The Bridge Builder

Karl Cameron “K.C.” Porter crouches before the blinking 80-track SL 9000 recording console, body pulsating with the sounds: a strummed cuatro guitar, the muted strains of a piano montuno, clicking castanets, a fat, implied clave bumping from low drum hits.

Porter eyes the engineer sitting nearby and grins.

“Oye, pero tiene swing, Papa!” Porter exclaims. (Translation: Hey, this has swing, man.)

To those who live by stereotypes, it might come as a shock to hear the rapid, slangy Spanish and complex Latin polyrhythms flowing from Porter’s soul. After all, he’s a “white guy” who was born in Encino and lives in a sprawling Tudor-style home in the hills of Calabasas.

It might also surprise such folks to know that the shy, soft-spoken Porter--an unassuming man of 37 who usually dresses in black jeans and an oversized shirt--is a leading Latin pop songwriter and producer, having worked with Ricky Martin, Luis Miguel, Ana Gabriel, Selena, Fabulosos Cadillacs and many others.

But his Spanish pop credits don’t end with Latin American and Latino artists. In fact, Porter is the guy to call when mainstream artists want to record in Spanish, something happening more and more frequently as the Latin music industry grows.

Porter has written, translated and produced Spanish recordings for Toni Braxton, Janet Jackson, Boyz II Men, Mya, Julian Lennon, Toni Childs, Scorpions, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, New Edition, Bon Jovi and many others, often serving as speech coach as well.

Then this: The achingly tender singer on “Primavera,” a cut on Santana’s hit “Supernatural” album, is Porter. Carlos Santana had planned to get a well-known singer for the song, one of two Porter wrote for the album, but says no one sang it as well as Porter.

Raised from age 7 to 17 in Guatemala, Porter is living proof that the ethnic and racial labels lobbed loosely about the U.S.--including “white guy” and “Latino”--are messy at best, ludicrous at worst.

Porter’s two Grammys and more than 40 album credits (with unit sales in the tens of millions) are reminders that “Latino” has everything to do with culture and nothing to do with melanin, that music is universal, and that a slick commercial image does not necessitate stellar talent--or vice versa.

On this particular day, the swinging song Porter produces, “Mi Chico Latino,” is sung by former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.

In the past month alone, Porter has also coaxed Spanish songs from R&B; singers Brian McKnight and Montell Jordan.

“K.C. Porter is all you ever hear about,” says Candece Campbell, Jordan’s manager.

“K.C. Porter, K.C. Porter, K.C. Porter,” Campbell says. “He’s really the only person whose name comes up when you ask around for someone who can do a translation and production of an English song into Spanish.

“There is no one else.”

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Porter is modest about his reputation as the king of English-to-Spanish crossover production.

“I think living in Guatemala gave me a taste of Latin pop,” Porter says. His eyes radiate warmth, peace and sincerity.

“I think I understand more than a lot of people what it’s like as a native English speaker to have to learn Spanish,” he says. “I know how to teach people to pronounce the words.”

“He keeps the integrity of a song intact,” says McKnight, whose Spanish version of “Back at One” will be released in the coming weeks in Latin America only. “He’s compassionate and sensitive.”

As the child of Baha’i “pioneer” parents (sort of freelance missionaries), Porter changed his name from Karl to Carlos at age 12, so his Guatemalan friends could better pronounce it.

“Karl is not a Spanish-friendly name,” Porter jokes. “Krrrll Porrrtrrr. It’s a mouthful.”

Porter says he was exposed during his childhood in Guatemala City to “Latin pop and Guatemalan folkloric music, American pop and whatever rock I could get down there.

“I feel like right now I’m kind of sharing with the people of the United States the excitement I felt hearing all of these Latin rhythms for the first time.”

It’s not always an easy job. Halliwell’s song, already a hit in England, came to Porter as a digital audio tape with instructions to make it suitable for American radio.

That meant Porter not only had to fix the stiff rhythms, adding swing via horn-based Caribbean inflections and a heavy syncopated backbeat, but also had to edit Halliwell’s words.

Where European producers had overlooked Halliwell’s mistaken use of the feminine article for a masculine noun, Porter cringed, knowing Halliwell’s breathy “Ayyy! Es una sueno” would ring false with many American listeners. So he fixed it, electronically clipping out the A with surgical precision.

“What a sweetheart K.C. is,” says Michael Greene, president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. (Porter is on the organization’s board of governors.) “He doesn’t cookie-cut projects. . . . He generally makes an attempt to retain the integrity of an artist.”

