An Interview with Meli'sa Morgan

R&B Songstress Meli’sa Morgan inevitably broke into the music industry as the lead singer of the dance group, Shades of Love (“Body to Body”), but it was her solo move that brought her to bigger prominence starting with her #1 Prince cover “Do Me, Baby” and a string of top 5 hits that followed such as “Love Changes” with Kashif, “Fool’s Paradise”, “Do You Still Love Me?”. Back with her first album in 13 years entitled, Love Demands, I caught up with Meli’sa to discuss the project, the meaning behind it’s title, how she’s evolved musically and much more…

TERRANCE: I wanted to start by asking you about your new album, Love Demands. Conceptually speaking, how did it come together?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Well, I had been working with Cleopatra Records just doing a song here and a song there for their Christmas compilation album and they wanted to do some covers of my hits and I did that with them. They liked how I worked and asked me if I would be interested in doing a full album with them and at the time I was like, Yes! Because I had not done anything in a while. Last year I did just a single called, “So Good” with an independent label and we did a video and it was received really nice. It’s more of a House/Dance type of song, but to do a whole album, I was ready. My last album I Remember which was with Hush Productions, so this would be the first project that I had done outside of Hush in a long time. I jumped at the opportunity and their only stipulation was that I do six cover songs and six originals and so we sat down and agreed to the six cover songs. I picked some and they picked some. At first they gave me a writer from their camp and the original tracks that were coming in just wasn’t me and then the gentleman that helped put the deal together had a friend Brady Gozza who does beats and he started sending me tracks and those tracks just fit better to me for my vocals. Actually how I recorded which was just wonderful and I want to tell young people this and they’re probably already doing it, but he sent me the tracks and I would play them on my iPad and then I would record them on my iPhone in the recording mode and those were my demos. I would do the demos, save it and send them to the record company for approval and they would give me their opinions and most of them they liked and then we would go in and record them professionally.

TERRANCE: What does the title Love Demands represent both to and for you?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Love Demands is a strong title to me because relationships whether it be your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your fiance, love requires a lot of work and demands a lot of attention and so I thought that title was so perfect because everyone on this green Earth has gone through love demands in one way or another. When I came up with that title, I thought everyone is going to relate to this because love is just not as easy as people think. It takes work and it takes a lot of time and that’s demanding, so Love Demands.

TERRANCE: Are there any personal favorites or songs on the album that stand-out to you more than others?

MELI’SA MORGAN: “Decisions”. I think that’s the core of my Vocal-Soul-R&B spirit. The other songs I fit in with the beat and because I studied at Juilliard and I know musical theory and I have relative perfect pitch, you can make things and mode things the way you need them to be, but “Decisions” I just felt like vocally I was really, really relaxed on that song and I can just let my R&B spirit just come right out of my vocals and I really like the deliverance on that song. I love the cover songs as well. My favorite cover song of course is Al Green’s “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and then after that it would be Sam Cooke’s “Nothing Can Change This Love”.

TERRANCE: There’s an Aretha Franklin remake “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”.

MELI’SA MORGAN: Can you believe that? I have loved Aretha since I was a little girl. I want to tell the story of my mother. Me and my sister in the living room dressed up in her clothes and her shoes at 6 and 7 years old and her telling us, if you sing “Respect” right I’m going to take you to the Apollo and put you on Amateur Hour and you girls might win (laughs). I have loved Aretha since day one and on my previous album, I Remember over ten years ago I did a snippet of “Ain’t No Way” with Valerie Simpson playing piano and I do that song on my shows all the time and people just love it, so I thought it was just really correct for me to do a full Aretha song and I didn’t know she was sick because we picked these songs over a year ago. I picked “Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” because I just thought the funkiness and vocal deliverance of that would be so great to do now and let the young people of now hear our roots and where we came from. The Queen is where we came from. If it wasn’t for Aretha and Gladys we wouldn’t be here expressing ourselves the way we do because they’ve opened up the door for us to be able to do that and I’ve always wanted to pay tribute to the icons who’ve done that for me.

TERRANCE: Are there artists inspiring you right now or that you’re currently listening to?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Daniel Caesar is inspiring me vocally and H.E.R. Those two are really, really touching my spirit right now with what they are doing with their vocal abilities and their music and the fact they even worked together is amazing, so those two are really inspiring me right now.

