Divine Brown, Chronicled

As the conversation was winding down, I couldn’t help but mention that the BSB tour seemed an odd choice to me.  “Don’t get me wrong, I love them but it seems different.” I said a little embarrassed.  “Is that something you are embarrassed to admit?  That you like the Backstreet Boys?” she asked me in turn.  “No no.  I’m not embarrassed that I like them.  I just always cringe when I say it because I expect a barrage of negative comments to float my way given the prejudices that their brand of music attracts and that I’m not 12 years old.”

“Yeah!  I know what you mean. Most people say that it’s weird.” She laughed.  “But all I did was change booking agents.  And eight days after changing booking agents, the opportunity came up and I said yes.  It’s that simple.  Because I don’t think that I have any barriers in terms of what my audience is or should be.  I wouldn’t look at the Backstreet Boys and say NO, I couldn’t open for them.  They are generic in a way yes.  But there are two things.  One is singing to track not a band because they really didn’t want an opening act with a band and that’s normally not my thing but at the same time, I also know that I wanted to incorporate dance; it’s a passion of mine.  I love to dance; I’m a natural dancer.  But to actually do something or to incorporate dance is the only way that I could see to be able to put all that together.  That was the only way I could see that I would be able to sing to track and make it interesting.  If I’m going to create something that is going to create an impact or be fun to watch o stage, I had to have dancers and my background vocalists.

“It’s challenging.  It was a big challenge for me.  It’s something I wanted to do for a long time.  Obviously my strength is the singing but what it does is just making for a lot of fun to watch.  But it’s a 25 minutes cardio workout though.

“I’m building and I’m still proving myself and I don’t mind that because I love to perform.”

There is a lot more to Divine Brown than meets the eye.  Certainly her vocal range, her talent and her music in general is enough to make her an artist you should check out but beyond that, she is just an incredibly easy going, fun person to hang out with.  About mid way through the interview we took a short break because she had to make a phone call.  It was her brother-in-law’s birthday and to celebrate she and her choreographer, ‘Hollywood’, decided to prank call him.  I’m pretty good at keeping a straight face when need be but had a hard time doing so this time.  Hilarity of course ensued when the prank was revealed.

It was getting late and dark – time flies when having a conversation rather than doing a Q&A session – so to close, I chose to simply ask Divine where she saw herself heading in the next ten years.

“In ten years I’m picking and choosing which part of the world I want to go to next.  I would assume that I would have done quite a bit of acting as well.  I also want to start a label, helping other talented artists get to where they need to go as well.” She told me, with a certainty of action that isn’t common in many.  This was more a To Do List more than a Wish List.

Unfortunately, the Backstreet Boys tour is over but if you would like to check out Divine Brown live, an experience definitely worthwhile, check out her website for all future tour dates.  In the meantime, if you visit her MySpace page you will get a sample of her new album, following which I’m certain you will be adding ‘The Love Chronicles’ to your Christmas lists.

www.divinebrown.ca

www.myspace.com/divinebrown

The show in Sherbrooke was awesome; the entire audience we dancing and singing along.  To view images of the event, make sure to visit our picture gallery here.

Also, check back in two weeks because we will be running a Divine Brown contest starting December 11th, 2008 and you could win a cool prize pack.