Brenda K. Starr: Creating Starrdom For Myself & Mariah Carey Too

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Grass Come Again a podcast by Honey German.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of Glassiess Come Again.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Today we have a star and icon, a legend, the
incomparable Brenda Case Star is here.

Speaker 4 (00:17):
How are you welcome?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You look absolutely gorgeous. Can we talk about this?

Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yes, well, Darling, I think for me, I just I
guess the older I get, the more that I start
to really.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Zone into like different looks.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
And I have a great team that helped me stay
on top of style, and I'm trying to find things
that work for not only my age, but to try
to stay elegant and classy.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
So I'm always into fashion.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
So being able to try and stay on top of
looking good and feeling good and also has a lot
to do with working out and trying to stay in
contact with with my my inner in her soul. Because
for me, I used to always just like not really
just throw anything on. But I think, like I said,
getting more into fashion and wanting to feel good about myself.

(01:09):
So I love to dabble on a lot of different things,
like from like not not uh.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
I used to say back, and.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
They would be like hood rat wearing my sneakers and
my sweats, very urban.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
But also eleganting classes.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Now you're now you're giving us classy with a touch
of big shadow Krolia.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love that term. It's just so like both of
them together.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
That's a great way to put it. I never thought
I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Somebody use that claci Use And you've been active career
wise since nineteen eighty five, it said, wow.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
And look at you.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Still here with us shining, looking good working.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
That's decades. In decades and decades.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
How do you feel today to have had a career
that has spanned such a long time.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
I mean, for me, I have to be honest with you.
There are so many times that I have dabbled in
different things, from radio to working into donating my time
to hospitals. I worked with kids with cancer. I used
to do music theory for people at senior centers that
had dementia. And I always volunteered my time because I

(02:26):
knew that music was really my first love. But then again,
I always thought about giving back, and I knew that
in this career it's not always promised tomorrow. Hence why
I tried to learn new things to be able to
evolve and give my music in different ways. Like I said,
giving music to people with dementia, you know, the elderly,

(02:46):
working at hospitals with cancer patients. I dealt with the
Giggles Theater in Patterson Hospital.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
I taught music.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
So dope, I love this. I love that.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
You know, you haven't just been a star this whole time,
but you've done you know, charitable work, you know you function.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
It was more different, you know, because.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
I mean it was a paycheck.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
It was because, like you said, I've done it for
so many years, and in the intro of being in
different record labels, you're as good as your last hit,
so you always have to remember to find a way
to evolve and recreate and give back. And when I
decided that English at one point wasn't working for me,
I you know, was able to un fortunate enough to

(03:28):
have education with theory and music, and that's how I
learned about working with people who had dementia and working
with the left side of the brain and helping out
and working with kids that had cancer.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
From Patterson Hospital.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
It was the Giggles Theater I used to teach voice,
and I just wanted to do stuff that would be
able to give back. So it was a job and
some was charitable and some was a paid gig.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
So I used.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Your voice, used it in a lot of different several
different ways. Now, when did you find your singing voice? Like,
at what moment were you like a bit better than
what's going on here?

Speaker 1 (04:02):
I think I was about thirteen years old. It was
told to my mom.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
It was my birthday, and about two weeks to a
month prior to my birthday, my mom asked me, you know,
what do you want to do for your birthday? Do
you want to have a birthday party? Do you want
to have a sleepover? Do you just want to buite
a couple of girls over and maybe we'll do movies
and dinner. And I said no, I said I don't
want to party. I want to go to the recording
studio and I want to make a record. And my

(04:28):
mother was like record. I was like, yes, I want
to be like that girl Stacey Latisol, and she had
a song called Love on the Two Way Street. But
I used to love and it was a remake. So
I used to love listening to like ROBERTA. Flack and
several different artists.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Diana Ross.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
I used to love the elegance of share and I
always wanted to be a musician because my dad.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Was a musician, was a musician. Yeah, he was in
the Spiral Staircase.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
He was the founder of the group Spiral Staircase, which
there was a song that was very popular called I
Love You More Today Than Yesterday, which was about my mom.
So my mom set up the recording studio session with
my older brother. And you know, my mother did everything
from running numbers to working in the hospital. Yeah, my
mother's Puerto Rican and she uh said, we're going to

(05:14):
get you in the recording studio. She took me to
a place called Dimensional Sound Studios. There is where the
engineer had told me to get into the booth. I
went into the booth and I re recorded Love on
a Two way Street because, like I said, was dad there?
My dad was not there. My mom and my father
broke up when my me and my brother were very young.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
My dad was in the industry, but unfortunately my mother
didn't like the traveling thing, and she had already had
five kids and she just said, you know, it's too
much for traveling, and they broke up. But he always
stayed in contact and came back and forth and through
the intrum of touring. Hence why I get it now
as an adult, but he wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
But did he get to hear it the recording? Yes,
he did thirteen.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
You know. He just like, wow, you know she's got
a beautiful voice. And my mother was like, this is
all she wants to do.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
I used to do it all over the house, I said,
because your dad was a musician or what was I
just when I was a little girl, I got electrocuted.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
I had been a truth fleg like a chord from
the wall because I tried to pull it out because
I couldn't get the TV off. My brother was babysitting me,
and I had went into cardiac arrest and I was
brought back, and I remember that a majority of my mouth,
half of it was close shut because I had plastic
surgery in order for me not to move it to
a wooden rip. They had given me plastic surgery. And

(06:37):
I was about four years old, three or four years old,
And I always remember as a kid, I would hum
around the house tunes hear music, and my mother used
to be like all she used to see was me
humming and wanting to sing.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
And after my stitches.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
Were removed and it was healed, I would always listen
to the radio and try to duplicate a sound of
different artists from Diana Ross, like I said to ROBERTA
Flag to Arita Franklin to h I love Diana Ross
just because of the elegance and chaer.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Were these your mom's artists that she liked or you
just found them on your own? Now I found them
on my own.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
But my mom used to listen a lot to like
Frank Sinatra, Areta Franklin Ogs, Yeah, Acelia Cruz la Lube.
She would listen to the Fania All Stars music, Yeah,
he lao. And she just had music playing in the
house all the time, Teddy Pendergrass. So it was a

(07:35):
melting pot of music and the sounds were very eclectic
in our home. We didn't have just one particular sound
we listened to. And I remember always being in my
house and looking in the mirror with a cebrio.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
With a brush, like it was my microphone for this.
I just always wanted to do it.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
And I remember taking Natalie's Cole song Everlasting Love for
my eighth birthday and standing on the table and living
room and I started singing, and unfortunately, I guess starting
to get into it I fell off the table and
got a concussion at my birthday party.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
So I was rushing.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
All your friends like they were like, the party's over,
and I was like, mama.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
So my mom took me to the hospital. I had
a concussion. They sang Happy Birthday obviously without me.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
I had cake.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
But my mother was like, there is when I really
knew you started liking music. And I would always tell her, oh,
I want to I want to be on TV. I
want to do movies. I want to do I want
to be on Broadway.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
And she supported it.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
No, my mother always supported my love, always always supported it.
She used to put me in summer programs because you know,
we really didn't have a lot, but we used to
go to We were living on ninetieth in Amsterdama, Columbus.
We lived on ninety first Street, then we moved. We
lived on eighty nine ninety the ninety first. And my
mother always, you know, she she did whatever she had

(09:02):
to do.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
My mom's been on her own since she's fifteen years old.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
She was taken by her dad and her real mother
she didn't meet till she was thirty three, and she
was raised by her Puerto Rican father in Puerto Rico.
She left when she was fourteen fifteen, she ran away
with her older sister.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
So fast forward.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
We lived at the Wise Tower Projects and my mother
always got helped. You know, we had applied housing. But
my mother was really a trailblazer. She always was a
very big advocate of helping families get you know, assistants
and the community.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
She worked with the community.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
She was a very very big advocate for the community,
the housing authority. And she started working at the hospital.
But before working to the hospital, she used to you know,
take the bolitas running the numbers. I guess whatever she
had to do, whatever she had to do, as long
as it was something safe where we were okay. She
never you know, st old or did anything to give

(09:55):
us the best life that she could give us. But
we were always able to have a good life. So
what I was getting at is she put me in
this program called God of Riverside, Godside Godded Riverside. God
of Riverside was an after school program and they had
free singing lessons, dancing lessons, gymnastics and we would go
there after school when our parents had to work, so

(10:17):
we would hang out and Angela Beoufield was actually one
of the vocal coaches, and she was my vocal coach.
And I started loving music when I started getting into that,
and then at like thirteen years old, I wanted to
do the demo and my older brother started paying for
me to go to singing lessons.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Oh but this was like a family affair.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I love how everybody back to you know, Dad probably
passed down some of the talent.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Mom supported it, and your brother came through.

Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, my brother came through and he was going to
Albany University and he helped with the vocal lessons. And
my dad really believed in you financially.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Oh, he always believed. My brother was my biggest fan.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Sorry, my brother was actually my big fan, and he
paid for my vocal lessons, my stage clothes always always.
He's not with us anymore, but he is actually like
a father to me. Because my dad travels so much,
he wasn't able to be in my life the way
I wanted him to.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
But oh my goodness, did he step up down to
buying my stage clothing, down to Oh he was my life.
He was my life.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
I think when I lost him, I felt like a
huge part of my heart was gone, but I always
feel his presence with me.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
His name was Freddie. He used to fly birds.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
I remember he used to take me on his shoulders,
take me to the roof of a building to go
fly the birds. And I used to watch the birds
and I was like, it's so high up here. It says,
it's crazy how you get to see these birds follow
each other.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
And he says, that's how your dream has to be.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
You have to follow your dreams because you could fly
and soar hide just like these birds. And he was
just always inspirational. But my dad did love that I sang.
I think the first time my dad really realized I
had something special is when he saw me singing at
at the Carnegie Hall. I was playing I was paying
tribute to Celiacruz.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
How did you end up a Carnegie Hole?

Speaker 1 (12:08):
I end up, I guess as a child.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
You're singing at Carnegie Hall.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
I was actually in Carnegie Hall when my first Latin
album came out, and it was when the Sipando came out.
My dad, like I said, was always in and out
of my life, and because he traveled so much, we
weren't able to have the connection that I really wanted.
But as I got into music, he started to connect
more with me. I guess because we had something.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
In common for sure, But it's a bond, right.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
But my brother and my mom were really the big
inspiration and pushing me to help me want to do this.
Like I said, I went to a nonprofit organization after
school program so my mom could work, and my brother
was in college. And you know, I have five brothers
and one sister, so my brothers or sisters would pick
me up from the after school pro the baby.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was the baby. Of course you were.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
I'm getting the feeling that you were the baby.

Speaker 4 (12:57):
He was always so spoiled. They used to call me
being a farina because I used to love for Reena.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I love for you too, and I love it. I
love it. So my brother used to call me be
no for me. You were really the baby.

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, they had jingles for you, youthing.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
We used to have talent shows. But I end up
starting to become somewhat successful with the English music, and
my father started getting into watching me on TV and
telling me how proud he was. But I never saw
my real dad or my dad at all, in particular
because he was my only father. I never had a stepdad,

(13:34):
so forever my mother stayed single. My mom's right, no,
I well, my five I have seven brothers and sisters.
The last three are from the same dad. But she
said I had my kids. Yeah, she just didn't want
to bring anybody else into our life. And and my
mother was the type of single my mother that was
a very strong Latina woman that she never wanted to

(13:56):
depend on a man, and her kids came from first.
And that's why her and my dad didn't work out,
because she didn't want to take my other siblings with
her to California and live because she was already set.
She had her housing, she was doing stuff for the community,
she was making ends meet, she was working.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
She was a hustler.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
Hence why I was always the type of woman that
was able to say that it really doesn't take a
man to make a real woman. You have to really
you have to really be positive. And my mother was
just a really huge example. She was the matriarch of
our family and she still is rock and she really
was and still is and she's eighty she's gonna be
eighty seven years old, but yeah, she's amazing. But when

(14:35):
my dad saw me perform on TV. He's like, wow,
you know you're doing a great job. Said, but I'd
like if I take it back to when you asked
me about how did I know this is what I
wanted to do? At like eight nine years old, I
was already asking my mother to put me on TV commercials.
And my brother was a Golden Gloves, a Golden Gloves

(14:57):
boxer winner. He was on the USA Box Team and
he had a friend who happened to be related to
John g Avilson from the movie Rocky. He was the director.
So they were looking for a girl to be in
the movie. And a movie that they were filming was
called Slow Dancing in the Big City, and John Gavilson

(15:17):
was the director. So I had a little taste of
getting into acting. And I played a tomboy, a girl
named Punk And I was in that movie and I
started getting the bug about it and wanting to be
into acting.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
I knew I love singing, but I was like, okay,
now acting.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
So I got in that movie and then he introduced
me to an agent. I went to the agent's office.
His name was Michael Almado. I didn't have headshots at
the time, but I came in and met him, and
he loved my spunk and I actually got asked to
be in his agency. He started sending me off for stuff.
I got a laik Lo yoga commercial. I started taking

(15:56):
buses at like twelve years old to auditions. I auditioned
for Annie, but I was too tall and I got
called back. I would have been the years Puerto Rican Annie.
I was like Moneiana Moneyana, thinkingetto Moneyana. Mother was like,
what do you mean you were auditioning for Annie. I
was like, yeah, I'm gonna be an Annie. So I

(16:17):
was like, but we didn't have a phone in my house.
So where I lived in the projects, there was a
neighborhood payphone. Okay, So I gave the agent the phone number,

(16:41):
and the phone number was to the plaza. It was
something now because my mom was always struggling to try
to make ends meet, so the phone would get cut
off or this and that. So I turned around and said,
you know what, I'm gonna give them number to the payphone.
So I lived on the third floor, so you kinda
still look down right exactly. Every time the phone would ring,
it'd be like Branda the phone Branda.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
It wasn't It was a pay phone, but I made
it my phone exactly.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
I made it my phone. So there is when I
started getting callbacks. And then finally at UH, I started
getting invested in like break dancing. And I used to
be in a crew called the Dynamic Dolls and there.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Was big girls. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:19):
I was a big girl walker I was. I just
didn't spin on my head on my back. I tried.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
I remember one time I tried to do a dive
and I cut my chin. I was like, Okay, we're
not gonna do that.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
We're gonna stick to pop locking because I'm stay. We're
gonna stay on my feet. We ain't trying to go
down to the floor. So we got asked to do
the Kennedy Center Honors and the honor Gene Kelly and
I met Carol Burnett and I was like everybody was
caring about just break this.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
I was like, oh, do you know I want to
be actress just like you.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
You told her that, yeah, and she I know what
type of kid you were. I know exactly what type
of kid you were.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
You know what it was. I was put a cent,
but I was to the point that get in it,
no matter what.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
It's like, what child goes up to Carob like I
want to be actress.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
Just yeah, I got pictures with caral Brunetjeene Kelly, like
I always wanted to make some kind of impact that
that I was there, So I always wanted to be
in the front. Like even with the the program that
my mom put me in with the acting and dancing,
one of the girls forgot her part. I started tap dancing.

(18:20):
The lady was like, oh my god, she taped danced
so good. Where did she take dances? My mother goes,
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
I just improvised some tap improviser, so you was gonna
make it out.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
We did New York, New York. I was like, I
was like New York, New York.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Another little girls like can you get out of here?

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Police? She got nervous so she I wouldn't want to
do her solo. So I was like, okay, girl, I
got this. So I went in the.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
Front, said this is my solo. Now I sure did
I sure didn't make it my solo. So I got
the solo and I just started going in the front
of My mother was like, she really loves this. So
I got into the break dancing thing. We went to
do the Kennedy's and Honors. After we did that, I
met Jean Kelly Caraburnett. Kraburnette gave me one one advice
that Geen Kelly. Yes, gene Kelly, gene Kelly. I got

(19:07):
a picture with him, I hugged him. He was like,
He's like, I love your spunk, and the Caraburnett was like,
isn't she the cutest?

Speaker 1 (19:13):
I remember like pinching my cheek. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
Yeah, And I went like this to her because I
remember that because I used to watch it when I
was a kid. The Honeymoon Is and the caraber Neet
Show was my thing.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
So I told her one day, I want to be
just like yo, I want to be on TV. So
I just kept.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
Pursuing the acting, the singing, and how I really got
my big break in the music is when I was
dancing for the for the the Bach Street Audition with
the Dynamic Dolls and they were covering Rock Steady Crew.
They were covering Dynamic Breakers, Dynamic Dolls, and I was

(19:50):
a Dynamic Doll and I really just became part of
it because I met a girl named Susie Q and
I just loved her swag and I was like I
always wanted to be with the cool people because I
always felt like an outcast because as a younger, I
used to get made fun of a lot.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
I used to be made fun of of my mouth.
They used to call me, you know, crip lip.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
They used to like, makeuse of my mouth is cl Yeah,
I just super cruel. But I still said, you know what,
I'm gonna do whatever I can to be special because
my mother and my brother used to always tell me
your mouth is like that because that's what God wanted.
You're special and you're here and you embrace it. And
I'd always be like, when we do plastic surgery, can
they make me a line?

Speaker 1 (20:27):
And my mother was like, no, that's you. That's who
you are.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
Remember this, when I tell you you get older, you're
gonna look in the mirror and you're gonna love that
and that's what's gonna be so special about you. And
it was crazy because as I got older, it didn't
affect me as much as I did in junior high school,
middle school. In high school, I just started because I
was singing. I was like, you know what, you were
already a right?

