The music industry resurge continues and Monica Blaire is making her way in to the industry lane. Raised and grown in Detroit for most of her life, Monica’s musical background stems all the way back to New Orleans [where her father was birthed and where Monica resided prior to coming moving to Detroit at very young age. As Monica recalls. her god mother; a famed singer in Detroit was her first musical inspiration. Her mother always shares the story that Monica began singing the minute she began talking.
“As a baby, I used to formulate sounds and I started singing and making sounds very earlier on. My god mother was legendary singer [around town] used to take me around to her shows and as baby in her arms I would try and sing with her…but I never remember a time where I didn’t sing.”
I had the honor of attending Monica’s sold out concert in Drom Night Club in NYC back in December of 2012 and her performance was nothing short of AMAZING. Her vocals were on point and on key on every note and she serenaded the crowd with a few of her new songs and a few famous cover songs like One & Only, Tell Me Something Good, Rain, Let’s Chill and more. Monica had to catch an early flight afterwards, but ThatPLUM did get a chance to catch up with the Detroit singer [via telephone] for an exclusive interview. Monica dished on her first introduction to music, her musical influences, style of music, and why her music stands out from the current competition today.
Take a listen to our full audio interview below and a few other performances at Drom NYC below. I have provided the excerpts as well. Enjoy!
Here’s the full audio: Kaye Plum Interviews Monica Blaire
On Residing In Detroit:
“Detroit is pretty AMAZING right now, There’s so much art in so many different pockets, and were really diversifying in terms of what people are presenting both culturally and musically,I’ve been really inspired lately.The landscape is AMAZING! “
On The Name – Monica Blaire:
” It’s my origin name, its my first name and middle name- reversed. “
On Her Style Of Music:
“We say its R&B, Hip Hop soul, but its so much more than that. It’s alot more eclectic. My feeling about my music is whatever moves me and its whatever I’m inspired me. And I take alot of my time to look into my past and future and present to see what has inspired me and or continues to inspire me… For me, its also about connecting with people. Alot of the choices I make is so that I can connect with the audience and I want them to feel safe when I perform. An it allows me to extend myself in a way that sometimes you can’t in a conversation and or written word on paper.
On Her Musical Influences & Artist that She’s Inspired By:
” Aw. That a loaded question [laughs]. I take alot of inspiration from things that are not necessarily Musical. I have music that I like – I love Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, I’m a huge Queen fan. Love alot of classical and Jazz music but alot of the things that inspire me to make music are things like, traditional African dance and congo’s, and water. Water is a huge inspiration for me; [ being around water, in water, and or surrounded by water] is usually makes me come up with bet stuff. I try to pattern my musical influences around Nature and not people. But those powerhouse DIVAS[ stated above and Patti Labelle] and new age artist like Erykah Badu and women who are really soulful. What I admired the most about them is their connective-ness [of music] and their grounded-ness] to what’s going on [in the world] – that natural, spiritual vibe is what grabs me.
On Her Music verses Present Day Music We Hear Today:
“I think that there is something very ORGANIC about what happens with my music on stage. I think [as a people] we are slowly kinda moving back to that natural way of living and natural way of beings so I think that in my shows people connect with that and me. And, they leave with a greater understanding of themselves and a greater reflection of themselves] Because as [true artists] are suppose to do that] They’re suppose to make you think, internalize and self-reflect in a way that sometimes if its art for art-sake – it doesn’t necessarily… I don’t CLOUD the vision – I try to help CLEAR the vision. “
Be sure to stay connected with Monica’s music at her profile links below:
Facebook.com/monicablairemusic
Web: www.monicablaire.com
Twitter: @Monica Blaire
Instagram: MGTHELIGHT
Tumblr. Blaireitout.tumblr.com
Monica Blaire will be performing with Lyfe Jennings & Erykah Badu on Saturday Feb 16th [at the address stated in the above picture] . All my detroit plum’s head out to see her – She’s worth every dollar and she can SANG!
Bonus: Monica on feature track “Sunrise with singer Dwele: