This is Cold Medinah representing Erotic City Global and today it has been my pleasure of conversing with one hard working young lady known to the world as singer and songwriter L’Renee.
~~~~~
ECG: How are you today?
LR: I’m doing fantastic and yourself?
ECG: I’m doing wonderful.
LR: Good.
ECG: Tell us L’Renee, where do you hail from?
LR: Detroit, Michigan. I’m a D’ girl. All day, everyday.
ECG: At what age did you decide to pursue your career in the entertainment industry? Is this what you always wanted to do?
LR: No, it’s not what I’ve always wanted to do lol. I’m just being honest. I started off with an ability to sing at a very, very young age. My dad always tells the story of when I was younger and my dad was in the basement rehearsing with his band, I grabbed the microphone and started singing. This was even before I could talk. Music kinda chose me I guess and for the lonnngest time, I denied it.
When I was in college, I had decided that I wanted to be an architect. I wanted nothing to do with music as a career and as time went on it just…I couldn’t deny it anymore. What really was a turning point for me was when a friend of mine had me to perform at a show that she was originally asked to perform at, but she didn’t want to do it, so she asked me if I wanted to do it. She ended up singing background and I was the headliner for that night. In Columbus Ohio, I will never forget it. I still have a parking ticket for that night. The first thing I paid off for L’Renee, I still have it. I actually have it framed along with a lot of other stuff.
As time went on, when I’d get off stage people started asking me, when is your album coming out? That was when the light went off. I’d say that was about ten years ago. But I really didn’t start full fledge into the music industry until around 2005.
ECG: What was the first song that you can remember singing, the first whole song?
LR: The first one I remember singing???
ECG: Your audition song, the one the family always wanted you to get up and perform in front of everyone, and you knew you had it.
LR: Well, I don’t remember the first song I sang but I can remember the first song that I ever tried to learn.
Lol. This is the best question I’ve ever had so far on an interview, so thank you.
It was...omg, the Sesame Street theme song. And the way that I learned the song was from memory, from watching it and I had this little book that had the lyrics in it. I could read, but the book obviously didn’t have the notes, but I would go over and over and over the lyrics, until I remembered it. Honestly, to this day Sesame Street is one of my favorite shows. I feel I have not officially made it, until I’ve made it on the show lol.
ECG: Like a lot of singers, did you begin singing in church?
LR: No. Actually I started singing at home. I did go that route. This was like when I was in middle school. I started participating more in children’s choirs that would be affiliated with church. And in high school a lot of the plays would be spiritually based, so I kinda stepped in that era.
My family was kinda weird in a way, because my mom was Catholic and my dad practiced, and still practices Yahwehism. So my religious background is a little bit different whereas most kids have parents who are both either Baptist or Jewish or whatever. So to make a long story short, my parents had different religions. I had an opportunity to get a taste of different styles, and make a choice for myself. It was never something that was forced on me, however, as I was growing up the children’s choir that I belonged to was faith based out of a church that was considered Baptist. Now I’m non-denominational.
ECG: So, can you tell us about the layers of L’Renee. How do you view yourself?
LR: How do I view myself? Well, I do have a lot of different layers. Being an artist I think it makes you predisposed more than I guess other people, to the internal life. As you create you’re a little more in tuned to what’s going on around you, so there’s that layer to me.
Then there’s the part of me that’s the social butterfly. Who wants to be seen, who wants to mingle and talk to people and all of that stuff.
And then there’s the performer, that’s the person who wants to be in front of a lot of people all the time and is never afraid, and who will do whatever her heart desires.
Then there’s Lori, whom you introduced me at first as. Lori is a lot more reserved, shy and extremely detail oriented. So I have those four layers going on, and usually they’re all goin on at the exact same time lol.
ECG: So like a lot of others, including myself, do you feel misunderstood for the most part?LR: You know what – all the time. I don’t think there’s been a time where, or should I say for an extended period of time where I would feel, they get me. A lot of the times I feel that people don’t know where I’m coming from. I think most artists kinda feel that way.
ECG: I think it’s not just an artist thing, I feel it’s a creative thing period. If the next person is not in a creative state of mind, then they just don’t get you. You’re constantly coming from different angles with things and they sometimes just don’t.
