Songwriter, record producer and musician Jonathan “Mookie” Morant spent more than a decade during his peak professional period on the frontlines of America’s pop music scene. But even while traveling far and wide for his high-profile job obligations, Morant has continuously called Charleston home for the last 40 years.
This month, the so-called “Magnum Drummer” will release his much-anticipated debut book of stories and life lessons, The Happy Has Been: A Memoir of Music and Life in 6 Degrees, based on his wild ride thus far. An initial six-city signing tour will accompany the roll out.
Morant told the Charleston City Paper he has been rolling down a long and winding musical road for as long as he can remember. “There was never a time that I wasn’t crystal clear on what I’d be doing with my life in one iteration or the other,” he said.
“I was a middle son in a musical family, led by my pops, the jazz legend Joey Morant,” he explained. “Naturally, my initial influences were in the jazz tradition. Dad put me on the drums, so I listened to Buddy Rich, Max Roach and a bunch of other guys whose names I never knew.”
From there, Morant set out in all directions, sonically speaking.
“From a listener’s standpoint, I was all about Soul Music: Roger Troutman, the Gap Band and, of course, Prince and the ‘Minneapolis Sound.’ And once MJ [Michael Jackson], Prince and Lionel [Richie] came into view, that really was all she wrote.”
In other words, Morant was sufficiently inspired by that crowd of heavy hitters to take a stab at writing songs of his own and, later, he even began building beats in the style of Teddy Riley and Babyface.
Meeting musical mentors
According to Morant, it helped immensely that he was always surrounded by like-minded creatives to nurture his budding talent and interests along the way.
“Besides my dad, there was my first manager — music industry titan and Billboard’s top entertainment attorney Bob Celestin. After knocking on every record label door to no avail, Bob answered the call and helped take me from food stamps to recording contracts and publishing deals. Along with Bob, there was also an icon in the hip-hop and R&B community — Heavy D’s partner and super-producer DJ Eddie F. He took me on as a mentor and partner, placing me with several gold and platinum recording artists.”
Before long, Morant found himself working alongside the likes of industry giants Donell Jones, Mariah Carey, Ginuwine, Ashanti, Will Smith, Trey Lorenz and the Backstreet Boys. In fact, the latter act became very close associates and friends of Morant. As he recalled, “AJ is now widely known as the ‘bad boy’ of BSB [Backstreet Boys], if there’s even such a thing in a pop boy band. And I can’t help but think I’m semi-responsible for that moniker. Their record label, as well as his mom, was not thrilled with Mookie-the-producer’s shenanigans.”
Bringing it all back home
After a seriously successful season in the big leagues, Morant eventually turned his attention back to his home life and his hometown. These days, Morant plays the role of a very present parent and also can be regularly found playing local events with “just about everyone” in the Lowcountry’s music community. Among other endeavors, Morant said he maintains low-key residencies at Local’s in Mount Pleasant and Palmetto Brewing Company, and his musicianship is the core component of a recurring music party at King Street Dispensary.
This welcome change of pace afforded Morant the opportunity to begin chronicling his one-of-a-kind adventures, insider knowledge and hard-earned wisdom.
“After wrestling with the idea of even writing the book at all, I thought of my children being able to walk through the pages of Daddy’s real-life journey, and this became my driving force — to not only write it down, but to deliver my story, with honesty, zest and integrity, so that they could almost see it for themselves.”
Even so, laying his life out in book form was surreal, to say the least.
“So many times in the writing process,
I had to stop and ask myself, ‘Did this really happen?’ I’m telling you, if not for the fact that I actually lived it, I would not believe my own stories,” Morant said.
Given the personal significance of the content, Morant opted to take his time with this project.
“It was a slow start. I was basically just working through my notes for the first year plus, and then as I became more comfortable as an author, things intensified, and the next thing you know, three years had passed, and it was time to put it out into the world, come what may.”
Now that it’s finally finished, Morant couldn’t be happier about getting The Happy Has Been into people’s hands.
“It’s all about sharing my message of happiness and the power of human connection. I always say #leavepeoplesmiling. Share a smile, a moment with others, and watch it multiply.”
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