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"Looking For A New Love," there is a remix
of it now?
Jody
Watley -Yes it is.
Is there going to be a whole album of remixes now?
Jody
Watley -It will be. It will be part
of a full length project titled The Makeover which is
past covers of my old songs new production new vocals
a couple of new songs as well Looking For A New Love
is Currently #2 on the Billboard dance chart.
Have you been spending a lot of time in the studio
lately?
Jody
Watley -Well I'm always
writing. I'm sort of recorded in away finished with
the Makeover. I took a lot of feedback from a
lot of the email I get at my website and the idea for
the makeover really came form doing concerts and I generally
rework a good portion of my songs to keep them fresh
for me and it always r so well so I decided to make
a record. Its common for artists to cover other peoples
songs but I think my songs are pretty good so why not
cover some of those.
You're such a trendsetter and now so many of the
hip-hop influenced R&B songs feature rappers and it's
like you started that whole thing with "Friends." Are
you surprised at how that's just the norm now?
Jody
Watley -No, I don't really think I'm
surprised by it. I think it's really cool to be one
of the first artists to do that, when I did it with
"Friends" and Eric B and Rakim it was because
I was a fan of theirs and I think a lot of times now
the difference is when people hook up its probably more
a business thing or this will be popular if your with
this rapper if you're a singer they kinda go from that
perspective but when I did it like I do anything it
was genuine and in fact "Friends" is one of the songs
I do over but I'm keeping Rakim on it because no one
can really do it like he did it.
I saw on your website you were recently in Japan.
Do you tour more overseas than in the states?
Jody
Watley -No, I do both.
How were those Japan shows?
Jody
Watley -They were great and one of
the things I try to do with the majority of my shows
is put the live footage on my website I think currently
there are two clips from Japan and there's also a slide
show that has photos from Japan and when I went to Las
Vegas with the mayor for Gay Pride and when I went to
Malaysia, one of the nice things about my website is
that a lot of artists websites are mainly vehicles for
the record companies my website is always #1 current,
its always personal and I try to keep the material up
to date and it is my website nobody owns it but me.
I find it kind of frustrating when you try to find out
more than just the basic stuff about and artist and
you find nothing. I was trying to find out what was
going on with Maxwell because I love him and would love
to work with him and his website is ..Sony has no new
information. So anyway doing concerts is probably my
favorite thing about being an artists so I usually say
something about my shows on the website and give people
the opportunity to see whats gone on if they weren't
there.
You've always been such a fashionable person. Do
you usually work with a stylist or do you have a lot
of hands on with your styling.
Jody
Watley -Its me and
my own taste if I have worked with a stylist its mainly
to pick up something I saw or something buts especially
my early videos .I used to have such a battle with video
directors and photographers because I did work with
a lot of people who were in the fashion industry and
most artists don't have a lot of personal style and
fortunately I think I do so they were never disappointed
with what I would come up with and that is something
that has continued with what I do. I never been seen
wearing something someone picked out and said this is
cool, I have to go look at it myself first.
That being said are you also really involved in
the items in the boutique at your website?
Jody
Watley -I am and its continuously
evolving and with the tee shirt line is one of the nice
things about it is its limited edition and something
is up there and once its gone that's pretty much it.
We have tee shirts, hats, accessories,merchandise that
they wont see anywhere and they wont run into anyone-unless
they shop at the boutique and also you have things like
my DVD which you can't get anywhere else except and
that's about to be discontinued. So everything revolves
its there now and next month it can be a whole new range
of merchandise and over time I would like to have it
even more than whats available but I can only do so
much.
Whats on the DVD?
Jody
Watley -The DVD is all of my videos,
the ones that got a lot of play, ones that people may
not have seen also theres bonus videos. I helped launch
a fashion magazine in Japan Sur which is the equivalent
of Vogue and I also was the first woman of color to
be on the cover of a fashion magazine in Japan so the
commercial for that is on the DVD as well as a montage
of like little snippets of me when I was a dancer on
Soul Train, a little snippet of a performance
when I was in Shalamar and a snippet when I won the
Grammy for Best New Artist.
Since you mentioned the Grammy I thought I would
ask. What do you consider the highlight of your career?
Jody
Watley -Having a long
career. Having a long career and really still being
true to it true to my music and true to being fearless
about what I do. I hope people like it but if they don't
I always know I did it for the right reasons and second
to that would be winning the Grammy Award because when
I was little I used to be in the mirror pretending I
was winning something so to actually do it was like
a dream come true.
I wanted to ask are you from Chicago?
Jody
Watley -Yes Im from Chicago originally
A couple of weeks ago were the big Live 8 performances.
I recently saw the Band AID video for "Do They Know
It's Christmas." Were you a member of Shalamar when
you appeared in that video?
Jody
Watley -No I was not in Shalamar then.
I was living in England. I was working a 12 inch record
for a label called Sonograph and I was working with
the Art of Noise. I got a call to participate in the
single and the proceeds from it were going to go for
famine relief in Ethiopia and I had seen the documentary
which they had shown on the TV and was really touched
by it so when I went to the studio I had no idea that
It would be such a musical historical thing. It was
just some singers getting together to do this record
and everybody that showed up that day had no idea that
it would be what it was and it would lead to such the
ability to raise millions of dollars and to help and
it led to other charity singles after that everytime
they show it I kinda cringe at the hair do but I'm proud
that I was a part of it.
What can people expect from a Jody Watley live show?
Jody
Watley -It's very spontaneous, its
never the same thing twice. Choreography and set moves
have never really been my thing. I might do what the
mood calls for but with my band I leave room for that
and even when I do dance shows live to a backing track
its still very spontaneous and forward thinking I try
to work with DVD graphics and visuals kind of more like
electronic acts do and its probably people are always
saying who haven't seen me before are always saying
I'm better than they thought I would be and I sing for
real.
A couple of weeks ago were the big Live 8 performances.
I recently saw the Band AID video for "Do They Know
It's Christmas." Were you a member of Shalamar when
you appeared in that video?
Jody
Watley -No I was not in Shalamar then.
I was living in England. I was working a 13 inch record
for a label called Sonograph and I was working with
the Art of Noise I got a call to participate in the
single and the proceeds from it were going to go for
famine relief in Ethiopia and I had seen the documentary
which they had shown on the TV and was really touched
by it so when I went to the studio I had no idea that
It would be such a musical historical thing. It was
just some singers getting together to do this record
and everybody that showed up that day had no idea that
it would be what it was and it would lead to such the
ability to raise millions of dollars and to help and
it led to other charity singles after that every time
they show it I kinda cringe at the hair do but I'm proud
that I was a part of it.
I'm going to make sure to mention people visit your
official website but what should people be looking for
from you for the rest of the year?
Jody
Watley -Upcoming the
actual single Looking For A New Love remix will
be in stores in the middle of September. It was released
to I-Tunes so for all the digital forward thinking people
they can pick it up there. For the rest of there year
there wll be additional shows and I will be putting
the finishing touches on the Makeover project
and that should be out after the first of the year.
 Interview
copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be
My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned
Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She
is the founder of Thabiz.com
and Imissthe80s.com
and writes for the Rap,
Teen, and
1980s section
at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer
and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising
inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights,
paying entertainment jobs,
or general comments.
Visit Dorrie on the web at www.sparkledoll.com
or e-mail her at webmaster@thabiz.com.
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com
August 2005
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