You know Tawatha Agee's voice from Mtume's 1983 hit 'Juicy Fruit.' Here, the veteran singer looks back on an epic career in which she's backed everyone from Aretha Franklin to David Bowie.
, Diana Ross, and too many others to mention. She also sings lead on the 1983 Mtume classic “Juicy Fruit,” one of the most sampled songs in hip-hop history, used most famously by the Notorious B.I.G. on “Juicy.”
Since I was an avid listener of the radio, I would listen to Cousin Brucie, who was on WABC in New York. Then I would listen to WNEW. They would play Tony Bennett and Anthony Newley and Frank Sinatra. I really liked Anthony Newley for some reason. [] On the other side, I knew all the R&B songs. All the songs on the radio, I knew. I was constantly listening. That was probably Aretha since that was more church-like to my ear. I would say it would definitely be Aretha or Gladys [Knight].
No. That wasn’t the way to earn money. The way to earn money was to earn your education and become a teacher. [] I was like, “OK, I’ll do that.” And it just so happened that I went to Howard University in the College of Fine Arts. I got my degree in education and then I met James Mtume. He and his partner were looking for a group to produce. One of our instructors at Howard introduced us. Angela Winbush was in group then and Richard Smallwood, who is a very famous gospel artist now.
Yeah. The Mtume band was Miles Davis’ band. That was also the band for Roberta Flack. When they did the Mtume band record, you had all these great musicians. That’s why there’s such a great combination of music on that first album. What we did, which I thought every band did, was this … Everyone had a jazz background, and so everything was improvisational. We knew what the song would be, the basic formula of it, but the intro would be different every night. You really had to be on your toes. And it always went to another groove. We’d sing the basic song, but then it went into another groove and everyone would be on their feet. It was amazing.
I got to do that, and people loved that sound that Mtume got for the production. And so other people wanted a similar sound on their projects, so they’d call me. That’s how I got jobs as a background singer. Absolutely. That was family for all of us. We got the call for a record, which was usually the beginning of a year, it was like, “OK, we’re getting ready for Luther.” It was more fun than it was work. It just turned out to be so great. Who knew it would stand the test of time? He was so much fun to work with. We did more laughing than singing, but it always came out great. I miss Luther terribly. I just wonder what his career would be like today.
But she wanted what she wanted and we gave her what she wanted. The thing with Aretha was that she didn’t just have one set of singers. She had sets of singers from different places. She had her Chicago singers, her L.A. singers. I was part of her New York singers. And so whenever she was on the East Coast, she’d call her New York singers.You’re exactly right. I was on tour with Roxy Music and Mtume called me and said, “We’ve got one more song to do.
And then you were with Cinderella on “Sick for the Cure.” That’s your one hair-metal credit that I see.] You want to get a chance to do a lot of different things, and that was one of them. That was one of them. [Oh, my God! David Bowie! Such a gentleman! Oh, my God. I loved working with him. We did his promotional tour for that. He was just a lovely man, and his wife Iman would come and give us all these fattening foods. She said, “Oh, no, I can’t eat that. You can.” They were so sweet.
I told Dave, “You know we can do more than one song.” And then it turned into two and three, and then two years’ worth of touring. And then maybe 10 years later, he calls me back. “Tawatha, can you get some girls together? We’re going to get the Lovely Ladies back together.” I was like, “OK!” And for two more summers, I did Dave Matthews again.In 1999 and 2000, you would see families out there.
Oh, yeah. You know what? That’s an art within itself, especially with Steely Dan. You can’t go outside of the line with Steely Dan. Those charts are to be followed.. I imagine the same thing is true in the studio and they’re very clear on exactly what they want. The concert was a fundraising event and Springsteen was there and Kanye West was there. Everybody had their bands. And Kanye West came out with just a DJ and him onstage. He had on a kilt, or something. It was like, “OK, Kanye. That’s cool.” But the 12/12/12 concert, it was just an honor to participate in that. It’s Roger Waters, man. Oh, my God. It was amazing.My first film! That was fun. The film thing is … wow, that’s a lot. It’s a lot of “Hurry up and wait” and “Sit and wait.
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