Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-inst… Read Full Bio ↴Van Hunt (born March 8, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He released his debut album, Van Hunt, in 2004, and a follow-up, On the Jungle Floor, in 2006, both on Capitol Records. He won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for appearing on the tribute version of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", in 2007. He transitioned to Blue Note Records where his 2008 album, Popular, was shelved and never released. He self-released the compilation album Use In Case of Emergency in 2009.

Early life
Hunt was born in Dayton, Ohio and raised by his single mother. His father, Van Hunt, Sr., was a factory worker and part-time painter, who was a friend of Ohio Players drummer Jimmy "Diamond" Williams. Hunt took up the drums at age 7, and saxophone at the age of 8, later adding bass and keyboards. Guitar was the last instrument he learned to play; he played guitar in a rock band called Royalty. Hunt moved to Texas for a short time before relocating to Atlanta, Georgia in 1996 to attend Morehouse College, where he studied English, but soon dropped out. In Atlanta, he started producing a few hip-hop demos for Atlanta rappers in order to pay bills. Hunt met up-and-coming record producers and artists like Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri and TLC through his work on demos.

Career

Early career
Hunt wrote and co-produced the song "Hopeless" for singer Dionne Farris, formerly of Arrested Development, and joined her band on guitar and keyboards. "Hopeless" appeared on the soundtrack for the film Love Jones (1997). Hunt co-wrote several songs with Rahsaan Patterson on his album Love in Stereo (1999), and co-wrote with Cree Summer, including the song "Mean Sleep", for her album Street Faërie (1999), produced by Lenny Kravitz. He also collaborated with Joi on the single "Missing You" (2002). Through Dionne Farris, Hunt met A&R person Randy Jackson (who later went on to be a judge on Fox's American Idol). Jackson would become Hunt's manager in 2002.

Capitol Records
Hunt recorded much of the material from his debut album in 2000. Producer Dallas Austin took Hunt's recording to Capitol Records, leading him to sign with the label in 2001. Hunt's first album, Van Hunt, was released in February 2004. The album included the singles "Down Here in Hell (With You)", "Dust", and "Seconds of Pleasure", and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance. Hunt's second album, On the Jungle Floor, was released in 2006. The album featured the single, "Character," a revisited "Mean Sleep", as a duet with Nikka Costa, and a cover of "No Sense of Crime" by The Stooges. The album was co-produced by Bill Bottrell. Hunt has toured and appeared with Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Boney James, The Roots, Seal, Angie Stone, Coldplay, The Brand New Heavies, the Dave Matthews Band, and Kanye West.
In 2006, Hunt appeared with Nikka Costa on the Sam Moore album, Overnight Sensational, on the song "If I Had No Loot". Hunt was also featured on "Half the Fun", a track on the Count Bass D album, Act Your Waist Size, released on Fat Beats Records.
in 2007, Hunt won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, along with John Legend and Joss Stone, for their cover of the Sly & the Family Stone song, "Family Affair", which appeared on the 2006 tribute album Different Strokes By Different Folks. Hunt described winning the award as "one of the bigger pleasures I've had" to The Athens Blur Magazine in 2009.

Blue Note
Hunt released the 4 track digital EP, The Popular Machine, on August 7, 2007. Hunt announced a full length album, Popular, to be released on Blue Note Records on January 15, 2008. Hunt moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 2007 while the album was nearing completion. Blue Note had taken over Hunt’s recording contract after corporate restructuring at Blue Note and Capitol's parent company, EMI. In December 2007, Blue Note announced that they would not be releasing the album, and that Hunt and the label mutually agreed to part ways. Hunt wrote on his MySpace blog in January 2008, that he couldn't promise that Popular would ever be officially released. Blue Note owns the master recordings and opted not to sell it back to him at an affordable price. Hunt commented that he "didn't think that they had enough money" to promote the album properly. LA Weekly called the album an "appealingly trippy fusion of funk grooves, punk guitar and soul vocals", and "a left-field stunner". Hunt told the Atlanta alternative weekly newspaper Creative Loafing that he was "devastated" when the label decided not to release the album.

Independent
As of June 2008, Hunt was recording a fourth album, which he plans to release himself and market using the Internet. Hunt has blogged about his new approach on his MySpace page. Hunt toured the U.S. in July and August 2008. He released Use In Case Of Emergency, a compilation of demos, remixes and B-sides recorded between 1997 and 2005, through his Web site in May 2009. Hunt has also been working on autobiographical book of short stories titled Tales of Friction. In July 2009, Hunt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to release one more album and tour once more, but doesn't know what his plans are after that. Hunt performed at the National Black Arts Festival's tribute to Curtis Mayfield at Atlanta Symphony Hall on July 16, 2010.

