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UR017: Trey Lorenz (Mariah Carey) [1992 MTV Unplugged]
73 Plays15 days ago
Season One Finale! Trey Lorenz joins the show to discuss singing on Mariah Carey’s legendary quadruple platinum MTV Unplugged (including their last-minute addition turned global smash hit duet of The Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There”), as well as his years of working with Mariah from her first promotional tour in 1990 all the way through to the present day.
If you dig the show, want to share your own Unplugged memories, ask a question, request a show topic, or connect with the pod for any reason, there are a couple ways you can get in touch:
- You can email me at unpluggedrevisited@gmail.com,
- You can reach out on Bluesky at @willhodge.bsky.social,
- You can leave a voicemail (that’ll maybe get played on the show) by dialing 234-REVISIT (234-738-4748)
Recommended![UR016: "Kurt Cobain Unplugged" UK Exhibit of Kurt's Martin D18-E Acoustic Guitar (Alan Di Perna) [Nirvana 1993 MTV Unplugged] image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=112,quality=85/image-files/66ea0b235fcf51d2c9a0b7cd/43cbefc3-777c-4d93-9915-92abd82876d2.jpg)
![UR015: Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) [1996 MTV Unplugged] image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=112,quality=85/image-files/66ea0b235fcf51d2c9a0b7cd/ce95ba92-1808-4cb4-b4f5-2fb578ff7daf.jpg)
Transcript
Introduction and Season Finale Announcement
00:00:00
Speaker
welcome to unpplug
00:00:14
Speaker
Greetings and salutations. Welcome back to Unplugged Revisited, the podcast that celebrates, critiques, and dives deep and into the last three and a half decades of MTV Unplugged. I'm your host, music journalist, pop culture anthropologist, and Unplugged obsessive, Will Hodge.
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome friends to the season one finale of Unplugged Revisited. And man, are we putting quite the capstone on this inaugural run of shows. First off, for those who have been frequent listeners, or maybe have even been along for the ride since the very beginning, thank you so, so much for continuing to tune into this, uh, niche, obsessive, passion project masquerading as a podcast.
Focus on Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged Performance
00:00:51
Speaker
And for those who may be tuning in for the very first time, I deeply appreciate you giving it a spin as well. I hope you dig this one enough to end up sticking around for all your MTV Unplugged needs slash curiosities.
00:01:03
Speaker
Today's show is all about one of the most notable, most enjoyable, most successful, and at least in my case, most frequently revisited episodes of MTV Unplugged in the show's entire multi-decade canon, Mariah Carey. Welcome. to
00:01:20
Speaker
220 million albums sold worldwide 75 million albums certified in the US alone most number ones on the Hot 100 by a female artist she has 19 of them 18 of which she wrote herself let's don't forget that along with being an otherworldly vocalist she also writes and co-produces her own material most cumulative weeks at number one on the Hot 100 most consecutive years and total years with a number one on the Hot 100 listen I could go on but let's just say Yes, that Mariah Carey.
00:01:51
Speaker
And to help me deep dive the musical treasure trove of 90's acoustic awesomeness that is Mariah Carey's MTV Unplugged is someone who is not only there on stage helping to, shall we say, make it happen, but who also contributed mightily to one of the episode's most iconic moments.
00:02:08
Speaker
Wait, should I let Mariah introduce him? Trailer in. You know what? I'll just let him introduce himself. What's up, everybody? This is Uncle Trey, better known as Trey Lorenz, and you're listening to Unplugged Revisited. That's right.
00:02:22
Speaker
Today's special guest is longtime Mariah Carey background vocalist Trey Lorenz, who not only has been with Mariah since the earliest stages of her career and still performs with her to this day, but who also helped drive the success of her quadruple platinum MTV Unplugged EP with the star-turned-shine he added to her global smash hit cover of the Jackson 5's I'll Be There.
00:02:42
Speaker
I'll be your strength You know I'll keep on dreaming
00:02:57
Speaker
I'm insanely excited to get into my chat with Trey because not only is he a fantastic interview with some really fascinating stories, but he also sang a lot during our conversation and it genuinely thrilled my soul each time.
00:03:09
Speaker
And while many of his spontaneous serenades were seamlessly aligned with the topic at hand, he also threw me a couple hilarious curveballs like this. they i come from the landow and we're going to be Also, fair warning, we shared a lot of laughs, so please forgive my increasingly chuckle-fueled regression into the 12-year-old doofus that first fell in love with Mariah's Unplugged.
Personal Favorite Episodes and Mariah's Impact
00:03:30
Speaker
Now, as a self-aware, self-diagnosed MTV Unplugged obsessive, I really enjoy and can find some manner of musical magic in pretty much all of the show's episodes that have come out over the last 35 years.
00:03:42
Speaker
But I also have my own spun-to-dust personal favorites. And let me tell you, while it's all a total apples-to-oranges comparison, and I don't think I could ever nail down a singular number one, Mariah's Unplugged easily takes up a significant portion of the amalgamated Rushmore-esque cluster of my own top-tier favorites.
00:04:01
Speaker
As a big Mariah fan, especially of her early to mid-90s output, it's easy to say that her MTV Unplugged episode and album is an undeniable jewel in her already impressive crown.
00:04:11
Speaker
I mean, let's be clear, while some people try to frame her Unplugged as a quote-unquote breakout moment, she already had two multi-platinum albums and Agrippa No. 1 singles going into her Unplugged taping.
00:04:23
Speaker
However, where it was a leveling up moment for her was from her own perspective as an artist, as Unplugged played a substantial role in helping her to overcome, unfair and inaccurate as they may have been, those weird and frequently disproven criticisms of her being a studio creation, someone whose voice could be finessed and manipulated to sound amazing in a controlled studio setting, but who couldn't be counted on to routinely replicate it in a live setting.
00:04:49
Speaker
At the time, we weren't yet even a year and a half past the Milli Vanilli debacle. Not the lip-syncing in concert part, which many dance pop acts did, but the Grammy reversing revelation that it wasn't actually them singing on their album.
00:05:02
Speaker
And perhaps the continued onslaught of industry barbs that Mariah had to navigate in her early career, simply for not having gone out on a big tour yet, was a bit of residual collateral damage from the fallout of that album vs. live show skepticism.
00:05:16
Speaker
But her unplugged moment saw her masterfully laying waste to any and all, but can she do it live skeptics, while also providing a high profile moment for her to really step forward with her own mixture of personality and performance.
00:05:30
Speaker
Here's her talking about it to MTV's Tabitha Soren in 1993. When I did unplug, that was the first time that I really felt really comfortable and I just felt really natural and I felt like it's okay to just be myself and be loose and be relaxed.
00:05:43
Speaker
You know, because other before it was just like, you know, I have to perform. and I never do it, whatever. But ever since then, I felt a lot more comfortable and confident. Additionally, from an Unplugged perspective, as I have mentioned in multiple episodes, I think it's always important to underscore that one of the key points that often gets lost in assessing the cultural entrenchment of Unplugged within the pop cultural zeitgeist is that Mariah Carey made it cool before Eric Clapton made it, for lack of a better word, legit.
00:06:12
Speaker
which is an important distinction when you're discussing any sort of pop-cultural entity made by a youth-oriented entertainment conglomerate like MTV. But I'll deep dive into all of that and more when I get into The Intersection, which, for any new listeners, is the contextualizing part of the podcast where I spend some time setting up the interview by laying out where an artist was and where Unplugged was when the two converged.
00:06:34
Speaker
Before the interview, though, is The Intersection, and before The Intersection is The Unouncements, so let me quickly knock out a couple of those. Announcement 1 Speaking of Eric Clapton's Unplugged, thank you to everyone who entered the most recent giveaway contest I've been running for the brand new reissue of his $26 million selling Unplugged album, which has been expanded to include the day of interview snippets and a handful of bonus tracks that weren't a part of the original broadcast and album.
00:07:01
Speaker
Alright, the winner of the 3LP triple disc vinyl is a listener named Parrot Gypsy, aka Mike Sutherland of British Columbia, who wrote, The one thing that I love about Clapton's album is Tears in Heaven, because I can really feel the emotion of his playing after losing his son.
00:07:18
Speaker
Would you know my name
00:07:25
Speaker
If I saw you in heaven
00:07:30
Speaker
Congratulations, Mike! Thanks for playing, thanks for listening, and your brand new enhanced edition triple vinyl Clapton Unplugged is already on its way. Just a quick reminder that, as I've already said, this is our season one finale episode. The podcast will take a brief pause for the summer, and then I'll be back with all new episodes starting on September 3rd. In the meantime, feel free to dive back into the archive and catch up on any episodes you may have missed.
00:07:56
Speaker
like my initial trio of Unplugged 101 episodes covering the entire 35-year run of the show, or maybe some of my early interviews with folks like Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs, MC Light, and Nirvana cellist Lori Goldston.
00:08:09
Speaker
Either way, you can still feel free to continue connecting with the show via email, unpluggedrevisited at gmail.com, or by leaving a voicemail at 234-REVISIT, as I'll still be keeping tabs on both of those during the break.
00:08:22
Speaker
Alrighty, I told you they'd be quick this week. Time to get into the intersection of Mariah Carey's Unplugged.