TERRANCE: Do you feel you and your approach to music has changed a lot, since you first started?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Yes and it’s funny with this CD I’m coming out with a single called “No More” which is a real funky, rocky, edgy, spooky and hard edge kind of single and it’s different. I get comments from some of my fans saying, oh don’t stray away from smooth R&B because that’s where you come from and we need to band together and continue to do that. All that’s wonderful, but if that is the only expression you have then you’re in trouble. You don’t wear the same clothes and same color everyday and same shoes everyday, do you? You would want to express yourself and be seen differently. Some things you like and you stick to it, but other than that you want to change your hair, clothes and you want to wear different shoes. When you’re taking pictures you want to smile differently and wear your makeup different. That’s how music is. Music is creative. You don’t want to do the same thing over and over and over again. You know what your core is, but yes I want to do Rock & Roll if I can. I want to do Jazz. I do songs with Najee and he got nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for a song we did together called, “In the Mood to Take It Slow”. I do songs with Full Force and they are a group and that’s a whole different flavor than what I’m used to. I like to do songs with other females. Me and Cheryl Pepsii Riley did a duet called, “Thank You for Leaving Me”. If I did the same thing I did 30 years ago I would want someone to smack me and wake me up, because musically I have more in my arsenal and in my vocal ability than that. I didn’t study at Juilliard’s to do just one type of music. R&B will always be my core. I love Gospel music. That’s where I grew up. I’m going to use these tools I have to be creative and do all kinds of music.

TERRANCE: I don’t recall you ever giving a bad performance and so with that being said, what’s your regimen for preserving your voice before performing?

MELI’SA MORGAN: No drugs, no alcohol. I try to get as much sleep as I can and I try to stay stress-free, enjoy life and being loved and feeling loved. That’s really, really important.

TERRANCE: Everyone have their perception on what success is. How would you define it?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Success to me is sustaining the level that you can and not trying to do and be something that you’re not like competing with the Joneses. Success to me is being at the top of your game, appreciating that and knowing how to nurture it. I think “Do Me, Baby” was the pinnacle of my success, but I still think there’s more to come. I enjoy that part of my success and I want to enjoy the level of success that I’m going to have now, because it’s going to be different than what it was in the 80’s.

TERRANCE: Right. I feel there’s always something to prove and room to grow no matter what you’ve accomplished in the past.

MELI’SA MORGAN: Yeah and right now I don’t think I have anything to prove to my fans but I have something to prove to myself and the levels that I want to achieve, like right now we’re trying to get the recognition because I never got my Gold record for “Do Me, Baby”, so now we’re going to fight for that with Capitol Records because when I left Capitol Records that’s when Soundscan and all that stuff started. I think when it ended it was at like 485,000 and now we’re going to fight with Capitol and RIAA to certify “Do Me, Baby” gold, so that would be a successful achievement for me to get that done. I never won a Grammy, so with me putting music out in all the wonderful R&B Traditional categories and things like that. I’ve re-joined the Grammy membership and my record company’s last artist was nominated for a Grammy and so I’m working with people that know how to get me nominated and know that if we do it this way and structure it this way, you’ll get nominated and hopefully win, so that would be a successful thing for me in my career to win a Grammy. Those are the kinds of accomplishments that I’m going for, but sustaining it and being at the level that I am to be able to go for it, that’s a success in it’s own right.

TERRANCE: What have been the highlights of your career or greatest achievement thus far?

MELI’SA MORGAN: I would think being a good writer and always being a part of the music that I have sang and recorded. That has been a great achievement for me and a wonderful longevity for me to sustain my lifestyle with income (laughs). I don’t want to put no shade or bring attention to anyone, but when I read that someone like an R. Kelly putting out albums talking about he was broke and he didn’t own his publishing and people took advantage of him and he’s living in hotels. We look at these people as idols and icons and it’s very hard to understand that you didn’t have a lawyer or someone like that protecting you, your music and your rights for your retirement and your income? So I’m very, very thankful that my father and the people that I started out in this industry said, get a good lawyer. Get a good lawyer, show me your contract, this is what you need to do, you know? Protect your music. We’re now even fighting for the rights to get my sound recordings back, so God has been really good to bless me with friends in the industry and lawyers and people that can teach me about the business and not just about the “show business”. Teach me about the business of show.