LR: And at the same time the best art comes out of it. I mean, look at Prince, and look at Michael Jackson; for the most part they felt misunderstood most of the time. And I feel it goes back to earlier, we artists are tuned in a little bit differently from the average person. I think the average person probably feels the way we feel, but they’re not able to recognize it or put it into something cohesive where other people can understand. That’s kind of what separates us from other people. For that reason, we’re misunderstood. We internalize things on totally different levels.
ECG: I understand. It’s like artists, or creative people get all the way down to the core of things, and break it open. And a lot of average or not so creative type people just see what’s on the surface, or what’s showed to them, the illusion.
LR: Exactly. See, now I feel understood lol.
ECG: Lol, definitely.
L’Renee, what places has your music taken you?
LR: Not physically overseas, but my music itself has reached as far as Japan, Tokyo…Milan Italy and who knows where else. Physically, I’ve been everywhere from coast to coast. I just recently came back from Oakland, California. I’ve been everywhere. It’s the bomb!
ECG: Career wise, what is your ultimate goal?
LR: My ultimate goal. I think that would go back to my mission statement. I am vigilant to changing people lives through my talent of singing and writing music. I really want to be a philanthropist. Philanthropists is a large number of things, it could mean a lot of different things. Right now, what I am doing towards that goal is traveling, performing and continuing to write.
Just recently I started a non-profit organization which is called L’Renee Girl Power. It launches October 28th. We’re having an official launch and concert at the African American Museum in Detroit, Michigan. For those of your followers who know where I’m talking about, it’s at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
What the L’Renee Girl Power non-profit organization does is empowers. I handpick anywhere from 5-10 young ladies and take them out on a day of fun. I call it “Fun with a purpose.” It’s all about perpetuating self-esteem.
ECG: Which a lot of young ladies need help with nowadays.
LR: Yeah, I really think that. It was always a part of my plan, but I was just recently able to start it. A lot of girls kind of, I think that they kind of settle sometimes with different circumstances and I think that a large reason for that is because they don’t have the self esteem within themselves to realize their worth more than that. So I’m not willing to deal with this.
ECG: Their eyes have to be opened somehow. Even if they can’t physically go out and view the world, someone has to show them through books, through pictures or just let them know that it’s something else out there besides these streets.
Do you write your own lyrics?
LR: I do. Of the five that I recorded on my original LP there’s only one song that I didn’t write. I’m looking forward to becoming a better lyricist. And getting better is all a part of a growth process. I’m looking forward to making better music. As time goes forward I experience different things, and talk to different people, I think it’ll really show on the next CD that I put out.
ECG: I believe that with any profession, if you’re serious about it, you have to continue to educate yourself in your field. You have to grow and you have to excel, or else, with things constantly changing at such a fast pace, you’ll be drowned.
LR: I used to think about it in that way, then I started to realize that when you do what’s in your heart it really doesn’t matter what the rest of the world is going through. Even if nobody cares about the art that you create, you created it because that’s what the Creator wanted you to create.
ECG: What’s your motivation when you sit down and write?
LR: Most of the time it’s love. It’s about relationships, it’s about people really.
ECG: Who would you compare your style to?
LR: Wow. I don’t know.
ECG: Lol, imcomparable! Don’t tell me you’re incomparable.
LR: Nooo. I try to be humble when it comes to that. I not saying that there is no one out there who's like me, but I will tell you that growing up the people who had a big influence on my music was Stevie Wonder, Sade and I really gravitated towards Jill Scott.
ECG: So, your sound. When you sing who would you compare your sound to?
LR: I think I sound like a mixture of Chaka Khan and Jill Scott.
ECG: Which sounds like a good mixture to me, lol, I like em both.
LR: That’s what I said lol.
ECG: Are you good in any other area of performing arts?
LR: No. I know what I would like to be good at. I would like to be a better dancer.
ECG: Lol, me too! One day I just wanna get out there and cut a rug so deep, and have the whole audience looking at me as I’m just swinging and swaying and turning lol, just one time.
LR: I wish I knew how to play an instrument well enough to perform it, but I don’t. My number one strength is vocal performance. Recently, I realized I am good at spoken word as well. Maybe that can tie into something.
ECG: I feel that maybe it goes hand in hand with being a lyricist. It’s like your nature. When I hear a singer singing, to me it’s like poetry with music. So I’m pretty sure you would be great at spoken word.
