GenQ - For the not so straight individual

ERNEST KOHL may be known for his impressive performance resume; He has been in several Broadway shows, has released a number of smash-hit singles, and has just released two new singles, one of which is called “To Save the Love�, which was the inspiration for this feature’s accompanying articles and polls. However, when talking with Ernest, it becomes apparent that this man gets much more than some might give him credit for. Talking to Ernest is like talking to an old friend over coffee-- He is wonderfully wise, and equally hilarious! He is wildy charismatic and a fantastic conversationalist! In this candid interview, ERNEST KOHL discusses his amazing career, the loss of his long-term partner and soul mate, and the reason why music and performance run through his soul and help him continue to shine as an international performer! I must admit, this interview was one of my most memorable experiences as a journalist...

Jaike: Ernest, it’s absolutely great to be talking with you right now! You have had a huge career, and one that I am really excited to know more about. In fact, one of the things that made this interview so difficult, or challenging, was knowing where to start with you! The fact that you seem to do, or have done, or will do, everything makes for a difficult start! You’ve won Dance Music Authority’s Best Male Vocalist in 1990, and were subsequently nominated for a number of different awards: Song of the Year, Best Producer/Arranger, Best Live Performer. You were in the Broadway productions of Cabaret-

Ernest Kohl: Yes, but there’s another production of Cabaret that I’m much more proud of.

Jaike: Oh?

Ernest Kohl: Yeah (laughs) It was a regional production that I consider revolutionary. It actually led to the following Broadway production. The one I did was more like the one they did at Studio 54, or London’s Donmar Warehouse with Alan Cumming. Which I think is funny because Alan now studies with Katie Agresta, my vocal coach. If you’ve ever watched his performance, it actually looks like an Ernest Kohl video.

Jaike: Can I tell you it was really scary? I was watching some of your music videos, and I definitely noticed the similarities. The movements, the looks.

Kohl: But who came first? Me! In the 1980s. (laughs)


Jaike: Very true (laughs)

Kohl: But the whole idea of that production was creepy. The whole situation in it, I mean. I gotta tell you: performing wasn’t easy. I had to emulate the people who had originally did it.

Jaike:And Joel Gray is slightly difficult to emulate?

Kohl: Well yeah! I mean, it had to be me within him, and I think I found a happy medium. It’s a very meaty part, and it’s such a great part, and the part..I can’t say enough about how much fun it is to do that role, but how difficult it is to do that role.

Jaike:And the whole, because he is such a symbol of everything; the politics, it’s ridiculous. In a lot of high school and university production, a lot of the focus is on the line “in here, life is beautiful�, and that’s such a powerful force.

Kohl: Right, and in all the dialogue and the singing, there’s a rhythm pattern. Everything he says, sings, dances. The whole production you are choreographed. It’s like you’re doing ballet, you’re constantly on. You have be aware of where your hands are, where your feet are, because there’s always that mirror, and the rhythm he dances to is the rhythm of the story.


Jaike: I completely know what you’re talking about, because when I was in high school, I performed as the Emcee. It really is so difficult. You are absolutely 100% on, 100% of the time. It’s one of the most difficult roles to pull off, and it sounds like you agree.

Kohl: Absolutely. There are very few characters who are like that. I mean there’s the Narrator in “Joseph� or the Leading Player in “Pippin�. They are so difficult, because, as I said, they are the driving force behind the show. They push it forward.

Jaike:  So how did you start?

Kohl: My first beginning into the business was at age 7. My first role was Jerome in “South Pacific� on the National Tour. I wasn’t in the show for long, I grew too fast! At seven and eight years old, you grow! When I grew, I grew. It was like I grew 6 feet in two weeks. I was supposed to go onto King and I, but didn’t. I got cast as Little Jake in Annie Get Your Gun. Which, funnily, was a younger role. Then, I went into “Camelot�, and played the Page--

Jaike:  I played that Page!

Kohl: You did?! Weird!! You played that Page? We’re living the same life then! (laughs)

Jaike:  I wish, Ernest, I really wish!