TERRANCE: Considering your knowledge and expertise now. What advice would you give the aspiring artist who aspire to do what you do?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Perfect your craft and study because you can have a natural talent but it still needs to be perfected. I’m watching kids now that are talented but they don’t know how to perfect their pitch or their tone, you know what I’m saying? When they’re performing they don’t know how to control their vocal because when you’re performing in front of thousands, hundreds or ten people, there are nerves that come with that and you have to learn how to control that in your vocals, in your breathing and all that, so I would say learn your craft, pitch and tone. Train your ear. The second thing again, get a good lawyer and make sure your business is together.

TERRANCE: Can you share with us any upcoming special appearances, events or performances?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Yes. It’s so wonderful to have magazine covers and interviews like this one coming out with RnB Junkie (laughs). I will be doing the Soul Train Music Cruise in 2019. They said that Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson will be on that cruise, so you know I’m going to be lurking in the hallway (laughs). A couple of TV shows and just a whole lot of good things. San Francisco and Oakland next year. We’re pushing for the Essence Fest and all those good things and Capital Jazz and all of those festivals that kind of looked right past me (laughs), but we’re getting great reviews and people are calling and now we’re hoping to be a part of all those wonderful things.

TERRANCE: What do you hope listeners take away from the Love Demands experience?

MELI’SA MORGAN: I hope that this album proves that again you’re able to be creative in different levels of your life and be accepted and loved for it and not be judged for one thing you did 20 or 30 years ago. It’s very important to be loved and respected for the person and the artist who I am now. I’m not the same Meli’sa Morgan I was 30 years ago. I’m the same person but I’m not the same artist. I have grown, I have lived life and experienced different things and all of that comes through in my music and how I deliver my music and how my vocal style is and how I deliver that through song and I hope that is appreciated for now. Who and what I am and what I’m delivering and what I’m giving to the audience now. I hope they love and appreciate that.

TERRANCE: Any final words you would like to share with your fans and the readers?

MELI’SA MORGAN: Yes. You know 30 years ago you could put a record out and people could go down to their local record store on the corner and pick it up and play it. We don’t have that anymore, so the only way you can support an artist is by going online, ordering the product and downloading it. It is so important for my fans to know. Go on social media and follow me. I always put the link where you can go right to the link and order. My CD Love Demands is everywhere. It’s on Amazon, iTunes, Target, Barnes & Noble, Spotify, I could go on and on. It’s not like it was back 30 years ago. You can’t sit back and say, Oh I like that and I’ll go pick it up later. You have to get online. Thank God to my good friend MonRay. At 12 midnight when Love Demands was available he was like, I like this song and that song and this song and I was like, how did you know? Did you get it already? He said, I downloaded it at 12 midnight, so we have to get with the times and stream it. I have a video out for the new single, “No More” on YouTube. You have to go to YouTube and like it. We need numbers. We need those Drake numbers, you know? The people go and stream it, and like it on Vevo and YouTube. These are the things the fans now have to get with and do to support the artist now and not just me, but anyone, because times have changed and this is how we order and how we support and this is how we get music now.

New Music: Mario - ‘Drowning’

R&B Vet Mario Barrett has returned with his new single, ‘Drowning’, the lead single from his upcoming album Dancing Shadows due in the Fall of the year.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:

Dancing Shadows will be Mario’s first album as an independent artist since leaving RCA Records in 2015 and forming his own label New Citizen.

Adina Howard Interview: Latest Album "Resurrection", Being An Independent Artist & More!

R&B Vet Adina Howard who burst on the 90’s music scene with the signature staple “Freak Like Me” and “Nasty Grind”, weigh in on her new project Resurrection, profound meaning behind her latest single “Blasphemy”, being Independent and what’s next...

TERRANCE: In our first interview you mentioned releasing an album wasn’t your focus so bring me to date with what prompted you to record your new project Resurrection.

ADINA HOWARD: My husband actually prompted me; the universe prompted me. Realizing the divine told me that my platform had a purpose and the divine was using my husband to urge me to create another project, I was like Okay gotcha! So it was a combination of the universe speaking through my husband and him saying Adina you have one more in you, just do this last project and so because of that I was like, you know what? Fine I'll go ahead and do it and the divine had put everything in alignment with the producers, songwriters, rapper Tyler “King Gas” Gaston who reached out to me and sent me a song I fell in love with which was the first song he wrote specifically for me which is “Radiation” and when I heard that song I was like this is Everything! And when we had our conversation he was like what is it that you want? We started working and Tyler was heaven sent I knew because of the chemistry that everything was right about moving forward with the project.