Mariah Carey's Early Career Highlights
00:08:30
Speaker
Okay, upfront truth in advertising, I deeply, deeply love this period of Mariah's career. So while I'll get into my normal pop culture analysis and researched facts and figures groove in a moment, let me just start off by saying that Mariah's early to mid-90s vocally transcendent, new jack swing stamped, gospel-adjacent, radio-ready pop R&B run of her 1990 self-titled debut all the way through ninety five s Daydream is some of the most vibrant, most engaging, and most vocally distinguishable pop music of all time.
00:09:02
Speaker
And it's also some of my favorite. There's a reason that in the 1990s alone, she landed both the most number one hits on the Hot 100, 14 of them, with Janet Jackson coming in second with just six, and also the most cumulative weeks at number one on the Hot 100.
00:09:18
Speaker
60 weeks with Boyz II Men coming in second at 50 weeks and yes both of them shared 16 of those weeks at number one with their joint hit single One Sweet Day which earned them the record for the longest-running number one single in history an impressive feat that stood unchallenged for almost a quarter of a century between 1996 and
00:09:45
Speaker
But let's rewind things a little bit. Back to the summer of 1990 and the release of her self-titled debut album. Now, there's some incredible stuff in Mariah's story leading up to this point, and I can't recommend highly enough checking out her incredible 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, to learn all about it directly from her.
00:10:03
Speaker
But for the purposes of the podcast today, I'm going to use her first single and album as the intersection's narrative starting point. So, May 15th, 1990, her debut single, Vision of Love, is released and the world gets its first sonic sampling of Mariah Carey.
00:10:25
Speaker
At the time, I was 10 years old, in fourth grade, and undeniably perma-glued to MTV and the radio. And while I can't say for sure exactly when I first saw the Vision of Love music video or first heard it on the radio, I do have vivid memories of the first time I ever saw her perform live on television.
00:10:43
Speaker
Even in elementary school, there were two late-night talk shows I never missed. Late Night with David Letterman, the old one back when it was on NBC, and the Arsenio Hall Show. In just two weeks after Vision of Love was first released as her debut single, Arsenio had her on his show to make her television debut.
00:11:01
Speaker
To introduce to you my next guest. She's back there preparing with my posse. And this young lady, very very impressive young talent. She wrote and helped produce her first album.
00:11:14
Speaker
She's making her national television debut. Her single is called Vision of Love. This is Mariah Carey. Give it up you. um And she capitalized on it perfectly.
00:11:26
Speaker
While many singers of the era were still handling television appearances on their own, by singing live to a pre-recorded backing track and sometimes maybe not even singing live, Mariah had a full band, a quartet of background singers, and even spiced up the intro a bit from what viewers may have heard on the radio.
00:11:42
Speaker
So right out of the gate, any of that but-can-she-do-it-live foolishness should have been a non-starter. The uniquely arresting array of vocal talents of Mariah Carey were all right there for everyone to experience.
00:11:55
Speaker
The hair-raising five octave range, the acrobatically melodic flourishes, the brief tiptoe down into that punchy lower register growl, the breath control. I mean, sure, she didn't pull out the whistle register just yet, but everything else was right there, and i was immediately hooked.
00:12:12
Speaker
That was on a Friday, and the following Tuesday she showed up and showed out on another high-profile TV moment, though not one that was normally included in an artist's new album rollout campaign.
00:12:22
Speaker
Game one of the NBA Finals at the still fairly brand new Palace at Auburn Hills. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Columbia recording artist Mariah Carey for the singing of America the Beautiful.
00:12:39
Speaker
um And while the performance itself started off fairly and understandably buttoned up...
00:12:54
Speaker
The whole whistle register thing I just mentioned, one of her soon-to-be signature calling cards, well, this is when it first joined the
00:13:12
Speaker
In less than two minutes, Mariah's awe-inspiring rendition caused the crowd to go absolutely nuts, many of the players to shake their heads in disbelief, and game commentator Pat O'Brien to famously remark, The Palace now has a queen.
00:13:27
Speaker
And guess what? We still wouldn't even be able to buy her new album for a whole other week. But on June 12, 1990, her self-titled, eventually nine times platinum selling debut album was released, and it quickly started gaining a head of steam.
00:13:41
Speaker
In August, the album went platinum, and Vision of Love became her first single to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained atop the pop chart for four straight weeks.
00:13:52
Speaker
And by the way, it also hit number one across the R&B and b in adult contemporary charts as well. August also saw the release of her second single, Love Takes Time.
00:14:08
Speaker
And during this initial coming out party, she continued to make frequent live television appearances. Good Morning America in July. With Richard T. on piano, and with Billy T. Scott and Patrick McMillan providing backup vocal...
00:14:20
Speaker
Here's Mariah Carey.
00:14:25
Speaker
Back to Arsenio in September. Unless you sing Vision of Love, Mariah, I'm just going to pop. Fellas, talk to her. I'm not going to dress. I'm not going tell a joke. I want to hear Vision of Love. And if you don't sing it,
00:14:39
Speaker
so youll thing wall a name yeah sameness thank think was thank you mariah carey singing vision of love kick it sandy In Showtime at the Apollo in October,
00:14:52
Speaker
with her still being such a relatively new artist that sinbad slightly flubbed her song title in his intro All right, y'all, let's get things started tonight with a new artist who looked to Apollo legends like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder for creative inspiration.
00:15:07
Speaker
Born and raised in New York, her first single, I'ma say it, can go crazy, Visions of Love. Went all the way to number one on the charts. Apollo, give it up for Columbia recording artist, Mariah Carey.
00:15:20
Speaker
And speaking of October 1990, this was a pretty big month for Mariah's first foray into the mainstream consciousness. During that month alone, her debut album was certified double platinum.
00:15:31
Speaker
Alongside her Apollo appearance, she also performed on an episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Patrick Swayze. Ladies gentlemen, Mariah Carey!
00:15:43
Speaker
And, perhaps most notably, her first big multi-song showcase took place on October 22, 1990 at New York's Tattoo Supper Club, where she absolutely dazzled the intimate audience with a little piano-led jazz combo and a trio background singers.
00:15:59
Speaker
But I know that you do, and I feel that you do, inside. Inside. Inside. So here,
00:16:11
Speaker
when you're Her set included her two singles, Vision of Love and Love Takes Time, as well as the live debuts of her songs Someday, which would be her next single, Vanishing, and her non-album cover of the Aretha Franklin popularized Don't Play That Song, which is an absolutely killer soul classic that Mariah seems to have a lot of fun absolutely nailing.
00:16:34
Speaker
Plus, just listen to that bass work from future American Idol judge Randy Jackson.
00:16:51
Speaker
While video of most of this club tattoo performance was included as part of her first VHS release just a couple months later, I believe it would have stifled most of her but-can-she-do-it-live detractors before they could have even gotten started if this would have been packaged for a TV broadcast or put out as a special live EP.
00:17:08
Speaker
I mean, it would have served as the easiest and most conclusive receipts to pull up any time someone questioned her live performance bona
Trey Lorenz's Beginnings with Mariah Carey
00:17:16
Speaker
fides. But at the time, it was only available via that first vision VHS.
00:17:20
Speaker
However, she did eventually release most of the performance around her 30th anniversary celebrations in 2020 via a digital-only EP titled The Live Debut 1990, and it is well, well worth your time to seek out.
00:17:34
Speaker
I should also note here that this early period is also when Trey first started performing with her. You can easily spot him in the second Arsenio appearance, SNL, the club tattoo show footage, and other performances.
00:17:46
Speaker
In fact, on that first Vision VHS, you can even see the camaraderie and budding friendship between him and Mariah in some of the behind-the-scenes footage of them rehearsing for SNL and the Apollo show. I know you think my love is slipping away. We're here the cue card section of Saturday Night Live. guys can keep singing as I go, right? The very next month, November 1990, saw Mariah's second single, Love Takes Time, hit number one as well.
00:18:13
Speaker
And just like Vision of Love, it actually hit number one across all three pop, R&B, and AC charts. November also saw Mariah's third single, Someday, get released as well.
00:18:34
Speaker
And it also saw her perform on that era's biggest late-night talk show stage, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, though her episode was one of those where Johnny had a guest host, in this case, Jay Leno. Please welcome Mariah Carey.
00:18:47
Speaker
Mariah ended her wildly successful debut year, well, half year, really, by earning the distinction of being the artist with the most weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 throughout all of 1990.
00:19:00
Speaker
Alright, let me try to move through Mariah's Jam Pack 1991 little quicker. In January, her debut album was certified triple platinum, and she performed someday at the American Music Awards, where she was also up for three nominations.
00:19:15
Speaker
Take it away, Keenan Ivory Wayans. Her mother taught her to sing at the age of four, and for the next 16 years, she's just been getting better and better. Her sensational debut album put her high in all the music charts.
00:19:26
Speaker
Tonight, she's up for both favorite new artists and favorite female vocalists. Here's what all her excitement is about, Mariah Carey. In February, her debut album was certified quadruple platinum and she had her big Grammys coming out party, being nominated for five total awards, including each of the big four, winning for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and performing Vision of Love during the ceremony.