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah. People were like, you know you like you could
sing like I used to.

Speaker 4 (20:55):
Get solos, and then the boys used to start liking me,
and I was like, oh, I'm not as old I
really thought I was.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
He was a whole baddie thinking you was ugly.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Oh yeah, I did. I did. I never felt pretty.

Speaker 4 (21:05):
I always felt like I was made fun of. And
even if I liked a boy, I didn't want to
like him because I felt like he't like somebody else
who had pretty lips or longer hair or better outfits.
And like I knew, my mother struggled, but my mother
did try to give me the best of everything. So
I remember when the rip jeans came out, people were
buying them in the store, and I.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Created my own vibe.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
I created my own vibe the Lee jeans. My mother
would work double shifts to make sure I had the
right outfits.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Typical La mom, make sure my baby girl looked always always.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
So we had the audition for for for.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
For Beet Street, and I took Africa Bambada's soul sonic
Force song.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Planning Rock.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
I was like, Yo, I'm gonna write a song for this,
and my friends were like for what, And I was like, Cause,
We're gonna go to the audition tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
You're gonna dance, but I'm gonna sing.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
And they were like, no, but it's not for singing,
it's for dancing breaking, it's for break dancing. I was like,
all right, so I'm like pop lock and then I'll
just throw a tune in there.

Speaker 2 (22:02):
She said, I'm gonna sing too. I don't know what
to tell Yeah, yeah, I was like, I got this.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
So we ended up having the audition.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
It was the big breakdance audition, and I said they
were telling oh, Harry Belafonte's gonna be here, this was
going to be there, never knowing that the man that
would be running the soundtrack for the movie would.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Be a man by the name of Arthur Baker.

Speaker 4 (22:23):
Arthur Baker was the producer of the whole soundtrack and
David Pickett was the one who was dealing with the
music part of it. So I went to the audition
and we break dance and we had our audition and
it was full of so many crews from Boston, New York,
everywhere dololauv. I'm talking about New York, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx,

(22:43):
all five boroughs.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
But they also had people coming in from La Well,
they flew in. Everybody. Everybody came in.

Speaker 4 (22:50):
It was on the news, but I guess because how
successful Harry Belafonte was. It read it was all over
and that was when social media was not even in
an effect. Oh no, social media came into effect the
other day. Get him exactly exactly, hence why I'm not
the best at it. But with that being said, I
saw him walking after the audition. The news was gonna

(23:13):
interview him and talk about.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
And you knew who he was.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
I knew exactly who he was because my mother always
had a crush on it. Okay, so you're come in
me on Google. I was like, that's the man, and
my mother always had a crush on him. So when
I told my mother of the movie, she goes, that's
harrybella Fonte's I had a beautiful daughter.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
She's a model. So she was telling me.

Speaker 4 (23:35):
She was giving me all the history and she's like,
you gotta look good. I was like, ma, I go,
I want to sing in and she goes, no, you're
going you're gonna dance, mama. I go, no, no, no, no,
I'm gonna sing. Watch I'm gonna sing in this movie soundtrack.
So the night before I was in my room and
I was writing a song and it was a song
called the Vicious Beat. And I made up a song
was like hey you, yeah, I'm talking to you. I'm

(23:56):
here to tell you, to tell you it'school the dynambe.
So I kept going on and I was writing.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
I was writing. I was ready.

Speaker 4 (24:03):
So when he came in, I ran up to myself,
mister Belafonte. I was like, my name is Brenda Starr.
I was like, I was here, I was break dancing.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
How old were you?

Speaker 1 (24:11):
I was fifteen.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
Because I feel like an adult wouldn't be able to
do that right now, they'd be so shy.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
I just knew the struggles of my mom, and I
always wanted to be able to buy my mam a house.
And we lived in our projects all all and we
were sharing beds, and my mom did bust her home.
We ate great meals every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
We were very well taken care of. She did dress
us good. But I knew how hard it was for
my mother, and I knew what it was to go
to the store with the pack of coupons and pay

(24:38):
and sometimes I was embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
I didn't want to do it. But I knew that.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
As much as it hurt my mother, she still did
whatever she had to do to make sure we didn't
need and she still had out and end jobs. So
I said, one day, I'm going to buy us a house,
and my mother was like, I would love that. I
would love to have my own house and not live
in a building, because I guess she felt like all
of us in one building, like they took two apartments
and put them together for us.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Because there was seven of us. Oh wow, there was
seven of us. And my brother was in college. My
brother was a boxer. He was on the USA boxing team.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Actually, the plane that crashed, he went out the night
before to Studio fifty four with a bunch of his
friends and he missed the flight and everybody died on
the plane. So it leads me with hairs because my
mother was the type of mother that she lives for
every single one of her kids, and none of us
were treated better than others. She gave us all love

(25:33):
when we all needed it. She spread herself wide so
that we all knew that we were important to her.
So I went going back to Tyllary Belafonte.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
You had to run down on him.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
I had to. I had to do whatever it took
to know that I could do something for my mom.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
And I met Harry Belafonte and he's like, well, I'm
gonna go into an interview, but if you hang out,
he goes, you.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Know, I'd love to hear you sing. I was like, okay, okay.
So he went up to do the interview, and then
all of a sudden, security is like, all right, everybody
get out.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
It's time to get out. You know, we're closing doors.
Everybody audition. If you're not part of the cleaning, clue,
you can't stay. I was like, what if you're not
part of the cleaning to audition it, Hey.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Give me the bag.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
I got the garbage over here. And I was a kid,
I was fifteen, and I was like, I was hoping.
They go are you supposed to be? I said, yeah, yeah,
I'm helping out.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
I'm cleaning.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
They asked who volunteered. I volunteered, so okay, So I'm cleaning.
So all of a sudden, he comes down and there's
a man that's with him, and it was a guy
named David Pickett, and I just started singing a cappella
love on the two A Street the song I did
the demo of, and it was a real, too real
at the time. It wasn't a it wasn't any of
those like little discs or any kind of like gadget that,

(26:48):
nothing like that.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
It was.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
It wasn't a cassette tape. It was a real, too
real that I had did. So I was like, well,
they can't hear it like that, and I can't carry
with me and I don't have headshots.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
I was like, I'm just gonna sing.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
So I saw him come down and started singing a
cappella and them they were like, who's that and He's like,
oh no.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
I was like, I was like singing and singing. All
of a sudden, I.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Just held the note that vibrato and he was like who.
I was like, that's me, mister Belafonte. I'm the girl
that wanted to sing for you. I was like, please,
can I sing in your movie? I says, I promise
you you won't be sorry for it, And David was like,
she's got a really good voice. He goes get her
number and hook her up with Arthur Baker. So I
got an audition for Arthur Baker and I went to

(27:28):
his studio and I ended up writing for the movie,
and I ended up writing a song for Lisa Fisher
calls Shadows of the Night, and I was writing for
the movie soundtrack, and I got on the soundtrack and
I was able to be part of the movie. And
instead of break dancing in the movie, I was able
to have the audition part. So my crew got in
the movie, but I got in the movie like I

(27:51):
have my own part, like I was auditioning. And that's
where I think this whole revelation of of female rappers
and singers came out, and Latifa came out Queen Latifa.
But I think I was with Wanda Dee. I think
I was one of the first ones at Latina rapping
singing female that bought it to light. And everybody to

(28:13):
this day always asked me what happened.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
To Vicious Beat? Why you never put that song out?
But it was on the soundtrack.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
But till date, I'm working on trying to put it
on my new English album, just because it's over three
decades and people still want that song. So Arthur Baker
was gonna include it on one of his compilation albums,
but it didn't work out because through the intrum of
it all. When you're young, you know how people want
you publishing. And I love Arthur the Baker the pieces,
and he's a great guy. But I wrote that song

(28:41):
and I wasn't giving up my publishing. So there was
an issue with us that he didn't put it on
his record. So today we're still trying to negotiate. Because
when you're a work for hire in the music industry
and you write a song, but it's my song, I
wasn't the work for hire for for oh my goodness,
I'm having a mental block for Harry Belafonte or David Pickett.

(29:06):
They hired Arthur Baker to do the soundtrack of the movie.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
He was the work for hire.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
But if I wrote the song, why should I give
up my publishing. So I recently found out that the
splits were not done correctly, and you know, we're going
a little back and forth. But you know, I love
art that he's a great guy. It was an opportunity
that I probably wouldn't have that wouldn't open the doors.
So I'm willing to negotiate, but I'm not willing to
give it all up because this is my craft and

(29:33):
this is my baby, and this is what brought me
through the door. But yeah, so I got into B Street.
That's how it all like started my.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Record career and.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
I got I started hip hop dancing, and before I
forget because I know I talked so much, y y.
There was a guy named Nelson Cruise, Nelson fast Forward
Cruise who sang baby don't Go and Baby don't Go.
He passed away, but he came up to me in
the night club and he's like, hey, you bring the
star right. I saw you on the news.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yo, I heard you sing. You sing really good. He goes,
I have a friend who just signed Shannon who sings
let the music play.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
I told him about you. You interested in getting a
record deal? And I was like really, And I thought
he was trying to pick me up. So he's like,
let me get your number and I was like nah.
I was like give me your number and he was like, oh,
are you on my number?

