Green

June 29, 1999
Web posted at: 5:44 p.m. EDT (2144 GMT)

(CNN) -- After 30 years in show business, it seems Al Green is just getting warmed up.

The singer with the soulful R&B sound -- the one who gave us classic hits including "Let's Stay Together" and "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?" -- has a busy schedule this summer.

Following the 1998 release of "Al Green: More Greatest Hits," he's to have two new albums out this year -- "Al Green Is Love" and "The Arista Heritage Series" (planned for a July 27 release). He's touring the United States and Europe. And he's proof-reading a forthcoming biography, "Take Me to the River."

Based at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, Tennessee, Green has worn with pride the title "Reverend" for two decades. He says he's sweating what this biography might reveal.

MULTIMEDIA

Listen to a clip of "Let's Stay Together" [190k MPEG-3] or [260k WAV] (From AlGreen.com)

"Yeah, they're coming up with a bunch of raunchy stuff in there, you know what I mean?" says Green. "All the cars and the convertibles and the girls. It kind of scares me, makes me sweat. I've been in the ministry now 20 years and I'm going, 'Oh my God, did I do all of these things?' And I'm saying, 'Yes, you did.'"

Green has also gone interactive -- for a song and a prayer, fans can call up his Web site at www.algreen.com. The computer-savvy singer says he enjoys sending his sermons around the world.

All this focus on Green follows his appearance on the hit television show "Ally McBeal."

Who'd know that Green still has time to tend to his three-year-old son, Trevor, who is learning to sing like Papa Green?

"He just tries to sing so hard and his little head is shaking," Green says. "I said, 'Trevor, Trevor you don't have to sing that hard, it'll come naturally.'"

It seems to come naturally for Green, even after 30 years in the business.