Questlove Supreme: Dawnn Lewis

Quests Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Mm hmm.

Suprema Son Supremo role called Suprema Son Supremo. Roll call Suprema So some supremo role called Suprema Son Sun Supremo roll.

Call MS Love Supreme. Yeah. The podcast Champ Yeah here with Don Lewis.

Yeah, I'm not asking about Cramps.

Supremo role called Supreme So Supreme.

Role call.

My name is Sugar, Yeah, sweet as a muffin. Yeah, but I ain't puffing around. Grandma is stuffing.

Suprema Supremo, roll Supreme Supremo.

Roll call, My name is Boss Bill, Yeah, keep keeping on. Yeah, in the words such word is keeping there is in this song.

Supreme So Supreme, So Supreme.

Roll call.

My name is Don. Yeah. You can call me Jalisa, Yeah, you can call me Zelma. Yeah, just call me health there.

Right now, Supremo, Supreme, Supreme, Subpreme.

Supreme.

Wow.

And I'm flying your background vocals into every role called we can you you out did Charlie Wilson Q TIP trying to go rogue on the ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another soon to be classic episode of q LS. I'm your host quest Love with Me today is the legendary Sugar Steve.

Wow, Sugar, Hey, I upgraded you to legend appreciate that.

Yeah, I Figu're gonna update my resume right now my bio and yeah, put legendary at the time.

You're the legendary Sugar Steve.

You know the songs for everything Sugar.

Already? Wait, do we have to pay for the archies?

Yeah? I don't know. Okay, anyway, they're all gone.

We got the boss the bosses, Boss Bill, that's me.

Yeah, it's a song for that too, William Marry Big. I'm only kidding, don't you know?

All right, So, do we have a theme for two negligend fathers who walk out on their kids going out for cigarettes for a Yeah, unpaid and fante out in the world smoking cigarettes. They promised they'd be back, but you know, I don't know. If it's quiet again. Uh, if it's rather quiet around here, it's because Layah has also taken up smoking cigarettes, and she went out and said she'll be back momentarily, so we'll trust that she'll

Our guest is a renaissance woman.

You know, some we always hear the term like a renaissance man or whatever, but I'd rarely hear women described in the same sort of superlatives. If you will, I will say she's multifaceted, multi talented, pretty much as a singer, songwriter, as an actress, be it whatever medium of stage, television, movies. With a gazillion impressive credit to boot, I will personally say that she's probably part of the most life changing

Wow, I'm truly humbled. What a beautiful thing to say. Thank you so much.

I wasn't looking at your funny I'm I'm taking it in usually, no, you give me this.

I'm wondering how you know the last name of the character on the show, like usually you remember the first.

Game Lisa Vincent Taylor.

Oh say there you go.

Yeah, that's okay. How many names did you have?

You know?

What you have to understand is, I know it's it's weird that having binged it in probably a ten day period the entire series.

Wow, I can't. Yeah, I have time on my hands.

When I'll know, you know, I want to get my hair braided, traveling whatnot in the jacuzzi.

Yes, yes, it's conscious image.

At the local wire, not in my house because I can't afford one yet. I will say that, Yeah, the show was definitely way ahead of its time as far as like subject matter and things that are still relevant today and whatnot. But most importantly, I think that when it first came on, I mean I don't think I had aspirations or even new I was college material or that sort of thing. So seeing that on television for me probably more life changing than seeing The Cosby Show.

Appreciate that.

That's my fan worship for the hour, So thank you so much.

I did watch Different World, but in reading up on it, it seems like that shows created almost specifically to talk about issues that weren't being talked about on The Cosby Show. More so than just like a vehicle for Lisa Bonet or spin off.

It was.

It was not so much comparatively to The Cosby Show, but just what wasn't being talked about today and what particularly young people were dealing with and faced with. You know, when you go from the shelter of your parents' home out into the real world, all of a sudden, so many things start smacking you in the face that nobody necessarily taught you how to deal with. Yet it's there and in your life, in your relationships, all of it. And they wanted to keep it authentic to what we

I always wondered about that.

Yeah, Chuck, Chuck Vincent's. He was naming people after every everybody. Sindbad was named after Walt Hazzard coach Walter Oaks. Yeah, oh okay, we were all named after somebody after.

And there there's an episode where Ron mentions that month for by name and he was like a producer on the sho or something.

That was one of our executive producers first season, and that was one of the first the pioneers of writing for traditionally white shows when he wrote on Mash. He wrote for several different shows and was executive producer. So we missed him, miss him Dealer. Yeah, Dad was a trailblazer.

So where were you? Where were you?

Born.

Are you Let's Dyet.

Corner raised Bedstye. We moved six times, but always in Brooklyn. So I went from Bedstide to Park Slope, back to Bedstide to Crown Heights and ultimately Flat Push, about five blocks from Brooklyn College.

What was your Brooklyn experience? I always ask whenever Brooklyn mights come on the show, and I ask, are they you know, surprised at how it's transformed since then?

Like?

Oh yeah, when I was coming up in Brooklyn, the neighbors I had now are not the neighbors I had then. Let's still that way. No. Right now, while I'm here working, I'm up in Harlem and Harlem and what it used to be either I went to high school and home

How many hours was that?

That's about an hour and twenty minutes for me to get to school every day.

What time did you wake up?

I don't even remember. I don't know if I was awake when I woke up, I just knew. I got on the train.

No school busing, No.

No, I got on the number. Okay, they switched the numbers cause the three and the four used to go to Flatbush and the two and the five used to go to New Lots and Utica. So it took me like fourteen fifteen years to even be willing to ride the subway again. Once I moved to California and I knew, I knew where I was going, Childo's trains took me in all kind of wrong directions. I was like, what is happening right now? When did the two start going

So you never had the I'm gonna get my brother to fuck you.

Oh yeah I did, and I have I'm the only girl, and I have three brothers, and yeah, they they could torment me all they wanted, but no one could mess with their little little sis sister. So everybody, no, I'm third, I'm third, two older and one younger who thinks he's older.

I'm sorry. I called your grandma mixed.

I'm not sorry, You're not sorry, You're not sorry.

So was it a creative household a musical house?

I'm the only one. I'm the only one. One of my older brothers ultimately got into music, and then he started a family. So he got a regular nine to five job. He was a paralegal. Now he's in it and now he recently retired, so now he plays bass in a in a trio whenever they feel like it on week weekends and clubs and stuff. But my oldest brother grew to be a fireman, so he was a firefighter. Now he works as a fire marshal and head security for a building on Park Avenue. And my younger brother

Okay, was it was it encouraged or.

Was it just it was encouraged because again, like I like I said, I had three brothers and my family is from South America, so very different traditional values of what is appropriate for a young girl to do and for a young boy to do. But at the same time, I wasn't allowed to do anything unless my brothers took me.

Were you first generation born.

First generation American citizen? Yes, and your parents are Guyany South South America, Guyana. So they came up and my mom one day, I was seven, very tall, athletic because I was playing handball. That's what you did in Brooklyn. You played handball, stickball, skellies in the in the skelly Yes, in the street. Kelly's is a street it's street pool, but you play it with with bottle tops and you pluck it.

And the amount of times I got in trouble for stealing milk capsm's milk.

Throw a ball at or something, try and flip it.

Well, no, you would take the milk caps.

And then or a quarter to give us some more weight.

Yes, yeah, I would go on the street first. I would take her spoons, which is a no no. Go out in the street, find a grease spot and then dig for tar of the street and put it inside the caps. And then we scrubbed the cap on sidewalks and go smooth. Freeze it at night and you just dream. You put in a freezer and then you dream. So think of a milk cap with tar.

It's like a hockey puck.

This is why there's no black hockey players. They're all playing.

So what you do is you draw this big board and there are numbers strategically placed around the board, and you shoot your cap from number to number and sequential order. Okay, you wait, this is a very cultural different. Marbles go Marbles and Brooklyn. They kill small children, they swallow them and die.

Okay, shot fire shots fire. Yes, you're right, I couldn't afford mom, So you shoot.

Them around the board. And the thing was when it rained, that's when parents got really pissed because we had parque floors in our house. So we took that same chalk and would draw Skelly's boards indoors, indoors and on my mom's parquet floors. We would draw Skelly boards and well, I'm here, Wow, I ran, I'm faster than my mama. She caught.

Can I tell you it is my dream.

Man, just between nineteen seventy eight and like nineteen eighty one, Like I mean, me and my cousin would dream at night, like your ways to.

Get the Sean Riley family like to knock there.

They had the best caps ever, it like, and you couldn't get the milk tops with the stickers on them because then that would not give you tracks.

Yes, yo, man, it was an art to play.

It was fantastic, dude, it was fantastic.

Between were speaking of South America. There's there's a you know there's a tag tournament in South America. Yes, like for real, like think of those like what are those shows? Were like Ultimate Warrior like that sort of thing Warrior. Yeah, but they have it for tag.

For tag, they're pretty.

So imagine like a playground where literally like a guy's chasing you and you gotta like jump over a monkey bar and you know there's like obstacles there, like you might get your head knocked off.

