907 Randy Jackson on Mastery, Health, and Success

“It’s not who you think you want to be, it’s who you actually are that’s going to lead you out of the darkness into the forever light.”If you had seen Justin Bieber on American Idol, do you think he would have made it to the final round? (2:20)Why do great shows stop when they are still popular? (10:33)What got you into music in the first place? (15:40)Who are the greatest musicians you have played with? (23:23)Who is the most unique artist out there right now? (25:40)What are the top 3 moments of your life so far? (27:40)How do you stay open to blessings? (30:50)How did you keep getting asked by huge artists to work on their albums? (38:55)What is unique about Unify Labs supplements? (48:15)How artists are often their own worst enemy (4:27)Where Randy came up with the idea for America’s Best Dance Crew (6:40)Why simple ideas become the most popular (12:12)Why jazz musicians are the greatest musicians in the world (20:05)How to get the best opportunities even if you’re not the most talented (33:53)How Randy got his health in order after years of being overweight (42:20)If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/907 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 907 with Randy Jackson.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Robert Greene said, "Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge." I'm super excited about this. I love sitting down with Randy Jackson and sharing stories of the past and lessons learned for today. If you don't know who he is, he's a big inspiration to so many people. He's a music industry vet, TV producer, author, and entrepreneur. He recorded music on multiple albums for bands and artists like Journey, Mase, and Kenny G. Starting in 2002, he became a famous television personality as a judge on the popular singing competition show,

• 1:13Lewis Howes?

  American Idol. Sharing his secrets of success, he wrote the 2004 book, What's Up Dog?, How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business. He became an executive producer on America's Best Dance Crew, which premiered in 2008 and lasted eight seasons. This was one of my favorite shows, actually, at the time. And we talked about my love for America's Best Dance Crew. And in his personal life, he found out that he had type 2 diabetes in 1999. He changed his diet and exercise routine and underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2003, which led him to losing 100 pounds. And in this interview, we talk about how he set himself apart to record with some of the biggest artists in the world in the

• 1:55Lewis Howes?

  80s and 90s. The power of music when he knew that music and entertainment was what he wanted to master for the rest of his life. What it takes to stand out in any industry and get people to pay attention consistently. The original idea behind America's Best Dance Crew and why it was so successful for so many years. The power of taking care of your personal health and why he's dedicated to educating as many people as he can about it. And so much more. We have a lot of fun stories and banter back and forth. Super excited about this. Make sure to share this with a friend. You have the opportunity to change and save a person's life by sharing this message. LewisHowes.com/907. We're on a mission to impact 100 million people every single week and we need you to

• 2:40Lewis Howes?

  share it so you have that opportunity. So please share it with a friend, text a friend or post on social media and let me know what you think. All right, and let's dive into this episode with the one and only Randy Jackson.

• 2:58Lewis Howes?

  This podcast is gonna be 7 years from now.

• 3:01Speaker 01

  Congratulations, but you've been doing well with this though, it's crazy.

• 3:04Lewis Howes?

  It's very fun, yeah. We have 150 million plus downloads on the audio alone, videos, you know, bigger and growing.

• 3:10Speaker 01

  It's crazy, bro, it's crazy.

• 3:11Lewis Howes?

  We were like, kind of, we weren't the original podcast, but it was like, we were in the first wave before like, everyone else kinda got in like, two years after me and...

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Well, I heard about this, I got turned on to it, cuz I was watching Scooter's thing.

• 3:27Lewis Howes?

  Oh, Scooter's interview with me or... Yeah, he's great.

• 3:29Speaker 01

  And, um...

• 3:30Lewis Howes?

  He's awesome.

• 3:31Speaker 01

  That's one of those, who's this guy?

• 3:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. He's great.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, he's a good dude.

• 3:37Lewis Howes?

  We did a show last year, I did like a Facebook watch, his first talk show.

• 3:42Speaker 01

  Right.

• 3:43Lewis Howes?

  We partnered on that together, so, he's a good dude.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, smart guy.

• 3:47Lewis Howes?

  All over the place, but he's a good guy.

• 3:49Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, he's got where he came from. I've known him since the beginning.

• 3:54Lewis Howes?

  From Atlanta days, when he was like a producer, like a nightclub promoter?

• 3:58Speaker 01

  More than that, when he was like, basically, uh, an intern doing social media for Jermaine Dupri, looking for the next Criss Cross, that's how he found Justin Bieber.

• 4:09Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  Crazy.

• 4:11Lewis Howes?

  Talking about getting a, finding something and running with it.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  And Jermaine didn't want...

• 4:16Lewis Howes?

  Didn't want Bieber.

• 4:17Speaker 01

  But, he happened to be working with Usher, and he happened to be working with Justin Timberlake, who both started fighting over Bieber.

• 4:24Lewis Howes?

  Isn't that crazy?

• 4:25Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's just like, you know, what do they call it, the perfect storm?

• 4:29Lewis Howes?

  Crazy.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  You know?

• 4:31Lewis Howes?

  And he had talent, and he was hungry and all these things, I mean, it's like...

• 4:35Speaker 01

  I mean, they just, they picked all the right horses and Usher happened to have a deal with L.A. Reid. L.A. was running Island Def Jam at the time. And he ran it the old school way. So it just worked out. Where you could say, I'm gonna bet $10 million on Red.

• 4:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 4:55Speaker 01

  And do it.

• 4:56Lewis Howes?

  And then it.

• 4:57Speaker 01

  And charity.

• 4:58Lewis Howes?

  It's a whole company.

• 4:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Cause he came up on the Clive Davis, L.A. did.

• 5:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 5:03Speaker 01

  Clive would say, unless Whitney Houston is number one across the board this week, all of you getting fired.

• 5:09Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  So you go, I still need my job, he's bought a new car, he's got a dog.

• 5:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I'm curious, if Bieber was on American Idol and you saw him there, would he have made it through to the final round, just like seeing him sing a song? Or was there some, there had to be something else?

• 5:32Speaker 01

  Justin Bieber would have been there, he would have definitely made it through. He might have even won because what I think people mistake about him, he's actually really talented.

• 5:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  He's really talented. People saw how he started, you know, social media, YouTube, all of that, but he's really talented.

• 5:53Lewis Howes?

  He's got a gift.

• 5:54Speaker 01

  He's really got a gift, man. He's better, I think he's better than most people even think.

• 5:57Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Do you think he would have made it as big as he is now without, you know, Usher and kind of Timberlake fighting over it, without Scooter pushing as hard as he did, without

• 6:07Speaker 01

  I think all of that.

• 6:09Lewis Howes?

  Social media.

• 6:10Speaker 01

  Usher happened to have a deal with L.A. Reid. Usher happened to be in a studio with Jermaine Dupri, so was Justin Timberlake. I think all of those parts played such a pivotal, perfect storm role that, I mean, you know, Scooter with his assertiveness and him being smart, I mean, I think the whole thing. I mean, you know, LA sign it. I mean, I think the whole thing was a perfect storm.

• 6:36Lewis Howes?

  Perfect storm.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  Cause you can't look at success that huge without saying that person must really be talented.

• 6:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  And the team around them must be really smart and talented.

• 6:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  So you got that many smart, talented people that are all hugely successful for a long time? Oh, my God, that's a perfect storm.

• 6:57Lewis Howes?

  It's gonna work. Now, you, you, you played with, you produced, you were, you know, manager with so many big artists. But it seems like a lot of big artists have some type of downfall. They have some type of like, that it's too much to handle, it's too much success at that early of an age. Like you see even Bieber had a number of years where he went through a lot of stuff. Whitney Houston, like all these people kind of have this like a dark, I don't know if it's a dark side or if it's just the success is too big for them.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  I think, you know, we often say in the industry, and this is really true, artists are their own worst enemies, right?

