what they do? Right, right. That's interesting. So you got, so people like you. You're real. I mean, I like to say people love me, but you know. There's some people that don't like me, but whatever. I like that, man.

Can't please everyone, right? Now, you've gone through a big transition in your health. Back in 2003, you lost a bunch of weight. Yeah. And you've kind of gone up and down in your health over the years, right? Well, you know, the thing is, I think there's a bunch of methods that you can use, and I've tried them all and used a lot of them successfully, unsuccessfully, to lose weight. But I think the thing is, is how do you keep it off? So hard to keep it off.

So it's really a lifestyle change. You have to literally change your lifestyle. But when you grew up eating, knowing that eating everything all the time, that's a- I moved away, and while I'm here, I had to move even further away because you have to really divorce food and start over this has to be a food divorce start over and also a health divorce so what may be a great workout for you you may be a peloton

guy you may be at equinox every day or the great gym here or there or whatever. You may be a Barry's bootcamp or whatever the hell. Love Barry's. But that may not be my thing. My thing may be dancing. But no matter what you do, gotta move. Yeah. So whatever's gonna get you to consistently do it, that's what you gotta find.

So once again, it's back to what's my brand? Did you feel like when you were on tour for all those years with all these big artists that you didn't think about your health at all? It was just kind of like eat whatever, it doesn't matter if I'm overweight or if I'm- You thought about it a lot, but I think also, you know,

I wrote some books a while back and I used a couple of behavioral psychologists to talk about this because in order for me to get you to change, to adopt Unify Health Brand, the brand that we've come up with that I've made that I've got out now, I got to get you to change the way you think about that. That's it. So that's what behavioral modification therapy really is. I want quit smoking I want to quit eating quit smoking I want to stop this stop that so if I can get you to change your mindset around it maybe we have a chance how did you change your mindset around it originally I had to divorce it I developed type 2 diabetes I had no choice I had to there's no cure. You're gonna have this the rest of your life You can live a great life with it

But you have to make changes and if you don't make changes you're gonna be sick You're gonna injure yourself. You're gonna get this disease this thing this thing that they die. Yes, so Wow, what are you gonna do? Wow, and so that was what 15 roughly 15 years 15 years ago or 17 years ago, 17 years ago. You got that. Yeah. So what am I going to do? So I got to get it together. So I can't eat like that anymore. Even if I go down there, I can't have everything fried. Everything was a ton of sugar, butter, salt. I can't do it. I mean, even the vegetables. I mean, you know, because to them, how does it taste? Not as it was soaked in butter. Yeah. Does it taste good?

They're fried or soaked in butter. Yeah. I mean, I think the desserts down there are probably the sweetest in the world. Right. Oh, it's supposed to be a bag of sugar. It's a butter. You know, one of my favorite things I used to love eating is the corn pralines. It's literally butter, You know, one of my favorite things I used to love eating is the pecan pralines. Oh, my God. It's literally butter, sugar, and pecans. Oh.

Literally. It's all real. Literally butter, sugar, and pecans. So have you pretty much cut out almost all sugar in your diet? Yeah. You have like little here and there. You have to, all the carbs, you have to, it just, I had to have a divorce with it. Do you struggle with it today where you see candy or sweets and you're like, I want that?

Or is it more of like you've emotionally and mentally blocked it out? No, what I've done now the last couple of years is I call myself, it's a funny thing. I call myself a flexitarian. Okay. What's this? I already like this. I'll eat a little bit of whatever I want if I really want to eat it. A little bit.

Now, a little bit. Now, if I'm at a birthday party and I want a little bit of that chocolate cake, I'm going to have a little small slice. Yeah. But I'm going to skip out on the bread or the pasta or the rice or the whatever later because I know what that does to my blood sugar, how it spikes. It spikes it quick, man. Yeah, yeah.

So I've got it down to a thing now. Science, yeah. Because I've been living with it for a while and studying it. You know, even one cookie will spike your blood sugar up tremendously, which will affect your mood, which will burn. Same thing, though, with pasta or pasta or bread or any of the carbs because they turn into sugars and metabolizes so i've kind of gotten a pretty good handle on it and also one of the things i'm proudest of with this with this line of unify health lab stuff that we've

come up with is about five to seven years ago, I realized how important gut health was. Huge. It's the beginning of everything. Everything. Gut health is where everything starts, all the diseases start, so you really got to get that under control. The leaky gut thing that Dr. Gundry talks about.

