You might not remember this, but Eddie Murphy used to be a singer. The world-famous comedian and actor put out three major-label studio albums between 1985 and 1993, and two of his singles -- "Party All The Time" and "Put Your Mouth On Me" -- were Billboard hits. But his musical career was put on hold for two decades before he unexpectedly dropped the 2013 reggae single, "Red Light" with Snoop Lion.
Now, Murphy is back with another reggae song -- "Oh Jah Jah" -- and he sat down with Billboard to discuss its creation.
"There were a bunch of stories running on the news at that time," Murphy said. "It felt like the whole world was going crazy. ISIS was chopping off people's heads in the Middle East. Then Ferguson, then Ebola, and these stories were all running back-to-back in the news."
The 53-year-old has no current plans for a full album, but says that's a real possibility if "Oh Jah Jah" or one of his other forthcoming singles is a hit.
He spent much of the interview reminiscing about his earlier singing career, including his work with Michael Jackson.
"It was like seeing someone plugged into a wall socket -- especially if you knew him and talked to him on a normal day," Murphy said. "He was a frail dude until he does this Michael Jackson thing and then you realize the concept of a spirit world. He's tapping into a deeper spirit. You know how like when you drink different alcohols, they contain different spirits -- some make you want to dance, some make you horny, some make you want to fight. Or certain drugs bring out different spirits. Well, when I saw that, it was confirmation that the spirit world was real."
You can catch Murphy on Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary show Feb. 15. Decades ago, the young actor stated his disgust for the program, but has since changed his mind.
"SNL is part of my history," he said. "I got on the show as a kid. That's the show I got known from. I watch it a lot now. Any type of feelings that I had 25 or 30 years ago -- those are feelings from 25 to 30 years ago. Now I have an affection for it; it's like going back to a college reunion."