• 7:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:32Speaker 01

  So I always say it's not who you think you are, it's not who you think you want to be, it's who you actually are. That's gonna lead you out of the darkness into the forever light, right? So part of the issue to me is, is that you see all the Disney kids growing up. So when you're a young kid, Bieber, whomever it is, thrust into an adult world. That's an adult business world and you're making those kind of numbers, that kind of money in the business world? They're all clamoring for you, but you're a kid, you have no idea how to assess, how to deal with, how to like, what is this? Who are these people? What does this mean?

• 8:12Speaker 01

  I guess that's why the team, once again, is so important. Do they have my back? Do they get me? Are they holding me down 100? Knowing that I don't understand, but being a visionary saying, but in the future, five months from now, a year from now, five years from now, this is what this is gonna mean to us moving forward. So it takes an army dude, it takes a village.

• 8:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Literally for everything, takes a village.

• 8:39Lewis Howes?

  Something I love that you did the most is America's Best Dance Crew. For whatever reason.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  My man Louis, good looking out, brother.

• 8:47Lewis Howes?

  I don't know why that show's not on air anymore. Like it was the greatest show. I remember a moment in the show, must've been after season two, maybe three. It was like one of the finales, you said, you came out on stage, I can't remember this vividly, for whatever reason, this memory. It's like a circular stage, you're coming out there and you say, this is the hottest show on TV. I don't know if you remember saying this, you're like, right now, we are the hottest show on TV. And it was like, maybe it was the finale or something. And I just remember, I was like, that show brought so much joy and inspiration to so many people. Myself included, and I remember it was like a darker time for me. Uh, when did it come out? What was the first season? What year was that?

• 9:23Speaker 01

  I think the first seasons was two thousand seven.

• 9:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that was the year.

• 9:27Speaker 01

  Two thousand six.

• 9:28Lewis Howes?

  The year I got injured playing arena football was two thousand seven.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 9:31Lewis Howes?

  And I remember watching this show late at night on MTV, and it brought me a lot of joy and inspiration, just to see people going for their dreams.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  Well, you know, it's a funny thing about that show, you know, I had an idea of trying to create something that was different and unique. So my agent of it at the time at WME, Lance, and Sean Perry said, hey, you should go and check out this dance competition, you know, Howard and Karen, who have hip hop international, had a dance competition down in Torrance. So going down there, I'm looking at it and I'm thinking, wow, not so, this is interesting crews. I grew up with dance crews all around me, because I grew up in the hood in Louisiana. And, you know, all around me, so friends of mine were all in crews and they were doing it for like a lifestyle, a living. Whether they were making money or not, they were getting together, you know, b-boys, b-girls, they were like popping. Whatever what it was, just that camaraderie.

• 10:23Speaker 01

  And I thought, if I could take this and turn it into a competitive TV show. The world hasn't seen anything like this. You grew up in the hood, any hood, the black hood, the Chinese, the Mexican, the white, whatever hood. You've seen something like this, you know, it's like almost having like, you know, pool players team or bowlers league or whatever. And dude, we were scrubbing up and it just.

• 10:51Speaker 01

  We first sold it to NBC and then the president got blown out. We sent it over to MTV and you know, the guys over there that were running it at the time, Tony and Liz, you know, Grace is with the show, you know, and it just, you know, it just became that thing, man. I mean, I was, I was, one of my proudest shows because it was first, doing something no one else had done.

• 11:18Lewis Howes?

  So hard.

• 11:18Speaker 01

  The same thing can be said though, for American Idol. We were first before The Voice, before any of that. The first one. I'm hearing the lyric of a song, "First cut is the deepest." But you know what I'm saying? So when you're first and you got it dialed in and it's hot and it's happening, dude.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  Everyone's paying attention.

• 11:44Speaker 01

  Everyone's paying attention and you get a chance to win.

• 11:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:47Speaker 01

  You get a chance to win.

• 11:48Lewis Howes?

  How many seasons did that go for?

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Dancer won for seven seasons at MTV.

• 11:53Lewis Howes?

  That's pretty big, right?

• 11:54Speaker 01

  No, it was a great run, man. It was a great run. And it was so unassuming because I don't think people understood at first what it was, but I'm telling you what I loved the most and one of the things that we created. I wanted to have it feel like you played sports, you played ball. I played ball. I wanted to have it feel like you were in at a pep rally in high school.

• 12:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:17Speaker 01

  In the gymnasium with the bleachers and everybody going crazy, picking this team, "Yeah, go Ra Ra!" You know what I'm saying? I really wanted it to have that like WWE like, you know.

• 12:30Lewis Howes?

  It was amazing. It was electric.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  Dude, in the place where we shot it at Warner's, dude, it was rocking in there, dude. It was just rocking.

• 12:38Lewis Howes?

  Electric, just loud, just screaming about it, some college pep rally.

• 12:41Speaker 01

  Dude, I loved, and that was my, that was, man, I loved that atmosphere. Uh, because it just, it really fueled the performers too.

• 12:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow. When they have that whole audience and the cameras are on and screaming, you're going, ah, you're popping the lock it hard, right?

• 12:56Speaker 01

  Dude.

• 12:57Lewis Howes?

  You're jumping backflips.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  Great DJs, people were dancing in the stands. It was just like a good old fashioned party. So you go to this show and people will just be lined up around the block because they know they're gonna have a good time. So it was really created for that, you know? We're working on something else like that now. Uh, that hopefully we'll get on this, this, this year 2020, but I just love that kind of electric energy, you know?

• 13:20Lewis Howes?

  It was amazing, man. Now, why does a show like that have a big run and then why does it end? I felt like it was still great. Why, why do shows stop when they're still?

• 13:29Speaker 01

  You know, um, when you first started, it's brand new. Nobody knew, only a couple of us thought that it was gonna work and surprise, surprise, it worked big. So once you, what did they say? Uh, failures have known fathers or sisters or brothers or cousins. Success, all of a sudden, there's a million. All of a sudden, everybody's talking, I knew it was gonna work. I'm the one that told them to have the rail cam. Around the round stage, have the mirrors, ceilings.

• 14:02Lewis Howes?

  His lights, yeah.

• 14:03Speaker 01

  I'm the one that said, do this and do that. So I think it just started kind of wearing. Everyone had a different idea and when you get too many cooks and ideas in the kitchen, it not only spoils the soup, the soup is a rap.

• 14:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:21Speaker 01

  So, and I think most ideas, simple ideas work best, right?

• 14:25Lewis Howes?

  Keeping it simple.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  We know this in life, keep it simple. There's a thing over every studio in Motown back in the day in the history of Motown records, that had, I think, a hundred and fifty number one records in the history of Motown. Over every studio, there was KISSS. Keep it stupid, simple, or simple stupid, whichever you like.

• 14:45Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh. Keep it simple stupid or keep it stupid simple?

• 14:48Speaker 01

  When it gets too complex, all bets are off. That's when people lose.

• 14:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:53Speaker 01

  Everyone's a genius. That means no one's a genius.

• 14:57Lewis Howes?

  It's too hard to think that much if it's too creative.

• 14:59Speaker 01

  Too much thinking. Too much thinking. We've over-thunk the thing.

• 15:03Lewis Howes?

  That's why great songs follow a simple pattern, right?

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Dude, you speak it. Listen, I manage a lot of writer producers. I'm one myself. I say this every week at our writer song meetings. Got to be simple. Simple ideas. The Beatles was simple. Motown was simple. Stop in the name of the... Well, I don't have to think. I don't have to think, where's the chorus? I'd have to think like, let it be. One of the greatest songs ever written in life. They say let it be seven times in the chorus. Oh my God.

• 15:35Lewis Howes?

  Over and over again.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  Over and over again. I mean...

