"Alyson"
Wonderland
by
Rick Dunn
EDGE Community
Editor
Wednesday Feb 16,
2005
|
| L.A. based singer finds fairy tales come true on the
dance chart
In a genre dominated by producer/remixer driven
projects, it’s a rare moment when a debutante dance music artist – a
singer/songwriter no less - actually manages to break onto the
charts not once, but twice in just a few months. For Alyson – who
clings to the only one name allowed rule – perseverance and hard
work paid off. “I worked hard to promote the records,” says Alyson
during a recent telephone interview. “I met with DJs and record pool
owners. It’s a combination of the two.”
After making a small
stir with the DJ-only track “Baby Come Back,” Alyson’s first
commercial single, “What’re You Gonna Do,” premiered late last year
on the Billboard Dance chart as a #3 Breakout song and in September
2004, landed on Billboard’s Top Five at #4. Her follow-up, “Feel
You,” just entered the top 10 on Billboard’s Club Play dance chart
with the assistance of remixes by Ralphi Rosario and
E-Smoove.
The Los Angeles-based Alyson never actively pursued
a label deal – she forged ahead with her own label, Alysongrooves,
writing, producing, singing and distributing her own music through
such internet sites as http://www.tower.com/, http://www.amazon.com/,
http://www.perfectbeat.com/ and http://www.cdbaby.com/.
She and her music bears somewhat of a resemblance to Kylie, to whom
she’s often compared, but Alyson is her music. She didn’t did show
up in a studio to run her voice through a filter like so many of her
contemporaries.
Now that her full-length disc, “Take a Good
Look,” has been on the shelves for a few months, she is actively
seeking more traditional distribution. Until then, she’s working on
new material with her collaborator, Daveed.
“I write the
lyrics and he arranges the music. I would sing it for Daveed and
then he would arrange the music, or he would write the music and I
would write the lyrics. I constantly have songs floating through my
head,” says Alyson. “And my goal is to get one album out a
year.”
Her next single is an overhaul of the ballad “Nothing
More to Say,” which also appears on her album in its original form.
“The original is a straightforward ballad. For the dance mix, I
rerecorded the vocals and rewrote the verses. The ballad is very
emotional and sad and heartfelt. I love the melody and chorus of the
song, but I wanted to make it more empowering. This dance version is
really part two to the song.”
With a few hits in hand, Alyson
has begun to hit the performance circuit, which will bring her to
Boston in June. She’ll perform at Buzz and at the Esme Women’s
Street Dance on Saturday, June 11 during Boston’s Gay Pride
celebration.
http://www.alysongrooves.com/.
Rick Dunn’s writing has appeared in The Boston
Globe, The Windy City Times, Washington Blade and Bay Windows.
Currently the Communications Associate for GLAD, he is also a member
of Ryan Landry’s Gold Dust Orphans theatrical troupe. He was the
editor of in newsweekly from 1996 to 2003.
|
|
|
Printer-friendly
version