Kohl: Okay, then you must know this: The original Camelot. You’re the Page from the opening of the show in the procession, you go right through the May scene, and then you go right through until the procession of the First Act. Then I was Tom of Warwick at the end.

Jaike:  Okay, can you stop...this has to be a joke right? You’re reading my resume!

Kohl: You did all that?! Are you kidding?

Jaike:  I’m so serious!

Kohl: Oh wow.

Jaike:  Yep. This is getting kind of creepy, Ernest. (laughs) So what happened next?

Kohl: Next was Godspell, which is how I met Stephen Schwartz. Godspell was completely revolutionary. It was in your face, it was rock’n’roll. It was real theatre. I think it was one of the strongest shows that really brought musical theatre into the real world. It had a huge message.…you need to see those transitions, instantly in front of your face. That’s real theatre, that’s live theatre, that’s musical theatre… I think that was innovative musical theatre.

Jaike:  Exactly..

Kohl: It was one of the quintessential rock musicals that really helped break things through.

Jaike:  So how old were you in Godspell?

Kohl: I was 16.

Jaike: Okay.

Kohl: I was still really young.

Jaike: Yeah.

Kohl: And then  I went to AMDA

Jaike: Okay…and how did you start working with Katie Agresta? (Can you tell I’m a little stuck on Katie Agresta?)

Kohl: That's so funny that you mentioned Katie. We just had dinner last night, but um, well there’s a little bit of history before that.

Jaike:  Go ahead!

Kohl: I stepped out of that and went right into making “Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.�, the original role of Dan. Then after that, I did “Rocky Horror Show,� and I screwed my voice up really bad. But at the same time, I was already recording. And I started recording when I was in high school, and I was doing some work with Bobby Orlando, and then I met Steve Skinner, and we got our first record deal. And Steve’s studio was…Well, first Steve’s studio was on Fifty-Seventh Street , but then he moved it to his studio, and Katie lived in her studio, Where LAMDA was! Which is funnily enough, all on 73rd and Broadway.

Jaike:  Of course!

Kohl: Well, another dear friend of ours whom I’ve written with for years and years and years was working with Steve at the very beginning and her name was Alex Forbes. She’s a kind of famous writer. She’s written several tunes with me.

Jaike:  That's what I thought!

Kohl: And I needed to fix my voice because I screwed it up doing “Rocky Horror Picture Show.� And the current voice teacher I was working with at the time just wasn’t ….just wasn’t working out. And I was almost pushing too hard, and I’d been doing “Rocky Horror� for too long, and I was very affected. And you can almost hear it in my early records. Like “She Has a Way,� you can definitely hear it.

Jaike:  See, I didn’t notice that…But I probably just assumed it was your earlier stuff.

Kohl: You know that record, “She Has a Way�? I did the ghost vocals for Bobby Orlando. You can hear it in the first [mimics beginning: “…She knows how to make a score, she knows all the things you adore�]. That’s very
Frank-N-Furter. You know what I mean? So I got very affected…and I had to get that out of me. And so what happened was, he said, “Alex is studying with someone right now, I’m going to ask her.� The elevator door opened, and Alex and Katie walk out.

Jaike: And the rest is history!

Kohl: The rest is total history! Katie said, “I want you to come to a meeting.� We just talked in the lobby, and she said…. (It’s really funny; I was in these little short-shorts, and a teeny, teeny teeny tank top…

Jaike:  Auditioning for “Starlight Express�?

Kohl: (laughs) One of my choreographers was in that!

Jaike:  I saw it in London, when it was amazing! In the early ‘90s, when I was in love with it…In the early ‘90s, before it got ridiculous.

Kohl: Then I went in for the interview. And I think our interview went for probably…what she would normally do an hour, turned into three hours. Just talking and getting to know…and then I started studying with her, and she became my best friend. And I became her protégé. As well as Cyndi, and John, and who else did I see…Really working with her. A lot of people…

Jaike: Phoebe Snow? Lenny Kravitz? Janet Jackson?

Kohl: Yeah. Phoebe has always definitely been there. Phoebe’s always been in the circle. Except when she’s had to go away because of her daughter, and it’s so sad. I don’t know if you know but her daughter passed away.