• 15:38Lewis Howes?

  What about, what about Frozen? Let it go, let it go. It's like saying let it go over and over.

• 15:44Speaker 01

  Well, there's a lot of great writers. Max Martin being one of the greatest of our time the last thirty years.

• 15:49Lewis Howes?

  He was my neighbor.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Yes, I know where...

• 15:51Lewis Howes?

  His studio is right next to my building.

• 15:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know right where you are.

• 15:54Lewis Howes?

  My neighbor in my building, C J Barron, it works with Max and does a lot of songs with him. So he's always over there, come back and tell me what they're working on. It's all about the simplification which makes something really pop. Whether it's a TV show, a book, a song.

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Idol was a simple idea.

• 16:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  Dance Crew was a simple idea. You know, Biggest Loser was a simple idea. Dancing with the Stars, simple idea. I mean, you know, any things that you find, and especially in the reality world, that are simple ideas, you could probably make float. Because I think the public has to digest them. Every game show that you like, it's a simple idea.

• 16:30Lewis Howes?

  Roll a dice.

• 16:31Speaker 01

  Password, Jeopardy. It's a simple idea.

• 16:36Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 16:36Speaker 01

  The execution has to be done. You know, cleverly, but it's a simple idea.

• 16:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Now, you're an all-state football and track. Now, were you a better athlete or a better musician?

• 16:49Speaker 01

  I was a better musician, obviously. You know what I say to people every time I meet them? I meet a lot of people. I see a lot of prospective artists, clients, whatever. We're developing a lot of TV, and I say to people this. They go, "I'm an actor, dancer, singer, model, producer."

• 17:06Lewis Howes?

  TV host.

• 17:07Speaker 01

  Writer, TV host, a dog parent.

• 17:10Lewis Howes?

  Mom.

• 17:11Speaker 01

  A mom, a dad. Okay, fine. I go, "You can use this too, Louis."

• 17:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  "Where have you made your most money?"

• 17:21Speaker 01

  And they'll answer one or the other, and I go, "I guess that's what you really are." So, this is where the public is seen and said, "I'm gonna give you money for this."

• 17:32Lewis Howes?

  So, the rest of the stuff is a hobby?

• 17:34Speaker 01

  The rest of the stuff is really hobbies. You love these things, but these are not your life's calling, per se. Because to find out what your life's calling means that you could be good at a bunch of things. What are you great and best at? So, and how does the public view you without you having to tell them? They see you and they go, "Blah." So, I mean, you know, music's always been in my heart. It was never top of heart, because you know, like yourself, when you play in sports and you're like elementary school, junior high, high school, whatever, you're just, that's your focus.

• 18:10Lewis Howes?

  You're all in.

• 18:10Speaker 01

  Because it takes all your time, all your training, all your thoughts, everything, but... I'll never forget in high school, I started playing gigs in bars, like after games, you know, sneaking out. My parents didn't know. Obviously, they thought I was at McDonald's with the rest of the people, so I'm playing in some bar, you know, like... So, I, I guess, thinking back on it, it's been a bigger part of my life than I ever even realized.

• 18:36Lewis Howes?

  What caught you into it in the first place?

• 18:38Speaker 01

  Uh, my brother was a drummer. There was music all around my neighborhood, uh, music all around my house. As I say, my brother was a very successful jazz drummer. He's a teacher at Southern University.

• 18:49Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  Now in Louisiana. I mean, it just, you know, it's one of those things that... When you're around it, you kind of absorb it and I think it's almost like taking a kid, showing a kid ten things and see what they gravitate towards.

• 19:04Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 19:05Speaker 01

  Oh, you really like that, right?

• 19:07Lewis Howes?

  Go do more of it.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  Do more of that, what about that? Because I think it's exposing the kids to different things so they can see what they like.

• 19:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And were you always playing bass or were you playing multiple instruments?

• 19:19Speaker 01

  I started playing drums because my brother was a drummer. I started playing guitar, played saxophone. And I played piano, then bass was really, bass and saxophone were the last two.

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  Really? And that's the one that you stuck with, right?

• 19:31Speaker 01

  Yeah. It just, you know, it spoke to me, you know what I mean? Like, you know, I hear bass lines in my head. I can be in a noisy restaurant right now and hear just a glimpse of the bass line and go. Right, right, that's so and so song, that's Joni Mitchell, or that's.

• 19:47Lewis Howes?

  Joni Mitchell.

• 19:48Speaker 01

  A Hall of Funkadelic, or that's Tribe Called Quests, or.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  Just by hearing the bass line?

• 19:54Speaker 01

  Just by hearing the bass line. Or that's the Revolution Shall Not Be Televised from Columbus, Ohio.

• 19:59Lewis Howes?

  There you go, I like that.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:01Lewis Howes?

  That's great, man.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:02Lewis Howes?

  Did you grow up learning jazz as the fundamentals?

• 20:06Speaker 01

  I grew up learning blues, rock, R and B, all of that. Because, you know, the great thing about growing up in the South in Louisiana is you have its own forms of music, being Dixieland and Zydeco. Its own natural things. And it was a lot of Indian and French and Creole and all these settlements, along with the Afro-Cuban, African-American, all these settlements. That it created this sort of great potpourri of just amazing music. From the meters to the wild Chapatuas Indians, to like even second line in the streets is this whole thing. When you look around now, you've got like Big Frida, you've got all the Zydeco stuff, all the Dixieland.

• 20:49Speaker 01

  And along with rock, along with southern rock, along with all the funk, all the R and B, all the country, all the bluegrass. It's just, it's a great, I didn't know that growing up, but as I. Started moving around the country and meeting other people and like, man, you're so fortunate to grow up there.

• 21:11Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  You know?

• 21:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:13Speaker 01

  Cause you take it for granted.

• 21:14Lewis Howes?

  Absolutely. It's interesting. My parents were opera majors at Ohio State.

• 21:18Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 21:18Lewis Howes?

  So my, I'd hear my mom and dad singing all the time when I was growing up.

• 21:22Speaker 01

  You've seen some opera?

• 21:23Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  Lewis.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Come on, man.

• 21:29Lewis Howes?

  I wish, man. I, uh, I wasn't in choir in high school and I did the musical one year just to like show myself that I wasn't just like a dumb jock, that I was gonna be the opposite.

• 21:38Speaker 01

  You were trying to get that girl that was in the play. I know you, man. I know you, bro. I get it.

• 21:44Lewis Howes?

  And, uh, so my, my parents were opera majors. My, uh, my brother was one of the top classical, uh, uh, classical violinists in the country for his age group, under eighteen.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 21:54Lewis Howes?

  Then he went to prison at eighteen for selling LSD to an undercover cop at Ohio State.

• 22:00Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 22:00Lewis Howes?

  Was in prison, sentenced six to twenty-five years for selling one sheet of LSD to an undercover cop. Got out in four and a half years on good behavior, but during that time, he joined the prison band. And he was the only white guy and all these older guys taught him blues, hip hop, rap.

• 22:17Speaker 01

  So is he still playing?

• 22:17Lewis Howes?

  R B and jazz. And now he's the number one jazz violinist in the world.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  What? What's his name?

• 22:22Lewis Howes?

  Christian Howes. He played with Les Paul for ten years in New York City. He's played with all the greats all around the world. And he's the baddest MF'er on the electric or jazz violin you'll ever watch. It's unbelievable to watch.

• 22:36Speaker 01

  Do tell him to start a band.

• 22:38Lewis Howes?

  For sure, man. I'll have him come out here and connect with you sometime. But, uh, so I grew up in jazz clubs, uh, watching him play. Like every week, I'd, my dad would take me out and after he got out of prison, he was playing a lot to get his feet back on the ground and, um, I really learned about jazz and just started, started to learn, appreciate it. Like, you know, jazz is like a sport and it's like bouncing off of each other and you're all listening and you're connecting and it's improvisation.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  Well, I often say that the quintessential jazz musicians are probably, in my estimation, the greatest musicians in the world.

