Alyson brings Pride
to BUZZ
by
David Foucher
EDGE
Publisher
Wednesday Jun 7,
2006
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| Her debut album spawned three consecutive top-10
hits and generated enough excitement that she was named a "Top
20 Artist of 2005" by Billboard Magazine. Her singles "Feel
You" and "Take a Good Look" have played in clubs across the
world. She’s busily prepping her second album - and as before,
releasing it independently.
But then,
Alyson has always been a little independent.
"I’ve been a hostess, a waitress, a persona
trainer, I’ve worked in offices, all sorts of things," she
cracks. "But I never really found anything I really liked; my
heart was in singing and dancing and acting."
She’s been musically-inclined since she was a kid,
in fact, charging a quarter for her home-grown musical/dance
productions, then pursuing community theatre in and around New
York City, where she grew up. But her parents resisted the
course Alyson had plotted for herself.
"They thought the business would corrupt me," she
explains. "This isn’t a rebellion against my parents; I’ve
just discovered that I really want to write and perform songs.
This has been brewing inside of me since I was little - it’s
just exploded."
She credits her
producer and co-writer Daveed with that discovery; the two met
within weeks of Alyson’s relocation to the West Coast a scant
two years ago - and since then, their collaboration has
launched Alyson to Wonderland.
"We
just started writing songs," she recalls. "And it became
professional for me really fast. Daveed and I really work well
together. The first album grew out of that collaboration, and
we put it out there independently."
The result was a phenomenon. The album has launched
Alyson to the top of the charts, leading directly to worldwide
retail distribution deals, and catapulted the artist to the
fast track; and for a New York girl managing her own career,
that means fast work.
"It’s been
pretty crazy," she laments. "This business involves a lot of
hard work on the business side in addition to the creative
side, so it’s like day in and day out you’re working on music
but you’re also doing things on the business side - meetings,
phone calls and emails. It’s non stop."
The alternative, of course, is for Alyson to submit
to professional management; like an increasing number of
singers, she has opted for creative freedom instead.
"I’m
comfortable [with the gay community], it’s a community I love.
My closest friends are gay, so it’s a natural fit for
me." "I’ve talked to a number of
labels here and in other countries about working with them,
putting my music out on their label and not mine," she says.
"But there’s always a control factor, they want to control
things, and I’m not comfortable about that. I keep total
control, and it allows me to do whatever I want, which is
pretty important as an artist. I write my own songs, and I
don’t like having someone else tell me what to
sing."
So far, her plan has worked.
Her fusion of dance, rhythm & blues, soul and pop rock has
certainly been well received, particularly by the gay
community; she has been featured on a variety of compilation
albums from Dance Street and Centaur Music, and her songs have
been remixed by Hex Hector, Ralphi Rosario and
others.
"I have a special connection
to the gay community," she agrees. "It’s wonderful, and I’m so
thankful that people in that community are embracing my music.
I couldn’t be happier or more thankful for that. I’m
comfortable there, it’s a community I love. My closest friends
are gay, so it’s a natural fit for me."
Her affinity for the community is what leads her to
Boston Pride 2006; she’ll perform at BUZZ’s big party on
Saturday Night.
"I love Boston," she
gushes. "I think it’s so unique - it has such great charm.
I’ve wanted to take a break in New England for a little while
now to decompress... and I might do that this
summer."
In the interim, Alyson is
working hard on her second album, to be released this Fall.
"I’m almost halfway done with it,"
she reports. "I don’t want to rush it; I want to make sure all
the tracks feel right."
Alyson fans
who are awaiting the new CD, however, can enjoy a new track
that she’ll release to her website (http://www.alysonmusic.com/) in the next few
weeks.
"It’s a brand new track that
I’m going to release for free on the site," she says, "to
thank everyone who supported my first album. It’s one of the
songs off the debut album that we’ve remixed."
Alyson performs live this Saturday at Buzz @ ARIA.
Visit http://www.buzzboston.com/ for more information
on the event.
David Foucher is an accredited member of the
National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association and the
Online Film Critics Society.
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