Hey guys, Willie Geist here with a new episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along.

Got a great one for you with a truly brilliant musical mind, pop superstar, and so much more, really.

Charlie Puth, he writes music, he produces music

for other people, and of course, records his own, including the new album titled Whatever's

Clever, which he calls Yacht Rock for 26, as you'll hear in our interview. Charlie's story,

maybe you know it, truly born to do this. A music prodigy learned to

play the piano at four years old. His mother was a music teacher. Then there is this seminal moment in

his life. At 12 years old, he's sitting in church. The church organist is out. And they literally

asked the congregation for somebody to come up and play in place of the tape

that they were just going to put in without an organist in the house.

Twelve-year-old Charlie Puth raises his hand, steps forward, and plays the entire service

from memory, having been in those pews for all those years.

It just gives you a window into his musical mind and his musical talent.

He went to Berkeley College of Music, a prestigious school up in Boston, graduated, and moved

almost immediately to Los Angeles to become a producer. On the second day he was there as a producer,

he wrote a song called See You Again. He cut a demo for it, gave it to all these record labels. They were trying to add it to one of those fast and furious movies. They said, we actually like the voice on the demo. Let him record it. So overnight, you'll hear him talk about this. Charlie goes from producer to artists, and he's thrust into the spotlight when that song blows up.

It's number one for 12 weeks. It gets nominated for three Grammys, and he's off to the races on

the career of a pop star. You also just saw Charlie sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl,

nailed it, did kind of a gospel tribute in some ways. He said to Whitney Houston's version.

He's always thinking about music.

We spent some time at the piano and I get to watch how he builds a song.

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