00:19:53
Speaker
And the Grammy goes to...
00:19:58
Speaker
Mariah Carey!
00:20:03
Speaker
And not to invoke the whole Milli Vanilli thing again, but her 1991 Best New Artist Grammy coming on the heels of their 1990 Best New Artist Grammy revocation was actually a significant nod to both her vocal talents and her live performance prowess.
00:20:33
Speaker
Oh, that you turned out to.
00:20:47
Speaker
In March, her debut album hit number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, where it rained for 11 weeks, making it the best performing album of the year. And she won three awards, including Best New Artist, at the Soul Train Awards.
00:21:01
Speaker
Take it away, Heavy D. And the winner is...
00:21:08
Speaker
Vanilla, I don't think No, no.
00:21:13
Speaker
not here not tonight true one is mariah carery
00:21:22
Speaker
March is also when Someday hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and when she released her fourth single, I Don't Wanna Cry.
00:21:39
Speaker
In April, her debut album was certified five times platinum, and in May, I Don't Wanna Cry also hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making her only the second act ever to have their first four debut singles all hit number one.
00:21:53
Speaker
The first act to do it, you ask? Well, that'd be the Jackson 5, but more on that connection in a little bit. Okay, so right here, late spring 91, pretty much a full calendar year, is kind of the other bookend of her massively successful debut album cycle of chart-topping hits, platinum certifications, multiple awards, and a singles rollout that basically went, at the risk of oversimplifying it, sort of ballad, ballad, banger, ballad.
00:22:21
Speaker
There was a brief pause in new activity over that summer, although critics continued to bemoan the lack of a Mariah tour via various iterations of their But Can She Do It Live? cynicisms.
00:22:32
Speaker
And then, in mid-August 91, we got the first taste of her second album via its lead single title track, Emotions.
00:22:42
Speaker
Between the song's upbeat dance-pop bounce and its feel-good, hanging-with-friends music video, which I remember got a massive amount of heavy rotation airplay on MTV, it was easy to see that she clearly wanted to kick off this sophomore album cycle in a way that would balance out that previously mentioned ballad-ballad, banger-ballad precedent.
00:23:01
Speaker
That, if not carefully navigated, might have acted like a tractor beam that completely engulfed her into the adult contemporary balladeer sphere.
00:23:13
Speaker
But alas, Mariah was certainly too cool to let that happen, and Emotions, both the single and the eventual album, did an incredible job of keeping her firmly planted in the mainstream Top 40 Pop R&B consciousness.
00:23:26
Speaker
That September, just a couple days before her second album was released, her self-titled debut logged one more milestone, getting certified six times platinum on September 13th. and on September 17th, Emotions, the album, was released.
00:23:41
Speaker
And less than a week later, she was once again invited back to perform on Arsenio. You're a great crowd. You deserve Mariah Carey. I should note this was actually the second time Arsenio got to introduce a Mariah performance that month, as he also hosted the 1991 MTV VMAs in early September, where she performed Emotions live for the first time.
00:24:03
Speaker
Take it away again, Arsenio. Tearing the charts up, performing her new single Emotions, this is... Mariah Carey! By October, emotions hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Mariah the first artist, and still the only one, to have their first five debut singles all hit number one.
00:24:22
Speaker
And in November, she returned to Saturday Night Live. Hi, I'm Linda Hamilton. And I'm Mariah Carey. We'll be on Saturday Night Live this week. Unless a killer cyborg appears from the future and prevents it. Right. Emotions was certified both platinum and then just two weeks later, double platinum.
00:24:39
Speaker
And also, Can't Let Go was released as the album's follow-up single. Even though I try, I can't let go. Something in your eyes can't change.
00:24:55
Speaker
And while the slow jam ballad still landed atop the adult contemporary chart, her record-breaking streak of consecutive debut number ones on the Hot 100 pop chart ended when the song only managed to make it as far as sarcastic dramatic pause number two.
00:25:10
Speaker
So yeah, it was still an undeniable hit, and Mariah's sonic supremacy was of course still firing on all cylinders. And then during that December, first, she took home four Billboard Music Awards.
00:25:22
Speaker
Take it away, an increasingly animated Paul Schaefer. She started the year at the number one spot in the Hot 100 chart with Love Takes Time. Since then, she has scored three more number one hits with Someday, Don't Wanna Cry and Emotions.
00:25:41
Speaker
that an artist has hit number one with their first five releases. She has also topped the R&B and the Adult Contemporary Charts. And in February, she won two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her debut album, simply called Mariah Carey, held the number one spot on the Pop Chart for 11 weeks. In all, it has been on the charts for 70,000.
00:26:08
Speaker
somebody's how decideding night of today <unk>
00:26:18
Speaker
So far, earlier this evening, she won the award for number one, but 100 single of the year. And she adds three more. And then second, as a nice little appetizer to the holiday feast she delivered just a couple years later, she closed out the year performing Hark the Herald Angels Sing on the Christmas Eve Eve episode of Good Morning America.
00:26:39
Speaker
And now with the Billy T. Scott Ensemble and Robbie Condor on piano, Mariah Carey and Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
00:26:54
Speaker
But even amidst the yearly bacchanalia of peace on earth and goodwill to men, the but-can-she-do-it-live irritations masquerading as questions about touring remained ever-present. Everybody's
MTV Unplugged 1992 Recording and Setlist Details
00:27:05
Speaker
saying, is she going to go on tour again?
00:27:07
Speaker
Well, for Christmas, I'll be at home and just trying to relax and take a little break and... One final note on Mariah's 91.
00:27:20
Speaker
ah yeah when i can do the right tour i don't want to disappoint fans by by just throwing something together one final note on mariah's ninety one Just like in 1990, she once again ended the year as the artist with the most weeks at number one, though this time she had to share the designation with Mr. Everything I Do, I Do It For You, Bryan Adams, as they both tied at seven weeks.
00:27:42
Speaker
Okay, on to 1992, the year Mariah Carey and MTV Unplugged crossed paths. A couple quick notes on where each one was at. For Mariah, early 92 saw her releasing Make It Happen as her next single, which went top five on the Hot 100...
00:27:59
Speaker
Just hold on tight and don't let go. You can make it, make it happen. Getting a triple platinum certification for her Emotions album and netting even more Grammy, Soul Train, and American Music Award nominations and performances.
00:28:16
Speaker
Take it away, Whoopi Goldberg. The best new artist of last year is back with us this year. Last year, she was new. This year, she's a nominee for Producer of the Year. I guess she's grown up fast.
00:28:28
Speaker
Here she is, a winner last year and a nominee tonight for pop vocal performance by female, Miss Mariah Carey. For MTV Unplugged, early 92 marked the beginning of the soon-to-be paradigm-shifting show's third season.
00:28:44
Speaker
While it had certainly already started its upward trajectory with the inventive acoustic reframings of its first two seasons, it was seriously about to level up in the mainstream pop cultural conversation with its 92 season.
00:28:56
Speaker
The season kicked off with Eric Clapton's soon-to-be-ubiquitous Unplugged, which was taped in January and broadcast in March. Five days after its initial airing, the Unplugged crew did one of their legendary multi-artist single-day filming sessions when on March 16, 1992, they captured an absolutely legendary trio of Unplugged episodes in just one day.
00:29:19
Speaker
First up was their R&B-anchored ensemble show featuring Cooley High Harmony-era Boys to Men, Shawnice, and Joe Public.
00:29:32
Speaker
Then they filmed Mariah's episode, and then they closed the day out with Pearl Jam's explosively amazing performance a little after midnight. Oh, the beer's so ryan, and then she tears on taking off, fly the metal.
00:29:46
Speaker
To finish off the timeline of this Clapton Carey unplugged cannonball splash, Eric's episode was broadcast in March, Mariah's episode was broadcast in April, Mariah's EP was released in June, and then Eric's album was released in August, with his accompanying Layla single not even getting a release until that September.
00:30:05
Speaker
Which, no shade, just context, didn't even make it into the top 10 as it stalled out at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the other hand, Mariah's unplugged cover of the Jackson 5's I'll Be There became her sixth Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, while also becoming a global smash hit, topping the charts in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, and the Netherlands, while also hitting the top 10 in over a dozen other countries.
00:30:30
Speaker
And her MTV Unplugged EP was certified double platinum, on its way to eventually being certified quadruple platinum, all before Eric's Unplugged album even came out.
00:30:42
Speaker
There is love, I'll be
00:30:49
Speaker
Now, I mention all that to say, again, from a historically accurate pop cultural analysis perspective, while yes, Eric's Unplugged is deserving of its own accolades for eventually winning multiple Grammys, selling over 26 million copies, and helping to cement the Unplugged concept to a wider audience, what it is not deserving of is the often employed yet highly inaccurate framing that is found within most retrospective assessments of Unplugged's cultural legacy,
00:31:16
Speaker
where the show's uniquely successful cultural footprint often gets concertina'd down into this boring one-dimensional framing that isolates Clapton into this silo of solo success.
00:31:27
Speaker
In my opinion, I really don't think the widespread reception of Eric's Unplugged album or the larger cultural imprint of Unplugged itself happens as massively as it did without the catalyst of Mariah's episode and EP firmly planting its flag in popular, of-the-moment youth culture first.