• 23:11Lewis Howes?

  It's unbelievable.

• 23:12Speaker 01

  Because you have to interpret.

• 23:15Speaker 01

  And you have to add your own voice to something. So you have to be able to improvise. This is why probably the biggest song learned in Berklee School of Music or any of the colleges across the country is Giant Steps by the great John Coltrane. Because the changes and the modality of which the changes follow and you play through and he's circling, I mean, it's just.

• 23:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:41Speaker 01

  My god.

• 23:42Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  It's amazing.

• 23:44Lewis Howes?

  Did you go to Berklee at all?

• 23:45Speaker 01

  I did not. I went to Southern University at the same time in Louisiana that my brother went with a great teacher named Alvin Batiste.

• 23:53Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  And he just helped us all through tremendous, one of the greatest teachers. But I took privately and I really fell in love with Miles and Coltrane.

• 24:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  And fortunate enough to play with Billy Cobham, who was in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, speaking of Jerry Goodman violinist, jazz violinist, and I worked while I was young with Ponti.

• 24:17Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  He was also a big jazz violinist. And I just fell in love with it. The whole fusion thing to me is like rock and roll with every note, every mode, every time signature possible.

• 24:29Lewis Howes?

  It's kind of like being a linebacker. You got to learn everyone's plays.

• 24:33Speaker 01

  Everyone's playing. And when you think about Arne Coleman and then you think about P-Funk or you think about any of those bands like that, everything worked, everything was used. I mean, just unbelievable high caliber of understanding of music.

• 24:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  On Arne, I mean Sun Ra, all the freedom jazz guys. I mean, I can't say enough, John McLaughlin, probably one of the greatest guitar players in the world, if not for that music, the greatest. Just lived and breathed Coltrane, started Mahavishnu Orchestra that was just.

• 25:12Speaker 01

  Oh my god, you know, like, I was listening to something the other day. This guy's just next level. It doesn't get any higher. It's like, in the Olympics, the degree of difficulty, he's there with Coltrane and all the rest of them. I mean, um, someone turned me on to this kid years ago. His name is Joey. He's this young kid, piano player. Signed a verb, I think. He's just, I just, I just fathom that you can improvise and play, hearing all the notes and all the tones and just do it so expertly well. I just love.

• 25:49Lewis Howes?

  It's beautiful.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  To this day, I still love jazz.

• 25:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. You're extremely educated in a breadth of music, in lots of different modalities of music. You've played with so many great people. You've also just seen a lot of great people that you didn't play with. Who is, in your opinion, the greatest person that you played with for so many years? And then who is the greatest, either singer, artist, musician that you didn't play with, that you were so in awe with, that you didn't get a chance to play with?

• 26:21Speaker 01

  God, you know, it's hard to say. I mean...

• 26:24Lewis Howes?

  You played with so many people on tour.

• 26:26Speaker 01

  I played with a lot of people that played with John McGolfin, that were in my vision. Because I worked with Narder Michael Walden, I worked with Billy Cobham, both drummers. I worked with both violinists, Jerry Goodman, Angelique, and, you know, worked with Herbie, who played, him and John, and all those guys played with Miles. I, you know, I, you know, some of those guys are probably the greatest. I mean, Herbie, I mean, I mean, Miles Coltrane, John, I just, I, you know. On the singer's side...

• 27:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, the pop star side. Who was the most talented singer?

• 27:04Speaker 01

  Fortunately for me, I worked with, it's more like a top 10 for me, from Springsteen to Billy Joel, to Elton John, to Aretha, to Mariah, to Whitney, to Celine Dion, to, you know, all those unbelievable greats. Uh, I just, I...

• 27:30Lewis Howes?

  It's hard to pick one, huh?

• 27:31Speaker 01

  I mean...

• 27:32Lewis Howes?

  Because you were a musical director for a few of them, right?

• 27:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, but Aretha inspired so many.

• 27:38Lewis Howes?

  People.

• 27:38Speaker 01

  God rest her soul. I mean...

• 27:42Speaker 01

  Just, I mean, you know, and all of those greats that, that also, they all came with their own lane.

• 27:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 27:50Speaker 01

  None of those sounded the same.

• 27:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Even Dylan didn't sound like anyone else. I mean, you know, this is, this is what I still challenge artists with today. I know you can copy anything out there. You can be the best, biggest trap star. People come up to me every day, "Music all sounds the same on the radio." Well, it's some of the same writers, same producers, same melodies, same sounds, all of this. And people kind of just want to copy each other because they want to just be on the radio. Well,

• 28:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  they want something like this, I'm gonna give them that, but what is your brand? What are you selling? I know what everyone else is selling, but give me something unique to identify you by. If you can't, I don't know.

• 28:35Lewis Howes?

  Who's the most unique person out there right now, the most unique artist?

• 28:39Speaker 01

  Obviously Bruno Mars is, is etched out his own lane. I would say what you've seen Lizzo and Billie Eilish do this, this last couple of years.

• 28:48Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, right?

• 28:49Speaker 01

  They've etched out their own. I think this girl Tori Kelly is so unbelievably talented. Yeah, I still hate that I didn't get a chance to sign her.

• 28:59Lewis Howes?

  You did?

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Tori, I love you wherever you are.

• 29:01Lewis Howes?

  Well, she was on American Idol, right?

• 29:02Speaker 01

  She was on Idol, yeah.

• 29:03Lewis Howes?

  She got like top 10 and then you guys were like, "Ah, you're not good at..."

• 29:06Speaker 01

  It wasn't me.

• 29:09Speaker 01

  I think, um, you know, I think on the countryside, I think people have done interesting things. I think this girl Ashley McBride is amazing. You know, I, I don't know. I mean, I think equally on that side, I guess Dan and Shay have kind of come into their own. I think in the jazz world, you got Kamasi Washington, you got Corey Henry, you got Robert Glasper. You got all these guys, Esperanza Spalding, that's really come with her own thing. I think, you know, on the urban side, you got her. You got, I guess, SZA. You know, on the hip-hop side, certainly, I guess you got Drake. You got Kendrick. You know, you got Travis.

• 29:53Speaker 01

  You know, a lot of those guys have come out with their own thing.

• 29:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. It's pretty exciting.

• 29:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:58Lewis Howes?

  I'm curious, you've had an amazing life. Like, just so many cool experiences.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  So far.

• 30:04Lewis Howes?

  So far. It's not over yet.

• 30:05Speaker 01

  And a continuation, a continuation.

• 30:07Lewis Howes?

  It's going. But, you know, so far, you've had an amazing life. That, you know, from sports to music to business to judging to management, you know, all the creative directing, so many different moments. Like, you've had some incredibly big moments. What would you say are your top three for you so far? Of like, from all the touring you did, from all the awards you won, from all the shows you produced, to, you know, the moments in just some pub in the middle of nowhere where three people are playing, but you feel you hit that note, you hit the groove, like, what are those top three for you?

• 30:39Speaker 01

  I think back as a kid in Louisiana, in Tibbetto, Louisiana, playing at a club called The Foundry. Which is a big club at that time, back in the day. Playing with a guy named John Fred in the Playboys. He had a Beatles sort of kind of spoof song called Judy in Disguise. That became a local regional hit. I think being in the studio with Irma Thomas. The queen of like the R&B blues thing from the South. Playing on stage with Ernie Cato. And those guys at Jazz Fest. Back in the day. I think about all the early years, you know. I think about the first tour with Billy Cobham. Being onstage with him.

