EXCLUSIVE: Gene Noble On Touring With Sting, Being A Creative, And His 5 Year Plan
Singer Gene Noble was the latest guest to stop by BET's Imagine Room, and was sure to leave listeners swooning.
The R&B crooner was the latest guest to perform on the BET Digital series. While there, Gene performed his love-fueled tracks, "What You Know," and "What It Is,” as well as spoke to BET Digital about the inspiration behind his music career and life.
Check out the full performance, as well as five fun facts that the singer revealed about himself, below!
He's learned a lot from singer Sting
Back in 2018, Gene had the honor of touring with reggae singer Shaggy and renowned rockstar Sting. When asked what he learned from the experience with Sting, Gene had plenty to say.
"I can't even tell you how much I learned from this guy [Sting], on a day to day basis. To be on tour with somebody who started in 1976 and since then has been doing it at the top level of the game, like, I learned so much. Even when he's not doing anything, I'm still learning. I'm still picking up," Gene revealed.
"It's been an incredible experience to sing a duet on stage with him every night, but also just a learning experience to watch how he moves within the business, with the music, how he maintains himself, and how he maintains his relationships with family and his life. He'sjust got it figured out, and it was a great learning experience for me.
He got his first "big start" with Lauryn Hill
Gene revealed that he actually met with - and performed alongside - Lauryn Hill by chance!
“I was in college in Long Island and I would come into the city (Manhattan) at night, and on the weekends, and I'd perform at little clubs in the city with friends. So I met a couple of people that were touring with her and they were like, 'Would you want to sing [background]?' And I was like, 'Absolutely!'
“That was an amazing entrance into this whole thing. It was kind of surreal because I know every song from the 'Miseducation,' album.”
He writes songs first, and decides who they are for, later
"I think as a song writer I'm constantly writing and I know immediately if a song fits me or if a song is for someone else. Sometimes I may not know exactly which artists it's for, but I do know that it's for someone else and not me," the singer said.
He continued, "Then there's been times where I've been wrong. Like the song I performed today, I thought that was for someone else and my manager was like, you're wildin' (laughs)
"I think it's cool for me to hear other people's songs, or hear them singing my songs, and to turn on their album or turn on the radio and hear something that I wrote for someone else. It's amazing. There's something different about that than hearing myself. It's interesting to kind of infuse my ideas into theirs. I have too much creativity and too many songs that I could possibly put out myself. I have [so many] more songs in my laptop, so as many as I can get out, that's better for me, and that's better for the world."
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He’s From Manhattan… But Not from New York
Gene was actually born in Manhattan, Kansas. When asked whether he prefers the popular New York borough of the same name, or his small town hometown, he’s very clear that he prefers the big apple.
“I have almost no recollection of Manhattan, Kansas. I was a military brat, so my dad was in the military, so we moved around a lot. So I was born in Manhattan, Kansas. You know, my brother was born in Kentucky, and Tennessee is on the border. Then we lived in Germany for some time. So I really don't remember Manhattan, Kansas, but I'm going to go ahead and strongly say, without a shadow of a doubt, that Manhattan, New York is better.
In 5 Years, he sees himself doing...
"Five years from now I see myself doing what I'm doing, which is music every single day, and hopefully expanding that to as many people as I can reach. I'm one of the new artists who's fortunate enough to have a career separate and apart from this, that completely takes care of me in a very comfortable way," he said.
"I love performing [and] I love singing my songs live. So that's why I'm still doing that... My passion is just to get my music in as many phones, as many ears, as many speakers, and as many Spotify playlists as possible," the artist continued.
The singer then spoke to his goals and aspirations in regards to charity.
I'm also very much an advocate for change and activism in general. I have so many causes that I'm working towards for my charity.
[I learned] after my dad passed, that there aren't that many support systems or things in place for families that now have to deal with the loss of someone in the military. So that's a big thing that I'm focused on. I'm actually working with some really incredible people on that charity, and my mom obviously has experience in that area, so she's helping me kind of spearhead that.
Be sure to tune into the full episode of Gene Noble's "Imagine Room" performance above!
Imagine Room airs every Monday at 6pm EST, only on BET Digital!
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