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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.
Visit Jody Watley on-line at http://www.jodywatley.net
http://www.myspace.com/jodywatley
May not be reprinted, copied or distributed.
Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, imissthe80s.com
2006
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