Doug Clark: Kanye West owes ‘Fade’ popularity to an earlier chart-buster – Rare Earth’s Peter Rivera

Whataya know. My friend and famed ’70s rocker Peter Rivera is back on the charts.

The Spokane resident’s amazing voice is heard all over “Fade” – the latest hit by that hip-hop megastar, custom sneaker mogul and husband of recent jewelry heist victim Kim Kardashian West … Kanye West.

The numbers for “Fade” aren’t bad, either.

Released last month, the song (according to internet figures) hit the 11 and 12 spots for R&B music in the United Kingdom and America, and peaked at 47 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

There’s only one wrinkle with Rivera’s contributions to this single from West’s album, “The Life of Pablo.”

The former lead singer of the group Rare Earth gets no recognition. Rivera, in fact, didn’t even know about any of this until it was brought up recently in a community college music class.

File this under “Strange But True” if you’d like, but here’s what happened.

Dave Cebert teaches a “business of music” course at Spokane Falls Community College. A longtime composer of music for network TV, he invited Rivera to come tell the students about his career and the realities of the music world.

In the early 1970s, Rare Earth sold millions of albums that were powered by a string of now-iconic hits like, “Get Ready,” “I Just Want to Celebrate,” “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” “Born to Wander” and “Hey Big Brother.”

During the next class after Rivera’s appearance, one of Cebert’s students told the teacher about the Rivera/Kanye connection.

“I had no idea,” Cebert quipped with a laugh. “Of course, I don’t run to the record store to get the latest Kanye West song.”

Rare Earth

Cebert couldn’t wait to call his friend after listening to “Fade” on YouTube. Their conversation went something like:

CEBERT – “Peter, did you know you’re on … ”

RIVERA – “Excuse me?”

Rivera’s role in “Fade” amounts to the repetitious addition of his opening echoed lines from the aforementioned “(I Know) I’m Losing You,” a Temptations classic that became a bigger hit when covered by Rare Earth.

As in…

“Your love is fadin’. I feel it fade.

“Your love is fadin’. I feel it fade.”

Kanye West

It’s called “sampling” when sections of recorded sound or music are inserted into a new work to create something fresh.

In Cebert’s mind, however, it’s as if West and his co-writers built the entire song around Rivera’s vocal riff.

“It’s like Pete’s a presence in the song,” he added. “It’s like he was in the studio with them.”

According to the credits section on the official Kanye West website, “Fade” includes samples of “(I Know) I’m Losing You” from Rare Earth as well as a version performed by the Undisputed Truth.

“Both samples courtesy of Motown Records,” it reads.

Translation: “Holy (bleep) that’s Peter (bleeping) Rivera all the way through the song!” Cebert said.

Rivera declined to discuss whatever legalities may or may not be involved here. His lawyer, he said, is exploring the subject.

In the end, however, this may boil down to whatever is in the contracts that Rivera signed with Motown way back in 1969.

But come on, Kanye. At the very least Rivera deserves a free pair of Yeezys.

Looking to get the other side, I tweeted the following message to West:

“Cool to see you’re a Rare Earth fan. Any comment on using Spokane’s Peter Rivera on Fade? I’m a columnist writing about it.”

I expect to hear back from him, say, midway through President Bernie Sanders’ second term. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m biased when it comes to Rivera. He’s helped raise a lot of money for Second Harvest food bank by performing in my annual Street Music Week fundraiser.

More than that, I’ve always thought that Rivera possesses one of the best voices in Rockdom. And he amazingly still sounds as good as ever.

“I feel really blessed,” said Rivera, who still performs regularly. “I don’t know what the takeaway is, but it’s there.”

Call me an optimist, but here’s my takeaway:

Thanks to “Fade,” a vast and youthful audience that never heard of Rare Earth is being exposed finally to a singer with real chops.

“It’s pretty cool,” Rivera conceded. “ ‘Losing You’ is one of my favorites. Whenever I do it now I dedicate it to Kanye West.”

Doug Clark can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or dougc@spokesman.com.