FLOD Spotlight - Issue 7

(the drummer) were having a jam session and I was just blown
away by their musical skills and their ability to play. As a unit, they
were extraordinary. I just felt this is really something special. Then
they played some of their original music and I was very impressed
with it. It was fresh, new, and had components of mainstream
music that I felt everybody would love once they heard it and they
did. I just didn’t know it would be that huge, but 40 years later, the
music is still loved.
Your time in Chic ended in 1978 because you got
signed to Warner Brothers/Bearsville Records to be
a solo artist. You wanted to stay in the group and do
solo work on the side, but unfortunately, things didn’t
work out that way. What was the ending like for you
when you had to part ways?
I was sad because I didn’t even initiate the solo situation. Bernard
and the Executive Producers had that all set up. The plan was that
I would do the solo music and continue on with Chic because
Warner/Bearsville was under Atlantic Records, where Chic was
signed and I was signed under Warner, so it was all under the
same corporation, but when the plan didn’t go down as I was told
it would, I was heartbroken. I loved working with Chic and in a
group setting, but what could I do except continue on.
PHOTO BY KAT ARMENDARIZ
By Call Me Adam (Adam Rothenberg)
Who or what inspired you to become a singer?
I grew up in Ohio, in Cleveland, in a small industrial city called
Elyria and my mom was constantly singing because she loved to
sing. I listened to Motown music, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight,
Nancy Wilson, and all those wonderful singers. I would watch The
Supremes on TV. All of that is what inspired me to become a singer.
You are widely known for being the lead singer of
Chic. How did you first come to be in the band?
I was introduced to Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards after I
moved to NYC from Ohio. My friend, Layne Davis, who is still one
of my best friends, said to me “I know these guys, they are great
musicians, they are putting a group together and they are looking
for a lead female vocalist.” She told me I should audition, so I did,
and I ended up getting the gig. It was amazing because I was only
living in New York for about six months when I joined Chic.
What did you love about being in Chic?
PHOTO BY KAT ARMENDARIZ
When I got to the audition, Nile, Bernard, and Tony Thompson
It didn’t turn out to be so bad on my own because I got to work with
Luther Vandross, Madonna and many other artists I wouldn’t have
been able to work with had I stayed on with Chic. We would have
been on tour and I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of the session
stuff. I ended up writing songs too. I got to work with Kenny Burke.
We wrote “Risin’ To The Top.”
Even though things didn’t go as planned, I still ended up doing
pretty well and I’m thankful for that. And now, I have the legacy of
Chic plus a few other things. I’m happy now, but at the time I was
very sad.
Speaking of the other artist you have worked
with, (Aretha Franklin Debbie Gibson, and as you
mentioned earlier, Madonna), do you have any stories
about working with them that you could share with
us?
The Madonna story I’ve told so many times that it’s probably
redundant now because nobody knew she was going on to be this
huge star. I had met her at a dance class and as I’ve said numerous
times before, she was an extraordinary dancer. I was like, “Who
is this chick dancing like this?” I had met her and we ended up
hanging out/being friends and that’s how I ended up on her first
album. I introduced her to several people in the business because
at that time, Chic had released our first album and we were doing
well, and there were people in the industry I knew.
As I mentioned before, Aretha and Gladys Knight were two singers
I really admired & tried to sing like. So when Luther Vandross called
me to sing on “Jump To It” on Aretha’s album he was producing, I

was just like “Oh my goodness this is a dream come true.” Oh, what
an enormous loss we just had with her passing. I feel very sad about
that. There is nobody like her and there will NEVER be another
Queen of Soul.
And with Debbie Gibson, which album did you work on?
I worked on her first album, Out of the Blue. She was very, very
talented. Debbie was very young then and that album really blew
up. I knew Debbie and her mom because her mom managed
Debbie at the time. She & her mom were just very kind and warm.
What do you feel has been the hardest part, for you,
about the change in the music industry since you
started?
“I’m happy now, but at the time
I was very sad.”
There were so many venues to play at in those early days, but a lot of
them have since closed. And with the onset of the internet, it’s hard
to stay on top of collecting your money regarding publishing, but
it’s getting better now because of agencies like Sound Exchange who
help collect money.