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The key to Porter’s musical and cultural gifts was handed to him in 1969, when Bob and Marcelyn Porter bade farewell to their belongings at a garage sale in Woodland Hills, packed up their three children and moved to Guatemala City, where they planned to share their love of the Baha’i faith.

Raised as Methodists, the Porters were drawn to the teachings of the Baha’i religion, which emphasizes the oneness of all religions and the equality of men, women and the races.

Bob Porter is a trumpet player, composer and orchestrator who wrote the music for the television series “Lassie,” among other projects. Marcelyn Porter worked as a script girl for “I Love Lucy.”

Both still live in Guatemala.

“When I was 7, I was lifted out of my suburban proverbial home and flown with my parents to Guatemala,” Porter says. “I was wishing the cartoons were in English so I could understand them. The candy didn’t taste the same. Nothing was the same.

“But what I ended up getting out of it is I would be hanging out on the streets with these little kids, my age, who spoke nothing but Spanish. I started learning a whole new culture, a whole new language, a whole new thing that just kind of invaded my life in a wonderful way.

“All of a sudden, I became Latino. I don’t know how else to say it. I see myself, you know, you look at me and I don’t ‘look’ Latino. My name is not Latino. But that’s who I am.”

Bob Porter never pushed his son toward music. Nonetheless, the boy was drawn to it, and at 11 asked his father if he could take piano lessons. At 15 he chose to become a Baha’i, and he continues to practice that religion. At 17, Porter returned to California for college, majoring in music at Cal State Stanislaus.

Before graduating, Porter began working as a staff arranger at A&M; Records, which was just starting a Latin division.

At A&M;, Porter met composer and arranger Juan Carlos Calderon, the man behind Mexican superstar Luis Miguel’s sound. Calderon took Porter under his wing and eventually paired him with his first major production, a Maria Conchita Alonso project.

From there, Porter was enlisted to work on albums for Emmanuelle, Luis Angel and Luis Miguel.

His reputation as a producer and songwriter grew, and eventually hooked him up with Ricky Martin, whose 1995 album “A Medio Vivir” became his first gigantic commercial success.

Porter has also nurtured his secret desire to be a solo artist by performing at clubs and in his church.

In 1988, Porter was a featured performer at a world peace conference sponsored by the Baha’is in Salt Lake City. Seated in the audience was a young photographer named Aimee Bruce, who was smitten with Porter’s voice.

Four months later, they were married.

Eleven years later, the Porter home is littered with brightly colored toys, crayon drawings and tiny bits of clothing--evidence of their 4-year-old daughter, Emma Layli.

The Porters are in the process of adopting a child from Guatemala.

Porter would like to record an album as a solo artist, of music he feels is meaningful in a deep way--not necessarily spiritual, but soulful.

He’s scheduled to perform Saturday at the L.A. Baha’i Center as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music. He’s also putting together “The Oneness Project,” a bilingual album that will team major stars in the name of racial unity, along the lines of “We Are the World.” He’s started the Oneness Foundation to combat social hatred.

Porter also heads a music publishing company, Insignia Music, and a new record label, Insignia Records.

Both companies focus on developing new artists, Porter says. The label has signed its first act, a Peruvian-Brazilian singer and songwriter named Adriana.

As Porter speaks, the phone in his home recording studio rings.

It’s Jose Behar, president of the EMI Latin record label, calling to let Porter know he has listened to the Adriana disc and has interest in working with Insignia Records.

Porter returns from the call, calm as always, only to receive another.

This time it’s Ricky Martin’s management, Porter says, asking Porter to produce the next Martin album. Porter hangs up from a call that 99.9% of pop music producers would donate an organ to receive, and shrugs.

He searches for the words to explain his lukewarm reaction, then says, “I feel like, as far as Latin music production goes. . . .”

Porter pauses. He bites his lip for a moment, then continues.

“I hate to be someone who makes bold statements. But I really feel like I’m at a point where I’ve worked with so many of the Latin artists that the only artists I feel would be exciting for me to work with are the untapped new artists. . . .

“They call me to do Ricky, and that’s good. It’s great. But I’ve done that. You know? I really feel that at this time we have to find new faces.” *

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“The Sounds of Oneness,” Jeffrey Barnes Baha’i Choir, Los Angeles Baha’i Center, 5755 Rodeo Road, Saturday, 7:30 p.m., (323) 655-8587. Free.