00:31:44
Speaker
So let's spend a few minutes on Mariah's Unplugged taping, shall we? Camera people, you have to let me know when you're ready. and Sonically and aesthetically, Mariah's Unplugged stage was overflowing with insanely talented instrumentalists and vocalists.
00:31:59
Speaker
Not only did she have over a dozen musicians supporting her, including a string quartet, a five-piece horn ensemble, and a handful of familiar faces, like David Cole of early 90s Superstars' C&C Music Factory on piano for a couple songs,
00:32:14
Speaker
Vernon Black of Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston fame on guitar, and as I already mentioned, former Journey Band member and future American Idol judge Randy Jackson on bass.
00:32:24
Speaker
But she also had 10, yes, 10 background vocalists augmenting her sound as well, including Trey Lorenz, who you'll hear from in just a bit. As far as the all-too-short setlist, at this point in Unplugged's history, they were still mostly, but not exclusively, doing just 30-minute episodes, so Mariah's Unplugged setlist is really only 7 songs long.
00:32:45
Speaker
Since she was still in the thick of promoting emotions, over half of the night's tracks were from that album. There was the title track, which masterfully kicked off the taping, the episode, and the eventual album.
00:33:01
Speaker
You got me feeling emotion.
00:33:10
Speaker
If It's Over, which was a soulful piano ballad Mariah wrote with the legendary singer-songwriter Carole King, and whose unplugged version was uplifted by the five-piece Saturday Night Live horns.
00:33:22
Speaker
If it's over, over, if it's over, over, over, over
00:33:34
Speaker
and then make it happen which was her current hit single at the time and for this unplugged version featured two of her co-producers david cole and walter afanasia on piano the exact same piano that is sitting right beside each other on the same piano bench four hands on the keys
00:33:59
Speaker
And as frequent listeners are well aware, I always like to call out the live acoustic sampling awesomeness that often occurred on Unplugged. So I'll just say that the energetic groove of the Alicia Myers I Want a Thank You sample, whose original sounds like this...
00:34:25
Speaker
was perfectly threaded by Mariah's unplugged band. And then there was Can't Let Go, which served as an impromptu closer to the whole set. I say impromptu because the song wasn't originally in the set list, and even though her band and background singers were successful in playfully coaxing her into singing it, she definitely wanted us folks at home to know that this was an off-the-cuff, in-the-moment audible.
00:34:48
Speaker
I guess that means I'm gonna do this one straight. We're done with the show, but...
00:34:58
Speaker
We're done with the show, but I want to do this one for you because I thank you so much for coming. Of course, even without it being a part of the original plan, you know Mariah still brought the goods.
00:35:09
Speaker
And the whistle register. Thank you.
00:35:18
Speaker
And as far as a little more live acoustic sampling tastiness, yeah, I'm absolutely going to count this as sampling slash and interpolating Keith Sweat's Make It Last Forever.
00:35:38
Speaker
For the three songs not from the Emotions album, she brought out two of the biggest hits from her debut album, Vision of Love,
00:36:10
Speaker
In an absolutely incendiary version of Someday,
00:36:22
Speaker
In fact, Someday's acrobatic vocal workout actually caused Mariah to quip. I don't have to hit any more high notes now the rest of the night. I'm kidding. And really, that's another one of the elements that made her unplug so special.
00:36:35
Speaker
The way its relaxed atmosphere really allowed the charmingly unguarded side of her personality to come through a bit more. Playfully teasing about her quote-unquote tea person. need to some tea now.
00:36:47
Speaker
I don't know where my tea person
00:36:51
Speaker
wow Thank you. That's Karen. Let's hear for Karen. Karen Rizzo on T. Clowning around with the crew. This is Paul. He's not a stranger getting fresh. i know Venturing out to greet the audience during filming breaks. How long we have?
00:37:09
Speaker
Okay. We have a minute, going to come hello. And even remaining nonchalantly unruffled amidst a flub false start intro.
00:37:34
Speaker
Oh, you wonderful. And then, of course, there was the last-minute addition turned immediate masterpiece of her surprise, unplugged cover of the Jackson five s I'll Be There. Don't you know, baby, yeah, yeah, I'll be there.
00:37:53
Speaker
song was initially envisioned to just be a fun, one-time-only rarity for her unplugged episode. I mean, they didn't even know they'd be performing it until practically the day before the show. But the absolute vocal masterclass delivered by Mariah taking Michael's verses and Trey handling Jermaine's choruses resulted in not only the song becoming the night's jaw-dropping, show-stopping, climactic highlight, but also it being released as a single that extensively hit across the globe and impressively cast a mythical sonic shadow that continues to stretch out to this very day.
00:38:27
Speaker
As you'll hear in my upcoming interview with Trey, the song has remained a fan-favorite staple in Mariah's show since it was first unveiled back in 92. And perhaps its most meaningful, most weighted performance came in 2009, when Mariah and Trey were invited to sing it at Michael Jackson's funeral.
00:38:44
Speaker
Just call my name And I'll be there Just look over your shoulder
00:39:01
Speaker
Oh, come
00:39:10
Speaker
We never will say goodbye.
00:39:17
Speaker
Alright, I think I've rambled and rhapsodized about my love for this particular Unplugged episode enough. It's time to hear Trey's incredible stories about his many, many years of performing with Mariah and his recollections of this monumental Unplugged taping and his multiple, very much welcomed by me, break-into-song interludes.
00:39:36
Speaker
Okay, here's my Unplugged revisited chat with Trey Lorenz. I'm genuinely so thrilled to be sitting here today with singer, producer, and absolute MTV Unplugged superstar, Trey Lorenz, to reminisce about his experience singing on the legendary Mariah Carey Unplugged from 1992.
Trey Lorenz's Journey into Music
00:39:54
Speaker
Thank you so much for being here to talk Unplugged with me today, Trey. It is my pleasure to be here. When you reached out, I was like, oh my goodness, am I going to remember all of this stuff?
00:40:03
Speaker
Yeah. So I brushed up with a Wikipedia page just to make sure. Because they again, this has been like, you know, like 30, over 30 years ago. Yeah, exactly. You got to love having an interview request that comes with homework, right? That's not every day.
00:40:20
Speaker
ah But I don't mind. yeah It honestly is my honor. Thank you. Very cool. Well, all right. Well, to set the stage for us a little bit here, um just to go back in time a little bit, can you give us the backstory on how you initially even got connected to Mariah and when you first started singing with her?
00:40:35
Speaker
Yes. Well, I went to college in New Jersey. I'm from South Carolina. I wanted to get into the music business. So I was literally going after schools where I could be close to either New York.
00:40:49
Speaker
Atlanta really wasn't happening quite yet at that point in the late eighty s and California was just too far. was out of the question, even though eventually I lived out there for a few years as well.
00:41:00
Speaker
But I chose New York area because we had family in New Jersey. wouldn't be totally like a fish out of water. And we had family along the East Coast. So I decided to go to college um in New Jersey. I went to Fairleigh Dickinson University. I'm proud alumni. There we go.
00:41:18
Speaker
Out of Fairleigh Dickinson. And um I was in a group. I want to say my junior year was ah of this rapper, Redhead Kingpin, who had a song on this Do the Right Thing. Is that a Spike Lee movie? um Yeah. I can't remember. Yeah.
00:41:35
Speaker
Anyway, he had a song with that. And he had put together ah group. At the time, it was a new concept with a rapper and four of us singing. So we were in a group. It was really cool. We had some really good stuff.
00:41:48
Speaker
And it was under Teddy Riley's, who was known as one of the architects of the New Jack swing that was popular in the late 80s and early 90s, ended up leading to him working with Michael Jackson on that Dangerous album and plenty of other people. yeah But um we were in that group.
00:42:05
Speaker
But um the Christmas, when I was home for Christmas break, everything fell apart. So we never signed the contracts and all that stuff. It probably was a blessing in disguise. but I remain friends with one of the guys that was in the group with us. His name is Patrick McMillan.
00:42:24
Speaker
And Pat is actually the guy who is standing beside me on I'll Be There and any of the early clips of Mariah from like Saturday Night Live and Arsenio Hall. yeah We were, you know, performing with her during that era.
00:42:39
Speaker
But at the time, i was nervous to go to New York. You know, I have a Southern mother who's like, well be careful going on the subway at night and all this kind stuff. And it really put a fear in me.
00:42:51
Speaker
So but I would go to the city generally during the day, but around five, six o'clock, I was trying to get out of there. but So he had a session. He said, it's a young girl, it's a new girl, and they say she sounds like Whitney Houston. And I loved Whitney Houston. um So um he convinced me to tag along. And um it was a session for her debut album, and the song was There's Got to Be a Way that they were working on. Mm-hmm.
00:43:21
Speaker
Ironically, I ended up in that video months later. But at this time, I think that was February of 1990. That's when Mariah and first met. And um I was still in college and we just became quick friends.
00:43:35
Speaker
More details than I was in summer school that my mom had paid for. I found out that I could actually graduate on time if I took like two summer classes. And I was ready to get out of there. So I was like, let me just go take these classes.