What change do you feel has helped enhance the
music industry that you didn’t have when you were
with Chic or just starting out?
There is so much more visibility now because of the internet. When
you think back, Chic’s music was known, but you didn’t really have a
face to put to the music because we didn’t have the type of platforms
that are available today like YouTube & Spotify. We didn’t release as
many videos as people do now. There’s a lot of visibility and it’s a
smaller world as a result of that. The access to other countries is right
there, available, in front of you, on your computer. As they say, it’s
been a curse and a blessing.
Now let’s get to the First Ladies of Disco. How did you
become part of this entity?
Well, all of this started as a result of a book authored by James Arena.
He wrote this book, First Ladies of Disco, and there are 32 women
featured in this book. I’m one of the women in the book, along with
Martha Wash, Linda Clifford, Gloria Gaynor, & the list goes on and
on. After the book was written, James Washington, who happens
to be Martha Wash’s Manager & creator of the First Ladies of Disco
show, put the concept together. Then I was invited to participate and
that’s how it started for me.
What do you enjoy most about working with Martha
and Linda?
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve always been one to enjoy working in
a group setting. We all perform individual sets and then we come
together for a tribute medley and a finale. It’s a team effort. I’ve
always said, “If you have a great team or collective, you can’t beat
that.” I love the shine we all get from being a team.
What do you have coming up that you can share with us?
The First Ladies of Disco will be doing a Christmas show in NYC at
Joe’s Pub on November 29th and 30th.
I performed in Sydney Australia, at Sydney’s Opera House as
part of Disco Spectacular, backed by a 42-piece orchestra. We
performed our disco hits, which
I was very excited about. My
song, “Saturday,” was remixed
by Dimitri from Paris, and I
got to perform that version of
“Saturday” for the first time
along with some of the other
classics I do.
I’m still working with Alfa
Anderson and Luci Martin, the other two lead vocalists from
Chic. We have some shows coming up. Our friendship and
working relationship is stronger than ever. It’s wonderful to still
be working together after all of these years. Now our demographic
is millennials and the X generation all the way up to folks in their
80s/90s. It is just terrific.
The First Ladies of Disco performed with the Huntington Symphony
Orchestra a little while ago. We performed our single “Show Some
Love” and there were some teenagers, 15 or 16 years old, singing
along to this song as well as some of our other hits. Their parents
were singing along too. It was great to see everyone appreciating
the music.
I have a component to my interviews called “I Can See
Clearly Now,” where I try to clear up misconceptions
about my interviewees. What do you feel is the
biggest misconception out there about yourself that
you would like to clear up right now?
I think we touched upon it at the beginning of the interview.
There are so many people who thought, with my solo career, I just
decided to leave Chic and go out on my own. That was the biggest
misconception of all because who would leave a hit group and go out
and test unknown territory? I think this has now been cleared up.
When you look back on your life and career, what
makes you go “I can’t believe I got to do that” and
what makes you go “Oh I wish I got to do that”?
Well, I can’t believe Chic was nominated 11 times for the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame and never made it in. I hope, oh, it doesn’t matter,
because we were nominated and the music speaks for itself.
I wish we could have won a Grammy for some of that music. I also
wish, but it’s not going to happen because they are no longer here,
so this would have to be in the heavenly choir, but I wish I could
work with Luther Vandross, Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, Tony
Thompson, and Raymond Jones again. I miss the old crew. They
were such great mentors and friends. I’m so blessed to have had
that time with them.
And I’m grateful that I’m still standing, in good health, surrounded
by great family and friends!
By Call Me Adam (Adam Rothenberg)
PHOTO BY KAT ARMENDARIZ
Who or what inspired you to become a singer?
Right off the bat, huh? It’s so funny because I started singing at
such a young age (4-years-old) that I don’t think there was any one
person who influenced me. I just thought it was fun.
As I got older, I certainly had my singing heroes, one of which was
Aretha Franklin, whom we recently lost unfortunately. Aretha and
I are not that different in age, so to have someone close to my age
doing the things that she did and recording the songs she made
really set me on fire to get out there and be a singer. Then later in
my career, I actually got to sing some of the songs Aretha recorded
and that was very cool.
Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick were other influences of mine.
I just saw Gladys in concert recently and her voice is as strong
today as when she started. Unreal! I want to be her when I grow
up [laughs].
When you started out singing your focus was on jazz,
but ultimately you switched to R&B/Pop. What do
you think made you change your musical focus?
I think the audiences I was working for had a great deal to do with
that. I worked a lot of nightclubs before I started recording. People
would come in and request certain songs. I would think to myself,
“You’d rather hear that than this? Okay.” So, I started singing the
songs they were requesting. One of the main reasons you go into
this business is to satisfy your audience and make them happy.
Music brings such joy to people, so you want to make them happy
and you do the songs they ask for.
What challenges do you feel you faced when you
switched genres?
I always found that music, no matter what type of music, made me
feel good. Quite honestly, I found myself getting more work after I
started to sing R&B/Pop. I booked gigs around the country. It gave
me a lot more confidence in myself as a singer because I thought,
“Wow, I can do that, that, and that (meaning different genres of
music). It was a positive experience for me in the long run.
Do you remember when you first felt like you had
success with R&B/Pop? What was that moment like?
I was working a supper club in Fullerton, CA, and someone came
in and actually said, “Do that ‘Yeah Yeah’ song by Sly & The Family
Stone. I’m thinking to myself, “This is a dinner club, you don’t want
to hear me screaming that song” [laughs], but they were like “Yeah,
do that song” and we did it. I remember the club owner having a
stroke [laughs], he was like “What the hell is going on?” But then
he realized all the people who were sitting, having their dinner,
were up singing & dancing, having a great time. Then he said to
us, “You know, that’s not my kind of music, but if you are going to
do it, could you do it a little softer?” [laughs] Then that became the
standard every night we were there, we had to sing that song. The
gig was for six weeks. To me that was a great success.
I think recording wise, I felt like I had success when I did “Runaway
Love,” which I wrote about my ex-husband. This song was based
upon our relationship. When we were on tour for “If My Friends
Could See Me Now,” we had the radio on and “Runaway Love”
came on the radio, we all gasped.
When we recorded that song, we were looking for material at

that time, so the band was just playing around and I got up to the
microphone and started talking and they recorded it. It was kind of
done as a joke and then they said, “Oh my God, this is a smash. This
is going to be a huge hit.” I was like, “You can’t release that. You can’t
let people know what is going on in my life.” I got into a big fight
with the record company and of course, at that stage in my career,
I was young and dumb, and signed whatever they put in front of
me and I really didn’t have a choice in whether it was released or
not. Then next thing I knew, that song was all over the radio. I then
got requests from different radio stations around the country to
come and talk about the song on the radio. That was a kind of an
interesting and “Come to Jesus” moment all at the same time. It was
like, “Girl, you got a hit whether you like it or not.” [laughs]
It was an incredible feeling to hear my song on the radio. It’s amazing
and scary all at the same time. For a while in my career, I stopped
traveling and started doing television and radio commercials,
jingles and voice overs, and I remember being in the car, hearing
this music come on and I go, “Gee, this sounds familiar” and
then I realized, “Oh my God, that’s me!” It was a Michelob Light
commercial that ran for like four years and I was like “Thank You
Jesus!” [laughs] That was kind of awesome. I was very grateful for
those times.
I was going to get to this later, but since you brought
it up, let’s talk about this now. At the height of your
fame, you decided to focus on your personal life and
raise your family. How did you come to this decision?
Did you worry that if you walked away, there would
be no going back?
I didn’t worry about not being able to go back. The main reason that
I left was realizing that I was working myself to death, the record
company was making all the money and I had nothing, except my
family. It was more important to me to have a wonderful home
life, which I managed to have in spite of everything else. I’ve been
married to a wonderful man for 40 years. We have two wonderful
children. One from my first marriage, which my husband raised
as his own, and then my husband & I had a daughter together. If I
have nothing else, I can say, “We were good parents and raised two
incredible people.”