Speaker 1 (30:35):
You don't trust me. I said no, not that I'm
really getting my number out. He was like all right.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
And I was only fifteen going on sixteen, and you're
still fifteen. I was going to be sixteen. This was
when bea Street happened. So I was sixteen and took
his number. Was I was almost going to be sixteen
when I did the movie. My birthday wasn't too far
from it. So I gave him my He gave me
his number. I called him and I went to my
aunt and I went to Atlantic Records. I worked for

(31:00):
Mirage Atlantic. So Mirage was a label that was an
independent label, but it was distributed by Atlantic. So I
didn't have a demo at the time. I still had
the real to reel. So my auncles, if they ask
you to sing or to play your cassette, just tell them, oh,
I don't have it, but I'll sing a cappella.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
This is your mom's sister.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
Said it wasn't my mom sister.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
I used to babysit her daughter, so you know what're
Puerto Rican, So anybody that we babysit her baby said,
that's the dee.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
So I used to baby sell her daughter, and her
and her sister used to do music, play Vicky Sue
Robinson in the house, and I's picking up different genres
and different vocalists and loving like you know, Rick James,
Vicky Sue Robinson, Donna Summer. So I started getting more
involved into like different sounds so I turned around and
I said, Okay, I'm gonna sing.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
I'm gonna sing love on a two A street. He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah,
sing it. So I just started singing.

Speaker 4 (31:46):
He go, wow, you got a really good voice, and
he was like, how old are you? I said, I'm
just gonna be sixteen, and he goes, wow, is this
the perfect age? I said, yeah, I just finished the
movie for Harry Belafonte. Flex me, I said, I just
I just got off for the part to be in
his movie. We're gonna be filming and we'll be filming
it soon. And I said, but yeah, I would love

(32:07):
to be on your record label. And I go I said,
I promise you won't be sorry.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
And he was like, I love. I love how you're
just so confident. I said, I love. I live for this.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
I said I want to buy my mom my house
and he was like. He goes, how many brothers and
sisters you have? I said, I have five brothers and
it's me and my sister and he goes, Wholla, what
do your parents think about this? Well, my parents aren't together,
but my dad sings, I love you more to day
than yesterday.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
So I was just selling my.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
Always read you were like, I'm gonna get this deal.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah. So he I said, well here's mine. He goes, well,
let me think about it.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Give me your phone number, and I said, thank you
to Nelson for introducing us, and uh, I gave him
the phone booth number.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
He like, call me on the phone booth and my
friend Brianda once again, Yo, you got a phone call yo,
Because I would tell them don't use the phone between
these hours, and they'd be like, yo, did the phone
are you out of your mina? Are you gonna tell
us we can't use it?

Speaker 2 (32:58):
This is my payphone.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
Yes, So I and the phone was busy and he
kept telling me that he was calling it and kept
being busy, and I was like, yo, come on, waiting
for a phone call. It's between I said, what time
you think you're going to be calling me? So I
know to be there because I got a couple appointments
with my mom. So he ended up calling me, and
my friend called me. I came downstairs and it was

(33:20):
a phone call of a lifetime. It was every time
I tells U storry. It was a phone call that
he said, come to the label, come today. And the
day that I went he asked me to come. I said, okay,
but I did have money to get there, so I said,
can I come tomorrow because I have to make sure

(33:40):
that my mom could take me, and he goes, okay,
but my mom really didn't take me. I got money
for the train. I took the train and I got
there and he gave me an envelope.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
He goes, I want to work with you. He goes,
this is for you. If you say yes, if you
say no, rip it up.

Speaker 4 (33:53):
And it was a contract and it was fifteen thousand
dollars and I thought it was one hundred and fifty
thousand because I didn't know how to read the numbers.
Like I wasn't great school. Everything was like dyslexic for
me because I was really not You was talented.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
You was an actress. He was a singer.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
You wasn't an account Okay, it's okay.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
So I ended up getting the deal. And when I
gave my mother the letter, I said, let me open it.
So when she opened it, all I remember was her screaming.
She's like, oh my god, and I was like, what
is it? Goes, this is a contract they want you
to sign. This is it?

Speaker 1 (34:20):
And they gave you a check.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
I said, let me see one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
She goes, no, it's not on everythy dousan nos, it's
fifteen thousand dollars. Yeah, because I remember telling him I
wanted to buy my mama house. And I told, well,
can we get rid of all the furniture we buy
new furniture. She said yes, She goes, is that what
you want to do with the money. I said, I
don't want it for me, I want it for you.
So we furnished the whole house. And then I went

(34:43):
to the studio and I started recording, and I did
what you see, it is what you get. And I
was in a production deal with Arthur Baker because when
I was signed on to the movie, they gave me
a production deal and I was very young.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
So because I was so young, I was able to
get out of it. Of course, yeah, I was a
minor so Arthur Baker.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
So to not make him feel because I was one
that didn't like to burn bridges with anyone, I asked
the guy, if I do this record deal, can Arthur
produce some of the songs too?

Speaker 1 (35:13):
And he goes, would you do you want him too.
I said, yeah, I want him to Cool, you put
him on too. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
So Arthur Baker produced my first album with Lottie Golden,
Tommy Farrager, Steve Lund and Arthur Baker was one of
the main producers. And You'remire Diodado who worked with Cool
in the Gang. Did I still believe? And how did
you manage this?

Speaker 3 (35:32):
You're a teenager grown as adults two day cannot manage
to do something like that.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
I think it was just the right time, the right place.
Stars aligned, stars aligned.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
Yeah, And I thought I was badass because after I
got the check and I was I was doing the records.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
I didn't want to. I didn't want to go to
school because I was like, I don't need school. Was
that high school? You quit high school? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (35:57):
I quit in ninth grade because I was starting to tour.
The records started playing on the radio.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
I still believe. Yeah. Well, first it was it was
what you see is what you get. First I was
picking up the pieces. Then it was what you see
is what you get? And then I still ninth grade.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
I was in ninth grade and I started doing shows
and I told my mother, like I don't want to
wake up. I don't want to go to school.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
I'm tired.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
I started cutting and my mother was like, but you
need an education no matter what. I was like, no, mam,
but I'm already taking care of you. And I says,
and now I'm doing shows.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
I'm like, you know. She's like, no, I don't think
you should do it. And then I quit. But then
I went back.

Speaker 4 (36:30):
I went to a private school. I went to Quintano's
and I got my high school diploma. Because I started
having my work sent to me like facts. Back in
the day, we didn't have the email stuff.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
We had faxing. And as long as I finished my work,
I did the record label say you have to do
this or that was something you decided.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
No, I did it because after Mirage Records, I got
offered a contract with a MCA and I didn't know
how to read like the best way the math, and
I didn't want to get taken advantage of it, and
I want wanted to get my math and my reading
back in order. So I said, you know what, I'm
going to go back to school. So the money I
made for my shows, I started paying for me to
go to a private school. So I went to Quintana School.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Of the young and professionals, Oh good for you, you're
grown grown.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Yeah, well, I had to the point that you realized,
like I need to go back to school, and you
just quit school and you already know you got to
go back.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
That means your mental maturity.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Was, yeah, beyond my age, beyond my age.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
So I started making money and then my credit was great,
and I was making a lot of money, and I
bought my mama house in Jacksonville, Florida, because that's where
her god son lived and she wanted to live there
a word.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
Mom was like, peace New York. I'm out of Florida,
and no no.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
I bought her the house and she wanted to come
back to the projects, so she never gave it up.

Speaker 2 (37:45):
Typical from the project, like this is what I know.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
She had a section eight.

