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From
the book
Working Musicians
by Bruce Pollock
It Wasn't a Mutual Decision
Cheryl "Salt" James |
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Breaking up Salt-N-Pepa wasn't a mutual decision. I was the
one who couldn't take it anymore. People were like 'you know how
much money you could make?' Salt-N-Pepa's a household name. Even
on a failed album we were still in demand. I couldn't believe it.
It was really hard for both of us but it was time to be individuals
and have separate lives and do different things. It was kind of
rough on Pepa, but the wounds have to heal before you can
talk about stuff. We haven't been speaking a lot lately. I can't
even lie to say she was like 'hey congratulations, you're going
solo.' But coming home and having some time to myself with my family
and getting my personal life in order, which is my priority now,
brought me back to a place where I wanted to do it again. Not because
I had to or everybody thought I should, but because I wanted to.
My husband Gavin was always doing a lot of things with producers,
selling tracks and working on tracks himself. So we have a studio
at home and he continued to work in the studio. For a while we tried
to run an independent label. But that proved to be impossible. With
Gavin being downstairs in the studio all the time, the music kept
calling me. So I got my little pen and paper out and I called a
friend of mine, Rufus Black, who wrote on the last Salt-N-Pepa
album, and me and him got together. He really gave me a lot of inspiration
to start writing again because I lost my confidence. I had just
had a baby and was in real mom mode. So, I started writing and just
fooling around in the studio. I ended up making a few songs that
everybody thought were really good, so I called another friend of
ours, James Prince, from Rap-A-Lot, and I asked him
to come to New York to hear what I got and maybe I could do a solo
album. He heard it and thought it was great and took it straight
to Virgin. They loved it too. It all happened naturally,
without me even thinking about it or trying too hard. Before, I
was doing everything. I was in the studio moving choruses with Pro
Tools till 3-4 in the morning. I was going to different places,
hearing tracks, sitting in studios. I was chasing down producers.
Just doing everything. This time around, Gavin was doing all of
that. I was able to stay at home and help my daughter with her homework
and send her to school in the morning and spend good time with my
son. I don't have to worry about any of the things I had to think
about before. It's almost too easy.
I guess you could put my career in three categories. There was the
beginning when it was pure adrenaline. I've never worked harder
in my career than when Salt-N-Pepa first started. I'd do anything.
I would sleep in the studio and wake up in the studio. Nothing mattered.
I would spend my last little part time job check in the studio and
just drive to any function. Nothing was too far for a little club
date. It was more fun then, because I was so excited doing it.
Then there was the middle when it was all hype and glamour and glitz
and people on their knees tying your shoes and Grammies
and stylists and hair and makeup and drama. Which was fun, but then
after a while it got to be exhausting. You felt like you were being
pulled in ten different directions. Everyone else dictated what
I needed to do--every magazine, every interview, every photo shoot,
every television show. My turmoil came because I didn't have control
of my life and that's a bad bad feeling. I think every artist goes
through that when they become very famous. They just lose control.
People are constantly in your ear with opinions on what you should
and shouldn't do. The business gets bigger than the music and when
you're an artist you're totally not thinking along the lines of
accountants and lawyers and people fighting over money.
This time is totally different. This is a real peaceful, family
time. I'm in control of my life really for the first time. And I
get to dictate what I think is important in my career and what I
feel I need to do. This time out, I want to do a live band with
turntables and with some stuff from the studio, like a D-88--but
definitely with a live feeling. I don't like to be stuck to a tape.
I want to be able to go with the flow of the crowd. If something's
not working, or they're not diggin' it, I can just move on. Or if
they're really lovin' it, I can keep it goin'. I love that feeling.
This time I'm not going for an all girl band. I'm going for the
best new vision.
Still, when I put my daughter on the bus, I get a little teary-eyed
because I think in a minute, I'm not going to be able to do this
every day. I know I'm going to do what I have to do to make this
album successful. I'm just going to have to figure out a way to
be able to still see my kids. Even if I have to take them with me,
which I did a lot with my daughter, but she's in the fourth grade
now and school is getting serious. Hopefully, the album will do
well, and I'll have those kinds of decisions to make. But guess
what, if it doesn't, I won't be very very upset. |
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Copyright
©2002 Harper Entertainment. Reprinted with Permission.
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_________________________________
For more information visit:
http://www.divastation.com/snp/snp_bio.html |
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_________________________________
The following Working Musicians interviews are featured:
Cindy Bullens, It
Was the Rock and Roll Dream
Lita Ford, One
of the Guys
Cheryl James, It
Wasn't a Mutual Decision
Brenda Kahn, Almost
Famous
Laura Nyro, Growth
and Change |
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_________________________________
 This
interview is excerpted from the book Working
Musicians (Harper-Collins), by Bruce Pollock.
Bruce is the author of eight other books on music, including The
Rock Song Index, Hipper Than Our Kids, When Rock Was Young, When
the Music Mattered, and In Their Own Words,
as well as three novels, and is the founding co-Editor in Chief
of GUITAR: For The Practicing Musician. His work has
appeared in The New York Times, Saturday Review, TV Guide,
Entertainment Weekly, Musician, Family Weekly, USA Today, Playboy,
The Gannett Westchester Newspapers, and The Village
Voice. |
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