Taylor: Hi, this is Taylor calling. How are you?
J: Hi Taylor, this is Joe, How are you?
T: Hi Joe. Good.
J: So the album came out yesterday, right?
T: We just started, yep, it's exciting.
J: That's pretty cool. I've been checking you out on myspace.
I feel like I've known you a long time.
T: (giggle)
J: Ah, just to tell ya . . . I got married in 1989, and inside
of my wedding ring it says, "I'll Always Love You" and
it's from your song.
T: Wow, that's wonderful.
J: You're a single mom, as well as a songstress?
T: Yes, that's what happens!
J: So, yourtwins are how old?
T: They just turned 6.
J: Are they all excited for mom?
T: Oh yeah. They go to school every day, so they have a story now
every day . . . "We're doing this today, Mom's doing that."
They're so wonderful.
J: You've had a busy time. A friend of mine met you a long time
ago. He met you back when "Tell It To My Heart" first
came out, and when he came glowing back later on, he said you were
the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
T: Oh wow, just randomly or was I working it?
J: I think you were working it. It was a nightclub in suburban
Philadelphia and I think he got to meet you through a radio station.
T: Oh, ok, yeah. Wow, that's a compliment.
J: Yeah, he came back and was like wide eyed, it struck me.
T: Wow, that's really nice. Ya know, what do ya' say? Thank you.
J: So you've been touring forever?
T: Touring and making records, acting, doing what we're born to
do. So touring and continuing doing what I
... yeah.
J: Ok. I read that you kind-of started as a professional after
college?
T: Well actually, during. I mean my first band was when I was in
school, but original music and all that was right when I graduated
I started with my first band. We started with a record deal called
Felony. So originally it was, yeah, where I really starting coming
into the labels, or at least playing in the clubs in New York and
then the second band. Then "Close My Heart" was released.
J: Now how did you get into the solo thing?
T: It was from being in a band, I can promise you that. Opinions
all the time . . . it takes some fortitude. The longevity of a band
to last a lot of different opinions all the time, and I just was
ready to embark on a solo career, that's for sure.
J: That's good. Do you still talk to those guys? Do you associate
in any way?
T: Yeah, ya know I spoke to one of the guys. Yeah, we're talking
over 25 years ago, ya know 25 years now . . . 20 years, God. Twenty
years marks my anniversary of "Tell It To My Heart" this
year, so you can imagine.
J: I know you were on Broadway too?
T: Yep.
J: Now you were pretty pregnant when that ended.
T: (laughter) That's one way to put it.
J: I saw that you left September 10th.
T: I did.
J: And where were you the next day?
T: My apartment on 5th Avenue & 15th Street.
J: It must have been scary.
T: Oh, the moment nobody will forget.
J: Yeah, absolutely.
T: I ended the show. Myself & Heather. . . it was quite a weekend.
I had plans. We were packing up my apartment in NY. I was going
back to LA. We were packing, and she went out to get a Latte, and
all the doormen were out on the street because the first plane had
hit.
J: Wow.
T: You could obviously see it from there. No one will ever forget
where they were.
J: Well on to happier things. I know that you obviously perform
live a lot, and you've been in the studio a lot. Which do you prefer?
What are some pluses and minuses of each?
T: Well the idea of being in the studio and being creative is a
remarkable feeling when you are creating what you feel is strong
material and you're working with people that you feel very very
connected with, and material you feel connected with. The whole
point of recording in my mind is to be able to put something out,
you know? That's your process, of putting something out to the masses,
getting something out there.
That's what I'm creating . . . my product, ya know? It's a very
important process. Touring endlessly, it's wonderful to do shows
and that's where you connect with your audience, so it's two separate
entities. One is where you see the impact of what you've created
and how it impacts your audience, and that's the closure. That's
the best feeling in the world, but creating is even more potentially
strong because that's where the process begins. You can't have one
without the other, ya know?
J: Right. I know that you did some writing for this album, as
well.
T: Yep, sure.
J: What inspires you to write music or lyrics?
T: I'm a very strong singer and I've learned from the first time
I ever heard music, it wasn't to write the music, it was because
I was listening to an artist that inspired me and influenced me.
And that was the radio. And that was one of the records my parents
bought me in the '70's. So the radio back then was extremely eclectic.
It was The Carpenters, to The Temptations, to Marvin Gay, to Al
Green, to bands like The Foundations. So, I was inspired by many
different artists. And then of course Joni Mitchell came into my
life, and Aerosmith. More wonderful prolific writers, Neil Young.
