6 On The Rise - singers - Interview

Talented new singers have the voice and verve to excel in music

They are young, talented and attractive--and they are hot on the music charts. The recording artists featured here are setting the pace for today's contemporary music. In recent months, each has released a debut recording that has launched him or her into the stratosphere of success and stardom. And each did it his or her own way rather than following a formula and cranking out the same-ol'-song kind of music that is so often churned out by music machines.

There are other similarities as well. Each was exposed to music and started singing as children, each went through ups and downs before hitting the big time, and each made an audacious debut amid a flurry of buzz in the music industry. To top it off, these rising stars are more than just singers: They also write music and lyrics, play instruments and several have tried their hands at producing.

And all are living their life-long dream of making it big in the recording industry.

On the following pages, meet six music stars on the rise: Sunshine Anderson, India.Arie, Alicia Keys, Blu Cantrell, Syleena Johnson and Tank.

SUNSHINE Anderson

SUNSHINE ANDERSON was in the cafeteria line at North Carolina Central University when a fellow student overheard her singing. He was so taken with her soulful voice that he insisted that the freshman accompany him to his dorm room so that she could sing for his "friend in the music business." Since it was the co-ed honors dorm, Sunshine took a chance. The student called producer Mike City and convinced him to come to the school to hear Sunshine sing. He did, she did, and City loved her soulful voice.

After she earned a degree in criminal justice, that chance encounter (along with a lot of hard work) led to Sunshine's releasing her CD, Your Woman, on Soulife/Atlantic Records in April. It debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's music chart, and her from-the-heart songs, "He Said, She Said," "Heard It All Before" and "Better Off," have become staples on radio and in the hearts and minds of music lovers.

"I grew up listening to oldies," says the Charlotte, N.C., native. "The Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rose Royce, and anybody else my mom and dad had blaring around the house on Saturdays as we cleaned up. I'd see people on TV performing and I'd say, `I can do that.' "And she did--in church (where her mom sang in the choir) and at school talent shows,

Her father, who once sang in a doo-wop band "on the corner back in the day," was inspired to name his daughter Sunshine when the sun broke through the clouds as he walked into the hospital the day she was born. After college, she accepted a government job in D.C. and continued to work with Mike City to launch her singing career. When things started to look promising, she quit her job and joined Mike City in L.A. Singer Macy Gray, one of City's acquaintances, "watched from afar" and recognized that the young woman had talent and needed a manager. She offered to help. "It's her first time managing someone other than herself," Sunshine says of her "other mother." She adds: "It's out of love. It's been rough, as with the beginning of anything. We're learning together." In light of her success and fame, Sunshine says she is a "regular" person. "I have my days. I laugh, I cry," she says, "I'm very verbal, outgoing."

She just wants to keep making music that people love, and she realizes that fans "can love you today and hate you tomorrow. I plan to be around for a long time and make good music." Keep that promise.

INDIA.Arie

INDIA.ARIE says people have always considered her to be different. When she was in grade school, kids made fun of her. In high school they laughed at her clothes. As a young adult, people thought she was strange. "While I was growing up, I dressed differently," she says. "I liked different music. I looked different. I was made to feel that I was not as good because I was different. But it never occurred to me to change."

Millions of music fans are glad that India.Arie did not change and that the 24-year-old singer, songwriter and musician delivers "different" music with poignant lyrics and earthy rhythms. Her album, Acoustic Soul, debuted in the Top 10 and has been greeted with praise and steady record sales. Her song, "Video," is a hit, and she's performing before audiences of 8,000 rather than in coffeehouses and small clubs.

India remembers singing at age 1. Her mother was a professional performer, but is now a designer. Her father is retired NBA star Ralph Simpson, who is now a minister in Denver. "We sing at church and at home, at Christmas. My mother was singing with me in her stomach," she says.

As an adolescent, she used music as a means of expression, and in high school, she played various band instruments. After graduation, she studied jewelry making at the Savannah College of Arts and Design (and still enjoys making jewelry). But before long music was calling her again. This time she picked up a guitar and started writing lyrics about her "different" life and experiences. She formed an independent label, Groovement/Earthseed, and released a compilation of several artists. That led to an invitation to perform at a 1998 Lilith Fair concert and she eventually caught the attention of Motown Records president Kedar Massenberg. Others had wanted to sign India.Arie, but they wanted her to change.