• 31:25Speaker 01

  The Montreux Jazz Festival. Seeing Oscar Peterson in the early days. I think about being onstage with Journey at, uh, Calaveras County Fairgrounds.

• 31:37Lewis Howes?

  You played with Journey, too?

• 31:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, with Journey.

• 31:39Lewis Howes?

  That must have been epic.

• 31:40Speaker 01

  Uh, them closing the show with the song Faithfully.

• 31:43Lewis Howes?

  Oh!

• 31:44Speaker 01

  And hearing everyone in the crowd. Sing every lyric and every... It still gives me goosebumps to this day.

• 31:51Lewis Howes?

  How many people were there?

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Uh, must have been a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand. I don't know. Crazy amount.

• 31:56Lewis Howes?

  This is their height, huh?

• 31:58Speaker 01

  This is the height of this band, but...

• 32:00Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 32:01Speaker 01

  I finally realized what it meant to write a hit song that really penetrated the public. They live, they learn every word and they sing it back to you where you can just hold out the microphone and you go, God, thank you, Lord Jesus, I've made it. They finally understood what I was doing. I finally gave them something. They're living on every word. Wow. The power in that. That's crazy. Like, it still gives me chills to this day. I think those moments, I think being in the studio, we recorded Jumpin' Jack Flash with Aretha in Detroit for this Whoopi Goldberg

• 32:45Speaker 01

  movie and being with Keith and Woody and Steve Jordan, Chuck Lavelle, myself on bass, Aretha in the recording, Steve Lilly White, engineering, producing, mixing. Which movie was this, Sister Act? No? Sister Act. No, it wasn't Sister Act. Uh, Jumpin' Jack Flash. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. The movie. It's like, just recording that with them and shooting the video and just being in the studio with Springsteen, you know. Wow. Just, just those touches of greatness for me, just being a sponge, just even being able to be in that environment. Thank God. Wow.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  So, I always say to people, make sure you're a sponge and make sure you're open. So that you can receive and learn something. Never block the blessings, Louis. That's right. Don't block the blessings, Joel. Don't block them. Be open to the blessings. Be open. How do you stay open to blessings? Uh, I think, you know, with wisdom and I think people like me and others saying it to you, that, you know, the person with a closed mind and knows everything probably knows nothing. So they are operating out of fear. Yeah. Why are you closed? Why do you know everything? I don't know everything. Yeah. I mean, I've been a lot of places in the world. I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't know everything. I don't even wanna know everything. Yeah. I wanna learn something new every day. So, you know, I think.

• 34:14Lewis Howes?

  What was the moment, and maybe it was this moment with Steve Perry and Journey. Was there many moments or any moments where you just were playing and you're kind of in awe, like you had the chills and you're in tears of this moment?

• 34:28Speaker 01

  That Calaveras County grounds.

• 34:31Lewis Howes?

  That's it. I can only imagine, hearing Faithfully sung back to you guys, just screaming at you.

• 34:36Speaker 01

  The whole set. I mean, it just, um, you know, at the height of the band and, you know, just being so fortunate, so blessed to be in that spot.

• 34:48Lewis Howes?

  And you're on stage playing.

• 34:49Speaker 01

  Dude, I'm on stage playing and songs I didn't know they love, like they love Wheel in the Sky.

• 34:56Lewis Howes?

  Oh, great song.

• 34:57Speaker 01

  They love all, I mean, just like.

• 34:59Lewis Howes?

  Don't stop believing. I mean, that must have been electric as well.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  I'm saying, dude, and I mean, Neil and Terry and Jonathan and Mike Baird, the guys are all so talented. I mean, just to be there, you know, it's just, it's such an achievement, accomplishment, it's a milestone. It's just, you know, but said equally, you're in the studio with Bruce Springsteen.

• 35:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  I mean, you're in the studio with Elton John, you're in the studio with Billy Joel.

• 35:26Lewis Howes?

  What's that like?

• 35:27Speaker 01

  The studio with Dylan, I mean, and there with Aretha, dude, like, I don't even know, Whitney Houston, I mean, Mariah.

• 35:35Lewis Howes?

  What was that like with all those people?

• 35:38Speaker 01

  There was a song Mariah wrote years ago for a movie called Lead the Way that is still one of my favorite songs in life. The melody just kills me every time I hear it. I mean, just how unbelievably talented she is.

• 35:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 35:53Speaker 01

  Just, you know, being around that level of greatness that you say to yourself, don't get no better than this. God, wow.

• 36:01Lewis Howes?

  Top of the world, yeah.

• 36:02Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 36:03Lewis Howes?

  Now, it's undeniable that you're an amazing bassist, right? You're an amazing musician.

• 36:09Speaker 01

  I think I'm pretty good.

• 36:10Lewis Howes?

  You're amazing, right? You're top.

• 36:12Speaker 01

  I'm amazing, but.

• 36:13Lewis Howes?

  But there's also guys that I'm sure you saw, you're like, this guy's got to step on me. This guy's a little better.

• 36:19Speaker 01

  Victor Wooten, this kid Mono Neon, who was ridiculous, and this girl Dei, D E Y from India. Oh my God.

• 36:28Lewis Howes?

  They're amazing, right?

• 36:29Speaker 01

  And Hadron Freud. I mean, these guys, I mean, Thundercat, I mean, dude, there's so many great players.

• 36:34Lewis Howes?

  So what is it about for people listening or watching? Who are great, but they know someone's better at their skill than them in the world. What is it about you that got all the big opportunities where the other potentially better basis didn't get? They weren't in the studio with Elton and.

• 36:55Speaker 01

  Find out where you fit. Find out where you do better than someone else and really try and explore that. Also, we're all a little bit different. So what's your difference? Once again, we're back to the original conversation. What is your brand?

• 37:14Speaker 01

  I know what someone else's brand is. What's your brand? Bruno Mars can sing anything. This guy's so uniquely gifted. I mean, my God. I mean, you know, he's like reminds me of all the church guys, you know? The Kim Burrells, the Karen Clarks, the, you know? Uh, the Smokey Norfils, the B. Slades, the whatever. It's like, this is like effortless talent. What is your unique thing? What makes you unique? What do you do better than anyone else? I know you can do a bunch of things.

• 37:46Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 37:47Speaker 01

  What is that certain thing that Louis does that no one else does?

• 37:50Lewis Howes?

  What was that thing that you did that no one else did?

• 37:53Speaker 01

  I think, you know, for me, I was a jazz guy, but I was also a church kid. I was also the R and B rock kid that I grew up loving R and B. I grew up loving music, country. I grew up loving everything. So I wanted to understand music on a deeper, different level and not become a music snob like a lot of the jazz guys. A lot of the jazz guys want to only play jazz.

• 38:17Lewis Howes?

  So my brother, I'm like, you've got to start playing other stuff.

• 38:20Speaker 01

  Yeah. So, and also for me, fortunately, when I moved to the Bay Area to start working for Nardo Michael Walden with his production team. We would do ten, twenty records before we ever got noticed by anybody because we were jazz guys trying to cross into the popular music R and B world. But it took us a while to learn what that was really about because we could play any of the notes. But were we with the feeling of those notes? Did we get the feeling? So was it played with the right intention? Like, you know, there's this blues guitarist today, this guy that I absolutely love, Eric Gales. This guy is so gifted, but he can play all the notes with everyone else.

• 39:05Speaker 01

  But he also plays it with the feeling. The emotion, yeah. So the notes without the emotion are nothing. Must go play in the classical. You can do whatever you want. Play the symphony. Do whatever you want. Where's the feeling, man? Give me some feeling. Yeah. That's why the thing about B B King killing him with one note. While everybody else has got a hundred notes, he's killing you with one note. You just go, oh. You know, I grew up on southern rock. I loved the Allman Brothers. I loved Dwayne Allman. Dude, Not My Cross The Bear, he makes the guitar cry, dude. It's like that Clapton sort of like, dude, oh my god. Or like Derek Trucks, dude, like this, these guys are like just, nothing will ever replace the emotion.