Yeah, Gundry's great. Gundry's amazing. He's great. And it just, it's so, Gundry's amazing. It's great. And it just, it really speaks volumes. It spoke volumes to me at the time. So to be able

to come up with this as a pay it forward of a way to help people, also, you know, of things that we put in all the formulas, thinking about your everyday life

and how you should really start to live your life. And also, that liquid formula of this is so great and so potent this multi GI 5 because it absorbs into the bloodstream a lot quicker because it's a powder liquid you mix yeah so I just you know it's helped me so I just wanted to do something to help people what is unique about

unify that most other health supplement protein brands aren't doing what is it well this is definitely i got together with some great doctors and came up with this formula so it's not just me and what i've learned i really went to the task got some doctors yeah some labs involved to really test this stuff also there's a posturate formula apostate there's like everything you could think of and for men it's men and women yeah yeah it's universal everyone can take it so and this is like the thing you think you don't need the pre the pro every part of the whole gamut of the gut this is for the gut mostly yes this one yeah yeah and i mean you know it's like we all don't think we need it but guess what everything you put in it's always not good is it it's always not good

for you no right so especially being in the south knowing all that butter all that salt none of it was good for you none of that you didn't need a good meal that was healthy yeah so this helps to give you a jump start on it how important do you think is uh optimizing your health in terms of uh relaying over to creativity like you were this incredible musician and creative director for the most talented musicians and artists in the world for decades but you were so talented and your health wasn't in order no because remember you focus on things and everything else just goes to hell so you're like I'll never forget I was on Idol and people will come up to me and they say you know because Kyle

and I will always be giving it to these contestants that was terrible never yeah but you're fat I don't think I got mirrors in my eyes I know yeah I mean you know what I mean it's like you feel like you're more creative now that your health is much better than what it was? My energy is way more sustainable. It's way greater. I'm way more creative, way more clear.

Yeah. Um, it has helped me tremendously. And also I feel better, bro. Yeah. Yeah. God, man, you know, like exhausted or feel like you have a weight on your shoulders. I'm saying, you know, listen, I said said once I lost a bunch of weight, I said, listen, I know why people always saying,

it's the people that don't need to jog that are always out in the streets jogging. When you're lighter, you wanna run. You're ready to start. You're happy to run. You're not carrying around an extra 125 pounds. Like, oh my God, I feel like I'm gonna jump up and dance. You know?

That's great, man. But yeah, it's a paying it forward to me, you feel like I'm going to jump up and dance. You know? That's great, man. But yeah, it's a paying it forward to me. You know what I mean? I think, because look, I take it. It works for me. It's great, man. This is what I think is going to help a lot of people. I love it, man.

Because I'm sure a lot of people have a lot of the issues that I have. Oh, you've been taking it, Lewis? Lewis, you need to be on this. I need to get on it now. Come on, bro. I'm going to get on it now. Come on, brother. Come on, brother.

I got to get on it. Yeah, Craig sent me a book. I on it now. Come on brother, come on brother. I gotta get on it. Yeah, Craig sent me a book. I've been on Craig's for years and he sent me a bunch of stuff and over at the office. So we're gonna start trying that. Craig and his wife are great people. I love them immensely dude.

What an amazing guy. Amazing guy, smart guy, great in business. Dude, really just the best. And they're really doing, they're making brands like yours to really help people. And that's why I appreciate and acknowledge him for so. But you know, to give back, to really offer something that people didn't think.

And I just think for me, using my voice to say, hey, listen, I did it. Here's some of the things that work for me. Maybe this will help you. Yeah, I love that. So you've seen my transformation. I didn't get here by myself. There's a team of people

that helped me. I didn't have all these, in fact, I didn't have any of these ideas. I was 125 pounds heavier, you know, 17, 18 years ago. So, I mean,

you know. You look great now, man. Thanks, brother. Congrats and everything. I got a couple final questions for you. This one is called The Three Truths. I ask everyone couple of final questions for you. This one is called the three truths. I asked everyone to this at the end.

So imagine it's your last day on earth many, many years from now. You've got a whole nother lifetime to live, right? You're 150 years old as you want to be, but one day you got to turn off the lights and you go to another place, hypothetical. And imagine you've accomplished anything else you want to accomplish for the rest of your life. All of your dreams that you have now, they come true. And you've had this incredible life. And all the content you've put out in the world, you've for whatever reason got to take everything you've ever said on video or audio or written.