Jaike: Yes.

Kohl: Okay. And Phoebe is one of the most darling souls EVER. And I love her to death. And… Oh, god. I mean, so much has gone on. Working with her was so fantastic. Do you know about our dance duet?

Jaike:  Yes.

Kohl: Okay. Working with her…The fact that we…That’s a whole story in itself, how that whole writing session was. Which we opened the book and it was actually the original “Poetry Man� lyrics on one side, and we started writing “Fugitive Of Love� on the other side. Which is kind of an answer to “Poetry Man,� even though “Fugitive of Love� is such a hard, angry song. Not angry, but aggressive? No, it’s angry.

Jaike:  Yes, let’s be honest. It’s a little bit angry.

Kohl: It is. But if you know the real, true story behind it all…

Jaike:  …It makes perfect sense.

Kohl: And why not do the drama? Put your real self into the music. Put the drama into the music. Why give all these bullshit lyrics? I’m sorry to use that language…

Jaike:  Don’t worry.

Kohl: You know, it’s fun sometimes, but there’s times…well, why not use the real me?

Jaike:  Exactly. And use…and use what you are feeling. I totally agree with you.

Kohl: Take what you’re feeling and put it into your craft. It’s more believable, it’s more marketable, it’s more commercial.

Jaike: Absolutely. But it’s also just more true.

Kohl: Yes. Okay, so we gotta go to Miss Agresta. I can’t say… ANYTHING about her but that she’s one of my god-sends in life. She is my best friend. I won’t lie about this.

Jaike:  You’re both very lucky.

Kohl: I’m talking BESSSST FRIEND in the GLOBE. Anybody that could ever ask for a BEST friend…like this…

Jaike:  It would be her.

Kohl: Yes.

Jaike:  All right, so, for the interview, d’you want me to put that in bold, underline, caps…everything?

Kohl: Thank God for Katie Agresta.  That’s what I’m saying.

Jaike:  All right.

Kohl: You can quote me.

Jaike:  I will. Absolutely. That’s so…

Kohl: I mean, every…we feed off each other’s energy. We…I love her like she is my dearest sister. I can’t say enough good. Nothing bad I can say. NOTHING. Not a moment. We have gone through life, death, birth….Last night… (Laughs)

Jaike:  Yeah, clearly!

Kohl: She’s everything to me. I can tell you this: This is what I can tell you about Katie. I don’t know how much you know about my life. And we’ve gotta talk about this because it should be in this interview.

Jaike:  We can talk about whatever you want.

Kohl: ‘Cause it’s kinda what’s going on in my whole life right now.

Jaike:  Okay.

Kohl: I lost my husband, recently. Do you know this?

Jaike:  I had heard. I’m so sorry.

Kohl:  His name was Brian Scott Harper. We were together for 14 years. He was my manager.

Jaike:  Right.

Kohl: He and Katie were also best friends, because they met through me. But their friendship went on outside of me, when I wasn’t even around them…You know what I mean? Like Katie and Brian would be on the phone for hours and they’d be hanging out for hours, or I would be on the phone with…You know what I mean? We all hung together. Katie was out on Long Island, and her parents, which…We had both lost recently, her parents…When Brian passed away, our other best friend Matt, he got here within 20 minutes. And Katie, which normally would have taken her an hour to get in here? She was here within a half hour. I don’t know how fast she drove…But what type of person – how wonderful is that? – could be here for me?

Jaike:  It is phenomenal. But I … hopefully any true friend would somehow do that. You know what I mean?

Kohl: Well, a lot of them didn’t. And she did.

Jaike:  That sucks. Because no one should –

Kohl: She is such an amazing person.

Jaike:  Yeah. No, absolutely.

Kohl: AND the most amazing voice teacher I’ve ever encountered in my existence!

Jaike:  The thing that strikes me about her, and the way you’ve talked about her, is that…you’ve shown a very different side to her because most people, including myself who started this interview are so wowed by what she’s capable of as a professional.

Kohl: As a professional?! You have no idea! And let me tell you, the training is not easy.

