Clayton Perry Kelly Price Talk Gerald Levert

8 September 2010 No Comment

EXCLUSIVE FROM AFROS TO SHELLTOES EXCERPT

Long before Kelly Price became a fixture on R&B radio, she slowly developed a reputation behind-the-scenes as the “Queen of Hip-Hop Hooks.” Although her professional resume includes backing vocals for R&B staples, like Faith Evans (Keep the Faith), Whitney Houston (My Love is Your Love) and Mariah Carey (Dreamlover, Music Box, Merry Christmas, Daydream, Butterfly and Charmbracelet), she could also be found on tracks from Puff Daddy (No Way Out and Forever), Jay-Z (In My Lifetime) and the Notorious B.I.G. (Life After Death). In the wake of Christopher Wallace’s phenomenal posthumous success, with the blockbuster “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems,” Kelly found herself poised to move from the background into the spotlight – once and for all.

Since the release of her 1998 debut, Soul of a Woman, Kelly Price has maintained a sizable – and faithful – fan base within the secular and Gospel arenas. After a four-year break, Price is finally ready to unveil her sixth solo project, Kelly, which is set for release on My Block Records.

During a promotional campaign for “Tired,” her emotional truth-telling lead single, Kelly Price managed to squeeze some time out of her busy schedule and settle down for an interview with Clayton Perry – reflecting on shifts in the contemporary music landscape, her two bouts of homelessness, and important lessons she has learned on the publishing side of the music business.

Clayton Perry: When I listen to your catalogue, there is one song that always stands out: “All I Want Is You” off of Mirror Mirror, because you and Gerald [Levert] and [Cedric] “K-Ci” [Hailey] just go at it! [laughing] To be perfectly honest, there are very few men that can go toe-to-toe with you vocally. But these guys give it their best shot! What special memories do you recall with the late, great Gerald Levert?

Kelly Price: I have to tell you that Gerald and I were very good friends. Again, I am not somebody who you can look down through the last twelve or so years, and remember just seeing me on the scene just hanging out with a bunch of people. That’s not me. Like when I’m not working, I’m at home and I’m living a very normal life. I’m doing PTA class, going to my kid’s game, going to church on Sunday. Bible study in the middle of the week. I’m just a very normal person when I’m not being Kelly Price on a stage somewhere. But Gerald is one of those people who was a part of my life, and we spent time together outside of the industry. When I was in Cleveland, I hung out at his house. His mom would come cook for me. When he was in Atlanta, he would come to my house, and lay out and eat and then he would like do the dang thing and fall asleep and snore after he’s had a big plate of food. Like that. And so, I do have the most incredible memories because we’ve done a couple of recordings together, but many people don’t know that Gerald and I shared the stage together and show for show, we’ve done more shows together than he’s done with anybody else other than his dad and his brother. And we have a lot of memories. We’ve got a lot of footage, actually. And that song, in particular, has come up, “All I Want is You” so much in the last month or so. People keep asking about it. I’m really, really sorry that we never put a video out. But it’s not an impossibility, because we had cameras rolling when we recorded the song. But I would have to have a conversation with Dad and Mom about that, which I’m sure they wouldn’t object to it. And I still may, because we had a lot of fun together. We just had a way with each other. He was really a brother to me. He gave me priceless advice. There were times when I was just really frustrated and aggravated. And there’s a true story. When we did the Walk of Fame for BET, where Stevie Wonder was honored, and we sang together that night, there was so much going on in the backstage area. I was having some issues with some of the people from the label, and there was a lot of bickering going back and forth, and it was just not a good day for me. I was really angry. I was very upset. I was emotional. I was crying. I was all kinds of stuff. And he talked to me in a way that only he could. He came in my trailer. He sat down. He looked me in my face. He cursed me out, and made up some curse words, and told me that he got that I was upset, I was angry, I had a right to be. I was being mishandled. I was being mistreated. But he literally looked me in my face and he told me, “When these so and so and so and so’s are looking for another job, because their jobs turn over every five years in this business, you will still be Kelly Price. You will still have a fan base. People will still want to hear what you have to say, and you’re still going to need a relationship with BET, so get your feet together, and get out there, and get this performance done. To hell with these folks from the label.” That’s basically what he said. And I got myself together, and we got out there and gave what is arguably the most memorable performance from that BET airing of the Stevie Wonder Walk of Fame that night. People were bowled over by our performance. But to know that less than hour before I actually hit the stage, I was an emotional wreck backstage. And he was not about to let it go down like that. He came back there, and he came in my trailer and he snapped me up and he told me, “Get yourself together and get out there and sing this song like you’ve got some sense.” That’s the kind of relationship we had, and I miss him because that’s who he was to me. But I still have the memories of that, so even though he can’t walk in a trailer today and say, “Get your behind together,” I can hear him still saying, “I don’t care what happens. You are still Kelly Price, and the people are looking to you to do what you’re supposed to do. They don’t know about all of this BS going on backstage. Get out there and give them what they came for, and deal with this craziness on the flip side.” That was my friend. For real.

For more of Clayton Perry’s interview exclusives (and to read the full transcript of this interview with Kelly Price), visit his digital archive.

For more information on Kelly Price, visit her official website and “follow” her via Twitter [@KellyPrice4Real]. Kelly’s latest single – “Tired” – can be purchased on iTunes as well.