Luke Evans has Jessie Ware to thank for his debut album. “Say You Love Me” initially appears on Ware’s 2014 album Tough Love, and Evans reworks the crackling original into a flowing, sultry waltz. “I’ve always loved Jessie. I think she’s an amazing songwriter. Some of her songs have really moved me over the years,” the actor/singer tells American Songwriter over a recent phone call.
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“When I heard this song the first time, I thought it was so beautiful and so tragic,” he says.
Evans’ version is one of three songs he tracked for a demo to convince his label the project was worth exploring. Along with Roberta Flack’s “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” and Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield,” the performer was well-equipped with an arsenal of some of his best vocal work to-date. BMG couldn’t possibly say no.
At Last, produced by Steve Anderson (Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys), boasts 12 string-laden covers, arrangements performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with the help of arranger/composer Cliff Masterson (Emeli Sandé). Each entry is far removed from the original’s expected style, and Evans draws the listener into an immersive experience to rediscover the lyrics, above all else.
“I didn’t want it to sound like I was just copying songs or that it was a karaoke version. There are a couple of tracks that you really can not change on the album, for example, ‘At Last,’” he explains. “You don’t cover ‘At Last.’ You just sing ‘At Last.’ You don’t try and change it. It’s the most beautifully perfect song, and you honor the song and how it sounds.”
Elsewhere, as with such cuts as Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time,” flipping it into a more melancholic confessional, he found he was “able to rearrange and re-orchestrate and really play with the lyrics, tempos, and sound. When you do that to a song, and then have a man sing it, you hear the words differently. It tells a different story.”
When plotting what songs to cover, Evans was drawn time and again back to songs performed by women. From Etta James’ “At Last” to “Show Me Heaven” by Maria McKee, bold offerings that further allow him to explore vast colors of his range, the songs always spoke to him on a visceral level.
“I’ve always been drawn toward female opera singers. I love the Pavarottis, the Domingos, and the Bocellis of the world, but I’ve always been drawn to black female voices. It’s been something that’s triggered something inside of me, even when I was a young child,” he recalls. “I would listen to Roberta Flack, Des’ree, Oleta Adams, Jennifer Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and I feel something different when I hear their voices.”
Notably, “First Time I Ever Saw His Face” carries with it one of the longest and deepest personal journeys. “I had been singing [this song] a long time, since I was 11, and over the years, as I’ve grown up and experienced life as an adult, my perception of this song has changed. I understand this song in a very different way than I did when I first sang it. That’s the wonderful thing about music.”
Evans is most known for such film roles as Apollo in 2010’s “Clash of the Titans” remake, Owen Shaw in “Fast & Furious 6” and “7,” and Aramis in “The Three Musketeers” (2011). In 2017, he stepped out as Gaston in Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast” live-action remake, showcasing his vocal skills for the first time on a global level (he’s also performed in West End productions of “Rent” and “Miss Saigon”).
On At Last, Evans displays greater acrobatics and considerably more vulnerability – as he weaves big pop hits with famous songs from the silver screen. “Not a lot of people know I can sing, so I wanted to do an album of my favorite covers. I thought, ‘Well, they’re going to know the tune, and they’re not going to know it the way I’m going to sing it.’ In the same breath, they’re going to hear my voice and what I can do with these songs. There’s a real purpose to the choice of of the songs and the lyrics. It all means something to me, and these songs have been part of my life for a very long time.”
Moments like “Changing” (by Conrad Sewell) and “I’m Kissing You” (Des’ree) are vocal centerpieces, as much as they are emotional releases. “Well, making this album is something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a very long time,” he says with a chuckle. “Singing is my love, and it’s the thing I’ve done my whole life. I’ve never stopped singing. The fact that I got the opportunity to make an album was a dream come true. Cathartic? Yeah. Whenever I sing, I feel like I’ve had therapy.”
“Even when I get out of the shower, I don’t feel like I’m just clean, I feel like I’ve had a therapy session. Singing comes from deep inside you, and if you can connect to how you sing, it’s an incredibly emotional release.”
“With or Without You,” a U2 original, utilizes bellowing stringwork and drums to frame Evans’ most impassioned performance. “It wasn’t a song I chose. My producer Steve said, ‘You could do something special with this.’ I said, ‘Oh, god. This is U2! Come on! Let’s leave it. Let’s not make a mistake.’ He said, ‘No, no, you have to try it. You have to hear this. We’re going to make it into a very different sound.’ Then, when I heard it and the way we did it, it was really powerful.”
Later, “Show Me Heaven” is further heightened with a haunting gospel choir. “I don’t think you can hear that song without an amazing choir and backing vocals. It’s a beautiful track. The power of the chorus is mind-blowing,” says Evans. “I’m actually recording it on the weekend for a big British TV show – singing it live. It’s going to be fun to do with a big band.”
Perhaps the most unexpected moment is a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Always Remember You This Way,” from the “A Star is Born” soundtrack. “’I’m a huge Lady Gaga fan. That woman, that person, she’s unique, and her storytelling in her music, her voice, the power, the delicacy she is able to deliver in each song she sings – it affects me every time. I love the film very much. It was a song that worked very well in my voice and range. I always wanted to cover a Gaga track and I thought, ‘That’s the one!’”
During the process, taking place early 2019, Evans deconstructed each original to understand the songcraft behind them before rebuilding into his own. “The songs I chose are all written incredibly differently. The phrasing is different. The structure is different. Everything is different about them. It’s been an education for me,” he explains. “I’ve been enjoying dissecting the songs that are so well-known and seeing how they’ve been put together.”
Evans also began experiencing particular lyrics with a fresh lens. “I’ve always loved the lyric ‘you’re such an amazing grace’ in ‘Show Me Heaven.’ I love that phrase. It was a pleasure to sing it live – it was very special,” he says. “Songs like ‘First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,’ it’s about that moment you fall in love with that person, and you’ll never, ever be the same again. Every first moment you have with that human being touches you and leaves a mark. It’s beautiful. Roberta Flack started following me recently and we have now spoken via Twitter, and it’s made my life.”
His endeavors have since opened him up, creatively, to think about and craft his own songwriting voice. “It’s actually educated me a lot on how to write music myself, which I’ve been writing lyrics for a while now. I’m just about to collaborate with a musician and songwriter to put these lyrics to music,” he says. “Everything’s an inspiration, right? It’s so interesting how people write music. I listen to lots of music, and you see what inspires people. It has a lot to do with love – losing it, finding it, having it taken away from you, everything love means. It can trigger a whole lot of beautiful lyrics.”
He adds, “I’m still learning and writing. I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ll see what it comes out like.”
Musically, an album of original music could arrive in any number of styles. “It’s really difficult to know. I have a really eclectic taste in music. I can go from Adele to the Drifters to Justin Bieber to Ed Sheeran to Beyonce to Marvin Gaye to Aretha – I jump around a lot. I love country music, too. [My style] is not going to be clear until I’ve actually gone into a studio and created a song. Then, we’ll see where it goes. I don’t know what my sound will be completely. I’ll always be versatile.”
At Last is not your usual covers album. Evans pours out his heart across all 12 songs, and the emotion, the range, and the power are on full display. “A lot of these songs are very topical and relevant for now. Music is ageless. Songs that are beautiful last forever,” he says.
Even more, as he considers the album’s lasting impression, he is left with only “the smile on my grandmother’s face. She had dementia. Just realizing it’s her first grandchild singing the songs… that’s the thing I’ll take away from this album.”
Photo Credit: Anders Overgaard
