Superstar sensation, singer, actress, producer and real estate mogul, Karyn White is living proof that "Superwoman" is alive and well and ready to rock the world with the vengeance of an orgasmic tsunami, with her new music and self- produced film entitled, "Gale & The Storm".
The movie closely chronicles her own life and the silent mysterious departure from the music industry, White captures the lead role. The film is a compelling story about Gale Storm's return to the industry, and her journey celebrating her learning to love music once again. The film, directed by Derrick Muhammad, is a feel-good presentation offering the audience the belief in living out a dream.
Karyn White, twice a Grammy nominee, is known for her platinum self-titled album, produced by Babyface, and L.A. Reid, and the iconic three singles off the record, "The Way You Love Me", "Secret Rendezvous", and "Superwoman". Her duet with Babyface, "Love Saw It", a sultry, romantic composition was nominated in the Best R&B/Urban Contemporary New Artist category for the 1989 Soul Train Music Awards. Her follow-up album was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and featured the single "Romantic" which rose to number 1 on the US Billboard 100. Soon after she vanished from the industry to raise a family. She later tried her hand at acting and won a reoccurring role on the BET television series, "Beauty and the Baller".
I spoke with Karyn who has an extraordinary spirit, and a majestic energy. Her heartfelt candidness, and witty commentary, accentuated her vibrant personality.....
You've had a very interesting career... Tell me about it.
So your brand new movie is set to release in September, tell me about the lead role that you portray. I am Gale Storm, a force of nature. She's a legendary pop singer who stepped away from the business. She had some bitter feelings with her lover and her label so she just said "screw it". She walked away and then 17 years later....not 17 years later, that's my life....a short time later, she hooks up with this revolutionary music producer who is moving and shaking. He kind of coaches her to get back. He starts out with her working with a group and eventually she falls back in love with music. Then they agree to do music her way and on her terms. Its closely based on my life....it's a great feel-good story, a good come-back story. I play the lead Gale Storm, and there's a sound track that goes a long with it. I was so excited when I heard the music of Childish Gambino, (aka Donald Glover), "Awaken My Love". It was very funky. Hopefully we would be able to bring the funk back, because he was doing that and he was such a force with "Stay Woken" and some of the other music. It was a way for me to musically get out of the pop box. If you were to go see me live most people are kind of surprised because I am going to James Brown, Tina Turner, because that's the era of music that I really love. It's very soulful and funky so I like to incorporate that. So when we did the soundtrack we recorded eight songs in like two days. It was amazing and it's a funky soundtrack. The movie is pretty raw and edgy, and I executively produced it. I had been acting before that. I was on a sitcom on BET network called "Beauty and the Baller". So I got the acting bug and decided that instead of me waiting for somebody to give me the perfect role, that I would create it. That's the "Superwoman" in Gale Storm!!
Even before you said it was based on your life, I was going to say that it sounded like a real life story. Oh yeah, exactly. It's definitely based on my life because when I stepped away, I'm kicking myself in the butt...who would let me do that? I was going through a really dark period for me. I had just lost my mother, I had just lost my relationship with the love of my life, Terry Lewis, ....since I was a kid I was very driven. They called me Karyn White in elementary school. I knew I was going to be a star and I knew I had that drive and dedication to what I was going to be. My work ethic was amazing. Now that I look back on my life I think that I definitely went through a depression. The fact that I would even stop singing, and now that I'm seeing how hard it is getting back, why did I quit? I ask myself why did you walk away? I never really said "oh I'm going to quit music". Time kind of happened, and then more time happened, and I felt like music had moved on. Not really understanding when you have a legendary, iconic music, and not even so much that, but just that I kind of felt I lost confidence in myself. Then it turned into OK I'm raising my daughter, it was kind of I want to be with my daughter. Then I was flipping homes. Then my daughter graduated, and now what was I going to do? The great thing is I don't regret the business part. With people that are in the arts they feel like when they aren't doing music they feel like they are nothing, and that they can't do anything else. I really found out that I could. There was more to me than music. I was designing and flipping homes, and saving homes in Sacramento. It was very lucrative for me, and I found that I did love it because it was creative. Also I had to become more of an entrepreneur understanding business. So coming back into the industry I had all the things that prepared me for today because the landscape is so different.
Yes I know. A lot of artists are coming back now, like Billy Idol and Adam Ant, and Doctor Dre. The people in the 80's have raised their kids and want to have fun again. Yes, the real artists. That's what was so unique about the 80s. There was such diversity. That's what I miss in today's music. Everybody kind of sounds the same, and I don't like that. I don't even know who is who.
You have and had and have again a very special voice as in the duet you did with Babyface. Yes, that was "Love Saw It".
It was relevant and romantic and sexy. Those were the good old days. Working with all of those producers, LA and Babyface and Jimmy and Terry. These are the people that started my career. When I look back I see how hard it is now. There's something about youth and how you kind of take things for granted. When your first single goes gold and platinum, it's really kind of hard to gauge how tough it is when you start out on top. I had an album released in 2012 called "Carpe Diem", and it was incredible. But it was released on my own label and I got to see how tough it was. I've gone on this journey and I'm definitely excited about the music industry where we can do things on our own terms, and reach our fan base .... but I'm not going to lie, it's really hard work. I am up for the challenge, my voice is preserved and sounds better and I'm really excited about the future. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more projects. This is the first film that we are going to release and I'm going to be releasing more films especially things that are dealing with black people, and arts and music. I'm just excited about the landscape of today.
Follow Karen White on Twitter @karyns_world
Official
Website Check out the trailer for Gale &
The Storm
here.