00:43:49
Speaker
And I was waiting for them to call me because they had ah somebody else. And in the meantime, that summer, her debut single, Vision of Love, is just climbing the charts. And I'm like,
00:43:59
Speaker
what mistake have I made here? ah But um eventually, i guess whoever they had didn't work out and they called me back. um You know, i started performing with her my entire senior year. I was working with Mariah. We were doing, like I'm saying, the Arsenio Hall shows. And I went to It's funny because I went to speak to one of my professors and tell him, I'm going to miss this test on Friday because I'm actually flying to California to do the Arsenio Hall show. And he was like, yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah. I'm sorry. No, I'm serious. I'm serious. So anyway, he must have caught the show. And Yeah, yeah. After that, it was nothing but smooth sailing, baby. I got like all A's my senior year because they give me my lessons. I study on the planes and all that kind of stuff. And it was, oh, it was really great experience for a young person at that time.
00:44:53
Speaker
Fast forward, um I was actually about to sign a solo deal because I was still dealing with Redhead Kingpin and some people he was affiliated with. And we I was going to sign with Virgin Records.
00:45:08
Speaker
It was Gemma Corfield. I'm not certain if Gemma is still there. Is Virgin even still open? not certain. I know a lot of the labels have folded and converged into one you know entity. Yeah, some of them have kept their imprint, but yeah there's like three of them now, essentially. Right. Yeah. it's it's The music industry is come completely different now than when I first got into it in the you know like late 80s, early 90s.
00:45:33
Speaker
Yeah. Anyway, today announced we were going to do this show. it was for MTV. Yeah. That brings us to Unplugged. That's awesome. Yeah. So that brings us to 92. And just to set the scene going into that unplugged taping in mid-March 92. So at that time, her debut album that you're talking about, that was already six times platinum.
00:45:55
Speaker
Her second album that you appeared on was triple platinum already. She had like five number one singles, three of which had gone platinum themselves. But the larger story was still that whole, but can she do it live foolishness that was kind of just like, It still blows my mind that that was even a thing around her early career. But a couple of questions about this sort of lead up period to that unplugged taping.
00:46:18
Speaker
First, do you remember where in the timeline unplugged even started being discussed? Like, was there a big lead up? Did y'all have a lot of time to prepare or did it just kind of pop up quick? Well, to your point, there was a lot of, you know, chatter, I guess, and talk about her doing more live stuff. Now, while you were there doing it, it seems like we were doing a whole lot of live stuff. Right. mean, I just as a kid, I caught y'all on TV all the time. Right. I never understood it.
00:46:46
Speaker
Exactly. But um at the time, our president of the company, Tommy Mottola, was really the hands on. And I think he really wanted to guide Mariah and make sure she always says that he really wanted to keep her in the studio. and And this is documented, so it's not like I'm telling anything. she She has a great book out where she's talking about all this.
00:47:08
Speaker
He would keep her in the studio like and she felt like a caged bird. So she called it Sing Sing. yeah Like the prison. But I think that he had a plan. And obviously, like I'm saying, Mariah's first five singles went to number one. And when she had reached, I'm really big on charts where I really was at that time.
00:47:27
Speaker
The first four put her in a tie with the Jackson five. So you got kind of watch this whole, this this connection here. So she had four singles that went to number And this is from debut single. When somebody first hit on the scene,
00:47:42
Speaker
First single went to number one, all the way up through number four, put her in a tie with the Jackson 5, who had done the same thing, 69, 1970. And then here it is, 20 years later, she's doing it in 1990, 91.
00:47:55
Speaker
And um Emotions, which is from that second album, and I'm singing background on it, actually. hi there I'm actually in the video for that one, too. Yeah, um from that Emotions album that you were talking about.
00:48:08
Speaker
That became her fifth number one song, which made a record at that time for somebody to have five number one singles to go to number one and no major concert. Right.
00:48:19
Speaker
So I think that's what kind of led up to them wanting to do the MTV Unplugged show. And again, at that time, you know, I knew of MTV Unplugged because I want to say that I saw Nirvana. was Nirvana before us.
00:48:34
Speaker
They were after. Yeah, they did it the very next season. Y'all were 92. They recorded theirs 93. Okay. It seems like there's somebody else that I did see yeah from before that, you know, so I was kind of familiar with it, but yeah, when, when we did it, you know, it was just like a regular thing. We, they brought in, they did bring in more singers because generally it was just three of us singing background with her and they brought in slew of singers, like million. Yeah. There were like 10 of y'all on stage just singing, right? Exactly. There um around that time is when
00:49:05
Speaker
She brought in some amazing singers and i I need to name them. Melanie Daniels, who is just, oh my goodness, they're church girls. So they have that big, full voice, but then their voices are like chameleon. And I think working with Mariah, they you know you have to bring on different textures and almost become a character when it comes to singing. Singing background really is not.
00:49:27
Speaker
As simple as people might think, because you have to maintain your part and then you have to blend with other people. So your mind is really going into overhaul. So coming from the church, you know, you kind of taught that at a young age. But again, Melanie Daniels, there was also Kelly Price.
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah, Kelly Price. Went on to do amazing things and um just a great singer. I remember going to see her. and her sister, her name is Cherie, Cherie Price, um it's sing at a church around that time, because I just thought they were the cats meow. I still love their voices. And I but i wouldn't remember going to go see them perform at this church um around that time. And I was like, i have where are y'all going to be singing outside of this? Let me hear you in your element.
00:50:10
Speaker
And um we ended up going to see them. but And then they had and quite a few other people as well. I can't remember everyone's name, unfortunately. But yeah, um it was like 10 of us. And that's around the time. Now, by this time, I had already had a solo deal with Epic.
00:50:26
Speaker
So I was still, I was writing songs everything. I was like, let me hurry up and get this freaking album out because my gig is about to be up because these girls are blowing. They are amazing.
00:50:39
Speaker
And sure enough, I'm A little while after that, the guys were gone and the girls were in. Yeah. Yeah. So um so that's around the time I actually did a solo project named Trey Lorenz. Go check that out. yeah and Someone to hold. Top 20 hit. Yeah. yeah So um when we did the show for Unplugged, let me bring it all the way back because I'm a talker, as you can see. i love love it. We, you know, we just want to rehearse like it was a regular thing. So we had fun. We had more people in there, had more energy. It's like a choir. We were just loving it. So we were rehearsing for the show. And think we started off with emotions and David Cole was there. David Cole was from the group c and c and c c C&C, CCC Music Factory. Oh my goodness. C&C Music Factory. Yeah. Thank you.
00:51:30
Speaker
C&C Music Factory. Everybody dance now. That's it. Things make go all the good. Exactly right. oh You're good. You remember, huh? I love it. Yes. So um he and his partner, Robert Clavillis, they were CNC, but David who was really the one who was working with Mariah. Mariah loves musicians and They had come up with um emotions and make it happen during that era. It seems like there's a few others, but those were the two from emotions. And those are two that I sang on. So I can remember those.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yeah. He was brought in. And I want to say that he was playing piano along with Walter Afanasius, who is so amazing. Walter is For me, I just viewed him as almost like a Walt... I know this might not be the best comparison, but almost as a Walt Disney a producer who just had these amazing sounds. So he would make a pop record sound like a movie score to me. And that's why I say that. yeah be like I think he went on to do like a whole new world for Regina Bale, Peeble Bryson, and...
00:52:39
Speaker
ah Celine Dion, you know, just all these big, big records. I don't know if it's David Foster Walter who did the... near
00:52:51
Speaker
I don't know if that was... Yeah. Yeah, I can't remember. But anyway, that's the kind of stuff he does. So, you know, just to be a young kid working with Walter, it was just amazing. And um he had a slew of just amazing people like the drummer Gigi Gonaway and Randy Jackson. Everybody knows Randy from American Idol. Randy, these guys were playing with Narada, Michael Walden. Yeah. Yeah. who did like Whitney Houston's How Will I Know. They worked with Sister Sledge and Stacy Ladisaw.
00:53:22
Speaker
A lot of people I listened to in the early 80s and Nara himself was an artist as well, but this was his core band. So Randy Jackson was there. Randy at the time worked at Columbia as well, but he would still find time to come play bass with us.
00:53:35
Speaker
There was Vernon Black on guitar. Vernon is the guy in Whitney Houston's So Emotional video. Yeah, you work on me. Work on me.
00:53:46
Speaker
I get so emotional, baby. That's him playing the guitar on that guitar break. And there was um Sammy Figueroa. I can't remember Sammy right now, but Ren Klaiss.
00:53:57
Speaker
Also, they were on percussions. And the they were just just killer, killer band. So it was a lot of fun working with them. And I think they brought in some sax players and other musicians. Yeah, the Saturday Night Live horns. It was like five folks. Yeah.
00:54:13
Speaker
There you go. Now, I didn't really know those guys. So they you know it was just, you i met them when we did the show. and yeah you know But everybody else, for the most part, were you know we were already kind of like a unit.
00:54:24
Speaker
So the band was killer and, you know, we just had a ah really good time. Had you ever actually performed on stage with that many people before? Because like when you watch the DVD or even Paramount Plus has it streaming now, it somehow it seems packed in, you know, because y'all are performing in the round with ah with a crowd all the way around you. But there also seems to be like just enough room for everybody to fit on stage. But was it hard to kind of like hear yourself or or find yourself or anything?