These are incredible inspirations to me, so I think I formed the
idea of singing to Stevie Wonder every day on the radio. So I started
creating a style and also my passions.
So writing . . . I'll never say I'm the greatest writer, because
I'm not. But ya know, it's something I've always wanted to . . .
it's a tool of expressing yourself and I felt there were times to
do that, and times not to interpret other people's material which
I did on four other songs on this record too. Whether it was The
Chile Peppers, or a Desiree song.
J: I'm a disc jockey on the side, and I also do karaoke. Someone
sang "I'll Always Love You" the other night and she killed
it, not in a good way. I mean it was horrible. But it's neat that
she tried. She definitely gave it 100%. That's a difficult song
to sing. It didn't really occur to me until I listened that it is
a hard song to sing.
T: Uh huh.
J: You've got a pretty good range. You do have a strong voice.
T: Let her try to sing "Tell It To My Heart."
J: Heh. Well that was my next question. Your first two hits
kind-of rocked a little bit.
T: Well they were more dance and more up tempo. And look, I was
20 years old, so it's all part of who you are, the experiences and
what's believable to you then, and doing material that fits you.
"Beautiful" on this record which is the first single is
kind-of a combination. It's kind-of classic Taylor Dayne on some
levels, and yet it s reaching and pushing me in . . . not a new
direction, but it's modern and it's where we are now musically.
J: Your voice carries. I think it's just as strong as it was
when I first heard you.
T: Absolutely, I hope so. That's my job.
J: So what do you do to keep your voice in such great shape?
Diet, food, exercise?
T: I think all of that. You treat yourself as best you can, and
honestly the process of making a record is not just in the studio.
There's a long process involved in checking out other material,
writing other songs. And your voice is a muscle, and when it's not
as tuned in . . . If I don't sleep enough, if I'm carrying on too
much, it affects my voice tremendously. It's unfortunate for singers
that we carry around and utilize this instrument. We have to talk
every day, we have to express with the same thing that we have to
use as our instrument. It's tough. I can't take it out of box. So
you have to treat it as such. Especially when you're really touring
a lot, and I know the drill. It's tough at times, I have to say.
J: Well, you're that young Jewish girl from New York, and you
have this beautiful strong soulful voice. Where did it come from?
Did your family have any musical history?
T: Yeah, my parents were really inspirational to me in the sense
that they really exposed me to the arts. That was very important
to them. We went to the theater every weekend. Every Sunday was
family day, and we either had tickets to the theater or something
like that. They were very avid, culturally minded for the arts,
and for entertainment. I went to a very specific music & arts
camp growing up.
They were very supportive of that for me, and it shows in the work
I do because I don't know if without that support I would have really
been able to grow, and really be . . . I don't know if passionate
is the word . . . but, I think it's because of them and their support
in the industry, and because of their passion for it, it allowed
me to express myself in that area, and be the singer I wanted to
be. But again, I was very private about certain things and did it
my way.
J: It is good to have support from home when you're doing something
different from the other kids...
T: Oh totally, and to be exposed the way I was, it was amazing.
J: What was it like when you first heard your voice on the radio?
Where were you?
T: I don't know. I don't really remember but I remember the big
process prior to "Tell It To My Heart" coming out where
I had a couple of 12 inches out, this wasn't like somebody saw me
in a club and boom I had overnight success. I made a record and
it was called "Tell It To My Heart" with my partner Rick
Wake. It was bought by Arista as a single. They launched it, and
then the rest was magic. It was like it hit the world.
It was kind-of like "wow". We were doing something like
. . . the stars were getting aligned and we were on the path, so
I think we were shooting for a mixed night. We knew we had to make
a record that had kind-of crossover potential and that was where
we went with "Tell It To My Heart". We borrowed the money
from my father to make the damn thing. We knew we were on to something,
and believed in ourselves. That's where it really starts in believing
in yourself. The first time I probably heard myself on the radio
it was the most exciting thing in the world. It was probably about
1 o'clock in the morning, I can guarantee you that.
J: Ok. I never read your name in any of the scandal sheets.
How did you stay out of trouble? Especially during the '80's?
T: I don't know if I stayed out of trouble, but I starred in that
same trouble. Just wasn't the tabloids that we have now. They were
much worse in Europe.
J: Speaking of Europe, I know that you toured a lot. Did I read
that you opened for Michael Jackson?
T: Yeah, it was the European tour . . . the "Bad Tour"
I guess in '89. We did some dates with him in Europe.
J: Did you talk to him much? I don't know anything about him.
