It’s been almost five years since Kelly Price released her last album, ‘This Is Who I Am,’ but it seems the Gospel-R&B diva hasn’t missed a beat. The “Friend of Mine” star, who is currently trying to maximize her presence in Hollywood, recently talked with Singersroom about, breaking in Hollywood, being dynamic, her new album, ‘Kelly,’ and why the Queen Project with Tamia and Deborah Cox went to the way side.
SINGERSROOM: Can you make me some fish tacos. I saw you cooking on Facebook and that food looks great! [laughter]
Kelly Price: It’s really easy. We just need to take a day and review that side of me. [laughter]
SINGERSROOM: Yes, I need some fish tacos! How have you been and what have you been working on?
Kelly Price: I have been working on getting my son out of high school and transitioning into life in Los Angeles area. I came out here wanting to really take a stab at what I do musically. I wanted to start working for other people like I did when I first jumped into this game. I was writing for so many people before I had a record.
I want to expand that avenue by doing voice overs, television and music. There are so many outlets for what I do. There is so much more than to just write for just a specific genre. I would be throwing away a really good opportunity. I want to maximize what I do. I’ve been really working to get with the right network so I can get into movies etc. It may sound corny or cliché but I want to expand my creative horizons. It would be amazing to here music as a backdrop to a scene from a movie, a soup opera or a song being sung in a commercial. When it comes to making records or recording song, I can do that in my sleep.
SINGERSROOM: What is the definition of a dynamic woman to you?
Kelly Price: I think most women are dynamic and they are dynamic naturally. They are dynamic because they don’t have a choice but to be dynamic. They are almost born into having multifaceted lives. Women have to know how to multi-task. I really feel that women that are not dynamic are not acting naturally because they are forcing themselves be one dimensional. For the most part, our nature is to take care of things and help nurture people. Our nature is also to go so far to nurture people to the point where we neglect ourselves. Dynamic is something that comes naturally to females. There is a good and a bad to that. Naturally dynamic is allowing yourself to feel and to allow people to come to you and be 100 percent who they are.
SINGERSROOM: How do you balance being a mother and being a musician? How do you balance the Hollywood and home?
Kelly Price: It is ever changing. What I used to do ten years ago I don’t do now. I am changing and so is my family. I have a son on his way to college and I have one more child in high school. The balancing act is a little bit trickier because I am raising my children. I am my children’s mother. I have not given my kids away for them to be raised. I have literally done shows and jumped on a red eye to be back for a show or a performance then leave from the school to the airport to get to where I need to be. It has not been easy but it requires a lot of prayer.
I do have to stop, breathe and say its okay to make a mistake. I am very hard when it comes to missing something because I have chosen this way of life. My children benefit but they also have to deal with other things that other children don’t have to deal with. There are times were they need to access me and can not. There are also times when my daughter needs me and I’m performing or unavailable. She doesn’t have the luxury to go into the next room because she is having an “I need mommie moment” and talk to her mother or even just get on the phone to talk to her mother. I just go the distance to make sure they are respectful and hardworking kids and not kids that turn their nose up at other people because I despise that. I think that with Gods help, I have been able to do that. I think I have done a good job preparing these young adults, not just to make something of themselves, but actually contributing to society because they have an understanding that everything is reciprocal in life.
SINGERSROOM: What would be the ingredients for a dynamic man?
Kelly Price: I think a dynamic man has to be loved so he can know how to love. I think the process of a boy growing into a man requires him to be able to give that love properly. He has to be able to know the difference between being physical and showing love. A dynamic man absolutely loves and respects his mother and it will reflect with who ever they are with. They have to also understand balance.
I’m glad I was born a woman because it’s hard for men, especially African American men in this world. It’s a juggling act. They have a whole stigma they fight before anybody sees who they are as an individual. They have to take care of their families and they have to work ten times harder. They have to be able to keep it together even in the face of blatant racism then they have to come home and live peaceably. They have to live in the world that still has a lot of bigotry. I have to teach my son how to work around it and still love their spouse. I’ll be honest I can only pray that I have done as much as I can to raising my son but he does understand that there is a spiritual aspect and there has to be balance.
SINGERSROOM: Since you have grown up in the church how do you navigate in the music industry because it seems that it can be the total opposite from your beliefs?
Kelly Price: The key is to be transitional. Being transitional is to be able to walk into any situation and be who you are without making someone else feel bad about being who they are. When you are transitional you know how to get along without conforming to something you don’t believe in. Unless they want to just go out and become an entrepreneur and never work for someone ever again. You will never hold down a job and not have at some point transition and that is my spin on it. I do not let traditionalist change my thought pattern. I read the same Bible that they read. I think I can live at a level of comfort and I don’t think God is going to send me to hell for that.
SINGERSROOM: What happened to the project yourself, Tamia and Deborah Cox were working on?
Kelly Price: We had the music done ⦠everything worked beautifully. The entire album was recorded in two weeks. It was Mr. Crawford’s idea from the very beginning. This was 5 years ago when he came with the idea. I thought it was a great idea but a bad time for me. He came back with the idea last year and I had just finished this album. He also went to Tamia and Deborah with the idea. Deborah had already signed a contract with Broadway so she had a small window of time. I actually had more flexibility. When all the music was done it came time to take care of the business. We had three different managers, three different lawyers etc. It went from being a creative love fest to a trading day on the floor of Wall Street. Just too many people involved and the end result was we were unable to get it done in a time frame that would have allowed us to work the record and tour properly. We could have forced the music out but it would have just been another album that hit Itunes and stores. An executive decision was made even though it was disappointing for us and fans. But I think [releasing] the album without touring would have been a bigger disappointment. There will definitely be an opportunity to release it at a later date with proper touring.
SINGERSROOM: What made you want to do a self-titled album now?
Kelly Price: There are two reasons⦠one being this is the most personal album ever. There was no one song that embodied the album. I went home and came to the conclusion that it was just me so I called it Kelly. When you listen to it from front to back it’s me. It’s me baring my soul. I’m leaving all insecurities behind to tell something. This is where I am at now in life. I have created a list of things that I want to see myself do. So if I don’t push myself, I will never be able to do these things and letting go of some things will be required. Some are as simple as learning how to swim.
SINGERSROOM: Yeah, you have to learn that!
Kelly Price: Some of it is minor and some of it is major. So this album is about fighting Kelly to be Kelly but I’m releasing Kelly to be Kelly for the bad, ugly and indifferent.
SINGERSROOM: That’s a whole lot of Kelly. For some reason your voice and music and style reminds me of Aretha Franklin.
Kelly Price: I appreciate that ⦠there is so much said!
—— By: Interview By Deyior Dunbar
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