00:54:51
Speaker
You know what? It's funny that you say that because at that time, that was actually before they had the ear monitors that we kind of wear now. don't know if you've ever seen people with the ear monitors. I don't think we had them for that particular show.
00:55:08
Speaker
No, there were just wedges at all of y'all's feet still. Yeah, I don't think there were in-ears yet. Right, exactly. But no, you know, and that was what we were accustomed to. And I'm going to be honest with you. Sometimes I have issues with the ear monitors because I'm, you know, so when you kind you brought up doing one thing and then it kind of switches, you're like, whatever. don't know if I like this. I kind of like the feel of the liveness, you know, that didn't have air monitors growing up in church. So right I wasn't accustomed to doing it like that.
00:55:36
Speaker
I actually prefer singing live. So because you do it one time, you're done. yeah yeah ah You feel it, you know, you go into, because then when I have to do it over and over and over again, eventually I'm like,
00:55:47
Speaker
Okay, when is this going to be over? Yeah. what of the girls that sang with us told, I think you have
00:56:03
Speaker
yeah but But that particular um experience, i was so focused and honed in and you know it was a good time. yeah And
The Last-Minute Addition of 'I'll Be There'
00:56:11
Speaker
let me bring you up to speed with the I'll Be There thing. So I'll Be There was really not supposed to be included in the original lineup.
00:56:20
Speaker
And um I've kind of read through the Wikipedia thing, and I'm not certain if it's exactly like that. I know that they came to us after we were in rehearsal saying, we need one more song. And that's when Mariah and Walter came up with the idea to do I'll Be There.
00:56:36
Speaker
Mariah knew that I was, um i still am a Motown baby. I'm a Motown fanatic. yeah Those were the records that my parents had like when their college days and mid 60s and stuff. So when by the time I came along, those were the records that were in my house. And I used to know how to, from a very early age, you know, how you pick up the needle and put it right at the perfect spot to get the third song to play. You know, I didn't, I was very handy with the of the records. awesome So I inherited my parents' records because they'd tell me,
00:57:13
Speaker
could you go in there and play track number four for me? There it is. And I can go do it. So music was kind of like my babysitter. And it was really, um to that point, it was a a full circle moment for me because my mom was a teacher in high school and she would leave on the other to go to the other side of town where that particular school is.
00:57:34
Speaker
And my dad was responsible for getting me dressed to, you know, for nursery school. So he'd get me dressed. And the only thing he said that would keep me still while he got dressed was to play music.
00:57:46
Speaker
So he would play one of my favorites, he told me, was the Jackson 5's third album. Now, this was already, you know, it came out in 1970, if I'm not mistaken. So the album was already like maybe a year or two old at that point.
00:58:02
Speaker
But, you know, that was in the collection and I still know every single song from that. And ah so anyway, of that um and that's actually the album that I'll Be There is on. So that's the kind of the the full circle moment there. So. Mariah knew I loved Motown because she could ask any of the other people there.
00:58:22
Speaker
But again, I did have the record deal. So she was like, maybe this will help you out, you know get you some attention. Oh, nice. So she asked me to do I'll Be There. i didn't even have to go look up any lyrics. I knew the song right at the top of my head and whatnot. And we really we rehearsed it literally the night before. oh my gosh. Yeah. So and then when we did it, I don't think I was in the best voice for the particular thing because we were up so late the night before. That's crazy.
00:58:50
Speaker
So what I really had planned to do for the the high part that became so known for, you know, I became. Oh, iconic. Call it what it is. right It's iconic. People talk about that all the time when they tell me. It was really, okay, um I'm not going to be able to belt this thing out like Jermaine did. So let me just, at that time, my safe spot was just, let's just go high. I'll just flip something. There you go.
00:59:14
Speaker
And I went high. So it really um was a you know a ah special moment because a day or two later, after they had a chance to really listen to everything, Tommy called me into the office, Tommy Mottola, and he was like, we're going to release this thing.
00:59:30
Speaker
ah I was like, what? I said, it's a live thing. So, oh, no, i' honestly, I can't. I remember. So we're going back in the we're going back in the studio. We're going to record it. And he's like, no, no, no. We're going to release the live version.
00:59:44
Speaker
And I was like, wait a minute. This is not how I was expecting to launch my career off a thing that I'm not certain about what I did. and So right anyway, he said, no, I'm telling you, it it was great. And, ah you know, and it it became a number one song when after they released it. um I think in three weeks at that time was kind of fast.
01:00:07
Speaker
It went to number one within three weeks. So it's like completely caught me off guard. Yeah, it is the eighth. song in the history of rock and roll to go to number one by two separate artists.
01:00:21
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Yeah. Cool. that See, I tell you, I'm a chart person. ah Right. Exactly. i'm I'm learning so much. I love this. Yeah. and actually the person who's done it since then was um Lady Marmalade, which was originally done by Patti LaBelle and then Pink and- Yeah. Christina Aguilera and Maya. Yeah. Yeah. Lil' Kim, they all did it again.
01:00:43
Speaker
So that was the ninth song. I'm not certain if there's a tenth that's happened yet, but I love to tout those little records. i' was like, oh, I'm a part of history here, you know? Yeah. And you're like a song that we didn't even know we were doing a couple of days it right before we actually did it. That part.
01:00:57
Speaker
But that you had literally been preparing for your whole life, sounds like. it' Yeah. That is amazing. I love to know that that was such kind of an impromptu moment because that's one of the things, especially in the early days of Unplugged, a lot of the standout moments of those first couple years did seem to be cover songs. You guys doing I'll Be There, 10,000 Maniacs doing Because of the Night, the next year that became a hit. Right. Joe to see doing Stevie wonders lately that becoming a hit, but there's just something that still, I mean, when I tell y'all that that single and the whole unplugged EP, like when we got back to school, it had my middle school on lock, even though it came out over the summer, it was like, everybody had the summer to prepare. And then when we got back to school, it was, Everybody was was just talking about it so much. But that's so wild to know that. Yeah, that that was just something you said the night before was the first time y'all had even practiced that. yeah No, it wasn't planned. Yeah, that just came about as like a last minute thing. And, you know, was nervous about it at first, but then, you know, I was like, you know, I know this song, you know. It was more so just trying to do right, you know, live up to a song, you know, that is iconic already. And I loved it. yeah Again, I am a Motown baby, so I loved that song literally all my life.
01:02:14
Speaker
And it sounds like that you're saying so like even, you know, after the performance or coming off stage that night, in your head, you're not thinking that you had just created this super huge pop cultural moment, right? Like you yourself were kind of worried about it. Is that what I'm hearing?
01:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, because, we you know, we didn't know. i don't think anyone had ever released one as ah an album. We just thought we'd, you know, we'd done a show with air once or twice and that was it, you know?
01:02:37
Speaker
That is true because that's one of the things that I like to kind of put into the podcast ah a lot is a lot of times people talk about what Eric Clapton did for Unplugged. And even though his episode was recorded a couple months before y'all in January, Mariah's EP came out before Eric's Unplugged album did come out because his didn't come out till like September or something um that year. So I always actually credit y'all's Unplugged with actually making it cool and MTV hip before Eric really kind of like you know, i don't like using words like legitimized, but like he made it kind of, you know, this like sort of legitimate thing. But I always credit Mariah for helping to keep unplugged, fresh and hip and actually MTV worthy and not just sort of, you know, turned into the rock centric.
01:03:21
Speaker
Right. You know what i'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah. But Eric Clapton, first of all, who's a legend, did such a right beautiful version of Layla on that. Did he at that time, did he have tears in heaven out? Do you know? Well, it you know my name.
01:03:35
Speaker
ah Did he debut it there? Yeah. I want to hear you cover it now, too. Now, it's funny. Around that same time, he recorded it as a studio version for the Rush soundtrack, that movie Rush. And then the unplugged version was kind of around the same time, but because it was already somewhat of an acoustic song. Mm hmm.
01:03:53
Speaker
I think everybody kind of blended those two versions together, like the studio version from Rush and his Unplugged version. yeah Because whenever he won like six Grammys at the next Grammys, a lot of people say all six of those were related to Unplugged, but it was technically three of them were his Unplugged and three of them were from the Rush soundtrack. But it all kind of blends in together. Exactly. But yeah, his Tears in Heaven version from Unplugged was amazing. But now you just singing a few notes. Now i want to hear your version of Yeah.
01:04:20
Speaker
um I might have to do that one. Listen, I might have to. I'm planning on doing solo shows soon. So maybe I'll do like a little segment for, you know, towards the unplugged everything. Speaking of unplugged, you know, after our version became successful, I was asked to come to some of the others. They'd roll the red carpet out for me. So I actually went to the Uptown Unplugged and I sat beside, drum roll, Jennifer Lopez and Josie Harris, who at the time were dancers for Janet Jackson.
01:04:54
Speaker
And yeah, so we experienced that whole, the Jodeci lately and Mary J. Flies and all of them. Heavy D was there. Yeah. Christopher Williams. We got to experience that all sitting in a row right beside each other.
