Luke James Exclusive Photos

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March 2, 2020 1:09PM EST

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Luke James — Exclusive Pics

Luke James — Exclusive Pics — “I used to fight funk. I used to fight those brown, caramel, mocha feelings,” says Luke James when the Grammy-nominated R&B singer stopped by HollywoodLife. With a new album, ‘To Feel Love/d,’ the soul of funk is alive in 2020. After taking a break from music to focus on his acting career — you can see him in ‘Insecure,’ ‘The Chi’ and the movie ‘Little’ – he returned to music, and how he now “fully embraces” the funk, soul and joy of R&B. “I realize my happiness is in soul, and soul is in everything, all genres, so I have to feel it. It has to be written by me. Collaborative efforts, I’m open to that, but it has to come from me. I have to be hands in all through in it, so I had to get to a point where I could do that, and have that space and that energy around me.”

Luke spoke with HollywoodLife about the album’s creation. He also shared – as you’ll see in the following pictures — Luke experienced a once-in-a-lifetime moment with the late icon Prince.

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Luke James Talks ‘To Feel Love/d’

Luke James Talks ‘To Feel Love/d’ — “[To Feel Love/d’ is] a cumulation of everything that I think has created my idea of creating music, the world that fed me,’ says Luke James. “But I think creating this album, my experience with hanging with Prince, with having conversations with him, with him wanting to do a project for me, with me. He wrote an email where he said, ‘I want to do a consistent body of work for him, like an opera.'”

“I received that, so I guess when I decided ‘okay, let’s listen to all the songs that I’ve done over the past five years, and these new producers and the people I’m meeting and creating with have put this body of work out, consistency like an opera.’ I’m having all of these thoughts that have been given to me, so yeah, his influence for sure is all over everything I do from here on out.”

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Luke James On His Second Prince Concert

Luke James On His Second Prince Concert — “2012, I went to a private Prince concert at The Sayers Club in L.A. It was my second Prince concert. I see him for the second time, and this time it’s up close, it’s private. The Sayers Club is very small. Comfortably it can fit, I say comfortably, 100 people, but there was definitely more than that in there. Packed. But it was one of those things where it was private and they screen you, because I heard that Prince at this time, he wanted true fans, not just these high rollers and whatnot just come in with their friends and their fans, and say, ‘I got these tickets for all of us. Here’s Prince playing for me, and he’s going to play ‘Purple Rain’ and all the songs I want to hear.’ He wanted fans that would just come in and absorb whatever it is he’s giving.”

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Luke James Reveals How He Connected With Prince

Luke James Reveals How He Connected With Prince — “That’s the vibration that was around, so on our way in there was this girl. Beautiful, tall, black woman. She was just so bad, like a model. I’m into it. I was looking at her and she was just talking to people, interviewing people with this little recorder, and I walked up to get in line. She was like, ‘Oh my god. You’re Luke James.’ She was really awkward about it but really cool, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I am.’ She was like, ‘Hi. Give me a second.’ And she went in, came back out, brought all of us in, all of my friends in. Sat me down and said, “After, don’t leave right away. I’m Damaris.’ She happens to be Prince’s muse, and she’s like, ‘I want you to meet him.’ Okay, so I’m just going to sit here and watch Prince.”

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Luke James Details An Incredible Moment With Prince

Luke James Details An Incredible Moment With Prince — “After that concert and that whole thing, she brought me to him. First time I met him he was real humble. He was giving me that quiet, because I came in like, ‘Hi, how you doing? I don’t want to be in the way. Hi, love you, goodbye,’ because it’s loud in here. He was really cool about it. Fast forward, she and I got really close and cool, and they started conversing about me. And his band, two of his background singers were coming out with music, and they had a big concert out here doing MTV Awards. At the same time, it was at the City Winery, New York City Winery, and they asked me to come perform two songs. Cool. Prince was on the bill but he wasn’t supposed to perform, but because his name was on it he was like, ‘I got to show up.'”

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Luke James Opened For Prince

Luke James Opened For Prince — “They were performing three nights. He came the first night. I performed. He called up and told them switch the order. It all means something to me, because to hear Prince say my name is like a thing, so to hear someone say, ‘Oh yeah, Prince said let Luke go first.’ Oh sh-t, he said let Luke go first. ‘Let Luke go first and I’ll get there by the time he’s done, then we’ll let Larry Graham go on and the show will go.’ Lit. So the second night I didn’t come. I didn’t go to the performance because I wasn’t going to go every night. I didn’t go. Everybody and their mama supposedly shows up to the performance because they heard Prince came the first night. Everybody and their mama, for real. I don’t want to name names, but everybody and their mother, and I didn’t go. He didn’t come either, he didn’t show up.”

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Luke James Reveals How Gemini Energy Won Him The Day

Luke James Reveals How Gemini Energy Won Him The Day — “So on the third night, the last night, he showed up. I came, and I remember sitting at the City Winery. The side stage is so tight. It’s so tight and you’re uncomfortable, and all you feel inside of you, if you have this mindset of let me not be in the way, it’s not that deep. Be cool. I’m in here, already performed, it’s not that deep. Just go enjoy the show. I had that all in my head, but then there’s this other part of me, because I’m a Gemini and I’m stubborn, I was like, ‘No. I’m going to stand right here, tight on the wall, and I’m going to befriend him. This is the night I will befriend Prince for real. I get it, he knows me a little bit, knows of me, but I want to be friends with this man.’”

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Luke James Almost Sets It Off On The Mic

Luke James Almost Sets It Off On The Mic — “Alice Smith was there, he let her perform, he gave her the mic and everything. Now he’s there standing next to us, and he’s not even giving me eye contact. He’s looking at me like side-eye, and Damaris is in front of him, and he’s just talking to her, playing around with her, talking sh-t and trying to make me uncomfortable. Then he’s on the mic but no one knows he’s backstage, so he’s just doing weird sh-t, and then he puts the mic in my face and I’m going to jump to it. Then he snatches it back and he’s like, ‘No, because they’ll think that’s me.’”

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Luke James Feeling t

Luke James Feeling t — “It was really cool, because then after that the band started playing. If you go to a Prince concert, they play everything. Everything, and so you just absorb it. You just embrace the idea of I’m just sitting here watching Prince just have a good time. Here it is. His band went into some second line music. I’m from New Orleans. I know second line music, I know second line chants. They weren’t giving any of them, but they were giving the vibe — the vibration, the sonics. So I’m yelling on the side, ‘Feet don’t fail me now, I said feet don’t fail me now.’ He comes over with the mic and said, ‘What you said?’ And I’m like, ‘Feet don’t.’ He puts the mic in my face, puts my hand on the mic, pushing me to the front, and I’m like, this is my moment.”

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Luke James Sets The Mic On Fire. ‘Real Music.’

Luke James Sets The Mic On Fire. ‘Real Music.’ — “Now normally, you’re just chanting it. ‘Feet don’t fail.’ I had to have my moment, so I’m trying to sing it. ‘Feet don’t fail me now, feet don’t fail me now.’ I’m going to church with it, I’m taking it there. Everybody’s lit, my friends are in the audience, but everybody’s hot because you can’t use your phone because they will snatch you right out of there if you pick your phone up. So done, I do that. He comes up, he grabs the mic. He fans it off, I thought he was trying to be funny. He wasn’t. He got on the mic and said, ‘Luke James, real music.’ And that went into, the show started at I’d say 10-ish, 11:00, it went until 6:30 a.m.”

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