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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon. Welcome to The Roundtable, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeartSpotify, where artists talk about art. I moved to Detroit two years ago, and one of my favorite places to see shows is over at the Aretha Amphitheater on the Detroit River, and I am obsessed. You know, if you are a singer, okay, if you're a singer, and you want to hear good singing, then you know Naturally 7. And if you've listened to their records, you know that, oh, Lord, if you've heard that Phil Collins cover, you know what I'm talking about, people. If you know about In the Air Tonight and the incredible music they've had, they have new music out within the past few years.

They have a movie album out that's incredible, if you've seen them do the James Bond theme acapella. What? Roger Thomas of Naturally 7 is here. The legendary Roger Thomas is here. Thank you for being here.

[0:58] Roger Thomas: My pleasure to be here with you, Robert. Appreciate it.

[1:01] Robert Bannon: You've been singing for a long time. You guys have been out in these streets.

[1:05] Roger Thomas: That's right.

[1:09] Robert Bannon: I like the way you said out in the streets, and that's what it's been. 67 countries, 48 states. We've been out here.

[1:17] Roger Thomas: 48 states. What two states have not booked you? Where are they? Get them on the phone.

[1:22] Robert Bannon: Yes, Alaska and Hawaii. I can understand Alaska, but Hawaii, what's going on?

[1:28] Roger Thomas: We need to get you in Hawaii, right? Come on, Blue Note. Come on, arenas, theaters. We need Naturally 7. When you look, your story, you're New York in the house. What's going on in New York City? And Queens, particularly. You and your brother being together and then coming up with this idea. I know you've told the story a lot. Why 7? Why did this come about? And did you have a conversation together? Like, let's start a group. Let's go to work.

[2:02] Roger Thomas: Yeah, I think, Robert, it was just something organically. We had a group in our church. Both my brother and I, we saw my dad with a gospel group, so we were very group-minded. Coming up with the Jacksons and New Edition and all these different things, we were very group-minded. So as soon as we got from underneath our dad's group, singing with him, we decided to form our own group. How we got to the number 7, I don't remember how we got to 7, but I remember at the point when I started arranging vocals, I realized that 7 was the number of completion. It was the number I needed to really make things happen. And so once we started Naturally 7, I knew I was going for it. I knew I needed 7 at that point to do this thing that we call vocal play.

[3:04] Robert Bannon: Vocal play is a good word. I like that word, because that's what you do.

[3:08] Roger Thomas: That's what we do, yeah.

[3:10] Robert Bannon: Incredible. So when you come up with a group, and you start to find singers and you put singers together, there was a moment. An album comes out. I was joking about In the Air Tonight, but there was this moment when you guys were singing in a subway, and it was like a viral thing before the word viral even existed. Early 2000s, millions and millions of hits of people seeing you sing that song. What's it like when all the hard work, all of the rehearsals and everything, and something like that hits? Is it exciting? Is it scary? How do you describe it?

[3:43] Roger Thomas: Well, at first, like you said, you don't even know it's happening because YouTube was so new at that time. I don't think, like you said, I don't think they have the word viral. I don't think that was even in our systems. But seeing the numbers jump every day, and then since then, whether we were in South America or Australia, Europe, Asia, those are the guys from the subway, the power subway. So you realize the power. You just realize the power of it. It's like somebody hearing their song on the radio for the first time; they realize that something amazing is about to happen. The journey is beginning. And all the, like you said, all the hard work of preparation for that moment is paying off, and you want to just reproduce that all the time.

[4:40] Robert Bannon: You know, I joke, anyone who grows up in church and sings, I did not. But my in-laws are pastors, and I always joke about that. Shout out to Detroit. Hey, hey, hey. Temple Church over there. People that sing at church, I think, are the best singers because this Sunday you're a tenor, and next week you're a soprano, and the next song you could be a baritone. I mean, talk about harmony singing and what you do. How much of that did you learn from going to choir practice and singing on a Sunday? Because that's a whole skill.

[5:09] Roger Thomas: Well, the big deal with that, Robert, for sure, is that when you learn to sing in church, it's not about reading music, right? It is something that you learn absolutely organically. You learn to sing by ear. You learn to harmonize. You're thrown into choirs, ensembles, groups, and it's like, you know, throwing the baby into the pool and into the deep end, right? And so church is that thing. So I would, to our success and our stage thing, I would give it to two things. Coming up in church, and once we went into the business full time, we were doing colleges and universities around the country. I don't care what anybody says, the hardest audience is a student that did not have to pay for his ticket.