01:05:09
Speaker
I always love knowing when artists were able to like go to other unplugs. Like sometimes you kind of look for them in the crowd. Like I remember seeing like years later when like Florence and the machine did their unplug Q-tip was in the audience. And I was like, oh my gosh, like the camera kind of pans over to and you're like, oh, he's just sitting there as a fan. Like that's so cool. But that's awesome knowing you're at the Uptown Unplugged one too. Cause that's another one of my favorites, even just as an experiment of doing like a label showcase. Exactly.
01:05:36
Speaker
Such a good show. I love that one. I have it on vinyl. I had to order it from Japan because I'm not 100% sure it actually got pressed on vinyl in the States. See, now you're going to make me have to go back and revisit all this stuff. I literally am going to have just put all of the MTV Unplugs on YouTube and just let them roll. There you go. Yeah, yeah. And I love you mentioned Mary J too because that's one of my Unplugged obsessions is that she was on the Uptown Unplugged. Then she was a guest on Jay-Z's Unplugged. Right. And then in 2007, this is one of my fun, just weirdo stories that always, for some reason, sticks in my brain. The Unplugged people sent out a press release letting everybody know of some episodes they were going to record.
01:06:17
Speaker
And Mary J. Blige was included in that, that she was going to get her own Unplugged. But then something happened and they never got filmed. There was supposed to be like one with the police. Oh. wow. Mayor J. Blige, a couple other people. But yeah, that one never came to be. And I'm like, man, she's been on two other people's. Like, give her her own, please. like That would have been amazing.
01:06:33
Speaker
You know, I'm a prankster. and I don't know why this just came to my head. So I might as well just say it. we The first Grammys that we went to, Patrick, the one mentioned stands beside me yeah head on um MTV Unplugged.
01:06:50
Speaker
We're backstage literally, not trolling, but in a fun way. Some of the artists, so for instance, that elevator door would open and we'd say, whoever the celebrity is there, we say, hey, it's Uncle Sting.
01:07:04
Speaker
And he literally put me in a headlock said, how you doing there, nephew? Yeah.
01:07:11
Speaker
yes So that just came to my mind. Sting's energy is so amazing. So I would have loved to have seen the police um do one. I'm going to, I'm going to have that image in my head the rest of the day. Now I love that interaction.
01:07:26
Speaker
I'm going to, I'm going to go back to Mariah's unplugged. Cause if not, I'm literally, it's going to be four hours later and I'm still going to be ah talking to you about this stuff. Cause this is, this is so much fun. This is one of the best conversations I've had so far, but okay. So one, one more question I had about the actual taping.
01:07:41
Speaker
before we kind of move on to the, uh, sort of success of the single and the EP release, that final number that y'all did the impromptu version of can't let go. Yes. Mariah was kind of joking around about it being like an unplanned choice, like that. She wasn't even sure, you know, she was going to do it.
01:07:56
Speaker
What was the story with that one? Had y'all not rehearsed it or was it not on the set list? I've got to let you know. Can't Let Go by Mariah is kind of like a riff off of Keith Sweat's Make It Last Forever. There you go. I don't know if you guys know that. Yeah.
01:08:19
Speaker
Make it last forever. So it's kind of like a riff off of that particular song. I love that song by Keith Sweat. So when Mariah did it and she just made it this lush, beautiful thing as she just generally does.
01:08:35
Speaker
Yeah. It was one of my favorites. So I was like, why we're not doing Can't Let Go? So we were in rehearsal, just playing around with a a little bit. You know, we didn't, it wasn't really planned.
01:08:48
Speaker
So, you know, they were just sitting there doing, I think we just had a little time and she was talking and I think they were just going to use it as like an interlude or something for her to say. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you guys for coming out. And, you know, I've had a wonderful time, that kind of thing.
01:09:02
Speaker
And we just start humming it.
01:09:06
Speaker
And she goes into it. So it it really was kind of like an impromptu moment. And if you come see Mariah out in Vegas, she actually does that particular. did We actually do like a little tribute to MTV Unplugged. First, we do Can't Let Go.
01:09:23
Speaker
And then we go into I'll Be There. oh And you can probably find that on YouTube someplace. Okay. Yeah. oh that's awesome. I love knowing that. It seems like just another one of those moments where when there's so much talent and camaraderie and energy and all those like great things going on at the same time, it feels like things don't even have to be 100% rehearsed to death. You can just like be in the moment and create these totally showstopping moments. So always love that one because at the beginning, you just, you're you're not even sure if she's going to come in or not. She's just like, I guess we're doing this. Right, right. Exactly. Right. The positive power of peer pressure. We have y'all to thank for that.
01:09:59
Speaker
Well, one one more question actually about the actual taping before we move on. First off, I know it happened during the same filming session, like MTV would do multiple artists at the same time. So that was during the same filming session as the Boys to Men, Shanice and Joe Public episode.
01:10:14
Speaker
And then the Pearl Jam episode was filmed later that night, like after y'all's recording. Did you happen to cross paths with any of those groups or catch any of the performances on either end? You know what? I'm sitting here trying to recall if I did or not.
01:10:30
Speaker
I don't think so. Like I'm saying, I have a D, D, D, D. d dd I was like, okay, let's get out of and go eat. Right? I got you. Yeah, I'm hungry. you Right? Yeah, so I'm not certain if we did.
01:10:42
Speaker
ah not But I definitely recall watching both of those performances. And of course, you know, Mariah went on to do a song with Boyz II Men. Shanice is, oh my goodness, I've loved Shanice since her debut album. right The name of the song is All Just a Game of by Shanice. When i tell you her voice, she was literally 14 sounding amazing. yeah So i'm I'm sure that I probably tried to stay around. But honestly, I don't think we got there in time to get to see them.
01:11:11
Speaker
That makes sense. Yeah. I definitely don't think they ah had them like butted up against each other time wise. So yeah, that would make sense. Right. But yeah. And and as a fun little side note, Sean East also is somebody that appeared on unplugged twice. You may already know this, but she was on the baby face unplugged and she's saying yeah breathe again, like Tony Braxton's breathe again because baby face had produced that. So Yeah, so she was on that show and the Boys to Men show where Joe Public was the actual backing band. That's one of my favorite 90s moments that sums up my middle school experience. And just a snapshot is Joe Public actually playing the music to Motown Philly while Boys to Men sing it. It's amazing.
01:11:49
Speaker
Man, I love that you were so tuned in even at that time. were you remember all of this stuff. Like, honestly, it is an honor to um be speaking with you, man. I really appreciate this.
01:12:03
Speaker
Same, same. Well, um so so then just a couple months later, so you guys record it in March, comes out that summer. The EP comes out, immediately goes double platinum. I'll Be There hits number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with you getting a featuring credit on it.
01:12:18
Speaker
Describe that experience of the of the super celebrated Unplugged moment first as being a member of Mariah's camp. And then second, for you as a solo artist, you know you had your own album come out that fall. And as i already mentioned, you had ah top 20 hit with Someone to Hold. So following you know those two branches, following the release of Unplugged, what was that experience?
01:12:39
Speaker
You know, it was honestly a whirlwind. I remember Tommy calling me into the office and saying, listen, what is about to happen for you? don't let it go to your head you know so to speak that i remember him having that kind of conversation with me but i'm from the south i'm so so regular that you know it's probably painful people are like you know why aren't you more like a star you know listen how oh my god i'm so sorry i
01:13:12
Speaker
Oh, I crack myself up sometimes. I'm on an interview talking about Mariah and, you know, they're asking me, she's like this diva and everything. I was like, I was really referring to myself. You know, she's just a fish and grits eating type of sister.
01:13:28
Speaker
ah Which is totally not the truth. Right, exactly. That's me. So that's why I'm laughing. I'm a fish and grissy type of guy. There we go. No, seriously, you know I'm from the South. And I genuinely like people, so as I don't really feel like I get the big head.
01:13:46
Speaker
I think I just got lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. Mariah and are friends. She's like, come sing this song with me. And we still sing this song. So a lot of times now you're trying to keep it fresh because Mariah does not like doing things over and over again. She really likes to, thank goodness she has a catalog that's just second to none because she can just swap things out and She enjoys doing that for the fans and and for herself to keep it interesting.
01:14:14
Speaker
So when we're singing, I'll be there, we're kind of doing the same thing. I'm like, okay, what can I do? it it it at At some point it became, what can I do to make you laugh during this song?
01:14:25
Speaker
So I'm doing all these things now where we're singing and I'm like, um I'll do this echo. She say, just call my name. And I'm like, Mariah, Mariah, Mariah, Mariah.
01:14:40
Speaker
That's beautiful. you know Just something like that. you know So it just has become a thing.
Trey Lorenz's Career During the Pandemic
01:14:46
Speaker
And um it was really a blessing. And it gave me the opportunity to do my solo thing, which I was like, I don't know if I'm too crazy about this because I am so simple. you know and The fame thing came on a little too fast for me. So that's kind of why i was not even currently Not even trying to rush to get back into doing that.
01:15:08
Speaker
But now I actually have an initiative. so i So I want to, since we're talking, let me make sure I say this. I became a real estate agent during the pandemic because I realized that the quickest way to build generational wealth is through home ownership. yeah Yes.
