Seal on Monday (June 22) told a story he said was not well-known about his classic song “Kiss From a Rose,” which Joel Schumacher helped make a huge hit. The director died Monday. He was 80.
In a video that was more than five minutes long, the musician sang a few bars of his song before telling the story of how it was a flop in 1994 before Schumacher fell in love with it and used it on the soundtrack for Batman Forever in 1995.
“It was the fourth single from my second album. It went into the charts at No. 60 and dropped to No. 80-something the next week and that was the end of it. It was over,” Seal explained.
While he was in the studio working on his next album, he got a call from Schumacher who said he was seeking a song to use during the love scene in his Batman film. Seal told the director he could not think of one that might work, but his manager at the time sent Schumacher the album with “Kiss” highlighted.
Schumacher called the next day and said it did mesh with the scene, but he loved it so much, he planned on using it for the end credits, Seal said, noting the song went on win the 1996 Grammy for record of the year, song of the year and best male pop vocal performance. He also sold 8 million albums.
Calling it a “song that has pretty much defined my career,” Seal said Monday “Kiss” was not rerecord or reproduced. “The only thing we did was make a decent video for it,” he said. “He didn’t even charge me, he said he loved the song so much. Subsequently, kids thought I was Batman because the song was so big.”
Saying Schumacher “is with us in spirit,” Seal closed his message Monday with “I owe my career in large part to Joel Schumacher. I just want to say I love you Joel. Thank you very much for everything that you’ve done for me. One day, we’ll all meet again back home.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
