The Gramming-winning singer, songwriting, and recording artist Rico Love has partnered with UBS’s head of sports and entertainment, Adewale Ogunleye for his Song Craft Nashville Session.
The event was held Friday, October 4th at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The once-in-a-lifetime production experience allowed 20 music enthusiasts to work with Rico Love and special guests for a full day. Rico invited music powerhouses Jim Jonsin, Tay Keith, and Mams Taylor to be involved in the fascinating session. The intimate mentoring session with Rico Love allowed attendees to dive deep into the music mastermind’s creative world. The individuals can say they’ve experienced Love’s process for building songs from start to finish while gaining the opportunity to create something innovative and authentic on their own.
Photographer: Karl Lunsford
Adewale said it was a no-brainer to collaborate with Rico in Nashville for his Song Craft Session. “One of the world’s biggest hubs of music,” said Ogunleye. UBS is providing financial education for the individuals involved in the incredible mentor sessions and giving them a space to have creative freedom with Rico Love. Rico Love has worked with big names like Beyoncé, Usher, Nelly, and more. Adewale was sure to emphasize how UBS is one of the biggest wealth management companies in the world and truly provides resources for anyone to help them achieve their goals in regards to managing their wealth.
Rico Love shared that the Song Craft Session started with the We Love Music Conference he started in 2016. He says he went to Indianapolis for two days at the Black Expo for a seminar with 2,000 people teaching songwriting. There he crafted a lesson called ‘The Art of Song’ breaking down writing structures, things he’s learned in the industry, and techniques. Due to the pandemic, he knew he would have to consolidate ‘The Art of Song’ in large auditoriums to studios. From there he went into studios and received three rooms with five to seven people in each room to work alongside him. Rico says, “They were able to be in real-time and we all created songs together.”
Photographer: Karl Lunsford
Adewale was highly intrigued by how Rico Love was sharing his knowledge and going across the country to different cities giving back to others also passionate about creating music. As a result, UBS Bank shortly decided to sponsor The Nashville Song Craft Session. This consisted of artists coming in and creating at Rico Love’s Song Craft Session without the burden of paying for the once-in-a-lifetime experience. “My goal was to ultimately always make this available for people for free,” said Love. As Rico Love takes Song Craft city to city he mentions how he wants to give everybody an opportunity on some interesting projects he’s working on. He named a range of artists like Beyoncé, Teyana Taylor, and a K-pop group he hopes music enthusiasts can have the opportunity to be involved in. “I want them to see how great they are,” seems to be Rico’s Love’s ultimate motive behind his gracious ways of giving back to those who are just as passionate about making music.