01:15:24
Speaker
So um I was doing that during the pandemic because Mariah was like, I'm not they're not calling my concert a super spreader event. So we were not doing any work. And I went and did that. I um was helping my mom with some stuff. I came to realize, you know, I actually like this. You know, it's a passion of mine.
01:15:40
Speaker
I wanted to release new music so that I could actually get out there, start doing concerts and getting in front of people. So that I can actually tell them, let me let me just take you through a journey of what's been going on and also partner with different lenders in whatever state or wherever I am.
01:15:56
Speaker
and see if I can help people on their journey to building generational wealth. So um please, guys, go to trailerins.com. ah they It has all my social media handles and all that kind of stuff. We're TikTok-ing and we're Instagram-ing and Facebook-ing, baby.
01:16:12
Speaker
So follow me on those things so you can stay abreast on what's happening. And um even the stuff we're doing with Mariah, if you're in China, we're going to be there. Wow. And throughout the summer, throughout the UK, we're going to Australia, which I actually love. Australia is one of my favorite places.
01:16:29
Speaker
Yeah. Down under. I come from the land under. And we're going to be in Brazil. So we've got ah quite an extensive international plan coming up for this year. And then later on in the year, we're going to be doing Christmas in Las Vegas.
01:16:44
Speaker
I'm not even certain they have announced this yet. So ah don't tell anyone if you guys hear it. Yeah. ah plan. We can cut that out if we need to. Yes, exactly. So, but anyway, the website will have all of this stuff up there.
01:16:58
Speaker
Yeah, perfect. And, and I'll even help promo for you. You also still are making your own music as well. You just recently released makes me want to dance your, your own single. And, uh, it was last year. it it was last like October, right? That you released magic as well. yeah Yeah. Like my little, were we're dancing these days, you know, we got trying to uplift people's spirits and,
01:17:19
Speaker
get you guys to, sits you know, the Tik TOK and all that kind of stuff. And I, listen, well, people don't know this, but I am a hell of a dancer. So I'm going to have to, I've really got to start doing it on my social media handles.
01:17:35
Speaker
yeah This is an audio only podcast, but y'all can't see on video. He's been dancing the whole time. It's been hard to even keep him in frame. Exactly. Trey Lorin is the hardest working man in showbiz and real estate. You heard it here. Yes, yes, yes, yes, definitely. That is awesome.
01:17:51
Speaker
Last question. I know you've sung I'll Be There with Mariah so many times over the last 30 plus years since that unplugged taping. So I won't ask you to pick your favorite, but I was curious if you wouldn't mind sharing just a couple of thoughts about the experience of getting to sing it with her at Michael Jackson's funeral in 2009.
01:18:09
Speaker
Oh, man, Will. First of all, losing Michael Jackson...
Memorable Moments with Michael Jackson
01:18:16
Speaker
it's been, oh wow, over 10 years ago, that was 2009. You know, you're talking about such an icon and you know, I've already told the story about that was one of the only things that could keep me still um as a kid, you know, growing up, you know, every era it seems um with Michael James, almost like a big brother.
01:18:35
Speaker
And I didn't even mention that to you guys. When we did, um I'll be there. i actually met Michael shortly after that. We were in the office in the hallway at Sony and he was walking through and it was just like, everybody was like Michael Jackson's here, Michael Jackson's here and all this kind of stuff. So the president of the R&B department at that time, his name is Hank Caldwell, brought Michael over and, you know, I brought me to him whenever we were together.
01:19:03
Speaker
And he said, Oh, man, you guys did such an amazing job when I'll be there. i absolutely love it. I love it. And I was just like, oh, my God, you have no idea how much I love you.
01:19:16
Speaker
and then fast forward years later, he did a concert in Korea. And this was for it was like, um. Him. I'll tell you exactly. I'm sorry. I'm fumbling over my words because my memory is coming back to me. yeah Prior to this, we had gone to Italy and done a show with Pavarotti.
01:19:37
Speaker
So it's called Pavarotti and Friends. I want to say it was 98, 99-ish. Michael Jackson was supposed to be there, but one of his babies at the time was under the weather and he didn't come.
01:19:48
Speaker
So this had to have been right after that. So we're in Korea. He convinced Mariah to be a part of the show because Mariah really is not, I'm not flying that far, but she did it for him under the condition that she could sit down and have a conversation with him.
01:20:04
Speaker
and Which we did. So at the time she was dating Luis Miguel, who is this incredible um Latin singer. He's Michael Jackson of Latin America, basically, but romance, almost more Luther Vandross, I'd say. oh there so um And I liked him a lot, Luis.
01:20:21
Speaker
So we were all in this room with Michael Jackson and he is just basically, you know, holding court with us. So I'm asking him like questions. What was it like living with Diana Ross when you first moved? ah What were the lyrics to this particular song that you sang in 1971? And he's he got tickled. He's like, man, I don't remember all that. there so yeah So I've actually had the opportunity to meet Michael a few times and maybe once or twice after that as well. But those are the memorable ones mostly for me.
01:21:00
Speaker
So to have him pass away and then initially we were told it was going to be like a tribute where people, you know, they say ushers coming and Andre Crouch and all these different singers. know, we just thought it was going to be like a a tribute concert where everybody sings his songs everything.
01:21:16
Speaker
We're one of the first people to come out and it is a casket there. Oh my goodness, Mariah got so choked up. yeah And I was just like, oh my goodness, like I can't believe this. So i was like, okay, can let me see if I can't. you know um you know I felt like I had to uplift her and hold her up in that moment.
01:21:35
Speaker
and um Mariah's competitive. So I know that if I started singing this thing, she was going to pull it together. so I was like, okay, let me do it. So she was still emotional, but she she really got through it. But when I tell you, it was so difficult because she had no idea. Neither one of us did.
01:21:55
Speaker
She was told me after she said, literally wanted to break down. And I was just like so many different emotions. So that was really an emotional time. And, you know, it's just unfortunate that yeah it's a memorable moment, but it was unfortunate that we actually had to do that way too soon. Yeah.
01:22:17
Speaker
It's so funny as you're telling that story, I can literally picture, I remember watching it at home and yeah, sort of at the beginning when y'all are singing together, it definitely looks like y'all are like, if we hold on to each other, we won't, you know, we won't fall down here, but it sounds like it was really important for her as well, for both of y'all to be out there instead of having to do anything.
01:22:35
Speaker
So right that's, that's beautiful. yeah And they said so many people watched that performance um from that and everything. So I think i I'll be there. Got another boost or, you know, yeah second life from that, you know? Yeah, that that song is everlasting for sure. and And years from now, folks are still going to be able to enjoy that as y'all are still performing it. so Yeah. If they ever reboot Unplugged, I want them to do it with with y'all. That's how they need to kick it off again. Come on. And you know what I must say this.
01:23:04
Speaker
Because of MTV Unplugged and that song going to number one, I was actually able to become an honorary Jackson. Because Jackie Jackson, the oldest Jackson, has come to quite a few of our shows. And our musical director used to be the musical director for the Jacksons.
01:23:21
Speaker
So um Jackie has come a few times. So after maybe like the third time, I'm you know telling him how much I love him. i Like I said, you know, Jackie, since we have such this history together, you know, I just think it's only fair that you guys consider me an honorary Jackson cousin. And he agreed. yeah So there we go.
01:23:41
Speaker
um That's perfect. That's top of the resume material right there. That's bullet point number one. Exactly. That is amazing. No, but seriously,
Impact of MTV Unplugged and Show Wrap-Up
01:23:50
Speaker
no. So that unplug has become the gift that keeps on giving. And I am just so honored that you are remembering and that you're paying homage to it in this way. Will, thank you so much.
01:24:00
Speaker
Oh, well, I can't thank you enough again for joining the show today and sharing your unplugged memories with me again from, from so long ago. I appreciate that you even remember them, but yeah, thank you so much for joining the show today. I really appreciate it.
01:24:12
Speaker
Yes, sir. Man, what a super fun, super interesting chat. My thanks again to Trey for joining the show and for entertaining my questions and being such an enjoyable dude to talk to.
01:24:24
Speaker
Okay, that'll do it for this week's episode and this season of Unplugged Revisited. My immense thanks to all of the guests who have joined me on the podcast over the past year. and even more so to all of you listening who have entrusted me with a little bit of your precious time by listening to the show.
01:24:40
Speaker
I appreciate you engaging with it so much. As I said earlier, during the summer break, please feel free to still send me emails, unpluggedrevisited at gmail.com, leave a voicemail at 234revisit, or reach out on social media.
01:24:53
Speaker
I hope each and every one of you lovely folks will catch back up with me for another batch of new Unplugged Revisited episodes when Season 2 kicks off on September third Until then, my friends, be kind to yourself and look out for each other.
01:25:08
Speaker
Unplugged Revisited is a Son of a Butch production. The show is written and hosted by me, Will Hodge. The show is edited by Amanda Hodge and myself. Podcast artwork is by Jordan Ullam, and you can find more of their incredible work at jordanulam.design.
01:25:22
Speaker
That's J-O-R-D-A-N-U-L-L-O-M.design.