On New Year’s Day, 2011, YahZarah performed “A Tribute to the Music of Prince” at the Legendary Blues Alley in Washington, DC hosted by S.E.I. Entertainment. YahZarah melted the crowd as she crooned medleys from Prince infused with music from The Ballad of Purple St. James. During the show, she confessed a long time love affair with Prince’s music. We chatted with her after the sold out shows and encore.
Shani: YahZarah, you mentioned during the performance that you have been a Prince fan since five years old.
YahZarah: Yes, when Purple Rain came out, I was living in West Germany. My Godfather would send us videos, and he sent me Purple Rain on VHS. I just fell in love immediately, everything about him made me happy. As I got older, I started to dig deeper. One of my favorite records was “Under the Cherry Moon”, the latter, “Tambourine”. I really felt kindred to his work because I love a lot of the same artists that he does; Sly Stone, Larry Graham, and James Brown. Those are the people who influence my music daily. It’s funny, if you look at Prince you can see where he was influenced by those stages. I also have been “blooming in the public eye with my music as he did. The incarnation of Prince as he is now, did not start that way. He was a work in progress just as I am a work in progress. He studied the greats, just as I choose to study the greats, and we just happen to love a lot of the same great artists. I remember going to Paisley Park, while we were recording a song for Erykah Badu. I was singing background for her at the time, and we were working on a song called “Smile Today”. I was doing vocal arrangements on the tune and Prince was sitting in the booth watching us. I thought I was going to die. I met Larry Graham there, whom Prince considers an influence and a mentor. I have loved Larry Graham since “Get Free”. I learned that legacy of art from people like Sly Stone, Larry Graham, James Brown, and P Funk era music. I love them because they were still free and I love James Brown’s order. I think that Prince is the culmination of all of their hopes and dreams, and I hope that I am the culmination of his.
Shani: It was perfect that at the end, that Ms. Purple St. James ended the show with “Purple Rain”.
YahZarah: The purple is so obvious, although purple is my favorite color. I chose to end with “Purple Rain” because I feel that “Starship” and “Purple Rain” are kindred to one another in what they were meant to do. I can’t pretend to be in the head of Prince, but I know when I listen to that song I feel free. It’s not a song about romance, but freedom and love and finding that inside of you, at least for me. So is “Starship”, so I felt that “Purple Rain” was the perfect “Granddaddy” for that song.
Shani: What were some of the other medleys that you performed?
YahZarah: Yes, I wanted to pick songs that were relevant to me for different reasons. When you tribute somebody, you want talk about the things that make you feel good about them. We did “Little Red Corvette” and I decided to change the tempo to make it more of an old Gospel, Aretha Franklin, kind of feel for it so I could do my interpretation of a Prince tune. We did some songs according to form and some as interpretations, like “The Beautiful Ones”. I decided that I really wanted to make it a percussive ballad and pay homage to it by keeping the original form. I had to tread lightly, when I decided to tribute Prince but I thought it was worth me doing it. He is one of the people in a long list that I would like to tribute.
Shani: 2010 was a great year! You were named female vocalist of the year by Soultrack’s Reader’s Choice.
YahZarah: Yes, and 2011 Break-out artist, I was one of the artist featured in Jet Magazine just a week ago. I was also preliminary nominated for six Grammy’s last year. It has been surreal, because six years ago I didn’t have another record. I didn’t know if I was going to stay in music or how I would do another record. I couldn’t even find my passion and had writer’s block. Six years later, it’s huge and humbling. If 2010 is a preview of what 2011 has to offer me, the sky is the limit.
Shani: So, do you have any big plans for 2011?
YahZarah: Yes, I am working on another record. One of the key producers will be Steve McKey and Tone Whitfield, who are also responsible for Bilal Oliver’s new record. They also produced “Starship”. I have a couple of other producers that I will be working with. I chose to use different producers to bring out different layers.
Shani: Do you have any upcoming shows?
YahZarah: Yes, I will be returning to Brooklyn to Brooklyn Academy of Music on 1/22/11 to perform The Ballad of Purple St. James and maybe some of these Prince tunes, whatever tickles my fancy. Saunder Sermons (a Gypsy Soul fav) will be my special guest; he is a member of Maxwell’s band. We have a song together called, “You Got A Hold On Me”.
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