Speaker 4 (37:50):
She was like, I love it here, but I appreciate
you buying me the house, but I missed New York.
I missed New York, but it was under my name,
so I ended up keep in the house. And I
didn't really like Jacksonville, so I ended up selling it.
And after selling it, I just furnished the whole apartment
in New York, pulled up the floors.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Then you want to be mommy or tiles and made
the bathroom, fixed the cab. You walk into, you want
to her apartment and you forget you in the PG Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
Yeah, you didn't know you was living in the PJS.
Although there's a lot of people in the projects that
hooked their apartments.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
I'm sa, I'm like, yo, what's up with that hat?
You forget you're in the project? Yeah, you go into
those apartments where am I people? Scenario like roaches and mice.
It depends on how you take care of your house.
My mother was very Latina. Everything was clean every day.
We had cleaning days that we all had chores, one
had garbage, one had dishes, one had the bathtubs.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
It was like the army was happening and the house
that was on top of shit.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
My mother was on top of shit.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
But yeah, I bought her house, and uh yeah, I
was able to do it for her because her growing
up on her own so young and having kids so young,
she never really got to enjoy her life.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
And she gave it up for you. Yeah, you know,
you were seven.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
How can you have a life.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
You can't go to dinner, you can't go out with
your homegirls. You can't go to Vegas, you can't go
to Nashville.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
The get go absolutely not. You have to wear.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
But I could remember our night out was Jack in
the Box, Jack in the Box, White Castle, Buy White Castle.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
My husband always says that that White Castle was a
treat for them.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Yeah. Yeah. I used to be like, I want the
one with cheese.

Speaker 4 (39:27):
I don't want pickles on my My mother used to
be like, Okay, whatever you want. I remember she used
to get twenty of them, and we used to be like, damn,
we're going at dinner the night we're going the White Castle.
So yeah, you're going to the White House, Mama, get ready,
Like that's how I'm got Now which song was it
that took you?

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Then you're like, bro, I'm a fucking star. What song
was that?

Speaker 1 (39:52):
I still believe you hit number thirteen on Billboard with
that song? Yeah, I think yeah, I think that was
when I had the epiphany, like wow.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Was it a moment? Did you go somewhere did you
hear it on the radio? Like when did it dawn
on you? Like, bro, I fucking made it.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
When when I was in uh in the Beacon Theater
in New York, and I performed and the way the
people sang the song.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
And I stopped, I get goosebump because that song is
just yeah, and it.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Was it was.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
It was definitely resonating for me because it was learning
about relationships and it was my first boyfriend and I
met him when I was fourteen.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Until you wrote it by somebody, I didn't write it.
I actually just worked on the Bridge, okay. And I
did that with Yamia Dia Dado.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
It was written by Antonina Armada but uh and Yamia
Dia Dada was the was the producer, but Antonina did
a really big.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Part of the song. I just came through with the
Bridge and I made it my own.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
And I realized that when I performed it that day
how much of a hit it was because I was
getting stopped in the street like, oh my god, you
brun the key star yo, that's my fifth that's my
breakup song. And we didn't have like lives, so people
would literally stop me in the street and I'm like,
oh my god, I'm really like a star, Like this

(41:13):
shit is insane.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Like I was going to Florida, I was being stopped
at airports. I was going to London. I was going
to Los Angeles.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
But I think when I really had the the the moment,
the wow moment, it was when I was on tour
with New Kids on the Block.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Okay, how did you end up turning with them? They
invited you or you invited them?

Speaker 1 (41:33):
No, they invited me.

Speaker 4 (41:34):
They were managed by Dick Scott and my manager at
the time was a guy named Buddy Allen and Steve
Allen and Connie Allen. They were a husband's son and
father team, a wife and a wife and husband team
with their son, and they were managing me and Dick
Scott had reached out to somebody I think by the
name of Rory and said, you know, I really loved

(41:57):
this girl's voice, Like, who's managing her? And I was
pretty much on the outskirts with them because after a
while they just were booking shows. But a lot of
the shows that they were booking were good, but it
didn't work for me. There was a couple of things

(42:18):
that I was uncomfortable with, so I ended up parting
ways with them, and I didn't have a manager.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
My mom was managing me, and my mom was like yeah.
My mom was like, I can't do this.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
I don't know how to do this, like I'm gonna try.
So I found out when I went to MCA. Gerald
Busby introduced me to mister Dick Scott and Gerald Busby
was like, you know, we need a powerful manager for her.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
And I heard of him and I was like, I
want to work with that man.

Speaker 4 (42:45):
Like he has new kids on the block, like they're
doing arenas, they're doing this they was like, I want
to do this. And then he had told Gerald, uh, listen,
I'd love to bring Brenda kay on as an opening
act for new Kids. So I got on the tour
and then when I asked him, I said, would you
manage me again?

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Bim Bold?

Speaker 4 (43:04):
Yeah, And he was like, well, aren't you managed by
the Allens. I was like no, I says, I parted
waves with them, but I'm looking for somebody, somebody that
could really make me famous, like more famous and put
me in the big arena. It's like I want to
I want to do this forever. And he was like, yeah,
I'll helpe you. So we signed a contract and I
started working with him. I put out an album on MCA.

(43:25):
Kate Heyman was my A and R Lady and Uh.
After that, I ended up going to a huge tour,
And there is when I really realized that I was famous,
because when you had you didn't have phones, but you
had people with lighters in the in the audience flicking
their lights when I was singing, I still believe. And
I would just take the mic and put it out there,

(43:46):
and it would seem like the whole floor was shaking.
When they were going no, no, no, no, no, I
need your baby, I said, little baby, and they would
sing with me, and I was gonna come out and
say they and I would put the mic out and
just everybody would.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
Sing that song. And there's when I knew.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
That that Wow, you were like, Mama, I made it.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
I did.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
I did, And I put my sister through college, and
I put my brother through college that used to take
care of me. My sister went to Syracuse University for
physical therapy. My brother went to We went to Affordham
for a while and then he went to I forgot
the other name of the college he went to, but
he graduated got Blend and after he graduated, he was

(44:36):
going to be a psychologist, and he did his hustling
on the side to help us and did his thing,
but he ended up getting killed.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
He well, he back in the day when you get
beat up by cops. My brother was working.

Speaker 4 (45:04):
He was painting, doing out and end jobs in between
call after he finished college, waiting to get a job
as a psychologist. He was painting someone's house and they
raided the house and he was sleeping and he thought
that they were raiding it and didn't know they were
undercovers and they were kicking him and beating him up,
and there were cops and they arrested him and he
ended up going to jail because the house had marijuana.

(45:26):
And when he ended up going to jail, they realized
he was the painter and they let him out. But
he had had an asthma attack in the hospital and
in prison, so when he came out he was fine.
He got his palm, he started feeling pain and he
went to the hospital. He had a hematoma and it
was from being just beat so bad that when they

(45:48):
did the surgery, he had a heart attack after and
he ended up dying. And yeah, that's where I get
so many And we never sued, and we didn't sue
because even when we went upstate to get the records,
no one had answers for us, and My mother was like,
I want to know who beat my son up. They oh, no,
they couldn't find the records. It's too late now. But

(46:11):
at least people that get justice now from being beat up.
And listen, I believe in cops because you know, my
brothers were in military. My brother's a military police.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
He worked on the border south of the border, he
was in the Marines.

Speaker 4 (46:25):
Just it's sad when you have good cop bad cops,
and they put such a bad name on certain cops.
But it was like, I think it wasn't my brother's time,
but I think unfortunately we weren't able to suit for
the sake of his kids, and his kids didn't get anything.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Out of it.

Speaker 4 (46:39):
But they're all successful now. His daughters, you know, working
in the medical field. His other daughter works in the
medical field. His son is now a corrections officer who
now works in San Diego as a court policemen. And
you know, it's like, so you see that we still
have law enforcement and people in our family that give
back and that serve. But at this time we weren't

(47:01):
protected and served. So we lost somebody so amazing. So
it's hard for me, And like I said, I don't
hate policemen. But I was sad that this is one
person that didn't deserve it, that did anything for his community.
Like he just had the brightest smile, and he was
the dad I didn't have. So my mother was very sad.

(47:22):
I think when he passed away, my mother really lost,
you know.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
A part. We all lose a part of ourselves if
we lose our children. You don't want your kids desire
before you. It breaks. But yeah, so he was like
such an inspiration.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
But he was one of the main reasons why I
love music, because he make me perform for him all
the time, all the time.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
But yeah, so I still believe was the song that
puts you into stardom. Yeah then you went on to
her with new Kids on the blog and did you
break off and then go on tour on your own?

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Then I end up working with John and Jerry Aid
and a famous famous artists, and I was.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Just traveling all over the world. It was all over
the world.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
I went to Germany, I went to as a headliner.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Oh yeah, oh.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
Yeah, Germany, London, London, England I was in. I went
to Puerto Rico. I was in the Roberto Clemente Stadium
performing English music, and they actually MCA asked me to
sing I Still Believe in Spanish, and I was like, well,
I'm not so good as Spanish. But my mother was like,
you know, I'll help you. So I learned I Still Believe,

(48:30):
and they had a translator in the studio and I
learned it and it did well. In Puerto Rico, I
started singing I Still Believe in Spanish a verse in
English a verse in Spanish. I was touring, you know,
the whole freestyle pop genre was really kicking off.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
And then you know, during this tour is when Mariah
Carey is your background singer. Yes, yes, this is when Mariah.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
I had an audition and I started auditioning band members
background singer.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
You picked Mariah as your background singer. I did, Oh
my god, Like, what are the odds?

