A story like that of George Huff would make a great novel. It has all the classic ingredients: a long climb from poverty to prosperity, unflagging determination against stiff odds, and a long shot that paid off big, all guided by faith in a power much bigger than any man. However, this is anything but fiction. This is George Huff, and it’s nothing but the truth.
On George’s debut album, Miracles, one hears more than great songs, performance and production, though all that is there in abundance. Even more significant is the sensation of something almost rustling in the wind; something important and enduring, unfolding before your eyes and ears.
Brilliantly displaying George’s singular, often stunning touch for deeply moving, soulful pop and r&b, Miracles is nothing less than the introduction of one of the most commanding voices in contemporary music today.
“You Know Me” is a gorgeous, unforgettable ballad, gently and lovingly acknowledging both the unfathomably vast and deeply intimate aspects of the Almighty. “Count on You” and “See What God Can Do” (co-written by George) both marry smooth, mid-tempo grooves to memorable melodies and hooks, given some serious r&b muscle by punchy and prominent bass and percussion, all adding additional arrays of color to George’s already immense palette.
The jazzy, funk-flavored “Fortunes” aces the often elusive goal of merging highly radio-ready, user-friendly fare with lyrics of substance and wisdom, while “Hold on to Love” puts a cool retro-soul sound into a very hip, modern pocket, yielding what has all the markings of an enduring anthem and ode to the power of love.
George was born and raised in New Orleans, and both church and music became integral parts of his life at a very young age. His discovery of his natural-born gift for song came when he was hardly more than a toddler, hearing “That’s What Friends Are For”—the 1985, No.1 pop smash, featuring Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder—playing on the radio.
“When that came on I just started singing along, and I could follow them every lick of the way! I ran into the kitchen shouting, `Mama…Mama! I can sing!’” George recalls, laughing. “She looked at me and said, `Shut up, boy. You can’t sing. Not get out of my kitchen!’”
It was not long, however, before George’s mother, and an ever-increasing number of people around New Orleans, began realizing that the little boy not only could sing, but was in fact supremely gifted.
“God just gave me this talent,” says George. “I did my first solo in church when I was five, and by age six I was receiving invitations to sing in churches, of almost every denomination, on a regular basis several times a week. It was a pretty safe bet that if I wasn’t in school, I was in church for most of my young life.”
George was also reared in abject poverty, as his parents divorced when he was an infant, leaving his mother to raise him and his three siblings on her own in a federal housing project almost within eyesight and earshot of New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.
A cousin, many years his senior, became the father figure in George’s life, ferrying him from church to church, and providing a positive male role model for the youngster to pattern himself after. And though materially poor, George’s proximity to the French Quarter—the nucleus of a city world-renowned for its diverse and abundant musical venues—filled his young head with a richness of musical exposure, from little more than a walk around his neighborhood.
On the airwaves and the stereo, a mix of sacred and secular superstars soaked into George’s fertile, creative mind, and gave him advanced-study lessons—albeit from afar—in the art of singing. He recalls artists from Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson to Gospel greats Daryl Coley, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong as capturing his imagination, not to mention spinning his head, throughout his formative years.
Although it would be some time before George was old enough to make a serious career decision regarding music, the sheer magnitude of his gifts had essentially determined his destiny for years.
“I just loved singing so much,” says George. “I was a pretty nerdy kid. We didn’t have money for the `right’ clothes to wear, and kids would make fun of me; but whenever I was singing none of that mattered. It has always been pure joy for me.”
After graduating high school, George got in his used car and drove to the University of Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City, and showed up one morning in the office of the music department, only a few weeks prior to the beginning of the next school year, asking how he would go about seeking admission.
Amazingly, George was granted an audition before several faculty members who, awed by his talent, not only fast-tracked his admission process the to university, but succeeded in obtaining a full scholarship for him. Without so much as a single lesson in his life, and suddenly immersed into the formal study of classical voice, and all aspects of musical training, George found himself struggling to make sense on paper of all that came to him so spontaneously in his head.
Nevertheless, George’s prodigious vocal abilities landed him major roles in the department’s numerous operatic productions and garnered him rave reviews, even as he struggled with the “classroom” side of his training.
At the end of his sophomore year, his scholarship was not renewed, and he finished his junior year on college loans, all the while remaining a star-presence in university musical productions. Facing a senior year already deeply in debt, George withdrew from the university for what he anticipated to be just enough time to earn the money to complete his degree.
He took a job cooking and washing dishes in the school’s cafeteria, keeping his sites set on the goal he’d set of a degree in Music Education and a career as a music teacher. Ironically, enrollment in the university was not a prerequisite for performing in its operas, so even as he toiled by day at his menial job, he continued to be a featured performer in the department’s productions.
After a year of this perplexing duality, George found himself with no new offers of financial aid forthcoming, still unable to afford his final year’s tuition, and not prepared to sink further into debt with additional loans. As he pondered what had become his frustrating, even depressing situation, an option presented itself which he had never before seriously considered.
The hit TV show, American Idol, was beginning its city-to-city try-outs for what would be its third season. With a combination of confidence in his abilities and a sense of resignation, George traveled to Houston for the first round of auditions. Passing the initial trial led to a series of additional auditions which finally won him a place on the show’s actual on-air competition. After being nearly eliminated twice George rebounded with newfound vigor, to the rapturous approval of the show’s judges and millions of viewers, ending the season among the Top 5 contestants.
That exemplary showing landed George a place on both American Idol’s yearly CD of its winning contestants, and its ensuing 50-city tour. Upon the tour’s completion, George soon found himself with offers from four different major record companies.
Of his decision to sign with Word, and use his talents for both entertainment and the sharing of the good news of the Gospel, George speaks with what is now a clearly focused vision, years in the making.
“I don’t think hitting anybody over the head with the message of faith, as I’ve lived it and experienced it, accomplishes much good,” he says. “I want my albums and my performances to be entertaining and engaging. But I also want people to be able to look at me as a whole person—not just an entertainer—and see someone they feel they can approach and relate to, and who relates to them as well.
“If I just live my life the way God calls us to, and people see that consistently—whether they even know what it is or not—then at some point they might start hearing the music in new ways and on different levels, too,” he concludes. “That’s when they’re ready to really go deeper, and I’m excited about seeing that happen and being a part of peoples lives being changed.”