But so coming home from fifth grade, Okay, I want that right running home in fifth grade.

I want that for Skelly, like you just played. All right, So we played stickball. That's where you shave half.

The ball.

Is where you take your room and you use it as a bat. And remember the pink spalding balls the balls. That was the ball that you would use and you would pop it or punch ball, because if you couldn't afford a stick, you would take the ball it. You would take the ball and punch it and you would run run the bases. All right, So we were very creative children, thank you.

We would take that.

We didn't need expensive things like marble.

So you would play with the pink pol See. We would take a razor and then yeah, gets.

See little children in my neighborhood weren't allowed to play with razors.

Well, we would have make it. We would cut it in half. Uh, huh.

In Philadelphia, you played stickball with half I guess so you wouldn't ring a window.

Oh we didn't care.

Wow, so you would have to you would throw half of a tennis ball or half of a one of those pink bouncy.

Yeah huh, and then play stickball that way.

Yeah damn, we just make it a street. We ain't even getting the nineteen eighty seven.

Talk about the street. You ever play kingball?

No?

What's king kingball?

Kingball is like all right, if you have a sidewalk, it's it's sort of like, uh, you need four people to play it, and each person gets a designated square of a sidewalk. Think of like tennis with a basketball, So the goal is not to hit the boundary of the sidewalk.

It's a long exploit.

It sounds like it.

I feel like I need to be eight years old to understand what it is. It's a Philly thing.

Okay, wait, okay. Two more favorite games as a kid high Water low Water? Did you play high water low Water?

I remember this.

You use a rope and you lay it on the ground and you take your turn stepping over. Then still, after everybody goes, you raise it a little high and then and then you start then it becomes like the high jump, and then one concrete not safe, and then the.

Other version of this.

Well, I was just that just sounds like the reverse of limbo.

Limbo limbo exactly exactly because your caribbean hr catch a.

Girl, freaking girl. Anyone know.

Something else that's a child molestation? Now, all right, one more game. How about hot peas and butter.

I've heard this referred to in every rap song, but never knew what butter is.

You would take a belt and you would hide it somewhere, okay, and you were the person who was it in control of hiding it. Then everyone else had to go and try to find the belt. And so if people were anywhere near where you hit, you go hot, hot hot, if they went away cold cold, cold, So you would yell after the belt was hit, Hot Peas and butter, come and get yourself, and the people would go looking for it, and here yesterday, come and get yourself. And

I wasn't playing that. I was not playing that game.

And then you had to run and not get hit with them.

That don't sound fun. It sounds like my child is the worst way possible. It was hilarious, like me trying to hide a belt from somebody.

I do that.

Three weeks before every report. So what do you all right?

So what do you do play anymore?

You're so multi faceted with your talent. What do you consider yourself is at least at fourteen fifteen when you're developing your talent?

Are you a singer? Are you a poet? Are you an actress? Are you dancer?

Like? I was all of it? Quite frankly, I was. I was singing. I started singing at four, I was lead singer in a band at fourteen. I had my about four or five poems published in a compilation book of young writers. By the time I was fifteen, I was dancing on the stage at Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Academy and music by the time I was nine.

So I was.

I was all of that. So I never considered that I had to choose. What I believed in, what the environment I was raised in was that you had to maximize everything. It was called being a trip triple threat. You had to sing, dance, and act in order to be viable in the business. And you asked me, was it encouraged? You know, going back to how we got

Where's e Lane Christian's dance studio.

It was on Pacific right near Saratoga, So at that young age, I was on the city bus going to and from dance classes. So that was kind of how that started for me was my mom wanted to encourage me to have my own thing. That took me out of the middle of being around all those boys all of the time.

Do you find, sorry, Marin, do you find that that whole way of thought is sort of gone? Where the triple threat thing? Because it seems like so many of our of the people in the past who have who were in entertainment were triple threats.

Yes, and it's that. Is that still a prevalent way of looking at things?

You know? I don't know that it's a prevalent way of looking at things. What I have learned is that the way the business continues to evolve, the powers that be, the them or the they are more comfortable putting you into a box. So I know a lot of people who you see starring on television as actors are really incredible singers or dancers, and you you you learned when they get the opportunity that they have all these other gifts.

No, only because your story is very similar to prodigy mom deeps. I was trying to figure out if whether or not that was his grandmother's dance studio.

Oh, okay, but it wasn't. Ok it wasn't. Well wait, I still don't know, because now I almost feel like it is the stories to.