T: No, we met a couple of times, but it wasn't like that. He was
off busy with kings and queens let me tell ya. That was in the height
of his... here I am, and it was crazy.
J: Do you know Elton John? Did you meet with him on Broadway?
T: Well Elton had been doing . . . Did I meet with him? I met him
earlier from the moment I was doing Aida because I had originally
. . .These Broadway shows that you see and these musicals are very
long and time consuming in writing. I worked on a workshop forum
of that probably five years earlier then when I ended up going on
Broadway with it. I went in after Sherry Renee finally got it on
Broadway with them. It's a long process. So I've met Elton, and
certainly Tim Rice who is brilliant. Wonderful musical, original
for Disney and it was an exciting time.
J: Did you have any outrageous fan experiences? Funny, scary
or sad?
T: Oh God, let me think. From touring? Well, you know we've had
moments. They'll send gifts, or their interpretation of art. There's
always some freaky things going on, but for the most part . . .
I don't have the Tom Jones where underwear is thrown up on the stage,
ya know? And like with some of my rocker friends where there's skulls
and crap like that. Generally, it's jewelry or a muscle man shows
up.
J: Gotcha. Are you available now? Are you single now? Are you
with anybody? What's your staus?
T: I'm not married.
J: Not married, ok.
T: I'm a single mom, yes indeed. Dating, yes.
J: Where's home for you now?
T: I'm in Los Angeles.
J: Is that your new home or are you still a New Yorker at heart?
T: Well, I'm a New Yorker at heart, always will be. I moved out
here and kept my place in New York and have been going back and
forth. I would say the last 3 years it has been more of LA based.
Of course, I get to travel extensively.
J: I did peek at your website and I didn't see any touring dates.
What are your tour plans?
T: We're working on that now, but really we've been focused on
television and promotional appearances, so that's what's up on the
website. We're doing NY like Kimmel and all that stuff. We're here
in Los Angeles, were in Chicago last week at iVillage, and this
is just all about marketing and promotion.
J: I did peek on Amazon. You were number 14 when I looked at
you yesterday on Amazon.
T: Nice.
J: That's nice to hear.
T: Yes, we're selling records, so let's go. That's where I'm at
right now.
J: I was looking around on your myspace page. Do you handle
that yourself or do you have people who help you with that?
T: I would say over the last . . . . we have our promotion team
and yada yada yada, so we're really like . . . they're into doing
every day what they need to do. But I don't think there are any
more comments on it right now. Right now we're in the middle of
launching a record, so they're manning the ship every day. But before,
I was checking it out here and there when comments were posted and
things, and people were signing up, sure.
J: So where do you feel like the direction of your music is
going to be? I've only heard "Beautiful". We did get your
CD, but I think an intern borrowed it and I never got to hear the
whole thing.
T: You'll have to listen to it.
J: I'll get a chance I hope. "Beautiful" is a good
song. I even heard there was a dance remix to it too.
T: Of course. We're launching a single, so yes of course. Where's
my music going? I think this is an expression of where it's been
and where I am, and that will carry me for a moment, I'll tell you
that. I'm in a very interesting spot as a maturity artist, but it
was important for me to make a pop record, I can tell you that much.
That's why this is where it is. I wanted to make my private dancing,
so to speak.
J: I seem to recall, and again it's a 20 year-old memory, that
you were influenced a lot by Barbara Streisand when it came to the
whole entertainment field. Was that true?
T: No, I think that's kind-of in context . . . it's just the artists
that were more of entertainers like her, Bette Midler and Cher.
and I'm not alone when you look at where artists have taken it,
and the importance of the entertainer. A lot of these young girls
are going into fashion, as you see, because they realize that's
the impact they have.
J: Right. The young girls seem to be getting into a different
kind of trouble too.
T: Again, I think there are a lot more rags, just seein' people's
dirt right there and then immediately and whatever that might there's
about nine thousand paparazzi following them around because we have
the rags. When I broke . . . it was happening in Europe. You could
see a lot of that in Europe but there's just a height there, as
obviously you know. But here, it wasn't the same. We have the Star,
and maybe the Inquirer, and E-Entertainment, and this and that,
and TMZ.
J: Do you go online much?
T: Yeah.
J: What are some of your favorite sites to peek around?
T: Well I'll go to Perez, I'll go to TMZ. You do what you gotta
do here.
J: I wanted to say thank you very much for your time.
T: Thanks Joe. Have a wonderful day.
J: You too. Bye Bye.
T: You too.
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