Jaike:  I can imagine.

Kohl: What I have to go through in the next month? So, no no no no… You have no idea.

Jaike:  (laughs)

Kohl: I have to take ten days and just study.

Jaike:  If you wanna trade, I’d be more than willing to trade with you.

Kohl: The music is keeping me alive, I’m sorry.

Jaike:  It’s okay.

Kohl: (Laughs) But thank you! If I ever feel depressed, just say “Shut up, Ernest� and go on, because other people would love to be in my position, that is what you’re telling me, correct?

Jaike:  Well, that, but what I was going to say is, in what you’ve just said…so many people are wowed by her professionally, but you’ve given a completely different – and I would probably say better – side.

Kohl: Oh, our personal relationship and our professional relationship? She does not – in fact, she makes me work harder because of our personal relationship.

Jaike:  Of course.

Kohl:She calls me on EVERYTHING. Everything! I mean, like….(sighs)

Jaike:  That’s the best part, though.

Kohl: I mean, I can’t even let, like….She is so right on, though! That’s why I can’t even argue with her about it, it’s like, “Okay, how do I fix it? What do I do?� And we have this communication. And I think that’s really important with a voice teacher, or an actor, or anybody like that.

Jaike:  Absolutely.

Kohl: Producer, writer, arranger, co-producer…You know what I mean?

Jaike: Yeah.

Kohl: You have to have the same director, or choreographer…Same vision. You have to have the communication. We do have very funny moments.

Jaike:  Oh, I’m sure! Even with my voice coaches. They would beat me to a pulp, but somehow we’d always end up laughing.

Kohl:  Can I give you one, which is truly our favorite?

Jaike:  Go for it!

Kohl: She has me do this one vocal exercise, which goes (sings) “eee eee eee….eee eee eee….� And it’s kind of a rhythm thing, right there? Well, I was having trouble (which I just did not do it correctly)…

Jaike:  We won’t tell her.

Kohl: Well, it’s your recording, so I don’t know. (both laugh) But anyway, I just went (sings again, to tune of “jingle bells�) “Eeee eee eee….eeee eee eee…eee EEE eee eee eee….�

Jaike: Oops! (laughs)

Kohl: You get it?

Jaike:  Ohhh yeah.

Kohl: She LOST it!! It was so … it broke the moment, it relaxed me enough where I could be able to comprehend it. Where it was, “Okay, we’re back on the same page…�

Jaike:  Christmas carols are over…

Kohl: …and she let me do it. That’s how wonderful she is. She is so…She can make you do what you can’t do, if you really want to do it. If you really, really really really want to do something, you probably can if you can fashion it around your own voice. That’s just something in itself

Jaike: (laughs) But it’s very true. I mean, for a while with me, it was one of those things where I could do it in front of my coach or I could do it in front of the teacher, but then when I’d go home, or go away from the situation, I’d just be like…This is not what’s going on.

Kohl: She would get you tools that in your hardest moments…when you’re out there, and “uh-oh�…Something’s gone wrong, or something’s not right, and you’re dragging for some reason, or whatever, you can go back and depend on your craft. And a lot of the times, after losing Brian, I had to work. And I depended on the craft.

Jaike: You throw yourself into it.

Kohl: I’m just so glad I was in training. I never would have stopped training….

Jaike:  No, but right now, it’s what’s important.

Kohl: It’s totally important. It’s what I’m doing. Recording this new album, I have to train. I have to train into every song. And a lot of the times, she’s saying, “You know what? LET LOOSE.�

Jaike:  Just get it out!

Kohl: “Just be YOU.� And….Okay.

Jaike:  You can’t really argue with that.

Kohl: Right. There’s no arguing with Katie. She’s right on.

Jaike:  So, aside from Katie (who I’m so jealous of – and you), you said you’ve worked with Steve Skinner, who’s in everything from Bette Midler to Rent, if I’m right, also Eric Beale, David Freiberg?

Kohl: Oh, yeah!

Jaike: Then also, in terms of performers, Phoebe, Linda, Pepper Mashay…

Kohl: Uh-huh.