Who used to be a big dancer at the Cotton Club. She danced with Bill rob Robinson, bo Jangles and you know all of that. So that was her legacy and she passed it on us. And we were there all day on Saturday doing jazz, tap, ballet, African dance, and on Saturday mornings you could always count on at least two thirds of the students running into the kitchen where the TV was to watch Soul Train.

So that's the dance part. So how'd you start with the singing and the actor the singing?

I started at four. I just sang what I used to love, musical movies. I still do music. And there were music There were movies that would come on every year, like The Wizard of Oz, March of the Wooden Soldiers, there was a you know, Stormy Weather. There were different movies that would come on. You could count on it at certain times of the year. So I would sing along. I knew all the songs, I knew all the dances. I knew all of it. There in my living room,

This is highly unusual because normally there's I guess the good word is uh light encouragement. The bad word is sort of like Joe Jackson esque, like there's always a drill sergeant no, but this is this is a highly unusual to hear that confidence coming from someone under the age of ten.

Yeah, that it isn't enforced from.

No my mom. That was not my mom. My mom was like, just stay out of trouble. Okay, I gotta go to work. Stay out of trouble. I gotta go to work. And uh my brothers were like, yeah, you're real cute, but we need to need her now to play handball doing We need you to run the fourth leg in the relafe. So I was like, don okay, that's great, get off your toeto shoes and come on over here and run this race because this boy don't believe you. You can beat him. And I got five

Yeah, I ran track to So you graduated high school? What what age? What year?

I was sixteen when I graduated from high school.

You got skipped.

I got skipped twice. I was in the first grade for about six months and went right to second grade, and then I never went to eighth grade. I went from seventh grade to ninth grade.

She's like the best of every artist we ever had, Lewis.

So. Yeah, So I graduated high school at sixteen, like I said, going to school up in Harlem, and had already been singing in bands and clubs and such, and you know, young and cute. But I knew I wanted to do this as a career, and I also knew I wanted to get out of New York. My mom and I had a really contententious relationship at the time. You know, she's from a different country with different values and understanding of how things are supposed to be done.

In her eyes, you should have been getting ready for her husband and a housewife.

You know, I never got that speech. I never got religious. Yeah, very very My family is said seven day adventist.

Yikes. Yeah, wait a minute's not adding up.

Well, there you go. So there's more to the story. There's more to this, I am.

There you go.

No, Well, we had devotions at home every day. My mom had us read the Bible, read scripture, Yeah, seeing hymns when when we could. Because okay, see you get into a whole other part of the story. The reality is my going to dance class every Saturday was a real issue for the family. It caused real problems. My mom, like I said, saw it as a way to help

I was going to say not even the harp on it, but I was just like, that's why I was so amazed. I was like, wait a minute, I've never heard of a situation in which, especially with a black household, in which like religion or some sort of obstacle is sort of thrown in your path of you finding your talent.

There were a few, okay, okay, so the guys in Take six, who we ultimately became really great friends, we used to be able to share those kinds of stories because they're adventist. Also, what you didn't know that, Yes, the guys in Take six were.

Advant discipline with their.

You know, so we were able to talk about that because our upbringing stories were very, very similar. But you know, but now that we are where we are, we use our platform to inspire, empower to be a blessing at least you hope so to others. You know, in a way that I may not have been received had I not taken this journey. You know what I mean?

To be so young as a graduate of high school, how hard was it to adjust to adult life?

Do you know what? I got thrown into the deep end because I left New York and went to school down at the University of Miami in Miami at sixteen, and the university almost did not accept me because I was so young. Yeah, but I had a grandmother who helped raise us. Actually we lived with my grandmother for almost two years when we were younger. That's a whole other story how we ended up there. But to go

Man.

Whatever. So I got another aunt to co sign for a student loan for me, and I packed my stuff and I left and they turned around and go, wait, she really left. I said, yeah, I told you I was leaving. I'm going. So I went to college. So between student loans, college work study was how I paid for school. And so I got there and now I'm responsible to pay back a loan. I'm responsible to pay for my tuition, my room and board, as well as you know, get through my classes. And as a performance major.

Good Yeah, what did you miss?

I played cello for about seven years and sang opera. So when I went to u of M. When they advised you for your major, that was back in the day when you had cards, and they would write and you have to take this classes, and you get a signature from your departpartment head to authorize you to go and register for these classes. They wrote a bunch of classes I had already taken in high school, like music theory and sight singing and all those kinds of things.

I brought my pencil.