• 39:51Speaker 01

  So that's really the key to someone's heart and their soul. Because really you're trying to get people to emotionally join you in that journey or that ride or that song. Or that solo or whatever you're doing. If you do that, you may have something. That's what we did with Dance Crew. Yeah. That's what Idol did. Touch your heartstrings. Yeah. Maybe I was that kid that's auditioning. My eyes were too close together. I had buck teeth. I had coke bottle glasses. I was overweight. I was skinny. I didn't know who I was. I didn't, you know. You know, whatever, whatever. That's what got me into Unify Health, well, it's Unify Health laughing because.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  I was that kid. I was, I was, I was all those kids. So it's funny, I became a judge in Iowa because I was all those kids trying to make it growing up. So I was them, so I could actually feel the pain.

• 40:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:46Speaker 01

  What they were going through. You know, I struggled all my life with my health too. So growing up in the South, eating the best, the best food that like, you know, I've been saying, we don't trust a skinny chef. There's a bunch of condiments on the table. I'm leaving the restaurant because they didn't taste that food before they sent it to me. So like, what do you mean that's too much butter and salt and sugar in this? That's the way it's supposed to be.

• 41:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it tastes better, right?

• 41:12Speaker 01

  Taste, man, tastes good. You know, they, what's the saying? Man, I see your belly growing. You must be doing something right. Must be living right. Your belly's growing.

• 41:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. But I, but I'm curious. I want to get to, to your health transformation in a second because it's amazing what you've overcome and what you're doing now. Um, with this new brand you have, but I'm curious. There had to be something special you had to, to keep getting asked back. Go from one person to the next person because you might be talented enough to say, okay, Whitney Houston's going to give you a shot, but you gotta have something else to have like 10, 20, 40 other people say, we need you as well. Was it a relationship quality you had? Was it a?

• 41:55Speaker 01

  I think it was not.

• 41:56Lewis Howes?

  Was it a?

• 41:57Speaker 01

  I think it was the relationship thing. And I also think that I did a lot of sponging and listening. So I'm thinking back now when we were doing Howl I Know.

• 42:08Lewis Howes?

  Howl I Know.

• 42:10Speaker 01

  We were doing that and we were making a production. I said, you know, if she went up in that beaver, somebody who, somebody who. And I was like, really? Like, you know, because she's another, she was such an effortless, talented, unbelievably talented girl. That, you know, I just, I would really listen and pay attention. And never thought I knew too much, but always was trying to bring the positivity and the whatever to the session and really. Trying to find the greatness in the moment in the song.

• 42:50Speaker 01

  You know, what's gonna make this great and how's this gonna try and get the listener to pay attention? Cause something always has to grab you and make you pay attention, right? We're all busy, there's a thousand things. I mean, one of the downsides of social media, I think it's a double edged sword. Is there's way too much noise going, there was too much noise going on before. Now with all that, there's way too much noise. So how do you get somebody to pay attention? You gotta grab them by the collar and pull them close to listen and force them to hear you out. So hopefully they get it.

• 43:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 43:23Speaker 01

  But I think it's that, I think it's the combination of everything. I think it's that kid. That grew up in Louisiana with all those potteries of music around. That loved Zeppelin, Hendrix.

• 43:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 43:35Speaker 01

  James Brown, P-Funk, Sly and the Family Stone, Elton John.

• 43:42Lewis Howes?

  You want a one trick pony.

• 43:44Speaker 01

  Mahershala, Miles, Coltrane. The original, uh. You know, Hank Williams Senior and Junior. I mean, I think it was that guy.

• 43:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 43:56Speaker 01

  That loved boom chick country. You know what I mean? Like, you know.

• 44:01Lewis Howes?

  They're like, we gotta keep him around. Yeah.

• 44:03Speaker 01

  Well, and also there's a thing in the South that I always carry with me. They will say to you, Louis, is that really you? Meaning, are you being authentic right now? Is that who you really are in there? Are you trying to fake me out with this over here? And they're saying, is that really you? Cause they don't believe that's really you.

• 44:23Lewis Howes?

  Wow, I like that.

• 44:24Speaker 01

  That's deep.

• 44:25Lewis Howes?

  They keep it real down there.

• 44:25Speaker 01

  That's deep, that's deep.

• 44:26Lewis Howes?

  They keep it real down there.

• 44:27Speaker 01

  Authentic. Yeah, they need to know they like you before they even gonna ask what you do out here, everybody you meet. So what do you do? Down there, they're gonna take a minute. It may take three, four weeks before they even ask you, so. By the way, what do you do? You've eaten with them, you've had drinks with them. By the way, what do you do? Cause they wanna know, they wanna know you first.

• 44:47Lewis Howes?

  They wanna get to know your energy, your heart, yeah.

• 44:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, do I even like this person?

• 44:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 44:52Speaker 01

  Cause if I don't like them, I don't care what they do.

• 44:54Lewis Howes?

  Who cares what they do?

• 44:54Speaker 01

  Right.

• 44:55Lewis Howes?

  That's interesting. So you got, so people like you? You're a real.

• 44:58Speaker 01

  I mean, I like to say people love me, but you know. There's some people that don't like me, but whatever.

• 45:04Lewis Howes?

  I like that, man.

• 45:05Speaker 01

  Can't please everyone, right?

• 45:07Lewis Howes?

  Now, you've gone through a big transition in your health. Like back in the 2003, you lost a bunch of weight.

• 45:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:15Lewis Howes?

  And you've kind of gone up and down in your health over the years, right?

• 45:18Speaker 01

  Well, you know, the thing is, is I think there's a bunch of methods that you can use. And I've tried them all and used a lot of them successfully unsuccessfully to lose weight. But I think the thing is, is how do you keep it off?

• 45:29Lewis Howes?

  So hard to keep it off.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  So it's really a lifestyle change. You have to literally change your lifestyle.

• 45:36Lewis Howes?

  When you grew up eating, knowing that, eating everything all the time.

• 45:41Speaker 01

  I moved away and while I'm here, I had to move even further away. Because you have to really divorce food and start over. It has to be a food divorce.

• 45:51Lewis Howes?

  A food divorce.

• 45:52Speaker 01

  Start over and also a health divorce. So what may be a great workout for you? You may be a Peloton guy. You may be at Equinox every day or the great gym here or there or whatever. You may be a berries boot camp or whatever the hell.

• 46:07Lewis Howes?

  Love berries.

• 46:08Speaker 01

  But that may not be my thing. My thing may be dancing.

• 46:14Speaker 01

  But no matter what you do, gotta move.

• 46:18Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 46:19Speaker 01

  So whatever's gonna get you to consistently do it, that's what you gotta find. So once again, it's back to what's my brand?

• 46:28Lewis Howes?

  Did you feel like when you were on tour for all those years with all these big artists? That you didn't think about your health at all? It was just kind of like eat whatever. It doesn't matter from a weight or from a...

• 46:38Speaker 01

  You thought about it a lot, but I think also, you know, I wrote some books a while back and I used a couple of behavioral psychologists to talk about this. Because in order for me to get you to change, to adopt Unify Health brand, the brand that we've come up with, that I've made, that I've got out now, I gotta get you to change the way you think about that.

• 47:00Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 47:01Speaker 01

  So that's what behavioral modification therapy really is. I wanna quit smoking. I wanna quit eating, quit smoking. I wanna stop this, stop that. So if I can get you to change your mindset around it, maybe we have a chance.

• 47:16Lewis Howes?

  How did you change your mindset around it originally?