Jaike:  It represents, a huge, huge range. And obviously you’re the dance, and the pop, and the Broadway…and the everything that you’ve done. It’s a huge range. But what…

Kohl: I’ve never really looked at it ‘til just now.

Jaike:  Yeah. You’re…It’s crazy.

Kohl: I’m really kinda very fortunate. And I gotta be honest with you, tonight was not a good night for me. I felt like, “Ugh, I work too hard to….duh duh duh duh duh� and kinda feeling like giving myself a little pity party here. And not trying…You know, feeling sad here, but I should just say, “Hey, Ernest! You know what? You got a lot going on.

Jaike:  You do! You have a ton. But it’s –

Kohl: And there are so many wonderful people I’m continuing to work with. Especially the new people which are amazing, as well as the old people, like…Yes! Working with…I’m so proud you know people like David Freiberg because he is such a wonderful person to work with. And his lovely wife, Linda Imperial. My god. We had such success with so many records, and we continue to do so. And we, you know, are planning to work on other projects in the future, and do have another project ready for the next duets album. We already have another project in the works, which I don’t know if that’s a thing that I should have let out! But we have done duets in the past, Linda and I, and we got so many requests that it was kind of a natural –

Jaike: It was a natural progression.

Kohl: Well, there were so many requests that we kinda had to do it. And the fact that we got along so well and sound so well together…It was like best friends, kinda, back again.

Jaike:  What I was gonna ask you was, on top of those you also covered a song originally recorded by Art Garfunkel. Clearly music is a vast majority of your soul, but what draws you to the actual, individual songs, and –

Kohl: I’d say the real –

Jaike: What draws you to them?

Kohl: When I was really young I had this really dear friend that I met doing theatre. And she gave me for Christmas that year – ‘cause she came and visited my family in their country house…And she came and spent Christmas with us, ‘cause they did an incredible Christmas. And my parents just loved Christmas. And her last name was Kohl as well which was really kind of interesting. And she gave me that album “Angel Clare� by Art Garfunkel. And she said to me, “Someday this is going to be really important to you.�

Jaike:  And it was.

Kohl: And I fell in love with the song “All I Know� from being very young, and kept it in the back of my mind. And when Brian and I started working. and the whole thing just started happening, I said “This is something that has to be done� and I was talking with Tony and Mike, you know, from the U.K., and they agreed that this was the song. ‘Cause we were looking at songs that we were thinking about doing. And that was finally the one that we decided upon.

Jaike:  Now is that …that sounds like it must be true of all of the stuff you do, is the fact that they are highly personal stories.

Kohl: Yes.

Jaike:  …That go with everything. Which is what you were saying about “it’s nice to sometimes do the happy-go-lucky, candyland stuff, but it’s more important to really get out a real message from the artist, and not just –

Kohl: Oh, it’s so strong! I looked for major…I dunno, maybe I’m just one of those unique artists that just go for things that are more…(trails off)

Jaike:  How has your music changed over the years?

Kohl: I think it’s evolved into more…I hate to keep using this word, ‘cause I normally don’t use it: Meaty. More substance-oriented.

Jaike:  Stronger.

Kohl: Where there’s real words and communications and feelings and emotions than just, you know, “Bump me to the Beat� which was a fun record that I wrote, that everybody loves dancing to, but where do we really go from there? Even though there probably really was story to “Bump me to the Beat�, if you listen to it in the verses.

Jaike:  It’s interesting about what you just said about the fact that, you know, in my interview  with Amber, she said the same exact thing.

Kohl: I guess it’s been a metamorphosis.

Jaike:  Yeah.

Kohl: A growing one.

Jaike:  Yeah. A growing metamorphosis. I think that would probably describe it pretty well.

Kohl: I think it’s a good maturing. And I think the young audiences are truly appreciating it. And I’m hearing it in a lot of other artists, too. People are more mature, more intellectual now. They don’t want stupid. There’s gonna be always your occasional novelty record, and I won’t lie to you, even though I wrote that, but even my novelty records are really thought out.

Jaike:  That would not surprise me at all.

Kohl:Maybe that’s just the point I’m at.