After some time away, the record company came to me because
they wanted to resign me. I thought to myself, “Wait a minute, if
you take a look at my account with you, you will see your secretary
took a vacation and billed it to me. You will also see that I’ve been
charged for the same instrument four times. You people are lying
and cheating and stealing from me. Why would I want to work for
that? Why would I want to go back to the same kind of treatment
of being used and abused?” So, I didn’t.
I’ve reached an age now where I just feel empowered. It’s going to
be this way or it’s not happening.
When did you start songwriting? What do you like
most about the songwriting process?
I actually started writing when I was in high school. I loved to
write poetry. It occurred to me one day, “Why don’t you ask
someone to put music to this?” At another point, someone I knew
had written a melody and I had put words to it. I thought, well, this
is songwriting 101, but I know I can do this.
I was signed with Warner-Chapel for two years. They had some
great acts, so you could get your music placed with some great
people. I got a call one day from the record label and they said,
“Gloria Gaynor is looking for some new music. Can you write
something that she might like? You know she’s very religious, you
have to keep that in mind.” I thought about it for a bit and then
wrote a lyric for her and they came up with some music for her and
she liked it. She loved it. She recorded it on a CD and I thought,
“Well isn’t that cool! I’m glad I did that, aside from the things I’ve
written for myself.”
Then my friend Martha Wash mentioned that she was going to do
a Gospel CD. I had never thought I would do a Gospel CD, but at
some point before I spoke with Martha, I would wake-up in the
middle of the night with these lyrics in my head and I would try to
go back to sleep, but I couldn’t. So, I would get up and write them
down and go back to sleep. Then the next night, the same thing
would happen and it just kept happening. I wrote these songs and
I was like, “Wow.” One of them was very near and dear to my heart
being about some of the things I had been through in my life. Then
I sang them for Martha and she said, “Wow! Can I record these?”
I was like, “Uh, yeah!” She ended up recording three out of the
four songs I wrote. “You Lift Me Up” was one of the tunes, Martha
recorded, that made it into the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. Then
there was one that was a ballad, “Wash Me Lord,” and that song
came to me like water coming out of a faucet. I just sat down and
the words just poured out of me. That’s probably my favorite song.
One of my other favorite artists you also wrote for
was Cher.
Oh my gosh, yeah! This was also Warner-Chapel and they were like
Cher’s going into the studio and she’s looking for a song. I think at
the time, I was doing a writing tour in the UK. We came up with
this song, sent it to Warner-Chapel and they came back to us saying
Cher liked the song. We were like, “What?!?” Unfortunately, she
ended up not using the song, but at least I know that she liked it
and that made me feel good.
I kick myself sometimes for not writing more. I should get a bit
more involved in the writing aspect of this business because I have
been fortunate with the things I have written, whether for myself
or other people. Sometimes I get that voice in my head that makes
me wonder whether or not my stuff is good enough to show to
somebody and I hold back. I’m still at that place despite of the
success I have had. I just have to push through that voice and write
more because I’ll never know unless I try.
The music industry has changed quite a bit since you
started out. What has been the hardest part for you of
this change? What part of the change are you excited
by?
I think the hardest thing for me to adjust to is there aren’t many
record companies around anymore. Record companies used to
take an artist and build a long-term career with you. When I was
starting out, I walked out on the stage by myself and sang. I didn’t
lip sync. I was the excitement. I knew how to perform.
That’s not the case anymore. The younger you are the more they
want you. You don’t have to have talent. You have to have a look.
You have to have a story. They are not looking to build careers.
They want the fast buck now.
Now, let’s move to the present. You are part of the First
Ladies of Disco, along with Martha Wash, Norma Jean
Wright & a host of other artists from the Disco era.
How did you become part of this entity?
Let’s go back to where the idea originally came from. James Arena
wrote this incredible book called
First Ladies of Disco. He did that
because he was such a fan of the
music. Someone contacted me
about the book and I said it was
okay for them to have James
Arena get in touch with me. It
turns out I was the first person he
interviewed for the book.
He interviewed me and the other ladies I told him about including
Martha Wash, whom I’ve known for so many years, since her days
with Sylvester. Her manager, James Washington, Martha & I ended
up working on a gig together. We got along really well, talking
about the old days. James Washington came up with this idea of
putting together a show of these women. It started from there and
has grown since.
