Java.NOV.2015

Camille
Sledge
Soul
PAOwer
By Demetrius Burns • Photos Enrique Garcia
Camille Sledge apologizes when I finally connect with her.
Her mom kept her on the phone too long—something that
happens often to her and to others who are close with their
parents. Sledge’s mom is a typical mother, apart from the
fact that, well, she was part of the super group Sister Sledge, which
created the international hit “We Are Family” in 1979 at the height
of disco.
Some artists are reticent to talk about their influences because
it might expose their work as mimicry or seem to discredit their
individual aesthetic, but with Sledge—who is the lead singer of
Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra—it’s obvious who her main influence
is, and she’s not shy about it.
“I saw my mom [while] growing up,” said Sledge. “I saw how she
was able to reach people. I would see people cry and thank her.”
It wasn’t until Sledge became a mother herself—she has threeyear
old daughter and an eight-month old son—that she realized
her true calling in music was to continue the positive message
espoused by her mother. “The kids are getting messages from music
that are just wrong. Once you have a message that is spread across
the masses and it’s a good message then the masses want it. When
people want to hear your good message that means you’ve done
something in the world.”
Her mother performed with the Jackson 5 and other huge acts, but
in ordinary life she was one of the people. She would walk into
grocery stores wearing sweats and her hair in a bun; she’d feed
and pray for every homeless person she came across. That’s just
the type of person she was, Sledge said. Though fame required her
to travel, Sledge remembers her mom always being there for her.
“My mom was the one constant. I don’t know if she knows that,
but she was a very good mom. She raised six of us and none of us
are addicts or in jail,” Sledge said. What stands out to Sledge is
her mom’s ability to be a universal mother to the world—to see the
world as hurting and in need of family, in need of a hand. Sledge
wants to help provide to that to people through her music, as well.
In that way, the proverbial apple didn’t fall far from the tree. But
in many other ways Sledge is her own person. Whereas her mom
would walk into a grocery store in normal, humble clothes, Sledge
would be just fine walking in wearing a fur coat and sunglasses.
Sledge is one of those people who likes to talk about herself; it’s
natural and reflects a deep self-awareness that was nurtured by her
caring mother, whose shadow she felt she lived in as a performer
for a while. She doesn’t have the voice of her mother—the booming
R&B voice that’s typified by modern singers like Beyonce. Instead
her voice lends itself to funk and soul a bit more. Her voice was a
natural fit for the local super group PAO, a 15-member band that
plays in the Afrobeat tradition of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen and has
shared a stage with The Roots and George Clinton, to name a few.