Inside Chris Brown & Usher’s R&B Tour With Music Director Bobby Ross Avila

Charlie Cotton (0:07)

Welcome to The TMZ Podcast. I am still on a high from my weekend because I got to see Chris Brown and Usher at the R&B Tour in LA. And I went to the Friday show, so I got to see Kanye, I got Brandi, we had Mario, Tank, Eric Bellinger. We had literally everyone in the building. It was just, like I said, I'm still on a high. I'm super excited to be here today with my guest, because not only is he a Grammy Award winning artist, he has worked with some of the most iconic people in the game. We're talking Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Gwen Stefani, Usher.

I'm here with Bobby Avila. Please welcome him to the TMZ Podcast. Thank you so much for coming.

Bobby Ross Avila (0:48)

Did you practice that intro? Because that intro was kind of killing.

Charlie Cotton (0:50)

No, was it good?

Bobby Ross Avila (0:51)

Yeah, it was great.

Charlie Cotton (0:54)

Bobby, thank you so much for coming.

Bobby Ross Avila (0:56)

Thanks for having me.

Charlie Cotton (0:57)

You done made time. You were a busy man. You're on tour right now with Chris and Usher. What is your exact title for this tour? Because you're a man that wears many hats.

Bobby Ross Avila (1:07)

You know what, to be honest with you, the business says I'm a music director, but I'm really in the service business. Now you're the music director. And music is like the gateway. But I'm not alone. So I do it with my brother Iz, who's my partner in crime, and my boy Jermell, so yeah.

Charlie Cotton (1:20)

You guys are really, really heavy hitters. Been in the game for a very long time. I think you got your first record when you were like 12?

Bobby Ross Avila (1:27)

12 years old, yeah.

Charlie Cotton (1:28)

I know you're not supposed to ask people how old they are. So we'll just go, you've been in the game for like 30 plus years. You've been in the game for a very, very long time. Did 12-year-old Bobby see himself here where you are now?

Bobby Ross Avila (1:40)

No. I mean, I think, like I always say, I didn't choose music. Music chose me. So being in the game that young, I was just excited. Like technology, being on a drum, you know, drum programming on a synthesizer and just kind of exploring the world of music. And, you know, my father had a vision and was like, let's take what you're doing and we're going to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I got this and I got that. And next thing you know, I'm in a studio and I got a demo and I'm like, there's a bidding war with Motown Records and RCA and I signed with RCA Records. I'm 12 years old and I meet one of my favorite rappers of all time at that time was Kumo D. And I was like, wow, how did I go from like this?

You know, but it has, it's crazy ups and downs. It's the music game. So I've experienced so much in my life and, you know, I'm very blessed and happy to see where my life is at now and what I'm doing. And I'm still here, not, you know, somebody didn't wake up today. So I did and I'm still doing what I love to do. So I'm thankful.

Charlie Cotton (2:41)

You kind of brought up being in the room with your favorite rappers. You've been in the room, like I kind of mentioned in the intro with Usher, Chris Brown, Dana Jackson, Mary J. Bly, Shaka Khan, Gwen Stefani. After seeing some of these stars and how they operate, is there anything that these megastars have in common that you've noticed?

Bobby Ross Avila (2:58)

Yeah. I think it's their love for music and their ability and passion to be creative and to tell a story through their set of lenses. And then it's like a combination of figuring out what they want to do and what they want to bring to life and then kind of being almost a pilot to help them get to that place.

Charlie Cotton (3:17)

Boom. So you have been working with Usher for 20-plus years now. Some of our favorite songs, one of my favorite songs, Bad Girl, you just told me we had you on TMZ Live. And you told me, I think you worked on like six or seven songs on the Confessions album, and that was one of them. What was your favorite, what's your favorite song on Confessions?

Bobby Ross Avila (3:39)

My favorite song is probably Truth Hurts. Truth Hurts was actually a track that my brother had put together like two years before we even met us.