Jaike:  That’s not a bad point at all. That’s actually I think one of the strongest points in any artist, in any music, is that when you reach a level where it works.

Kohl: I think we could be chancy on this new album. But it’s definitely novelty, and there’s definitely has to be a fun piece. I can’t see everything being so heavy and so down and so …This new album, Eternally, is a memorial tribute album to Brian, who I dearly loved, you know, and lost to a massive heart attack. But I can’t have everything so bleak, and down, and –

Jaike:  I think you’ve also gotta remember, that it sounds fairly cliché but love is stronger than death, and what you guys had was not a loss, but a celebration.

Kohl: Exactly. That’s why I chose to name it “Eternally.�

Jaike:  It’s a total celebration. You know, a tribute album doesn’t always need to be, “What I had when I lost� it’s also about what you have. And what you will have.

Kohl: The music is keeping me going. And that’s why I say, you know another thing that comes to mind is, after I’m gone the only thing that’s really going to survive is the music of my history. Or the film I’ve done, you know. You can’t really…well, you can capture my life in film or performances, but it’s not me doing it live for you.

Jaike:  I think that that may very well true, but kindof like what you just said about me having to tell you “shut up, you’re being depressing� is that clearly you have…I have no doubt that you will continue for a very long time.

Kohl: Word that one more time? “Shut up, you’re being depressing?� Oh, you mean with--

Jaike: Yeah! You said to me, you said to me earlier, you were like, you know, about what you have and what you can do and you shouldn’t… you know, be gloomy.

Kohl: I think for the first time in my life I’m really feeling real emotions, and putting the real emotions into the music. Not that I didn’t – I think the closest I came was on “The Importance of Being� album. Which in my career I thought was the hardest thing I had or had to achieve by that moment in my existence. It was nothing like this thing that I’m going through right now. Which is amazing, an amazing musical journey.

Jaike:  It’s so true. But you never stop.

Kohl: Of course not!

Jaike:  So your newest projects--

Kohl: I’m working with everyone on these new projects. Let me see, maybe I can sing all the names..do you know the score from Godspell(starts singing to the tune of a song from GODSPELL) Steve Skinner, Julian Marsh, Tony Spaulding, Tom Martin (starts to laugh) Oh my god--I can’t believe I’m doing this! I just sang you a bunch of names!

Jaike:  (laughing) Yes--yes you did! You are crazy! Like, I love it, but you’re insane! It’s fantastic! I hope I grow up to be you someday!

Kohl: (laughing)  This is so funny! What a great interview!

Jaike:  (laughs) I’m actually contemplating saying the scrap the written interview, and just putting the recorded file of this interview online..No one would believe what’s going on!

Kohl: (laughs) Oh God! Could you imagine?! And! I know I’m forgetting people--I’m gonna be in trouble! Even Katie! And I have two of my incredible, well let me speak about one other person who’s working on this with me: Andrew Karris, whose one of my original writers, and my original backing boys. Tommy Grate, who’s also worked with me before with Daryl Carpenter, who we actually lost halfway through the project; He passed away, which was really sad. What a loss. And I’m there as well. It sounds right, so that’s what has to go, that’s the way we’re doing it. So I have my original backing boys. We lost Daryl, and there’s no replacing him. So it sounds right, I guess.--kinda like Jersey Boys, which Katie did!

Jaike:  So, Ernest Kohl is definitely back!

Kohl: (laughing) I went somewhere?

Jaike:  An even better point! Anyways, it has been a pleasure talking to you.

Kohl: Thank you so much for this.

Jaike:  It’s been an absolute blast. I can’t wait to see you in London, Boston, New York. You’re there, I’m there!

Kohl: Oh good! Thanks Jaike!

Jaike:  Thank you, Ernest!

ERNEST KOHL’s album, To Save the Love 2007, can be downloaded from iTunes, and is available in most stores. “Live Like You Are Dying�, one of his latest singles can be heard on QNation.fm. Check out www.ernestkohl.com for the latest information, and to purchase his brand NEW hits album!


Special Thanks to Chesley Wendth for her assistance in the publishing of this