Read the entire interview by Mike Ragogna by clicking here.
Mike Reno sang with Ann Wilson in the hit-duet “Almost Paradise”.
MR: Now, you started the ball rolling on a solo, or rather, “duet” career, becoming a hit maker with Ann Wilson on the song, “Almost Paradise” from Footloose.
M Reno: I was asked to do the song, and they asked me to choose the singer that I would sing with, so it was all up to me. I chose Ann Wilson because I’ve always loved Heart, I love the way she sings, and she’s a wonderful person–the whole band was great. They used to be a Vancouver band, they were up here in the ’70s. They came up from Seattle, and I think some of their boyfriends and roadies were trying to avoid going to Vietnam or something–it’s been long enough I can mention that now. So, they were considered a Vancouver band, and when I was young I used to come down to Vancouver from where I lived–it was like a four or five hour drive–and I used to go see Heart playing in nightclubs, and I thought they were awesome. So, I picked Ann Wilson to sing that with, and it only took us like one recording session, and it wasn’t even a long one. I just walked in and sang it with her, our facing each other. We both had a mic, but they were facing each other, and we just banged it off and had a lot of fun doing it. The pleasure was in that it didn’t take us more than one take to get through the whole thing. I knew she’d pull it off because she’s always been so great, and she still is great live. I don’t know if there’s any better singer out there than Ann Wilson.
MR: I know what you mean, she’s got an incredible rock voice. And Heart still has one of my favorite sounds. Their last album was Red Velvet Car, and it sounded like yet another classic Heart record to me.
M Reno: You know, that’s the one record I haven’t got in my collection, so thanks for reminding me. This interview is helping me figure out things that I’ve forgotten to do. (laughs) I was listening to some track from that record on iTunes and was going to order it, and then something came up. Thanks for reminding me. I’m going to go order it right now.
“Take It EZ “