Singer/songwriter Michon Young almost seems to belong to an older generation of soul goddesses, when superpowered vocalists such as Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, and Sade seduced the airwaves with their palpable emotion and sexy crooning. Young’s latest album, Love, Life, Experiences, Vol. 2: Driving to Purpose, continues her journey into hotly delivered R&B and smoothly packaged vocal jazz. She sparkles like the finest diamonds.
Q: How did you become interested in music and when?
A: I was introduced to music as a small child. My dad recognized I had a bit of a voice when I was in around 11 or 12 years old; around the same time I also became fascinated with lyrics. He bought me my first album which was Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. This album had all the lyrics in it, and I learned them all verbatim (laughter). I guess I just loved the way artists back then gave you a visual of what they sang about. You felt their happiness and joy if their music was upbeat and conversely their pain and sadness if the songs were just the opposite. It was musical storytelling for me and I enjoyed how the great musical storytellers, e.g., Gladys Knight, Johnny Taylor, Bobby Womack, etc., told their stories through song.
Q: Were you raised around music?
A: When I was growing up, my mother was the church musician and my dad was a true music lover of all kinds and sometimes was a DJ here and there. Music was played in our house daily. From The O’Jays, the Temptations, Gladys Knight, the Spinners, Sarah Vaughn, B.B.King, Manhatten Transfer, Aerosmith, etc. Just about all genres of music were played in our household at some point and time.
Q: What styles of music had the greatest impact on you creatively?
A: I’d have to say it is a tie between my Gospel roots and true R&B soul music that had the greatest impact on me creatively. I loved the way singers like Shirley Caesar from the Gospel genre and then folks like Bobby Womack talked to the listeners sometime in between verses. They made you feel in song that you were having a conversation with them. One group in particular, New Birth had a song when I was a little girl called “Wildflower.” The lead singer sang from his gut! I still play this song often to this day. I just love soulful, gut-singing artists that make you truly believe they mean what they sing.
Q: In terms of musical style, how would you categorize yourself?
A: I think I have a soulful, inspirational, yet subtle jazz undertones mixed with a bit of funk. It’s sometimes hard to explain but the one thing that I try to do is stay soulfully-smooth regardless of the type of song I write or song.
Q: What was the first song you ever wrote?
A: I wrote a song when I was I think 13 called “Baby, I’m Leaving You” for a three-member girl group I was in at the time called Sugar & Spice. I was the baby of the bunch. Now I have no idea why I was writing about such mature subjects at such a young age because I had not experienced any of this stuff but I was. My dad even had this song copywritten and told me at the time that this would be the first of many songs I’d write and to be sure to copywrite them all. So wise he was.
Q: What songs on Love, Life, Experiences, Vol. 2 are most personal to you and why?
A: My most personal are “Moving Forward”and “RIP Daddy.” Both songs are real stories for me. I had to move forward after a painful divorce. I had to literally start over again in many ways. It wasn’t easy but I had to for me and my son. “RIP Daddy” is personal because it’s a true testament of the love I had for my daddy. I was indeed a daddy’s girl even though he was not my biological father. No one ever knew. I was his princess and he made sure everybody knew that.
Q: How have you evolved creatively?
A: I feel a sense a freedom now on the inside because the pain and hurt from my past experiences is no longer there and I am comfortable in my own skin now. This allows me to be completely free in what I want to write about and transparent in many ways within my lyrics. I don’t look to be trendy with the same sound that everybody’s vibing to. I just write, sing, and record what I feel on the inside. I’ve got to feel it to sing it. Maybe that’s the title of my next project, Finally Free.
Q: Where were you born?
A: I was born in Gary, Indiana. The same place where the Jacksons were born. My former high school is right around the corner from where they used to live. I love my hometown and the community that I grew up in. Still a lot of great people there.
Website:
http://www.michonyoung.com