It's got to go with you to the next place. So no one has access to this information or anything you've ever said before. But you get to have a piece of paper and a pen and write down three things you know to be true about all the things you've learned in your life. The most important lessons that all people would have to remember you by

are these three lessons. I call them three truths. What would you say would be your three truths? Make sure you remain open so you can learn. Make sure you live your life with utmost compassion and humility. Make sure to listen. Why is listening such an important one for you music listen to what you're saying listen

to what someone else is saying listen to deepak chopra listen to gundry listen to you know chris craig listen to you know things they can learn from listening to your you know things they can learn from listening to your podcast yeah i mean you know the information you can glean so you listen to music you listen to what people say because even in conversation unless you listen you're not going to hear what someone's saying that's true i love that i want to acknowledge you um randy for the amount of work you've done on yourself to be able to get to the top on so many different levels. First in sports, then in music for decades, then as a producer, executive producer, creator. You could easily say, I'm good. I'm good. I've made it. I've got the money. I've got the rewards.

I can eat whatever I want. I'm rewards like I can eat whatever I want I'm good you decide whatever but you decided to say I'm gonna work on myself and continue to transform continue to learn and I think it's hard sometimes I've seen for people who've made it to say I'm willing to be open to learning new things learning new things about music, about your craft, about your health. That's why I mentioned to you first. Exactly. Open. Yeah.

So I want to acknowledge you for that because you're creating a brand that's helping people heal, helping people become better human beings. And you're just a good human being. I really appreciate and acknowledge you for your gifts, your talents,

your creativity, and your heart. You've got an amazing heart, ability to connect and share good information. So, appreciate that man. Thanks brother. I love that you do what you do too. I love, I've listened to your stuff for years

and I love that you give back and do what you do because you let people come on here and vent and talk about their stuff. And you ask the great questions. Great interview by the way. Thank you man. And I think it's important once again listen mm-hmm that's all I've done for seven years is just try to find brilliant

people and just hear from them and it's kind of selfish because I'm learning from great people and then I'm applying to my life but I'm also sharing with the world that's anything if you take one day one Say one thing. It's all you need, man. It's all you need. And there's some infinite deeper spiritual wisdom in there that if you listen, you'll remember the things you're supposed to get.

Where can we find the brand? How can we follow you online? Where do we go? It's online everywhere. UnifyHealth.com Get us, man. And what about you personally? Are you on Instagram, Twitter, and social media?

I'm on everything, Randy underscore Jackson. Okay. Yeah, I'm on everything, Twitter, Instagram. Awesome. I'm everywhere. I don't even want to be. I love it. Well, make sure you guys follow him.

Check out Unify. Send him a message on Instagram and Twitter. I'm sure he'd love to see some people messaging you yeah the final question is what's your definition of greatness when you've achieved massive success in whatever endeavor you want and still are living your life with the utmost compassion and humility it It's not what you achieve. It's how you do it. My man, Randy Jackson. Thanks, man.

That was a good one. My friend, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I loved connecting with Randy. I love hearing his stories. He gave me the chills when he talked about being sung at to hundreds of thousands of people with Faithfully on stage with Journey. I can only imagine the chills that would give me being on that stage and experiencing that. If you enjoyed this, share it with a friend.

You can help impact, change, and save a life by sending this message to a friend. Text them, lewishowes.com slash 907. You never know the impact you can make on someone's life and you can pay it forward by sharing this to a friend. Personally, you can post it on social media. Just tag me, at Lewis Howes, and Randy Jackson, as I'm sure he would love to hear from you as well.

Every moment, every day is an incredible gift. We have an opportunity to either buy into the gratitude of the moment or to buy into the negativity of the moment. And everything you're experiencing is actually just a moment and the meaning you put behind it will define your happiness, your joy, or the negativity you feel in your life and the decisions you make. So I really try to focus my time in making a positive meaning around challenging or negative moments to really switch the narrative

so that I just come from a place of much more joy and positivity. All we are guaranteed is this moment right here, this day. And I'm just so grateful that you took the time to spend here and listen to this interview with Randy Jackson. As Robert Greene said, mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge. We all have genius within us. And I know you have genius within you. If you're willing to put the time and focus into what you want to do. I love you so very much.

And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.