Wow, and I made my own curriculum. And I was like, that's more like it, because that was what I was already accustomed to doing, going to dance class regular well, well not entirely. About two and a half months into school, I got called into the dean's office. Yeah, it was like Clint Clinton like. I called into the dean's office and she said, okay, we were concerned about admitting you in the first place, and this is going to be your one and only warning. I said, what said we're

I want my friend.

You know, I've built empowered at sixteen years old. So she made me.

Sitting this hall.

She is sure, so she may be sitting the hallway for a minute, and then call me back in the office and said, okay, young lady, you had no way of knowing this, but the School of Music and the School of Fine Arts had been in conversations for like a couple of years about starting a new degree program for people like you. So would you be interested in being the guinea pig for this new degree program? And I said, well, what would I have to do? She said basically what you already doing?

Like oh, they had to respect it.

And I said, well, okay, then all right, so what happens now? Can I go? She goes, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need to prepare. You have four days to prepare for an audition, I said, audition for what she said, so we can officially start this degree program. So I had to do a forty five minute jury for the entire faculty of the School of Music and the School of Fine Arts. I had to choreograph a dance. I had to do a comedic and a dramatic monologue. I had to do arias in French and Italian. I had

Were they stacking just to be like, well, I don't know.

But what ended up resulting out of that was after the jury, they were now officially a to start this degree program. So I'm the founder and first graduate of the musical theater degree program at the university. They no, no, even and after a few years they conveniently forget to mention that I had anything to do with it. Man, you something every now and then it comes up or you know whatever. But uh, yeah, so that year that's been going thirty plus years strong, through the School of Music.

I was going to ask in Brooklyn growing up?

Yes, were there any other notable Brooklyn nights that we would know now that you went to school with?

Or like our next door neighbor Dwayne Well, we call him Dwayne because his first name was Ralph ended up being young Michael on Good Times Ralph Carter Carter.

Wow, wow, l Carter. That's amazing. Yep. I saw him three months ago. Yeah, yeah, three months ago.

He was our next next tour neighbor. Other than that, no, not not in my neighborhood, not not while I was there.

So the neighborhood kids weren't even like, like mine died in't.

We're playing stickball and skellyesdan't care. They didn't care. Oh, but you know what I recently found out. A year or two ago, I was doing This is Us, like one of my favorite shows on television, And when I got there, I was so excited to be I was happy to be there, and the cast was like, oh my god, Luk's on our show. Can you take preatures with us? And I'm thinking, like, because I was going

Now, yeah, that's crazy.

And also, you just answered another question from me always you know, you had a very convincing island accent that you tried on a different world once.

And now I was like, yo, she's really good. I didn't realize that, okay, because that's where my family see and I time.

Yes. So, as I mentioned, I was first generation in America. My mom was the oldest of eight, so one at a time, she sponsored her siblings and her parents to come up to this date. So now when all of our cousins, when all of the cousins get to get together, all of a sudden, all of us have accents.

Your accents.

Oh man, all of a sudden, all of us have accents, and we're talking like our parents and such. It's really very very funny.

I see.

So by at least by twenty did you have like focus? Okay, I want to be a singer.

Yeah, I was already doing it.

But I mean it's like you did everything at once. I was.

I'm trying to figure out what has the edge? What has the fifty one to forty nine percent edge?

Oh?

Probably music, singing more than a singing and writing more than anything, because that's what I was booking jobs. As.

So, what was your first well you usually on the show, I asked about your first Well, first of all, who do you who's your hero, your idol, your your.

When as far as your craft is concerned. Who do you look up to?

Wow? I actually had a few, Okay, actually had a few. Judy Garland was one early on. It was amazing to me the power and passion in her voice, and when I would watch her movies. Again, Remember I used to watch a lot of old movies like Take Me to Saint Louis and The Wizard of Oz and all that kind of stuff, and we weren't in a lot of those movies. We often had little, small segments. So Lena Horne was a big influence to me. The Nicholas brothers were a huge influence to me as I got older.

You remember the first record you ever purchased?

No, I don't. I remember the first ones. One of the first ones that my brothers purchased that I used to like to play all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they bought them. I just played them. It was The Rolling Stones, and I remember it. Time is on my side, Yes it is. I had no idea what they were saying, but it was just a funky.

Line to me that brothers were into the stones.

They were into the stones and Smokey Robinson. I remember those two being the first record that I would pla a lot, and Smokey's record that they had was if there's a smile on my face, it's only that trying to fool the public. But when it comes down, the tears.

Yeah.

So yeah, those those songs and songs like Raising in the Grass is a blass baby. Can you did all those kinds of things you never knew what they really could.

Be?