Speaker 4 (49:01):
You know, it was crazy because I had so many
girls that were coming in for the audition, because you
have to obviously applied before coming, and there's only a
certain amount of people you could see within the day.
So we had like eight girls come that day, Six
to eight girls come that day, and the audition started
around four thirty five. Mariah was there almost at almost
three o'clock a little early, and I'm like, you're really early,

(49:24):
and she's like, yeah, you know, I you know, I
figured i'd come early because I guess she walked, you know,
she didn't have a car. She moved from Staten Island
and from Long Island, excuse me. And she came for
the audition and I was like, well, come through. You know,
the piano player was already there.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
You remember what she sang?

Speaker 1 (49:43):
She sang, I still believe, Okay.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
She sang some of the backgrounds, Like I told her
what I wanted to sing, and I sang the part
to her and she sang some of it and I
was like, wow, you sound great. So she hung out
and then the other girls auditioned and not end up
hiring her, And then in the intrum of the tour
we started to becoming friends.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
And that's how it all.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
She was your only background singer, like.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
No I had her.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
I had another girl named Josie, and then I had
another girl named Clarissa, so I had three girls.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
So it became like the homies. Yeah I was on
tour together.

Speaker 4 (50:15):
Yeah, Well, Clarissa and Josie were cool, but they weren't
my homies. I was more like chill with Mariah and
Mariah and I like hit it off because we were
so much alike. We were very committed to our craft.
We loved music. And I noticed how dedicated she was.
And how I noticed that was because in the interim
of touring, like I would tell her how I wanted

(50:35):
something sung, and boom, she would get it right off
the bat. I was like, she's super dedicated, super dedicated.
But I caught her one time sitting in the bleachers
when we were when we were all taking a break
before our sound check, and she had on her walkman,
And when she had on her walkman, she was listening
to music. And I was like, what are you listening to?
She was like, oh, I'm just listening. My stomach is growling,

(50:56):
she says, I'm listening to music. I says, who do
you listen to? Like who's your favorite art? She goes
no on some stuff I wrote.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
I was like, can I hear? She was like yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:03):
So I was like and I'm listening and I'm like,
is this you? And she's like yeah, And I'm like
she sounds so good, like like like why are you
singing background for me?

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Like why don't you have a record deal.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
She's like, oh, because everywhere I go, I haven't been
able to get a chance, or because I'm white, I
sound too black, and people don't really they say I'm
trying to sound too much like this one. And I've
been to a couple of you know, spots with my
producer and we've yet to be signed. But I'm still trying.
And I'm like, you sound really good. I was like,
who wrote these songs?

Speaker 1 (51:35):
She goes, I did. I was like, you right too.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
So I think that was the connection that both of
us really had a passion. I noticed how she loved
what she did. She wrote songs instead of hanging out.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
She was just like me.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
We would go straight to the studio, I would folk
and stay up and we were super focused and I
love that about her.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
And we just became friends and we were very like
pranking people, and I love that about her. Like she
was like me, a gooster.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
Like now she's totally it's kind of different than when
I first met her, Like she had a more of
a goofy side. I mean, I haven't hung out with
her for years, so I can't say if she still
doesn't have that. But she was always very funny, super sweet.
I met her brother, Morgan. Her mom was a vocal coach,
super nice, and so I told her, you know, mons
into being friends and touring. We started hanging out. I

(52:21):
was like, Yo, there's a party that's going to happen
tonight and it's a WTG party and there's going to
be that guy. His name is Jerry Greenberg. He's the
first guy that gave me my first record deal. Maybe
I could bring you to the party. I have an
extra ticket, and yeah, you want to come with me.
She was like, I don't have anything to wear, and
I was like, come with me. I said, you can
borrow something of mine. It's gonna worry.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
But the only thing she couldn't borrow was the shoes
because her feet were cute.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
And I was like, yoms, like, the only thing you
can't borrow is my shoes because them toes ain't getting
past them.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
She was laughing at me.

Speaker 4 (52:53):
She's like, no, I'll just figure something out. So I
was like, so meet me at my apartment and you
can get dressed at my apartment.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
I said to my mom. I was like, Mom, this
was in New York. Yeah, this was in New York.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
No where I told her was when we were on tour.
We were at a show up state, New York. So
I told my mother, Mammy, you mind if I give
Mariah the ticket to the party. And she's like, no, no,
you girls go, you go have a good time. So
I took Mariah with me to the party. So Mariah
met me at my apartment in Jersey. So well, she
literally hung out with me. So we went to my
apartment in Jersey. We got dressed and ready there she

(53:24):
put my little I still believe leather jacket.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
I had the mini skirt and she looked so cute.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
She's like, I don't I don't know if I want
to wear the skirt. I think I'm just gonna do
the leggings with the leather jacket. And then she comes
out the room and she has a pair of her
makeups done. She looks so beautiful.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
Always girls always Yeah, the big hair, you know, we
always had this, We teased it. She looked beautiful.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
I loved when she used to do the curly hair too.
But she came out, but she had a pair of
sneakers on and I'm like, okep, so we're on with that.
And they were dirty sneakers. And media fana because I
wish that she fit my shoes.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
I'm said, and that's tiny.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
I'm a nine.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Yeah, you would have judged my feet too, girl, because
Rusius is big.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
So she was like, yeah, but I know, have nothing
to wear, and I was like, just wear those.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
So they were a pair of white skippies. Back in
the day, skippies was the ship. We used to use
Griffin to keep them white, so it was teds are skippies.
I used to do the skippies. I used to get
them at the dollar store. I remember back in the day,
I didn't care pay less, so fortunately, by the grace
of God, I didn't. Just because I have money didn't
mean I have to shop at the big bougie spots.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Listen to my stomach growling, do you hear that? And
I'm not even hungry.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
But I end up telling Mariah I was like, just
wear those, let's go. So we went and we went
to the party, and when we got there, Jerry Greenberg
was there, and there is when I introduced Mariah to
Jerry Greenberg got the baker and I had already sent
a couple of friends the cassette of Mariah because I

(54:54):
wanted to help her her demo. You had already sent that.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
I sent it to Medina, Betty Medina, I sent it.
That's her manager now right, No, that's not a manager,
but he was at one point Jennifer's manager. Oh, j
j Jennifer's manager.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
I know somebody.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
She's someone else now I don't know who it is.
I was thinking of James.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
Yeah, yeah, but Jael's with Benny and uh so then
I ended up turning around and I said, we're gonna
go to this party.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
So we get to the party. I see Tommy checking
her out and I told her and he was like, yo,
who's the baby with the bod? She went to the bathroom.
I was like, oh, that's my friend. I was like,
open my purse and I'm like, yo, this is her cassette.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
You lying, you gotta hear this using you had her demo?

Speaker 4 (55:32):
Yeah, because I told her make sure you bring you now,
you as a real one, bring your cassette. And I
had played her cassette for Georgia Lamon prior and George
Leman was like, Yo, this girl got fire vocals and
nobody was doing that whistle.

Speaker 2 (55:45):
Tone, and you know it was one of them.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
She reminded me of a young.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Minnie Rippleton because Minnie was pretty much the only one
that did that back in the day. From loving you,
so I wasn't intimidated and helping her because from where
I come back from, it's important to open doors for
all and be there for each other because you should
never be jealous.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
You should always give opportunity what opportunities do. And I
love it the pieces. I'm so proud that I.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
Was able to make a mark in history and bring
her to this party and make the connection, although my
management hated me for it, and that's when our management
severed because.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
My manager was like, why this was when I was
a buddy.

Speaker 4 (56:25):
He's like, why would you give Tommy Mottola Mariahs tape
knowing you're on epic?