So that is where we learned how to give a quality, I believe at that time we had to do 65 minutes, and our goal was if you were in the room, we want to make sure that you do not want to leave that room until we're done. And so I think that really had us hone in on our craft, making it better and better. But coming up in the church gave us the air.

[6:32] Robert Bannon: Yeah. What I love about, there's two things that I think about when I think of you all. There's the recorded music, which you could be streaming and listening to, and they had a full album that they put out not too long ago called Naturally 7 at the Movies, Volume 1, which is so good that you need to hear how they flip these songs and arrange these songs. So the studio, which is its own beast, because you have your vocals are like, you're zooming in line by line, you're arranging vocals. And then there's the live part of you, where now you're on stage, you're not editing, you're not cutting, this is live and in person. So how did you build the live show that you're on the road with? What do we see when we see Naturally 7 on stage?

[7:12] Roger Thomas: Well, we came up with the likes of, you know, my dad was, you know, he was into so much music that he would say, check this out, check this out. So Michael Jackson in the studio, James Brown in the studio, that cannot compare to the live performance, right? It's like two different things. And so we want both to be good. So if you're listening to just, if it's just audio, we want you to, you know, we want it to be like, oh my goodness, what is this? This is great. We want you to love the songs. We do a lot of original material as well. But if you're going to see us, people say all the time, yeah, I saw your stuff on YouTube and I saw this and that. And then they come in the room and they're like, but it's not this, right?

When you're in the room and even if you're singing off mic, like it was in the subway, there's just something about people doing, harmonizing or imitating instruments like we do right there in front of you. It's just you, you know, you could see people that they're in disbelief for about two or three songs. We did a show last night about two or three songs. You can see the people just like, what is happening, right? And that's, we love that. We want that. I mean, we rehearsed for years to see, we want people to go, they sound so much like a band. I don't believe it. I don't believe their voices. I don't believe the human voice is capable of doing this. And once they find out that it is, it's just a beautiful thing.

It's so funny because when you look up, when you look you, the seven of you up that are there and you look about you and you'd be like, oh, his vocal play, he plays roles like with his voice of keyboard or synth or.

[9:06] Roger Thomas: Welcome to The Roundtable! I'm excited to be here and talk about music, brotherhood, and the road ahead.

[9:36] Roger Thomas: Naturally 7 has been on an incredible journey, and it's all about the bond we share as a group. We've been together for over two decades, and that connection is what keeps us going.

[10:00] Roger Thomas: Performing with artists like Michael Bublé has been a highlight for us. The energy and excitement of those shows are unforgettable.

[10:30] Roger Thomas: Life on the road can be challenging, but we support each other through it all. It's that brotherhood that makes every performance special.

[10:58] Roger Thomas: We're always pushing forward, exploring new sounds and ideas. It's important for us to keep evolving as artists.

[11:26] Roger Thomas: Our upcoming performance at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre in Detroit is something we're really looking forward to. It's going to be an amazing night of music.

[11:56] Roger Thomas: Joining Hiroshima for that event is a fantastic opportunity. We can't wait to share the stage with them.

[12:20] Roger Thomas: The audience can expect a unique experience. We create the sound of an entire band using just our voices, and it's something that never fails to amaze.

[12:48] Roger Thomas: The power of music to bring people together is something we cherish. It's a universal language that transcends barriers.

[13:18] Roger Thomas: We've had our ups and downs, but the journey has been worth it. Each performance is a chance to connect with our fans.

[13:46] Roger Thomas: We're grateful for the support we've received over the years. It motivates us to keep doing what we love.

[14:16] Roger Thomas: As we look to the future, we have some exciting projects in the works. We're always looking for ways to innovate and surprise our audience.

[14:46] Roger Thomas: The road ahead is bright, and we can't wait to see where it takes us next.

[15:16] Roger Thomas: Thank you for having me on The Roundtable. It's been a pleasure sharing our story.

[15:46] Roger Thomas: Remember to check out our upcoming shows and stay connected with us on social media.

[16:16] Roger Thomas: We appreciate all the love and support from our fans. It truly means the world to us.

[16:45] Roger Thomas: Let's keep the music alive and continue this journey together!

[17:08] Roger Thomas: Thanks again for tuning in, and we hope to see you at one of our shows soon!

[17:38] Roger Thomas: Take care, everyone, and keep spreading the love for music!

[17:56] Roger Thomas: Until next time!