Your first concert, uh, the one that I watched, Yeah, and uh no, no, no, thank you for reminding me that, like a moment of I want to do that, like your first content, very first concert. No. I remember my very first Broadway show. It was The Whiz and it was Stephanie Mills, and by the time she got to be a lion, I was a puddle. She was absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't believe all of this sound and all of this talent as a dancer, as an actress was coming

Like she was she on the show, when you were on the show. I remember when she was on the show.

She did a guest spot, but I met her a few years before she got to do it. It was at the opening night of Fences, and everybody was crowding her wanting to take her picture, wanting an autograph, and I stood there like waiting my turn, like frozen. And she looked and to everybody, wait, stop, excuse me, excuse me, you come here. And I walked over to her and she grabbed me by the face and said, baby, you on that show, aren't you? I said, still show? And

And Yeah, that's crazy because you never think that they know you're alive or anything.

Why would she? Yeah, but it's like you people her, People like her just inspired me to do what it is I do now. And when you get to know them and learn what they survived through and what they over over overcame, and what mattered to them and how they used their voice and they did it with grace

Welcome back to the Sugar Steve Show.

So, Steve, when you first met me, did you go back to New York after you graduated? Yeah?

You know, it was my habit that going back and going. Like I said, I was bullied a lot in elementary school and my teachers were just such blessings and encouragement to me that when I graduated from elementary school and I got to give a shout out to Barbara Ames and Karen Fogler, to the most amazing teachers anyone could ever have. They still come to everything I do today to this day, since elementary school, since first grade, and

See, you've achieved something that I just recently got to get a taste of. Because early in my career, like they would have me come and speak to schools or whatever, but I would get like questions, like.

You over there, Yeah, so do you know like real famous people. Do you know Andre three thousand? Yeah? Do you know Eric Abat? Yeah? I produced her first record?

You did what?

And literally so it's like kids are so cool. I hate it.

I hate it until until my school. Well, first of all, I had to raise money for them, Like I gave him a whole grip. I raised money for them, and then like they threw like me and Tarika, you know, a roots day or whatever, and then I felt like semi validated, like oh, welcome back.

But it came at a price. But I always that whole like go back to school and.

Speech to this student, Yes they love you, and like kids like nah, they just want to know if I know Lil Wayne.

All the questions are hilarious.

Well, I just got re connected with a group of U of M students recently, literally recent as yesterday on Monday, the U of M. There's the seniors from the drama department were up here doing a performance, a showcase you know, for I guess casting directors and et cetera, cause they were about to go into the world and want to do this profession fessionally. So I got invited to go to the showcase. So I went. And I've gone back to the U a couple of times over the years

Thank you. So that's motiva speaking.

There you go. So that's what our found foundation does. We do programs all year round for teen boys teen girls. Sometimes we do events with them together.

Uh.

Annually we have a financial literacy and technology conference that's about a whole day, seven hours long. We give out scholarships and new computers. Well, what we did on behalf of the foundation this time was we bought tickets for all of the seniors to come and see Tina yesterday.

Nice.

So they came and saw Tina, and then after the show I met with them and we had kind of a talkback for about an hour and a half where I was telling them about the journey and answering questions, et cetera.

That's so cool incident, by the way, that was probably one of the best surprises I had. I mean, I was taking my mother to see teena just for like Chris, Yes, but I didn't bother to even like look at the playblevel to see if there's anybody I knew what. And you came out and it was such a slow like wait a minute, like it was a great thing to see you once day's doing that. Wow, man, I want

I want to know what eighties? What pounding the pavement already?

She was there?

No, no, no, no, I'm not asking about.

This past her time, okay, but I'm saying that what was pursuing a music career in the first half of the eighties in New York?

Like you know what it was?

It was tricky. It was real tricky. You know we have the me Too movement and all that stuffing on now and you hear all kinds of things. Yeah, I know, I'm so a fuwie. You found that, you bastard? Where did you find it?

I have I have my resources the government.

What we are referring to is Bill has in his hot little hands a copy of my very first single and it's in LP and it was on Dalmatian Records, an independent Right Record Late label, and the song was called Funky Thing t n h n G.

Did you name it or yeah?

I wrote it?

And no, no, no, I mean thing. I'm talking about Dalmatian Records.

No, that was the name of the Right Record Late label. I was actually okay, oh gosh, So you gotta get down on me to come on now.

Y'all know nothing about this and first name basis just just come on. D A w n N record w w w n N two end.

Come on. So who produced this?

Uh?