LR: Ironically, I am. Like you said when it comes to poetry set to music, you have to feel those words to the core. Whenever I’m performing anything, I’m feeling it. Like those words came from my mouth and I mean it from the bottom of my heart. I think that really comes across every time I perform, at least I would like to think so.
ECG: Have you ever experienced writer’s block?
LR: Yeah, all the time.
ECG: How do you handle writer’s block?
LR: Just like an athlete getting over a Charlie Horse, work it out. I mean this is what you do, so if you feel like you have a cramp then you do what’s necessary to get that cramp out and you move forward.
ECG: I believe you are newly married?
LR: I am. October 16th.
ECG: And how’s the married life so far?
LR: I love it. It’s so much better than the single life.
ECG: Tell me about it. Lol.
LR: For me it’s so much better. My husband is my number one. He listens to all my crap, and he gives me good advice when I need it. Sometimes it’s stuff that I don’t want to hear.
ECG: I wanted to ask you, is it difficult being in the entertainment business while also being married?
LR: It’s challenging for both of us because we spend so much time apart. It has its ups and downs. I do believe in the saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. Sometimes you kind of need that time away.ECG: Do you have any advice for someone who is in the industry and is either married or planning to get married?
LR: Well that’s tough, because everyone’s relationship is different. One main piece of advice that I would like to share, was something that my grandfather on my mother’s side passed along to me and my husband which is never go to bed angry with one another. No good can come out of it. Then my grandparents on my dad’s side said that no matter what, even if you are upset learn how to agree to disagree.
ECG: That’s another great piece of advice, because you’re not going to agree all the time. If you two agree, that you’re not going to come to an agreement on that particular subject…depending on what it is, you know some stuff you just have to come to an agreement on. But things such as opinions and feelings, okay we just disagree; we’re not on the same page where that’s concerned.
LR: Right, just agree to disagree and when you go to bed, don’t go to bed mad.
ECG: What does L’Renee like to do to relax?
LR: I like watching horror movies lol.
ECG: Lol, how is that relaxing?
LR: I wanna see some blood and guts and somebody getting chopped up.
ECG: Wowww lol. Now for me, that kind of stuff gets my blood to boiling. I don’t know about you but some movies have me so tensed up during the good parts, I’m like wow. I leave more hyped than I went in.
LR: Lol, right. When its time to go to bed, your eyes are like glued open like, dang what is that? lol.
ECG: Yeah, like what did I just see?
LR: Yeah, but I just like to watch movies. I’m a movie watcher. Horrors are my favorite, but I like all movies. When I want to wind down, I just put a movie on. And then I like rum and coke.
ECG: Don’t leave that out!
LR: Lol, we won’t name a brand until they cut a check.
ECG: You named a few names such a Prince and a few others… people like Luther, Michael Jackson and Yolanda Adams who have and have had such longevity in their careers even though they sing in different genres, R&B, Pop, Gospel, what quality do you believe they share?
LR: I think that it really has to do with something that I mentioned earlier, doing what is put on your heart. They let that creative force take over and they didn’t care about whether somebody was going to like it or not. They did what was good for them. You have to be authentic. You cannot make it in really any industry and really endure it for long term unless you are building your career on what’s true and what’s fair, so when you’re authentic, it really comes through, and that’s what I mean by being true.
ECG: It seems to me that the music or entertainment business can be exhausting, is it?
LR: Yupp!
ECG: Lol.
LR: A lot of people see the glamour of it, that hour and a half or two hours of a show, they see the artists up there doing what they love and let me tell you there is no other experience like it. Doing something that you are passionate about and in your favor, other people are just as passionate about what you’re doing, and you get to make a living off of it. But that two hour show could sometimes take years to develop, it can be very daunting.
Anytime you’re in a profession, you have spent countless hours fine tuning your craft. For instance Oakland, California was my last show…to give you an idea what a typical day is like, and this is for me as the background singer, this is not the star of the show.
Anytime you’re in a profession, you have spent countless hours fine tuning your craft. For instance Oakland, California was my last show…to give you an idea what a typical day is like, and this is for me as the background singer, this is not the star of the show.