I’m so happy to be part of it. We’re touring around the country with
this show, First Ladies of Disco, and it’s just great.
What have you enjoyed most about working with
them?
The camaraderie between us both on-stage and off-stage. It’s like
hanging out with your girlfriends. It’s amazing. When we are out
there together watching the audience is insane. The audience just
loves the show. They go crazy.
We are just so appreciative of them. They know all the songs. They
sing along. They dance. It’s a great show. It’s a fun show.
What is coming up for you that you can share with us?
Four of my CDs were just re-mastered and re-released. So I’ve been
touring myself along with The First Ladies of Disco. I’m taking a
short vacation, but then I’ll start touring again to promote the CDs.
It’s almost like they are brand new. Fans are writing to me to tell me
how much they love the sound. It’s a great feeling that this stuff is
happening again, a second time around. I’m also going to work on
getting the other four CDs re-mastered. Rest during the holidays
and then in the New Year start touring again.
I have a component to my interviews called “I Can See
Clearly Now,” where I try to clear up misconceptions
about my interviewees. What do you feel is the biggest
misconception out there about yourself right now,
that you’d like to clear up?
People throw around the word Diva a lot. Diva’s are not nice most
of the time. I don’t consider myself a Diva. I’m pretty down to earth
and I’m just me. I love people. If you go on my Facebook page or
Twitter feed, you’ll see, I try to write to people every single day. I
love my fans. They made a difference in my life. They changed my
life. They gave me something I could never have without them. So
I want them to know I appreciate it.
“You know, that’s not my kind of
music, but if you are going to do it,
could you do it a little softer?”
When you look back on your life/career, what makes
you go, “I can’t believe I got to do that?”
There are two things I can’t believe I got to do. One is my
performance at Lincoln Center. I got to perform at Lincoln Center
in Avery Fisher Hall. Growing up in New York, I would go there
to see concerts and shows and all of a sudden I’m there in my own
dressing room getting ready to go on stage and perform. I thought,
“Holy crap! This is amazing!”
The second is I got to be on American Bandstand, stand next to Dick
Clark and have him interview me. We had this great conversation
and I cried on air. He made me cry. He asked me, “What’s the most
exciting thing you’ve done since you’ve had this success?” I said,
“This is it. Standing next to you, being on this show right now. I
grew up watching you on TV and I just adore you.” Then I just
started crying.
What makes you say, “Oh, I wish I got to do this?”
I think I’d like to get back into acting more. I did some when I was
younger, but I was too impatient for it. I want to do Broadway. I
would love to do it. I want to do a Broadway musical so badly! That
would be my moment. I could die ha¬¬ppy then. [laughs]

smaller than I’m used to performing on, so that’s been interesting
to work with. Audience members who are sitting in the front row
can pretty much see my tonsils [laughs].
What made you want to be part of WaistWatchers the
Musical initially?
I thought I would take a chance and do something that I’ve never
done before and really challenge myself. I had to learn all the songs
(we sing about 18-20 songs in this show), plus the dialogue, plus
the dancing. It’s been fun, but it’s challenging, yet I’m still standing,
so I must be doing something right [laughs].
What do you relate to most about the show?
My character, “Connie” is the oldest of the group. She has a husband
and kids and it seems like she’s lost her sexy. She’s coming to the
group to get her sexy back.
are going around. That’s how he put this show together.
Even though we are a little older, it doesn’t mean we are not relevant
in performing or putting music out because we still are. You might
not hear us on the radio, but you can still hear us on internet radio.
That is why the concept works. It shows people we are still here,
touring, and making music.
What has been the best part about performing with
Linda Clifford and Norma Jean Wright?
I’ve known them for years and years and years, so it’s a fun kind of
sisterhood that we go out there and perform together. We have a
blast both backstage and onstage.
The audience feels our energy and in turn they have a great time.
They want to hear our classic music, maybe more so than what we
What projects do you have coming up that you can
tell us about?
