// ROCKA.CANDY // | THE ANTHONY MACKIE OF BLOGS

What does music veteran Alyson Williams and newcomer Rihanna have in common? A little more than what meets the eye…

In 1989 Def Jam Records was a little different than it is today - while future label head Jay-Z was making appearances in Jaz-O vids, and Barbados beauty Rihanna, was just a little Red Stripe in training - as the first female solo artist signed to the label, Alyson Williams was the go-to-girl. Find out how life has changed for the first lady of Def Jam.

So how have you been keeping busy since you last album, It’s About Time?

Well the play My Brother Marvin began in a rough form, in 2006. We kinda workshopped it from April 2006 and did a trial run in May or June, which brought on some other dates in September. However, it was shut down and was picked up by Zeola Gaye, and was re-written by herself and Angela Burrows Dunlap. We did another trial run with a real show and real set in January 2007 and it was very well-received. We started the tour Valentine’s week in Philly, and it’s continued to Kansas City, Chicago, Oakland, and Texas….we should finish up the first of June.

Wow…so “busy” is an understatement. Tell me a little about the play and your character.

Well of course it touches on Marvin Gaye and his music, but it also tells the back story. I play Alberta Gaye, his mother, Keith plays the older Marvin. It basically tells the story of the dysfunction in the family…it shows what really happened and gives closure to the rumors around Marvin being shot by his father. It gives you an idea within hours of what exactly happened and what led up to it.

My character very subservient to her husband…even though he was a radical disciplinarian, she stood by her husband; she was a rock

Do you have any personal experiences that aid you in fulfilling the role?

I didn’t have a dictative father, but my mother was very loving, and my sister didn’t live a wild life or anything, but she did experience a little bit of that. She was sheltered and saw the world through rose-colored glasses, so my mom was always the one to clean up her messes or get her out of hot-spots. My mother was the one who, no matter what, would say, “that’s my child, and I’m going to look after her.” I took that with me in portraying Marvin’s mother…she was a lot like my mom.

So do a lot of people see their mother in your character?

Oh certainly. A lot of times people will walk up to me after the show and say things like, “I have a brother who has been a screw-up, and my mother never gave up on him. I didn’t get it…I get it now.” That means a lot to me.

Do you prefer the stage over the videos and recording booths?

I like the fact that doing what I do allows me to perform in so many mediums; I always do nightclubs. The studio gives you opportunity to go in and do things and experiment and tweak and correct, but it doesn’t give u the response of a live audience, which is why I love the stage. I like clubs where I can reach out and touch, and they can talk to me. Doing an actual play is a different kind of discipline; you have to research and develop your character. Theater is difficult, so a lot of people don’t do it…

Is theater something you’ve always wanted to do?

Theater was what I wanted to do from the time I was a kid. I started doing urban theater around 1989-90 and it kept me working even while I was signed to Columbia/Def Jam and promoting “Just Call My Name.” One helped the other. When certain music was released, I was freed up enough to do promo and play, and the play would serve as promo for the record.

Will we see another Alyson Williams album soon?

I intend to record, but my next album will be a jazz album to satisfy that thing inside of me that I was raised on. I want to put my own twist on it and pay homage to those who came before me.

But also, I was recently approached about doing a CD in conjunction with Uptown Magazine, which will be an eclectic collection from new and upcoming artists. We wanted to reflect what the magazine was about…someone who has come from Uptown (Harlem born-bred), encompasses style, cool, elegance, danger, grit of uptown…class and style but realness. So be looking out for that.

What about other plays?

In the 1996 play Thank God the Beat Goes On, which was the story of the Whispers, I played Phyllis Hyman and everybody asks me, “When are you gonna do a story about Phyllis Hyman?” I want to put a show together that tells Phyllis’s story from the beginning…there was more to her life than bad guys and suicide. Hopefully by this time next year I will be putting my play up for trial.

The industry is not always so fond of that raw, authentic soulful sound that you possess—Mary J. Blige, for instance, has been huge within the black community for 15 years but is just now getting mainstream attention. Where do you think you fit, as an artist, today?

The industry is so busy embracing mediocrity and focuses on technique as opposed to soul. It’s not about all about riffs and looks. If I can’t understand what you’re saying, you’re defeating your own purpose. That’s why we can’t differentiate between a soloist and a group…the standard is set now. Everything sounds the same. I look back on music before my time, and I didn’t sound like Me’lissa Morgan or Miki Howard. The media focuses on whomever’s going to rehab and we forget about what’s real. They get so full on junk food that we have to purge…then they look around and finally want a real meal. The floodgates of mediocrity fling free. I’m not an R&B singer, I’m a soul singer.

So you don’t think today’s music has any integrity?

I’m not saying that, but I’m old school. Now I have to give these new school people a chance to get their thing on. To somebody in that age group, “Bootylicious” is gonna be a classic, but it doesn’t hold a candle to “Midnight Train to Georgia….

Or “Just Call My Name.”

Right.