• 47:18Speaker 01

  I had to divorce it. I developed type two diabetes. I had no choice.

• 47:23Lewis Howes?

  You had to.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  There's no cure. You're gonna have this the rest of your life. You can live a great life with it, but you have to make changes.

• 47:33Lewis Howes?

  And if you don't make changes?

• 47:35Speaker 01

  You're gonna be sick. You're gonna injure yourself. You're gonna get this disease, this thing, this thing, that thing.

• 47:39Lewis Howes?

  You're gonna die.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  Yes. So.

• 47:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 47:42Speaker 01

  What are you gonna do?

• 47:43Lewis Howes?

  Wow. And so that was what, fifteen, roughly fifteen years ago or twenty?

• 47:46Speaker 01

  Seventeen years ago.

• 47:47Lewis Howes?

  Seventeen years ago, you got that?

• 47:49Speaker 01

  Yeah. So what am I gonna do? So I gotta get it together. So I can't eat like that anymore, even if I go down there. I can't have everything fried. Everything with a ton of sugar, butter, salt. I can't do it. I mean, even the vegetables. I mean, you know, because to them, how does it taste?

• 48:06Lewis Howes?

  The vegetables are soaked in butter.

• 48:08Speaker 01

  Does it taste good?

• 48:10Lewis Howes?

  They're fried, they're soaked in butter. Yeah.

• 48:13Speaker 01

  I mean, I think the desserts down there are probably the sweetest in the world.

• 48:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 48:17Speaker 01

  They're supposed to be.

• 48:18Lewis Howes?

  It's just a bag of sugar. It's a butter.

• 48:21Speaker 01

  You know, one of my favorite things I used to love eating is the pecan pralines.

• 48:24Lewis Howes?

  Oh my god.

• 48:25Speaker 01

  It's literally butter, sugar, and pecans. Literally.

• 48:30Lewis Howes?

  So real.

• 48:31Speaker 01

  Literally butter, sugar, and pecans.

• 48:33Lewis Howes?

  So have you pretty much cut out almost all sugar in your diet or?

• 48:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I, you know, you have to, all the carbs, you have to, it just, I had to have a divorce with it.

• 48:44Lewis Howes?

  Do you struggle with it today where you see candy or sweets and you're like, I want that? Or is it more of like you've emotionally, immensely blocked it out?

• 48:51Speaker 01

  No, what I've done now, the last couple of years, is I call myself.

• 48:59Speaker 01

  It's a, it's a funny thing. I call myself a flexitarian.

• 49:03Lewis Howes?

  Okay. What's this? I like, I already like this.

• 49:06Speaker 01

  I'll eat a little bit of whatever I want if I really want to eat it.

• 49:11Lewis Howes?

  A little bit.

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Now, a little bit. Now, if I'm at a birthday party and I want a little bit of that chocolate cake. I'm gonna have a little small slice.

• 49:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 49:19Speaker 01

  But I'm gonna skip out on the bread or the pasta, the rice or the whatever later, because I know what that does to my blood sugar, how it spikes.

• 49:27Lewis Howes?

  It spikes it quick, man.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So I've got it down to a thing now.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 49:32Speaker 01

  Um, cause I've been living with it for a while and studying it.

• 49:35Lewis Howes?

  You know, even one cookie will spike your blood sugar up tremendously, which will affect your mood.

• 49:41Speaker 01

  Same thing though with pasta or rice or bread or any of the carbs. Cause they turn into sugars and metabolizes. So I've kind of gotten a pretty good handle on it. And also, one of the things I'm proud of stuff with this, with this line of Unify Health Lab stuff that we've come up with is about five to seven years ago, I realized how important gut health was.

• 50:06Lewis Howes?

  Huge.

• 50:07Speaker 01

  It's the beginning of everything.

• 50:08Lewis Howes?

  Everything.

• 50:10Speaker 01

  Gut health is where everything starts, all the diseases start. So you really gotta get that under control. The leaky gut thing that Dr. Gundry talks about. I mean, it's so, Gundry's amazing.

• 50:23Lewis Howes?

  It's great.

• 50:24Speaker 01

  And it, it just, it really speaks volumes. It spoke volumes to me at the time. So to be able to come up with this as a pay it forward of a way to help people. Also, you know, of things that we put in all the formulas, thinking about your everyday life and how you should really start to live your life. And also, that liquid formula of this is so great and so potent. This multi GI five, because it absorbs into the bloodstream a lot quicker because it's a powder. It's liquid that you mix.

• 50:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:58Speaker 01

  So I just, you know, it's helped me. So I just wanted to do something to help people.

• 51:05Lewis Howes?

  What is unique about Unify that most other health supplement protein brands aren't doing? What is it?

• 51:13Speaker 01

  Well, this is definitely, I got together with some great doctors and came up with this formula. So it's not just me and what I've learned. I really went to the task, got some doctors, some labs involved to really test this stuff. Also, there's a post rate formula, a post date. There's like everything you could think of and it's men and women.

• 51:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 51:34Speaker 01

  It's universal. Everyone can take it. So, and this is like the thing you think you don't need, the pre, the pro, every part of the whole gamut of the gut.

• 51:49Lewis Howes?

  This is for the gut mostly.

• 51:50Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 51:51Lewis Howes?

  This one, yeah.

• 51:51Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I mean, you know, it's like. We all don't think we need it, but guess what? Everything you put in, it's always not good, is it?

• 52:03Lewis Howes?

  It's always not good?

• 52:04Speaker 01

  For you.

• 52:04Lewis Howes?

  No.

• 52:05Speaker 01

  Right. So especially being in the South, knowing all that butter, all that salt.

• 52:08Lewis Howes?

  None of it was good for you.

• 52:10Speaker 01

  None of that's.

• 52:11Lewis Howes?

  You didn't eat a good meal that was healthy.

• 52:13Speaker 01

  Yeah. So this helps to give you a jumpstart on it.

• 52:18Lewis Howes?

  How important do you think is optimizing your health in terms of relaying over to creativity? Like you were this incredible musician and creative director for the most talented musicians and artists in the world for decades, but you were so talented and your health wasn't in order.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  No, because remember you focus on things and everything else just goes to hell. So you're like, I'll never forget, I was on Idol and people would come up to me and they'd say, you know, because Kyle and I will always be giving it to these contestants, that was terrible. They go, yeah, but you're fat. I go, yeah, you don't think I got mirrors in my eyes? I know. I mean, you know what I mean? It's like.

• 53:01Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel like you're more creative now that your health is much better than what it was?

• 53:05Speaker 01

  My energy's way more sustainable. It's way greater. I'm way more creative, way more clear.

• 53:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:12Speaker 01

  It has helped me tremendously and also I feel better, bro.

• 53:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 53:16Speaker 01

  God, man, you know, like.

• 53:19Lewis Howes?

  You got exhausted or feel like you have a weight on your shoulders.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  Dude, I'm saying, you know, listen, I said once I lost a bunch of weight, I said, listen, I know why people are always saying it's the people that don't need to jog that are always out in the streets jogging.

• 53:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 53:32Speaker 01

  When you're lighter, you want to run.

• 53:34Lewis Howes?

  You're happy to run.

• 53:36Speaker 01

  You're not carrying around an extra 125 pounds. Like, oh my God, I feel like I want to jump up and dance, you know?

• 53:44Lewis Howes?

  That's great, man.

• 53:45Speaker 01

  But yeah, it's a paying it forward to me, you know what I mean? I think. Because look, I take it, it works for me, so.

• 53:53Lewis Howes?

  It's great, man.

• 53:53Speaker 01

  This is what I think is gonna help a lot of people.

• 53:55Lewis Howes?

  I love it, man.