I’m still working on a new album that will be out in 2019. I’ve been
taking my time with it because I want it to get it the best I possibly
can, so I haven’t been in any real hurry to release it.
I’m touring with my shows, the First Ladies of Disco and continuing
to do WaistWatchers.
I’m also looking for new artists to put on my record label Purple
Rose Records and putting out another song with First Ladies of
Disco. We are in the process of working on that.
I continue my work with FLOD Magazine and my YouTube talk
show 10 Minutes with Martha Wash.
I’m not married nor do I have kids, but I still identify with “Connie”
in being the size that I am and trying to get myself back in shape.
There are some exercises I will do, others I won’t because I can’t. I
leave those to the younger girls in the show to perform [laughs].
When we meet the audience after the show, many of the women
that come up to me say, “I’m Connie, I can relate.” That’s been
another fun part, relating to some of these women.
“I thought I would take a chance and
do something that I’ve never done
before and really challenge myself.”
By Call Me Adam (Adam Rothenberg)
PHOTO BY KAT ARMENDARIZ
Last time we spoke you were starring in the Fresh
Grind Festival’s production of I Want To Eat Brains.
Now you have been co-starring in WaistWatchers the
Musical in Chicago that is enjoying an open run.
What lessons from I Want To Eat Brains did you bring
with you to WaistWatchers the Musical?
Being able to work with different people. With WaistWatchers it’s
about five of us, with I Want to Eat Brains, it was about ten. I am
learning more about musical theatre as I go along. This particular
area of entertainment was not something I thought about doing,
per se, but this opportunity came my way. I wasn’t quite sure what
I was getting myself into, but it’s been very interesting for me, both
physically and mentally.
We are doing seven shows a week and this show is very physical. It’s
a 90-minute show with no intermission. We are constantly moving
and it has taken my body through some changes, I have to say. I’ve
lost weight during this show, which is a side bonus of doing this
show.
It’s been fun working with these other ladies. The space is a lot
It has really been a blast. My castmates and I hold each other up
every night we have to perform. We just have fun and the audience
can see that and in turn, they have fun as well.
Since WaistWatchers is about dieting, exercise, plastic
surgery, sex and self-love, what tips/advice would you
have for other women about these topics that you
have embraced?
You have to love yourself. It doesn’t matter what size you are. You
have to love yourself where you are in that particular moment.
If you want to do something to change yourself, whether other
people agree with you or not, at the end of the day, you have to live
with yourself. You have to be happy with yourself. When you’re
ready to make those changes, then you’ll do it.
Now let’s switch topics for a bit and talk First Ladies
of Disco show. What was your immediate reaction
when you were approached about putting this show
together?
I thought it was a great idea. James Washington had the idea to
expand on the book that James Arena wrote.
James Washington thought there are still a lot of these artists out
there that people are forgetting about, so why not have the original
singers perform their music instead of the many tribute bands that
record today, because it brings back memories for them. It brings
back a time when people went to clubs to have fun and dance.
Speaking of memories, what are some of your fondest
memories of the disco era?
Probably when I started singing with Sylvester in the mid-70s. It
was just about the music and going to the clubs. I was barely 21. I
was just a wide-eyed kid going to these clubs dancing, meeting my
friends, and making new friends.
I remember the times when one particular song would come on
and everybody hit the dance floor at the same time and just a line
dance would form. Like “The Hustle.” It was just innocent fun. We
knew the drugs were out there and people were doing them over
in the corner, but for the most part, people just wanted to go out
there, have fun, drink and dance.
What differences do you notice about how you
perform today as opposed to back in the days of disco?
Cell phones. That is the number one thing for me. It drives me
nuts. Everybody is taking your picture. They’re recording you. I’m
saying to myself, “Put the damn phone down. Get into the music.
Dance. Sing. “
With all you have going on, how do you stay healthy
and not get run down?
I pray a lot and take my vitamins.
What would you still like to accomplish that you
haven’t?
I would like to record a Gospel album. Maybe I’d like to record a
Jazz or Standards album. This would be totally different from what
people would expect me to do. That’s a good thing because I don’t
ever want to be put into one particular box or genre of music. That’s
why I keep it flexible as far as the genres of music are concerned.