Talented
and savvySinger Jody Watley
stays true to herself
Jody Watley called at our scheduled morning interview time on the dot last Friday, and it didn't take long to figure out why this one-time "Soul Train" dancer is still an active recording artist and businesswoman a quarter century after she first hit the charts as a member of Shalimar in 1979.
Never mind talent, which often seems optional these days in pop music. Watley's got it, but in talking with her, it was clear that the articulate woman also understands the dollars-and-cents side of the music business.
Jody Watley
Where: Gussie L'Amour's, 3251 N. Nimitz Highway
When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday through April 3
Tickets: $20 (available at the club and the Gold Zone in Wahiawa); $23 night of show
Call: 836-7883 or 622-6928
"When I started out singing in Shalimar, I was still in high school ... and throughout my time in Shalimar, I co-wrote maybe two songs, (although) we had input in small things. ... So at the beginning of my solo career, I came back with a definitive idea of what I wanted to do," she explained.
Shalimar's first hit, "Uptown Festival," had been initially recorded by a group of anonymous session singers before Watley, Jeffrey Daniels and Howard Hewett were recruited for the project. Watley left Shalimar in 1984 and spent three years in England. When she returned home, she had decided to reinvent herself as a seductive, high-fashion solo act.
"When I went to meet with record companies, I already had songs that I had written (and) I had a very strong voice in terms of how I wanted it to be -- from the music, to the visuals, to who I worked with. I ended up signing with MCA because (they) really respected where I wanted to go."
The major label made a good call -- Watley's debut single, "Looking for a New Love," peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was followed by "Don't You Want Me," "Some Kind of Lover," "Real Love," "Friends" and "Everything." Her self-titled debut album was certified platinum and she won the Best New Artist category at the 1987 Grammy Awards.
COURTESY OF JODYWATLEY.NET
WATLEY remained with MCA for almost a decade, but, as the record industry over the years became more driven by the bottom line instead of nurturing their acts, in 1995, Watley left to form her own label, Avitone.
"My solo career, from the beginning, has always been very much about the artistic and business input that I wanted to have, but it became increasingly difficult to navigate the waters, so to speak, because ... record companies started being sold to larger corporations, and it became clear that, without a compadre in the upper echelon of the company that respected where I was coming from, it was like being an artist in the wilderness."
Watley responded by broadening her horizons. She appeared on Broadway in "Grease," modeled for the Saks 5th Avenue catalog, recorded two dance singles and an album for Atlantic Records, and participated in a Shalimar reunion project with Babyface and LL Cool J.
Her latest album, "Midnight Lounge," was released by Shinbone Alley, Shanachie Entertainment's new electronic/ dance subsidiary, earlier this month.
"As you go along, outside of hit records, you learn to get in the trenches of your career. I've always tried to be very individual in my approach. All of my songs, from 'Looking for a New Love' until now, I've pretty much co-written and executive produced or co-produced it. In the beginning, it was overlooked, because my visuals were so dynamic (and) there were some people who assumed that I was just this 'fashion girl' and someone else was directing me. But, from the beginning of my solo career, I've been very hands-on and involved with it."
WATLEY PROMISES she'll include her early hits when she plays a three-nighter at Gussie L'Amour's next week, but will also feature music from the new album. Its overall smooth and soothing vibe is dramatically different from her dance hits of the late-1980s, but Watley remains true to her muse.
"That really hasn't changed throughout my career, whether I've had big hit records or not. You can make records by fear, which is working with whoever is supposedly hot as a production team, which producers are getting the ear of radio programmers, or which records will fit the format. But I haven't done that. With 'Midnight Lounge' and all of (my albums) over the past few years ... I haven't done the type of music that gets the majority of airplay on mainstream radio."
Watley mentions Alicia Keys as a good example of a young artist who didn't blossom until she was signed by a label that allowed her to "stick to the essence" of what she wanted to do.
"That's what being an artist is all about. 'Midnight Lounge' is a combination of what I consider to be the best of dance music, which is house music, which tends to be a lot more soulful, production-wise, in terms of the instrumentation and arrangements, mixed in with influences of jazz and R&B music. I also do a cover of Peter Gabriel's 'Don't Give Up,' which I loved when he originally did it with Kate Bush (in 1987), but it is definitely influenced by the music that I like, which is predominately underground music.
"It's unfortunate that radio is as it is, but there is an audience of people who seek out different things other than what they get inundated with all the time.
"Doing shows is still probably one of the best ways of connecting with not just your hard-core fans, but people that maybe have never seen you, or maybe heard about you and aren't sure but get drug to the show. It's the best way to showcase your music and your abilities as a performer. I've never been so overexposed that a person can't be surprised by me (when I perform)."
Being unpredictable, she adds, also applies to her approach as a writer and producer.
"I never have done what I think was expected of me. Shortly after (I won the Grammy), hip-hop was starting to increase in popularity ... and MCA thought I was insane to do a collaboration with Eric B. & Rakim, because they didn't see how an artist considered 'pop dance' would mesh with these hard-core, respected hip-hop artists. But it ended up being great, ... and I think why it worked so well was because I didn't do it because I thought it was a great marketing thing. I was actually a fan of theirs, and so I was coming at it for an honest reason. But when hip-hop got bigger, and people started telling me that I needed to become more 'street,' I was, like, I need to be more who I am. I can't be something else."
The other side of that, she continued, is being careful about signing on with whatever producer or production team is hot at the moment.
"I can like the stuff they do, but can they bring out something, add a different dimension to me?"
And if some people think of her as that person who wrote a song that was recorded by Destiny's Child, that's OK with her.
"('Sweet Sixteen') had been on an album of mine that really didn't see the light of day ... and I was so happy when they recorded it because, as a writer, it was great for me from a business standpoint. But even more so because they're these great girls, and they connected with the lyric of the song about girls trying to grow up too soon.
"I never write specifically for other artists. I can't imagine being a songwriter for hire. But if there are songs of mine that an artist hears and they think they can bring something else to it, ... I think it's really, really nice."
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