Corey Feldman Turns 45, Celebrates New Double-CD

"I feel very grateful and very lucky to be alive still, to have any kind of semblance of normal life," he says

Nothing is off the table in an interview with Corey Feldman. 

During a wide-ranging conversation over lunch at a San Fernando Valley deli, Feldman talks about his movies, past marriages, his production company and record label, his son, his home recording studio, the group of beauties he calls Corey's Angels, and his new double-album 10 years in the making. But most of all, he talks about gratitude. 

As Feldman turns 45 Saturday, he feels deeply grateful for a contented life, and it shows. 

"I feel very grateful and very lucky to be alive still, to have any kind of semblance of normal life," he says. "I am blessed to have a beautiful child, a beautiful home, a beautiful girlfriend and a beautiful career... I don't take any of it for granted." 

The former "Goonies" and "Lost Boys" child star says he still does at least one film a year, interspersing acting with writing and recording music. 

His latest project is the "Angelic 2 the Core album," 22 tracks he wrote or co-wrote, save for a cover of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero." Feldman's first full solo album since 2002's "Former Child Actor" was released June 22. 

While recovering from his second divorce and the deaths of his grandfather and close friends Michael Jackson and Corey Haim, Feldman poured himself into music, building a recording studio in his house and tinkering on every instrument. The result is the genre-hopping album, which features such artists as Snoop Dogg and Fred Durst, and Feldman playing everything from drums to keys to bass and guitar. 

The album spans electronica, hip-hop, hard rock and even a gospel choir. Disc one is all dance music and dedicated to Jackson; Disc two is rock-based and dedicated to Haim.

"There's something for everyone," Feldman says. The lyrics are personal and positive, with songs for his girlfriend, Courtney, and son Zen, now 11. 

The entertainer's "attitude of gratitude" comes from a practice of daily prayer and nightly self-evaluation to see where he can improve. Positivity was a survival method during what he describes as a "heinous" childhood. 

A survivor of abuse by his mother and molestation by men in the entertainment industry, Feldman also struggled with drugs and a battered public image that made him the butt of many a late-night comic's jokes. He's been sober for more than 25 years. 

If the public ridicule hurt his feelings, it hasn't stopped him from being warm and open. He wrote candidly about his life in his 2013 memoir, "Coreyography," which he says is being adapted for the big screen. 

Feldman also hasn't lost his sense of humor. The album cover features two of his Angels — the beautiful, young women whose careers he says he's working to jump start — and he poses for a "Tiger Beat"-style centerfold inside the lyric booklet.

Copyright The Associated Press
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