Two guys Kenny and Charlie, Charlie Ernst. Kenny Pollock and Charlie Ernst Kenny I went to college with. And the story behind this is that we were called in to play for a jazz violinist. It was his session and he was having trouble setting up his violin, equing it, et cetera. So Kenny and Charlie just went into this groove and they just started playing and I just started singing all of that. Every single word was freestyle. It

Never happened.

You're like the walking uhshonification of stepping out on face.

It was well, Praisett, it was. It was great and it was so much fun. It was I mean, I was just saying I didn't know what I was saying. We were just going the music that point. This was eighty four, so I was what twenty twenty three.

Yeah, so were you pursuing a recording?

Oh yeah, yeah yeah. So I would do the rounds with with my demo tapes and performing at different showcases like for Capitol Records and CBS, et cetera. And charted This song charted on Billboard at mister Nelson Nelson George Billboard Magazine. We came in at twenty there was another song that I did called from the Bottom Up, and I was a little I was a little feisty young lady, and you were not gonna find it because I tried

To start again.

Dick Grify, I'm sorry, why why wait?

Where's my stories? I'm sorry. Anyway, the stories we've heard, we could do a whole.

And that was sold our records. So they said, no, we're going to start a new girl group with the girl from New York, the girl from Texas and the girlfriend I want to say Chicago. And later we learned so we's like that's all right, I got my own deal. I don't have to be part of someone else's deal. And we so we started calling the label crickets Crickets. That's when you learned that it was just a publicity stuff.

They were never going to do it.

So yeah, no, that was what I wanted to do, was be a recording artist or star on Broadway, all of that. So TV was the one thing I was not pursuing.

During that time period. I know, this is the time for like Leroy Burgess or Kashif or a friend.

Yes, Kashiff is a friend. Luther I got, I got to know. I knew everybody in his band. I wanted to be a Luther girl so bad. Brenda White, who would always sing the bottom, was taking a leave for I forget what the reason was, but she's like, ding, Luther loves you. They're having auditions. You should come an audition. So it's me. Brenda was there, lethally so ficial, Paullette was there, and Luther was there, and so we're singing and I knew all the choreography. Stop, stop to Love,

And but no.

But then once I booked the show, he says, you know you're owe me money, right, I said what he said, because if I had hired you wouldn't have been able to do that show. So thank you very much, You're welcome. So he's cool people.

So a different world. How does this wind up in your lap?

I don't know that it wound up in my lap or I chased it down.

Yeah.

I was doing the national tour of a Broadway show called The Tap Dance Kid with one of my idols, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas and Doulay Hill, who was ten at the time, who has now grown to be this incredible man and talented. Yes, he was our our kid. Well, Alfonso was on Broadway. Sebon stayed in New York on Broadway. Deulay came with us out on the road, so there was a whole Doulas was an amazing amazing, amazing tap dancer.

He really is.

He's phenomenal tap cancer. So we were all tap and sing and dancing. So I had a principal role in that show. Well, the people who cast that show, it was called Hughes Moss Casting also carry There You Go, There You Go. They also cast The Cosby Show. So while we were on the road, I heard they were going to be doing a spin off of The Cosby Show. So I started calling the office to ask if I could audition, and they were like, no, we want everyone to be Lisa's age. I said, well, everybody can't be

No I did.

I thought my friends were messing with me at this point. So I called Hughes Moss back and say did you just call me? They said yes, is there a problem? Can you? I say no, no, no, no, I'll be there, And sure enough, a couple of hours later, a messenger came to my door with a cassette of this is the music that we're thinking of using. Go right. So I was tripping, to say the least. So I'm thinking, okay, this this is big. This is really big. And one of the classes I had to take as a musical

Yellow?

What is that? I got the Yellow Pages?

Look them up.

Yes, and they get delivered to the house, and you go, why are you sending me this? So I look them up, I call them and I say, Hi, you don't know me, but I just got this amazing opportunity placed in my lap, and I'm sure I'm supposed to be doing something that I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Do you have parallel legals? Do you have free legal service? Because I don't have any money? And they said, well, please come into our office tomorrow and we'll talk about it.

Oh it wasn't the back porch bluesy.

No, that arrangement came later, But the song, the lyrics, the melody, everything stayed.

And the show was still called No Stepping Up.

Up, Stepping Up to Step out was the original title, right. So then I get a call on Monday. No, I get a call on Friday while I'm in the studio that they want me to have a callback for this role on Monday. So I'm like, okay. I mean, they were so dismissive in the audition. I wasn't expecting to ever hear from them again. So I go in Monday, and I kid you not, I'm the only person in the room. I did not recognize Joi Lee was in

Okay.