Influences

David Bowie
Serge Gainsbourg
The Isley Brothers
Curtis Mayfield
Thelonious Monk
The Ohio Players
Iggy Pop
Prince
Richard Pryor
Sly Stone
Neil Young

Discography

Albums
Van Hunt (2004), Capitol
On the Jungle Floor (2006), Capitol
Popular (2008) - unreleased studio album

Compilations
Use In Case of Emergency (2009), self-released - collection of outtakes

EPs
Acoustic E.P. (2004), Capitol - digital EP
Napster Sessions (2004), Capitol - digital EP
Connect Set (2006), Capitol - digital EP
The Popular Machine (2007), Blue Note - digital EP

Singles
"Down Here in Hell (With You)" (2004), Capitol
"Dust" (2004), Capitol
"Seconds of Pleasure" (2004), Capitol
"Character" (2006), Capitol
"Being A Girl" (2006), Capitol

Awards and nominations

2005 Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Dust."
2006 Grammy Award win for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Family Affair"

Feelings
Van Hunt Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Feelings make bein' with you like a dream come true;
Feelings, they weaken my resistance whenever I'm near you...
Don't need paper nor pen, 'cause these go without sayin'...

My feelings make breathin' harder than harder to do...
Sugar, I can see right through you, and I know that you want me too... (want me too...)
Feelings make words and meaning useless to me...

Dealin' with my feelings sometimes seems impossible...
Relievin' when I'm feeling like this seems impossible...
Don't need paper nor pen, 'cause these go without sayin'..

Baby, come and lay your restless feelings, come and lay 'em down on me...
Girl, let me lay my healin' hands - Girl, I got the remedy...

Baby, come and lay your restless feelings, come and lay 'em down on me...
Girl, come and let me lay my healin' hands - Girl, I got the remedy...

Overall Meaning

In Van Hunt's "Feelings," the artist sings about being deeply in love with someone and struggling with the intensity of those emotions. He describes how being with this person feels like a dream come true, but at the same time, his feelings weaken his resistance to them. He conveys how his feelings are so strong that he doesn't need paper or pen to express them. Hunt feels that dealing with his emotions can be almost impossible to handle, and relieving his struggles seems out of reach at times. However, he offers his partner solace, urging her to lay her restless feelings down on him, and he'll use his healing hands to soothe her.

The song captures the emotions of falling in love and being consumed by those feelings. The lyrics depict the struggle to focus on anything else and how love can feel like both a blessing and a curse. The lines "Sugar, I can see right through you, and I know that you want me too..." suggest that Van Hunt believes the love interest in question feels the same way, but perhaps feels overwhelmed by the intensity of his emotions.

Line by Line Meaning

Feelings make bein' with you like a dream come true;
Being with you is like a dream come true because of my intense feelings for you.

Feelings, they weaken my resistance whenever I'm near you...
My feelings for you weaken my willpower whenever I am close to you.

Don't need paper nor pen, 'cause these go without sayin'...
My feelings for you are so intense that I do not need to express them in writing or words.

My feelings make breathin' harder than harder to do...
My strong emotions for you make it difficult for me to breathe.

Sugar, I can see right through you, and I know that you want me too... (want me too...)
I can see that you also have feelings for me, and they are mutual.

Feelings make words and meaning useless to me...
My feelings for you are so strong that words and their meanings feel insufficient to convey them.

Dealin' with my feelings sometimes seems impossible...
Managing my intense emotions for you feels like an insurmountable task at times.

Relievin' when I'm feeling like this seems impossible...
It seems impossible to relieve myself of these intense emotions when I am feeling this way.

Baby, come and lay your restless feelings, come and lay 'em down on me...
I am here for you to confide in and share your feelings with when you are feeling restless.

Girl, let me lay my healin' hands - Girl, I got the remedy...
I want to help heal your emotional pain and offer you comfort.

Baby, come and lay your restless feelings, come and lay 'em down on me...
I want you to feel safe and secure sharing your feelings with me when you are feeling restless.

Girl, come and let me lay my healin' hands - Girl, I got the remedy...
I have the tools to help ease your emotional pain and want to offer them to you.

Contributed by Luke A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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