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Do you know what this is gonna do to your career?
You're gonna lose everything. And I'm like, no, I'm not.
Why would you lose everything? Because I guess the resemblance.
I guess because the voice. I guess because the age
it felt like there will only be room for one
of you, right, okay, right? But I didn't think of
it that way, and I still don't think of you
that way, and I love you so much for that.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
I don't think because somebody might have been like, don't
even come.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
With me, No, I just I don't. I don't have
an ugly heart.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
I don't have an ugly heart because I feel like
in my space, how my mother did for others, and
that's why God blessed us and we were able to
survive and have what we have and grow with integrity
and have such diligence at what we do, and be
able to be such caring people and have an open heart.
I believe that what kaffee won, kaffee too, what coaffee two,

(57:22):
coffee seven, So for me, I knew she needed it
and I wanted to help her, and I didn't think
about what the repercussions would be because todate. I still
feel like, I'm happy that I did it. I'm so
proud to be part of it. I love her to pieces,
and although people get other scenarios, I'm proud of the
woman she is. I'm proud of the happy business. Honestly,

(57:46):
we may not know Mariah if.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
It weren't for you doing that. Yeah, And you know
we thank you because she you know, she's an icon
she's a star.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
We love her.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
She is and she's very talented. She is an incredible songwriter.
She's an incredible artist. And you know, I know with
time our voices change because with age we change and
our body changes in terms of the endurance of working out,
et cetera. But I feel like she still has a
beautiful space in the industry. This is incredible. And although

(58:16):
we're not in contact like we were because of the
way life changes, people go on different paths. We meet
people in junior high school. That don't mean we got
to stay friends forever. We all go different areas. But
to make the mark in the history of the music
industry and the impact that I made, I believe that
I brought the biggest talent to the music industry and

(58:37):
I have a lot to say about it, and I
believe that that's where God put me, and that's what
God wanted me to do. And I did it because
the kindness of my heart, and it didn't bother me
that my management was upset because after doing it, I
did end up.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Losing my deal.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
So she ended up getting signed.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
She got signed, Okay, she got sown to Columbia, signed
to Columbia, and I was on EPIC and I end up.
You know, my deal was I had did an album.
It was an album called by Heart that Diane Warren
was a writer, Rick Wake was a writer.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
I had a lot of great talent.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
I had a great team, but unfortunately it came to
an end. I was told by Tommy that I needed
to get dropped because at that point they were going
in a different direction. And he saw me singing dance
freestyle music. He says, that's what I see you doing.
And I'm like, I like freestyle, but I'm not a
freestyle artist. I'm a pop artist. I'm I'm I'm I'm

(59:32):
a pop artist. That's why I want to do pop music.
I want to do music like Celine Dion. I want
to do music like you know, Gloria Gain. I want
pop music like I want Diana Ross. And he was like, yeah,
but you know, unfortunately, we can only have a certain
amount of talent that is going in that direction, and.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
I think you would be better off doing dance music.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
And then I got released and my album got shelved,
but it still didn't It didn't stop me to tear
you an, it didn't stop me. I still was so
happy for her and she was killing it. I was
listening to the demos of the album and.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
I was like, oh my god, this is a hit.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
This is me.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Did you stay cool like after she got signed?

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
We did? Okay, we stay cool.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
So you got to see, like how everything unfold different
I did, Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Did I even go in as far as going to
her wedding? I was at her wedding. Okay, so that's
good to you got to see her fairy tale come true.

Speaker 4 (01:00:22):
I did see it unfault and I was very happy
for her, not envious, very proud for Because I was
still doing music, I wasn't doing it as heavily as
I wanted to because I did lose my deal and
there were a lot of areas that were in my
in my life that financially I struggled.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
I had to get auden end jobs. I had two babies,
I didn't have rent money. I was this is right
after this. Yeah, I was sleeping on the floor with
my two babies.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
But I was still hustling. But I had the pride
to not go back and say, hey, what you gonna
do for me? Like, you know, I did ask one point,
like you know, what do I do but she was
in a relationship that was so toxic for her that
her mental state wasn't really involved and invested in me,
So she needed to do her So I didn't even

(01:01:11):
bother to say, hey, I did this to get this
in return.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
Because most people I did this, but I didn't most
people like you owe me. Yeah, and a lot of
people told me that. But you know what, I didn't.
I didn't do it to be to be uh compensated.
I did because that's.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
The woman in thinking this was gonna happen obviously right. Oh,
I knew she was going to be successful.

Speaker 4 (01:01:34):
I wasn't thinking that we weren't gonna talk and the
friendship would eventually dissolve, dissolve in the matter of not
because of her, but because of other people in her head,
like you gotta do it this way.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
Don't do this, don't do that. I I didn't care.
I had two I had two beautiful babies. I just
gave gave birth to another child. Your mine was elsewhere.
I was elsewhere, and I said, this is where God
wants me. Right now.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
I'm gonna be having kids. I'm gonna enjoy being a mother.
And if I don't get a record deal. What am
I gonna do if he dropped me? What am I
gonna do? I can't go beg And I basically did
beg him. I said, please don't drop me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11):
I just had a baby. I don't have no money.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
I don't there was no royalties. I had a business
manager who took all my money because he was in
control of my money. So I lost all my money.
And when I went to get money to find out,
he was like, oh no, this was paid.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
That was bad. When I went to get an attorney,
the attorney said, he filed bankruptcy, so you couldn't even sue.
I couldn't even sue him. So I had no money.
So what do you do.

Speaker 4 (01:02:37):
You go get help from the government. And when you
go there and somebody recognizes that's Brenda gay Star.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
You're in New York. Yeah, oh, I was in Jersey.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
You're in Jersey.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
I was in Jersey. I had an apartment in Jersey.
I had everything.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
I had a condo. I had to get rid of
the condo. Then I started living in an apartment because
I was living off of whatever money I had. Then
I didn't even have rent money. I had to go
get help.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
When getting help is where I got recognized in the
social service office.

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
I recognize you like a fan, a fan, and the
social worker knew who I was because I was honest.
I said I used to do music. And he's like,
you look familiar. And I was like, please, don't tell anybody,
and he's like, it's okay. Everybody gets help. You know
how many artists and musicians come through this door when
they lose everything because music doesn't always ask forever.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
And I said please.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
But when I went out, there was a girl there
with someone else and a bunch of people. When I
walked by, she's like, that's Brenda key Start and.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
I just put my head down.

Speaker 4 (01:03:30):
And I remember in the parking lot calling my mother
from a payphone saying somebody recognized me.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
I was like, Mommy, I can't believe this. She's like,
I told you just go write music. You're gonna get
a recording. I'm gonna pray, we're gonna go to church,
we're gonna light a candle. My mother was very religious,
and I said, God got you. Yeah, she said God
got you. She says, you'll be all right. And then
I end up.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
Staying on welfare for about a year and then I
ran into somebody who met me. I was writing songs
for a company called Dance Floor Distribution, and I said, listen,
I don't want to do this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
I need health insurance. I just want to regular check.
I don't like doing this.

Speaker 4 (01:04:08):
And he was like, okay, i'll give you seven hundred
and fifty dollars a week you write songs. Those are
your songs, and I'll give you health insurance. I'll pay
your health insurance. So I had EDNA for me and
my girls, and I had written songs, not knowing that
the songs that I wrote he was keeping.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
Them without me knowing. I thought that I owned the publishing.

Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
So I'm still fighting for some of that now because
now there's all compilation albums of me doing demos that
aren't even real records, so they weren't even finished. So
he put him out very sketchy. But he did do
one thing that helped me. He invited me to me Dom,
which was a music seminar and can and can yeah

(01:04:48):
girl to France.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
I was like, oh, pull the fools there, will looking
for you there and have a cossualt please hello, darling.

Speaker 4 (01:04:58):
But I ended up going there him and we got
at the hotel, and you know, it was a little
shady at the beginning, but we got it. We got
in the show a hotel and then the next day
I started shopping material songs I wrote for different artists.
It wasn't for me, and some guy came up to me.
He's like, yo, freendigatesar and I'm like, oh God, here

(01:05:19):
we go. He so it's like you can't get away
from it. But you know, no matter what, it was
just an opportunity to get my song shopped. And I
knew I make money and you make a lot of
money money which you're publishing. So I said, you know what,
I'm going to do this. I'm gonna get my.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Publishing out there.

Speaker 4 (01:05:32):
I'm going to get a publishing deal again because I
wasn't ready with the publishing deal with Sony. Sony had
signed me on my publishing. So I ended up meeting
someone and the guy that met me said, why don't
you sing for my uncle?

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
I said, sing for your uncle? He goes, yeah, he goes, uh,
you sing Spanish? Right? I was like, no, I don't
know Spanish. He goes, do I still believe in Spanish?
I said yeah. So I ended up singing for him
in Spanish, and that guy ended up living fourteen to
fifteen minutes away from my house. Twelve to fifteen minutes
from my house in Jersey, yep, okay.

Speaker 4 (01:06:02):
He lived in Middletown and I lived in Port Mamouth.
He ended up giving me a record deal in Spanish
and I was like, Mommy, I can't do this, and
the guy was like, you know, and I was like, mom.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
But I don't know Spanish. She's like, look at Selena.
Selena did it. And I'm like, Mommy, but I don't.
My mother was like, give me the contract. Okay, we're
going to sign the contract. I'm going to study with her.
I'm going to help her.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
I wrote every song in phonetic spelling, and that's how
I started singing in Spanish and I learned Spanish. From
the age of twenty eight is when I started speaking
Spanish fluently.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
And I love this because sometimes people feel like you
can't learn Spanish, it's too lately.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
It's never too late eighty that a second, I.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
Am mao whena was from miry Mernandez. But I've felt
in her voice and I was like, Mommy, what is
she saying?

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
But I knew, said.

