Barry White

By Joel Stein

Barry White's new album, Staying Power, comes out this spring.

Q: Have you ever made love to your own music?

A: Yeah. When my baby wants to hear it. But I don't need any music. Oh, no.

Q: Have you ever turned yourself on by accident?

A: No. Never have.

Q: Have you ever thought about writing about something besides love, like hockey?

A: No. All I write about is love. That's what I'm about.

Q: When your voice changed during puberty, was it violent and painful?

A: No. I just woke up one morning and went to speak to my mother and scared us both to death.

Q: Would you say something for my answering-machine outgoing message?

A: I'll tell you why I can't. That's one of the biggest requests I get. We're putting together an answer-service deal.

Q: Can you teach me how to get women?

A: I don't know if I can teach you how to get women. It depends what your makeup is: Are you a flirter, a player, a man who likes to lie when you speak?

Q: I do none of that. I do everything wrong.

A: What do you call wrong?

Q: I can't close. I can't get a number.

A: You're shy.

Q: A little.

A: I am too.

Q: But you don't have to worry.

A: That's true. But I am shy.

Q: What was your longest dry spell?

A: From 1984 to 1986.

Q: Wow! That's longer than me.

A: I was leaving CBS, and I ended up with A&M. And in those two years I was going through in my mind what company was I going to.

Q: Oh. I didn't mean music. I meant sex.

A: Maybe two, three months.

--By Joel Stein