One on One: Jody Watley

Photo Credit: Mike Ruiz

One on One

With Jody Watley

 There are not many female R&B artists who start out as a member of a group and then move to a successful solo career. There are even fewer who earn a Grammy Award and release 15 Top 40 Billboard R&B hits. The numbers nearly disappear for those who become one of the first artists with a pop record featuring an MC. These are the high standards that today’s artists continue to follow, but then again there is only one Jody Watley. 

Growing up on the south side of Chicago with a father who once was a DJ for renowned black radio station WVON it’s no wonder that music was the path Jody would be led to follow. “I love Chicago and have many found memories of living there, and always look forward to coming home,” said Watley.

The journey to music has allowed her to live many places. In fact Jody says she is somewhat of a Gypsy. While she currently lives in California, during our interview, she briefly recounted her stay in London. That trip was supposed to be a six-month hiatus for the singer following the breakup of the group Shalamar. As many readers will recall, Ms. Watley was the group’s original female member. “I think I would have stayed there and lived in Paris if not for the fact that I couldn’t speak French!” she says. “However, living in London was fine because the language is the same. But the culture is different and visitors learn so much about how others live, and the taste they have for music, arts and culture.”

The reminder of how much we have in common as women hit me as soon as she spoke of her son’s graduation from high school the next day, calmly conducting an interview while shopping for last minute items while preparing for the big event. It is obvious that she has the whole multi-tasking thing down to a science like so many women…but Jody Watley is hardly like many other women.

Jody had many choices to make, but she never left the business. Jody lived life. She had children. She made her children her priority. Today it is evident as her youngest son prepares to go away to college that Watley is a proud mom and the cheers she wants most are from her children. “I still perform and enjoy it, but being a mother is my priority.”

Artist Prince was an inspiration to Watley when he took control of his music career and started his own record label to release his music. She thought it was the right thing for an artist to do she and followed that lead by launching her own record label Avitone. “Having control of my music and life was important,” she said.

“The freedom of being a businesswoman allows you to be completely creative and produce good music without restrictions and you also control your own deadlines and release dates based on your schedule.” Most of her time is spent balancing work, travel and family these days. When asked when she plans to release new music she says, “I have an album in the works, Chameleon.” She is still working to create her masterpiece.

“Artists today have such an advantage when it comes to music, they no longer need a label if they are savvy enough to use social media to broaden their reach,” says Watley. There are so many alternative avenues to get your music heard from online videos, blogs, and online radio stations. “This new version of media can create just as much of an impact as traditional media did in the past,” adds Watley. “Artists have to leverage everything available to them today including publicity and songwriting because it is all available and within reach. When it comes to today’s music industry, the internet is like the wild wild west, but only in a good way,” says Watley.

Fashion is Watley’s the other passion, she shares that love with fans with her blog “Stylefile.” Traveling the world gives her a chance to share new styles, world trends and her love of art and literature with fans and readers. Experiencing various cultures allows for an eclectic perspective which makes everything interesting, even fashion.

During the 80’s Watley’s solo career included hits included “Some Kinda Lover,” “Real Love,” and “Looking for a New Love”, the songs that got the clubs moving, and then their was “Friends” which featured Eric B and Rakim. Today she continues to perform as an artist on her own label and provide fashion trends and forecast reports on her StyleFile.

Visit Jody’s website at

www.jodywatley.net

Visit Jody’s style blog at

http://www.jodywatleyblog.blogspot.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Contributors and tagged with Noir woman news, one on one. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.