Speaker 4 (01:07:08):
Was you know, I don't know what I did, but
I fell in love with you one day, the first
day I met you, and I knew right then and
there that the lyrics were going to be powerful and
just the way. When I heard the good I was like,
oh my God. So I kept hearing it over. My
hairs were standing up listening to it. So I said, Mommy,
I want to do this song. But they had sent

(01:07:29):
me a bunch of songs and I picked.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
That one I put.

Speaker 4 (01:07:34):
I picked Sola, I picked, and my mother was helping me,
and mom was like, this is a great song. I
was like, oh, I love this one iconic song.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Yeah. So I started writing it in phonetic spelling. My
mom translated it for me and to to my Spanish was.

Speaker 4 (01:07:57):
But I would stay up every night Prana are John
and I was just writing and writing and writing, and
my mother would put like a like a an accent
on where you would have it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
We would do the rs. We put like a little
squiggly line would be.

Speaker 4 (01:08:14):
Like, so that's how I like roll your R all
your RS all the way, Mama, Because if you don't
fend there when they make fun of you because you
could be a New York Greecan, but if you're going
to sing a song, look perfectos.

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Who there was only Celia Cruz lying.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
So for me, I was like you were entering an
arena that was just like, Yo, remember that album that
we knew from head to toe.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
It's the album.

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
That album was just like exactly made this. So you're
just like, yo, I gotta bring it. And I'm so
happy that you know you did Spanish music. It's just
it's a different type of connection, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
It resonated for me. I loved it. I loved it
and I still love it. And I did I think
that I can do it? Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (01:09:17):
I mean I would go in the studio and I
will take a break and call my mother from the
phone booth in the in the recording studio in Puerto Rico,
andto was in Puerto Rico recording I did it. It
took me a month and a month and a half
to record the whole album.

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
The whole album. I did nine songs, but it did
because when I first went it was to work on
the production, and then they believed, they really believed in you.
Bro was God. That was God. It really is like
from the go to the east side of the world
and you get this opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
I know, you had to fly all the way to
France to get signed to do a Spanish album that
you're going to record in Puerto Rico.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
And guess what was the name of my label? Plato Records.

Speaker 3 (01:09:55):
Claro can see Clado Okay, Mango throwing it. Oh my god,
that's so freaking Joe Man.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
I got signed by Mata and Jose.

Speaker 4 (01:10:07):
Jose Amala was from Florida and it was like a little, small,
little label where they made their own. You don't even
know how many records you sold, but I know I
got one good check one time because a lot of
the stuff was out the door, in the back door.
But I didn't know Lamega was playing my music. The
first night I heard my song Edita, I was.

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
I was in my Housega, are you waiting for it?

Speaker 4 (01:10:29):
I was hanging out with my with my kid's father,
Chris and I were were in the living room and uh,
I was struggling. I didn't I didn't have anything, and
they would help with my my record label. He was
a union worker, you know. I met him when he
came out of college. So long story short, we were
in the living room one night and all of a sudden,
I get a phone call from the guy from the label.

(01:10:49):
Put on my mega, put on my Mega, and he's like,
they're gonna they're gonna play your song. And I'm like really,
so I guess it was like like it or flush
it or something, flush it or rush it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Like asking the public right okay, And they got a
response like oh my god, ge pallo.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
No maruno. And I can remember just crying on the floor.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
How does that song start? It started for me like
what what did you hear on the radio?

Speaker 1 (01:11:14):
Your no say, yeah, said man, I'm onthing.

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
Email say he sees the rena said maybe? How I
mean do call on thestroom? Nobody say.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Here see your fevil?

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
Maybe I see you evil?

Speaker 5 (01:11:40):
Sonyaando, sonyaando care to its tall us I mean love
me lovo, not the liasing sing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
Coumto yo there.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Brenda, Oh my god that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
I'm sorry. Nah. And you've been everywhere lately. Yeah, I've
been recording, so my voice is a little I've been.
I see you performing.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
You've been all over New York City, the Five Boroughs performing.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Yes, hopefully I'll get my voice back soon.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
I actually am going to an E and T because
I think through the interviews the abuse of working in
the studio.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
We got to let you know when you go out
and you do and it's like people talk to you
the worst.

Speaker 4 (01:12:32):
So I've tried steroids, but now I think I have
a small mild sense of like palips. But I've been
seeing a vocal doctor, so it's getting better, but it's
not there.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
I still have I still have a little bit of
time to work on it.

Speaker 4 (01:12:46):
But what I do is when I know I have
a show, I go on vocal rest. So I sleep
a lot, a lot of hot tea, I do a.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
Lot of sauna. But yeah, when I heard Eddida, I knew,
I knew that this.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
Was definitely your man must have been like, that's my mommy.
And because you know, hearing yourself on the radio is
just something completely different. You did radio too, yes, And
currently what are you working?

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Are we gonna do? Are we gonna hear you again?

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Radio?

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
Podcasting? What's the deal with you? What do you want
to do?

Speaker 4 (01:13:18):
So, I mean, I know that radio is something that
I had a passion for, but I know it's very
hard to get into it or even work at it,
because it's no one's gonna give up their seat in radio.
So for me, I have a vision of doing a podcast, okay,
and I have a lot of people that I'm speaking
to right now and I love this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
For you, Yeah, I love it. I love the idea.

Speaker 4 (01:13:36):
So I've got a couple of lined up interviews from
Taylor Dane, Peter Gunn's just okayed an interview with me
about it, Karen Gravano.

Speaker 1 (01:13:45):
I also have Lisa Viva the Beauty and the Bakery.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
Yeah, Lisa, Lisa is another interview I have. I just
reached out to a friend that's a good friend of
Fat Joe. I love Fat Joe, but I don't really
know the direct contact, but he whenever he sees me,
he always shows me love. Have Charlie Mack, who actually
manages Will Smith. This is going to be Charlie Mack
has a book coming coming out, so Charlie Mack and

(01:14:10):
Will Smith. So those are the eight first interviews that
I'm working on lining them up.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
Take your time, line them up, and you know your
public loves you, and I'm pretty sure they're looking forward
to these conversations. Where can we find you like, if
someone's listening to this podcast right now and they want
to find you a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, wig, can they
find Brenda Keystar Well.

Speaker 4 (01:14:32):
Definitely on you know, Brenda Kastar theofficial Brendcakestar dot com,
which is my Instagram handle, and Brenda Kastar on Facebook.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
And I feel like it's just something that I want
to do. Is like women empowerment.

Speaker 4 (01:14:44):
If you feel like this isn't this isn't only a
man's world, it's an opportunity for women to do it.
And I see a lot of women making it happen.
And I think that just manifesting it and putting it
into the universe.

Speaker 1 (01:14:57):
It can be a reality. Just saying that you want
to you've already you've already started it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:02):
You know you've already started it.

Speaker 4 (01:15:04):
I've already started. But it's not only going to be
with people in the industry. It's gonna be about beauty.
It's gonna be about mind, body and soul, taking care
of your health.

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
Whatever you want to talk talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:15:15):
Cooking, how I love to cook.

Speaker 4 (01:15:16):
I like to make myairless, making crack of chicken, a
lot of my mother's recipes. Interviewing my mom how it
was growing up and being my mom and what my
mother did for the struggles, and even if you do
interviewing my kids.

Speaker 2 (01:15:31):
We're gonna make this happen. We're gonna make this happen.

Speaker 1 (01:15:33):
I think it's gonna be a great idea. No, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:15:35):
It's a great idea.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
And you know, I want to say thank you so
much for taking time out, you know, coming down into
Manhattan and sitting down and talking to me and letting
my audience, you know, get to know you.

Speaker 1 (01:15:44):
Thank you. Sorry, I talk so much. I didn't even
like you ask me questions That horvorable. It's okay, it's okay,
they listen. I have you could just cut, you can
edit and be like, well, I want to know when
was the first time you did, and then I could talk. No, no, no, no,
We're gonna leave it just like it is.

Speaker 3 (01:15:58):
You know, I have so many episodes, and you know,
if they want to hear me talk more, listen to
another episode that's not this one. This one is all
about Brenda, kay Star. I appreciate you. I love You're amazing.
You're an inspiration and you know we look up to you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
Thank you so much, and I'm excited.

Speaker 4 (01:16:11):
I think lastly that if if, well when not if,
because I will manifest it and it will happen when
the podcast show does happen. I'm anticipating keeping the name
Under the Stars with Brenda kay Starr because you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Heard it here first.

Speaker 4 (01:16:25):
I think, yeah, you heard it here first. I think
that's a proper name for me, because you know what,
I've been on top of the stars. I've been under
the stars, and I still have been able to manifest
things and make it happen.

Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
So just make it. It's going to happen for sure. Yes,
Come Again? That was love This grass.

Speaker 3 (01:16:48):
Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions in
partnership with Iheart's micro podcast network.

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