I was reading in the press release about your father's career and how you traveled all over the world growing up. When you were in these different exotic locations were you exposed to a lot of their music?
Nya Jade-Yes, definitely especially in the Bahamas where its calypso and reggae and you have elements of American pop & R&B. In Puerto Rico, I see salsa and reggae. I'm originally from Ghana and our style of music is called is called Highlife. It's very upbeat so yeah I've definitely been exposed to a lot of different types of music.

I read about how when you were at Stanford you joined an A-cappella group. What led you to join the A-cappella group on campus?
Nya Jade-Yeah in high school I sang in a group that was part of a class and when I went to the Bahamas they didn't have A-cappella so I was raised with the ability to have music and have the different parts vocally. The group I joined at Stanford is called the Talisman. We did gospel, we did pop, but we also did a lot of African music which also included having to learn to pronounce the words in a different language and the strong use of percussion. I was definitely drawn to that. I felt like I was drawn to my roots and where I am from.

Do you ever incorporate any A-cappella into your live show?
Nya Jade-I have in the past. But recently if I do a show I will have another vocalist with me we might do something A-cappella. I'll perform with a friend of mine and we sang in the same A-cappella group with and we blend really well together and its easy to pull it off.

How did you come to record a full length album?
Nya Jade-This album came together in a span of a year and a half. I'd been doing some recording in the Bay area so it was like I was putting that collection together and I got the opportunity to record with Jack Douglas who is a legendary producer. He won a Grammy for his work with John Lennon, he brought the rock side of me out. I got the opportunity to go to LA and work with him and then I realized "Wow we have a record!"

I have to ask this question because of something I read in your press release and they make it sound so easy. It says, "She reached out to former Atlantic Records president Rob Shapiro." How do you just reach out to someone like that?
Nya Jade-You know I just think I got kinda lucky. I had been following his career and I heard he started his own management company and read that he said he was drawn to artist who had a vision for themselves to do what they wanted to do and wrote their own music. He didn't want to take an artist and tell them what to do and how to sound. I just sent him a demo to take a listen to and followed up and I think I just lucked out because I think he just really liked the music and got back to me on that.

I also read that you are the CEO of your own record label. How do you balance being artist and CEO?
Nya Jade-You know it's a lot of work but it's exciting. The artist part is writing the music and playing shows and all of that stuff and the CEO part is being able to put together a great team of people to come on board and help shape the direction of the record and as CEO keep my vision in there. It's definitely a daunting task but I have great people on board helping out.

Will you sign other artists or is it primarily a vehicle to promote your project?
Nya Jade-Right now its primarily a vehicle for my project that's not saying down the road....it's a lot of work so I'm definitely leaning a lot. It's so much work with my own project that is the primary focus now.

With your song writing process is it lyrics first or music first?
Nya Jade-For me it's lyrics first. The story behind the lyrics is the vibe and I work on the music part and I write mostly on my guitar but I am trying to come up with the music first and put lyrics to it.

Do you ever have a chance to get on your MYSPACE?
Nya Jade-Yeah! Actually, people are finding me on MYSPACE who have seen the video on VH-1 or MTVU and are sending me messages and I write back and it throws people off like "Oh you wrote back." It's fun to get messages from people asking "Come to Florida. I'll bring all my friends."

Listen to Nya Jade (coming soon)

Nya Jade interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2006
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 add her as a friend at MYSPACE.
Nya Jade interview may not be reprinted, copied or distribute without permission. You may link to this interview.Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com April 2006.