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.
