The first time I had a conversation with Corey Hart, it was over a game of "name that tune". I had recently acquired an album by a Columbian artist named Shakira, and while I loved the record, a certain melody was haunting me, reminding me of some other song that I couldn't name. One evening, Corey and his manager were in my office to discuss some business with a coworker, and someone suggested that I should put the song on for Corey to take a listen to. I was embarrassed -- I mean, this was Corey Hart, legendary singer, songwriter, producer, and rather commandingly handsome guy to boot -- but I reluctantly put the disc in the nearest stereo. Corey Hart sat, listened, and nailed the plagiarized tune in 30 seconds. He went on to translate the Spanish lyrics for me in full, coach me on the pronunciation, and recommend a few other artists I might like. That brief conversation taught me a few things about Corey Hart: he's smart. He has a gift for languages, a gifted ear for a good pop song, and a gift in making a stranger feel like a friend.

Other things worth knowing about Corey Hart: He was born in May of 1962, which makes him a Gemini. "The best sign," he smiles. He confesses to only really paying attention to astrology "when it's something complimentary. I'm not the guy reading Omar's advice from the stars in the morning paper. I will say that there's a definite duality to my personality, which is a very Gemini trait." His current residence is one of the 700-odd islands in the Bahamas. He's the youngest of five children (the eldest sibling is in his 50s), and admits to being "the baby". Spoiled? "Probably. My parents split up when I was very young. I was born in Montreal. We lived with my mother in southern Spain, Mexico City, Florida, and returned back to Canada in 1974 . . . a crossroad caravan." The new album, Jade, is Hart's eighth and, as he flatly states, "the best-sung record of my career." Somehow, in his delivery, that comment doesn't resonate with the usual artist bravado; instead, it's the admission of a professional who's been honing his craft for almost 20 years. Corey Hart, the artist, is self-deprecating enough to admit his weaknesses -- and be comfortable with his strengths. "I always appreciated the art of songwriting, and I gave it a lot of attention, but I was a sloppy singer when I started," he demurs. "Now, I look back on a song like "Jenny Fey" [from his multiplatinum debut, 1983's First Offense], which I still believe is one of the strongest songs I've ever written, and I realize that I shortchanged it by not singing it to the level it deserved as a song." Hart put a new focus on his singing without the help of outside vocal coaches or an imposed regimen. He chronicles it as a "private" attempt at discipline, one that shines through on the twelve tracks of his newest disc. Discipline hasn't always come easy to an artist who describes himself as "obstreperous", and whose early hits had such anthemic titles as "Never Surrender". These days, if asked to characterize the evolution as growing up or growing old, he'll answer instead, "growing steady". This theme is perhaps most poignantly evoked on the new song, "Reconcile". One of the most personal tracks on Jade, it speaks to the struggles Hart has had, in his words, "coming to peace" with family strife and some past emotional scars. It's a bittersweet song that celebrates a hard-won peace.

As if on cue, "Daddy!!" comes the knock on the bathroom door. Hart's not getting any peace today -- India's missing her daddy, and with the innate ability that all little girls have to be heartbreakers, the child worms her way into the conversation and temporarily distracts him from our talk. He coaxes her to sing into the telephone, but she refuses. I hear the child's footsteps retreating on the tiled bathroom floor. "Obviously, the urge to perform doesn't run in the family," I wisecrack. "Well, no . . . but she blew me a kiss as she left," Hart volleys back. Apparently, charm is hereditary.