Photo by Venturelli/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Seal has paid tribute to director Joel Schumacher, who died Monday. Schumacher directed films like St. Elmo’s Fire, The Lost Boys, Falling Down, The Client and Batman Forever — but Seal gives him credit for the success of his music career.
In an Instagram video, Seal explains that in 1994, he released the song “Kiss from a Rose” as a single, and it flopped. But one day, he got a call from Schumacher, who said he was a big fan and asked if Seal might have a song he could use for a love scene in his new movie, Batman Forever.
Seal said he didn’t have anything, but Seal’s manager stepped in and sent Schumacher a copy of Seal’s album, with a note to listen to “Kiss from a Rose.”
The next day, Schumacher called back and said that while it didn’t work in the love scene, “I love the song so much, I’m just gonna stick it on the end credits.”
We know what happened next: The song hit #1, won three Grammys and Seal sold eight million albums.
“I owe my career in large part to Joel Schumacher, who took a chance [on a] song that was always a good song, but a kinda unconventional one, so it wasn’t immediately palatable,” Seal says. “The difference was that everyone who went to see that movie, when they came out of the theater, the last thing they heard was [me singing] ‘BA-BEH!!’ and I guess it kinda stuck!”
Seal concludes, “I just want to say I love you Joel. Thank you very much for everything that you’ve done for me and the joy and the love that you brought to millions of people all around the world, and one day, we’ll all meet again.”
By Andrea Dresdale
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