I’m up Saturday at 5 a.m. and at the airport because my flight leaves at 7:45, so I’m at the airport. We are traveling from 7:45 a.m. Detroit time, we have a layover in Houston, Texas and then we arrive in Oakland, California around 2 p.m. We get to the hotel and we have maybe an hour to eat, and try to unwind, settle or whatever you have to do. Then we’re off to the show. The show starts at 4 p.m. We perform at around 4:30, maybe 5 o’clock. We get off stage at 7 p.m., our flight leaves at midnight, but our flight is about three hours from where we’re staying. So we have another bite to eat, get to the hotel in enough time to shower. Then we drive two to three hours away. Our flight is at midnight, we have a layover somewhere, so we’re traveling from midnight until twelve noon the next day.
ECG: That’s exhausting just to hear.
LR: Yea, and that’s just to perform. That doesn’t include time invested into creating the show, that doesn’t include getting the lighting right, and the sound right…that doesn’t include learning the song.
ECG: Which is what I was wondering, when do you rehearse?
LR: We have rehearsal time. We rehearse more before the touring begins then we do now. But if we rest for more than five days then we have another rehearsal, we have to rehearse.
ECG: Now, you stay humble, but a lot of folks feel like when a person 'makes it' they change. Why do you think that is? Is it necessary to change?
LR: Me and my husband talk about this all of the time. First of all, I think a person is who they are before they make it. I think that certain situations can bring out a negative aspect of a person’s personality. For instance if a person greedy, when they get some money they’re still gonna be greedy. Sometimes because they have what they were trying to get, it just kind of glorifies that personality trait, so that’s one aspect of it. Another aspect of it is sometimes the people around that person change.
ECG: Right, and they try to blame the change on you. They say it’s you that changed.
LR: Yeah they do. Sometimes it’s not the individual, sometimes it’s the people around them. I’ve had people who I’ve just barely spoken to turn around and ask me for twenty grand! It’s not that I’ve changed, but I don’t even know you.
ECG: What about your friends? Have you had to leave any old friends behind, or just cut strings and let go?
LR: I have. It had nothing to do with music though. I think that everyone has their own passion in life and as your maturity level changes sometimes you do have to change the friends that are around you.
ECG: Yes you do. Do you train or give vocal lessons?
LR: You know what? No. I have been asked to do so. There is someone I can refer though, someone who has been trained on how to train a voice. My talent is really raw.
ECG: I get it, you just sing. Teaching someone how to sing is like a whole different thing.
Do a lot of the ladies in your mentorship program plan on getting involved in the entertainment industry?
LR: Well, some do and some of them have no desire. Most of them have some kind of creative spark. Usually the people who end up getting into the mentorship program are individuals who their parents are friends of mine, and their children have become friends of mine as a result. I try to make it a point to let them know that someone that you look up to can spend time with you, be fun and also encourage you to do better. Things like that.
ECG: Are there any other upcoming events or business ventures that you would like the viewers to know about?
LR: The only thing that’s coming up is the launch for Girl Power non-profit and it’s also a concert which is gonna be my first in the Detroit area for this year. That’s a first. It’s a blessing, because I’ve been on the road. I would like anybody that’s near Detroit to come. If you’re in Ohio, Chicago, Flint, Toledo, Canada, or somewhere close on October 28th, I want you to come to the African American Museum. The ticket prices are not astronomical. You can purchase tickets in advance which will be less expensive. We do have a limited amount of seats that are available for pre-sale and they’re online right now.
ECG: I plan on being there. I do, I really do.
LR: How can we get in contact with you if we wanted to book a show or have you do an appearance?
Everything you could possibly want to know or need from L’Renee is available at L’Renee.net, and you can get access to all of my social networking sites. If you’re a Facebooker you can connect with me there or if you’re a Twitter person you can tweet me. All of that’s acceptable there if you just want updates you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter. You can see videos of other shows. We also have contests that are going on that you can participate in. Everything is at L’Renee.net.
ECG: It’s been good talking to you. Will you promise to come back and keep us updated on what you’re doing?
LR: Absolutely.
~~~~~
Well, I see that being in the entertainment business can be a very exciting yet very strenuous career. My hat goes off to those that actually stick in there and make a name for themselves. With the positive attitude displayed by Mrs. Lori Alexander a.k.a. L’Renee, I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more from her for a long time coming. Good Luck L!
That's all for now everyone. And always remember toooo - Keep it Cold!
Cold Medinah
Facebook.com/coldest.medinah
Brought to you by Erotic City Global's VIP Entertainment Sector
No comments:
Post a Comment