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Dance artist
Alyson, who like Madonna eschews
a last name, will appear at the Miami Winter Music
Conference.
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By Tray
Butler
Friday, March
25, 2005
SHE LIVES IN WEST HOLLYWOOD, frequents gay dance
clubs and is a former personal trainer.
When asked about her musical tastes, she gushes about
Madonna and Deborah Cox.
And she’s tackled her fledgling music career with the
do-it-yourself moxy of a queer pioneer facing a home
renovation project.
“I am kind of like a gay boy I guess,” says pop
starlet Alyson, who, like Madonna, has no need for a
last name. “Most of my friends are gay. When I go out to
clubs, I go to Santa Monica Boulevard because that’s
where they play the dance music that I like. So I guess
I am a gay boy trapped in a woman’s body.”
The gay guys may not yet consider Alyson a household
name, but that could soon change. Last September, her
sultry single “What’re You Gonna Do” made it to No. 4 on
Billboard’s dance chart.
In January, she repeated that success with “Feel
You,” which broke into the dance chart’s top 10. The
song is also playing nationwide in Abercrombie &
Fitch stores.
Unlike Madonna, Alyson has achieved her early success
without the support of a record label. Instead, she
launched her own label, Alysongrooves, and has been
feverishly producing and promoting her music on her own.
A NEW YORK NATIVE who moved to L.A. two years ago,
Alyson says her love of dance music goes way back. While
living in New York she’d buy mix tapes from vendors on
the street.
Once in L.A., her musical aspirations began to gain
momentum even as she was pursuing another creative
outlet — acting.
She landed a role in an independent film and gave the
filmmakers permission to use a couple of songs that she
had written. They were so well received that she decided
to put out more of her music.
She produced a single, “Baby Come Back,” and shipped
it out to mix-show DJs and record pools. Via her job as
a personal trainer, she was introduced to music producer
Daveed, who became her collaborator and helped educate
her on the industry.
The success of that single prompted Alyson to immerse
herself in the record business — basically learning how
to take her songs from mere concept to dance floor
gold.
Soon enough, her songs had landed the attention of DJ
Ralphi Rosario, a star on the gay circuit. His remixes
of “What’re You Gonna Do” and “Feel You” have given
Alyson her first exposure on the dance charts and
brought her sound to gay discos across America.
THIS WEEKEND ALYSON appears at Miami’s Winter Music
Conference, where she was nominated Best New Dance
Artist. She says she was shocked by the nomination.
“I was so blown away. It’s such a prestigious honor.
I’ve worked really hard to make music that I like, and
music I hope that other people will like. To have an
acknowledgement like that from the dance community is
really special for me.”
But an early listen to her debut CD, “Take a Good
Look,” reveals more than mere dance music. It’s an
upbeat and sometimes moody mixture of pop, dance and
R&B.
The forthcoming remix of “Nothin’ More to Say,”
however, will do a classic Deborah Cox move and remake a
soulful R&B ballad into a dance-floor anthem of
empowerment. Superstar producer/DJ Hex Hector has
signed on for the honors.
The artist, meanwhile, has already started working on
her next album, which she hopes will hit early next
year. And yes, it’s another self-produced effort.
“I’ve found that I really enjoy the business side of
things — now that I’ve figured it all out,” she says. “I
would definitely love to sign other artists and grow my
label and become a player on that side of the business.
I actually find it’s fun.”
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