TERRANCE: What was that like collaborating with Tech N9ne on "Radiation"?

ADINA HOWARD: Everything!! He is my number one rapper and to be able to connect with him and say I have to have you on this song and for him to say yeah okay mama I got you was like Yasss! (laughs). So it was amazing to work with him and to get the greenlight because he is a hard one to lock down.

TERRANCE: So talk about your single “Blasphemy” and the meaning behind it.

ADINA HOWARD: “Blasphemy” is basically when I look at our community and I look at how our young Kings are acting niggerish and not realizing they come from royalty you know, we are created by the divine so therefore we are divine and to just look at how we are negating the fact that we are better than what we are shown on television etc. It’s like something has to be said, like this is disrespectful the way you’re talking to each other from both our young Kings and Queens, this is not who we are. Just because we’re being fed the propaganda and yes some of this is real and it’s going on, doesn’t mean we have to act like savages because that’s not who we are and to look at yourself in the mirror and see that you’re better than what they’re expecting you to be, you’re better than what you’re told you are and to see a greatness. So that song right there for me was to let us know young, old and in between that we weren’t slaves when we came here, we were enslaved. We were put into bondages and so don’t believe the hype when they say, oh y’all were slaves, oh no boo boo, we were enslaved. There’s a difference, we were free prior to the savages wanting free labor, we were enslaved so that you can be lazy. And it’s just bringing awareness that we were great and we need to continue being great. Project that.

TERRANCE: One of my favorite stand out tracks is “Love Jonez” what was the recording process like for that song?

ADINA HOWARD: Easy breezy. There wasn’t any incense, candles and things of that nature (laughs). It was just a regular recording session and I had some extra sexy music in my ears and music for me, whatever it conjures up emotionally I inject that into the song.

TERRANCE: If there’s one song off the album that best represent your current state of mind what would it be?

ADINA HOWARD: Most likely “Work” if I had to choose one that would be it.

TERRANCE: From your perspective, what are the advantages of being an independent artist?

ADINA HOWARD: You have control over everything!! And I’m a control freak more than anything in the world (laughs) and to have the control I have has been a blessing because I can do things my way.

TERRANCE: What are your thoughts on the beef among female artists especially in Contemporary R&B music today?

ADINA HOWARD: I think it’s foolish. Absolute foolish. I think that when you are making the money that you are making and doing what you have a passion for you’re living your dream so why is there conflict? What sense does it make and don’t get me wrong I’ve had my beef with an individual artist back in the day and that was my immaturity and that’s basically what it is, immaturity and it won’t really dawn on them until they grow up that it was foolery. I’m a mature woman now I look at it as this is foolish, y’all make your money and enjoy your life because at the end of the day you’re wasting your time on another female that ain’t feeding or clothing you and ain’t paying your bills so what the fuck?

TERRANCE: Three things people might not know about you.

ADINA HOWARD: I have Asthma, i’m a beast in the kitchen and I’m funny as shit (laughs).

TERRANCE: Who are some artists you’re enjoying at the moment?

ADINA HOWARD: That’s a very interesting question for me because I drive a great deal in silence. I’m just in silence most of my days. I think silence is golden because there’s so much noise going on in the world today. I just love and embrace quiet like I don’t listen to television, radio, nothing really comes on around me. Amy Winehouse is one that I listen to because her voice is just ridiculously amazing.

TERRANCE: Aside from the music what’s next?

ADINA HOWARD: Oh man! Acting is on the agenda. I have a lot of people approaching me about acting and that’s something I’m currently and actively working on. I actually had an audition via skype for an independent film.

TERRANCE: Anything not discussed you would like to share with your fans and the readers?

ADINA HOWARD: Go get Resurrection (laughs). Go get it and check it out. I did it technically at the end of the day for those individuals who wanted to hear more Adina Howard music and for us to recognize our greatness as we discussed via “Blasphemy”, to recognize that we are our own worst enemy and if we do not get it together we don’t have to worry about the enemy so to speak destroying us because we’re doing the job for them. So let’s wake up and recognize that if we get it together through unity not only will we survive but thrive and division will die. We have to get it together because there is a mission out there to destroy us so don’t help them destroy us, make it hard for them to destroy us and i’m not necessarily saying pull up your pants and wear a suit but we need to recognize quote unquote Black Lives Matter then we need to act like they matter. Period.