• 53:56Speaker 01

  Because I'm sure a lot of people have a lot of the issues that I have. Oh, you've been taking it, Louis? Louis, you need to be on this.

• 54:01Lewis Howes?

  I need to get on it now.

• 54:02Speaker 01

  Come on, bro.

• 54:03Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna get on it now.

• 54:03Speaker 01

  Come on, brother, come on, brother.

• 54:05Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna get on it. Yeah, Craig sent me a bunch, I've been on Craig's for years, and he's sent me a bunch of stuff over at the office, so we're gonna start trying.

• 54:11Speaker 01

  Craig and his wife are great people, I love them immensely, dude. What an amazing guy.

• 54:15Lewis Howes?

  Amazing guy, smart guy, great in business.

• 54:17Speaker 01

  Dude, really just the best.

• 54:19Lewis Howes?

  And they're, they're really doing, they're making brands like yours to really help people, and that's why I appreciate and acknowledge him for, so.

• 54:27Speaker 01

  But you know, to, to give back, to really offer something that people didn't think, and I just think, for me, using my voice to say, hey, listen, I did it, here's some of the things that worked for me.

• 54:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:41Speaker 01

  Maybe this will help you.

• 54:42Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I love that.

• 54:43Speaker 01

  So, you've seen my transformation, I didn't get here by myself, it's a team of people that helped me. I didn't have all these, I think I didn't have any of these ideas.

• 54:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:54Speaker 01

  I was 125 pounds heavier, you know, 17, 18 years ago, so I mean, I, you know.

• 54:59Lewis Howes?

  You look great now, man.

• 55:00Speaker 01

  Thanks, brother.

• 55:00Lewis Howes?

  Congrats and everything. I got a couple of final questions for you. Uh, this one is called the three truths. I ask everyone this at the end. So imagine, uh, it's your last day on earth, many, many years from now.

• 55:11Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 55:12Lewis Howes?

  You've got a whole nother lifetime to live, right? You're 150, or as old as you want to be, but one day you gotta turn off the lights, and you go to another place, hypothetical. And, um, imagine you've accomplished anything else you want to accomplish for the rest of your life. All of your dreams that you have now, they come true. And you've had this incredible life, and all the content you've put out into the world, you've, for whatever reason, gotta take everything you've ever said, on video, or audio, or written, it's gotta go with you to the next place. So no one has access to this information, or anything you've ever said before. But you get to have a piece of paper and a pen, and write down three things you know to be true, about all the things you've learned in your life.

• 55:56Lewis Howes?

  The most important lessons that, this is, all people would have to remember you by are these three lessons. I call them the three truths. What would you say would be your three truths?

• 56:06Speaker 01

  Make sure you remain open.

• 56:08Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 56:08Speaker 01

  So you can learn. Make sure you live your life with utmost compassion and humility.

• 56:18Speaker 01

  Make sure to listen.

• 56:23Lewis Howes?

  Why is listening such an important one for you?

• 56:26Speaker 01

  Music. Listen to what you're saying, listen to what someone else is saying, listen to Deepak Chopra, listen to Gundry, listen to, you know, Chris, Craig, listen to, you know, the things they can learn from listening to your podcasts. I mean, you know, the information you can glean. So you listen to music, you listen to what people say, because even in conversation, unless you listen, you're not gonna hear what someone's saying.

• 56:57Lewis Howes?

  That's true. I love that. I want to acknowledge you, Randy, for the amount of work you've done on yourself. To be able to get to the top on so many different levels, first in sports, then in music for decades, then as a producer, executive producer, creator. The amount of work, you could easily say, I'm good. Like, I'm good, I've made it, I've got the money, I've got the awards, like, I can eat whatever I want, I'm good.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  You can eat whatever I want.

• 57:28Lewis Howes?

  But you decided to say, I'm gonna work on myself and continue to transform and continue to learn. And I think it's hard sometimes, I've seen for people who've made it, to say, I'm willing to be open to learning new things. Learning new things about music, about your craft, about your health.

• 57:45Speaker 01

  That's why I mentioned to you first.

• 57:47Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 57:48Speaker 01

  Open.

• 57:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So I acknowledge you for that, because you're creating a brand that's helping people heal, helping people become better human beings. And you're just a good human being. I really appreciate and acknowledge you for your gifts, your talents, your creativity, and your heart. You've got an amazing heart, ability to connect and share good information, so.

• 58:08Speaker 01

  Thanks, brother. I love that you do what you do too. I love, I've listened to your stuff for years. And I love that you give back and do what you do, because you let people come on here and vent and talk about their stuff, and you ask the great questions, great interview, by the way.

• 58:22Lewis Howes?

  Thank you, man.

• 58:22Speaker 01

  And I think it's important, once again. Listen.

• 58:27Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. That's all I've done for 70 years is just try to find brilliant people and just hear from them. It's kind of selfish because I'm learning from great people and then I'm applying to my life, but I'm also sharing with the world.

• 58:39Speaker 01

  And even if you take one thing.

• 58:41Lewis Howes?

  Say one thing.

• 58:43Speaker 01

  It's all you need, man.

• 58:43Lewis Howes?

  It's all you need.

• 58:44Speaker 01

  And there's some infinite deeper spiritual wisdom in there that if you listen, you'll remember the things you're supposed to get.

• 58:53Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Ooh. Where can we find the brand? How can we follow you online? Where do we, where do we go?

• 59:00Speaker 01

  It's online everywhere, unifyhealth.com. Get this, man.

• 59:05Lewis Howes?

  And what about you personally? Are you on Instagram and Twitter and social media?

• 59:07Speaker 01

  I'm on everything. Randy underscore Jackson.

• 59:10Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 59:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm on everything, Twitter, Instagram.

• 59:14Lewis Howes?

  Awesome.

• 59:14Speaker 01

  I'm everywhere. I don't even want to be.

• 59:18Lewis Howes?

  I love it. Well, make sure you guys follow him. Check out Unify. Send him a message on Instagram and Twitter. I'm sure he'd love to see some people messaging you.

• 59:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 59:26Lewis Howes?

  The final question is what's your definition of greatness?

• 59:30Speaker 01

  When you've achieved massive success in whatever endeavor you want, and still are living your life with the utmost compassion and humility.

• 59:44Speaker 01

  It's not what you achieve, it's how you do it.

• 59:47Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. My man. Randy Jackson, thanks, man.

• 59:51Speaker 01

  Bro, that was a good one. Wow.

• 59:55Lewis Howes?

  My friend, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I loved connecting with Randy. I love hearing his stories. He gave me the chills when he talked about being sung at to hundreds of thousands of people with faithfully onstage with Journey. I can only imagine the chills that would give me being on that stage and experiencing that. If you enjoyed this, share it with a friend. You can help impact, change, and save a life by sending this message to a friend. Text them, lewishouse.com/907. You never know the impact you can make on someone's life and you can pay it forward by sharing this to a friend personally. You can post it on social media. Just tag me, at Lewis Howes. And Randy Jackson, as I'm sure he would love to hear from you as well.

• 1:00:40Lewis Howes?

  Every moment, every day is an incredible gift. We have an opportunity to either buy into the gratitude of the moment, or to buy into the negativity of the moment. And everything you're experiencing is actually just a moment. And the meaning you put behind it will define your happiness, your joy, or the negativity you feel in your life and the decisions you make. So I really try to focus my time in making a positive meaning around challenging or negative moments. To really switch the narrative so that I just come from a place of much more joy and positivity. All we are guaranteed is this moment right here, this day. And I'm just so grateful that you took the time to spend here and listen to this interview with Randy Jackson.

• 1:01:24Lewis Howes?

  As Robert Greene said, mastery is not a function of genius or talent. It is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field of knowledge. We all have genius within us, and I know you have genius within you. If you're willing to put the time and focus into what you want to do. I love you so very much, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.