So I was like, you know, and you count yourself out mentally, but I say, well, I'm here and they called me to come back. So I'm just going to go and do my thing and wherever it falls, that's where it falls. I went in, I did my thing again, and they said, okay, thank you very much for coming back. I said, no problem. So I left and went to dance class and I danced out for like another five hours. I came out of the dance studio. Someone screens my

View of the valley.

And I'm like, what is this life that I am? What is happening right now? So I went to the audition. The car came and got me, took me to the studio and there were these young ladies there waiting to be seen, and so it was three of us and they're sitting there to well, this is my seventh callback, and my agent told me that by this time they have to offer it to me. And I know they calling in some girl friend from New York and dead and no I know she thinks she all of that.

So that's real.

This is real.

I see it portrayed on television.

Yes, it was not nice. Try to get in my head. And it's like, wow, wow, you're not. I'm sitting right here, you know. Okay, fine, whatever whatever. So I go into the room and the producer's like, how is the flight? Are you okay? Did you see your contracts?

And so?

Fine? Fine. So I'm walking out after reading the sides, and I'm leaving and the girls are sitting there and the young lady that walks me and says, Okay, the car is downstairs waiting for you. Your contracts are there, everything should be in order. Just sign the paperwork and the car. I'll be back to pick you up this afternoon, okays, miss miss Lewis all right, you're good. You need anything else? No, no, no,

I love the song.

The song is perfect in the girl's voice is the Oh that's perfect. She's gonna be amazing. The words are perfect. Everything is perfect. And I sat there like and I raised I literally raised my hand. I kid you not, and they said, yes, what I said, I just want to say thank you for the song. I'm glad you liked the song. What are you talking about? I said, I'm I'm the girl, I'm the one who wrote it. I'm the one you're listening to singing. And they look

Please?

I have to call I got so he took me into his office and sat me down. That was when you had to push nine to get an outside line. Yes, so he let me.

Call on long distance.

Oh remember what was it? The WATS lines when you get a little cold to dialogue distance for free whatever. Yes, So I said, well, before you go this, I don't want to be crazy sound or anything, but would you pray with me? And he said I'd be happy to. So we prayed together in his office, gave God thanks, and he left. He said, just whatever you need to take as long as you want. So I called my mom. My mom was an OAR technician, which means she assisted

Wait, so you had to move in forty eight hours?

No, we shot to shoot the pilot.

Okay, so I was there.

We're still it's gonna get pickne or whatever. And at that point, after shooting the pilot and seeing the female influence and them deciding that since it wasn't my show, it was too much to have me sing the theme song, right, you know you can't write it, sing it, and this is somebody else's show. Okay, Fine, They had Al Green come in and sing it, and that was when they we flipped the name to a Different World. So I rewrote just that line instead of stepping up to step out.

You had the coach.

What was that like?

Because it was it was No, it was amazing.

I couldn't believe it. I absolutely could not believe that. I was like, no, no, it goes like this. He was receptive. Not so much, he was reception. And that was where I met Rachelle Farrell and then fidmont So singing backgrounds on that version. It was me, Rochelle and Lynn music. Well, yes, it had more of that like honky Tonk feel to the so it's closer to what Phoebe ended up releasing. So once it became clear this was really female driven, they took out Al's vocal and

Then Double Dutch.

I was doing there you go, because we did that in Brooklyn too.

Was shot in Brooklyn.

No, no, no, no, no, that was Al. They didn't believe I knew how to jump double the just if you find somebody who can really turn, I can I can throw throw down. So I said, not only will I throw out, I'm gonna do it in pumps. Y'all ain't ready, y'all ain't ready. Y'all ain't ready, y'all ain't ready, y'all ain't ready.

Is there a version? Is there a version of the Algreen version around?

I have it.

I have to stepping up to step out. Yes, I have stepping up to step out. I have the al Green version. And I wasn't there when I reap the did it? So? Their their concept was like The Cosby Show kind of revamped their music entry. They were going to revamp it every season, but once Aretha saying it, they were good.

Yeah, there's such a frozen moment where I was waiting for the honky tong thing and yes, wait, what the hell is this?

Yes?

And man, and this is without a VCR back then. So yes, I had to wait seven days to record it next week.

And then the final season boys to mend it right.

Yeah, shooting that show, of course, with the level where The Cosby Show was, I mean, did you feel that you were doing something important or historical that was going to touch a bunch of kids lives that.

You know, when I can only speak from myself when we started the show, like any actor, young actor, you're happy to have a job, and do you know the quality of the show that you're coming off of? Because The Cosby Show was just such a high quality show and so many people, regardless of what nationality you were or age group you were, you had and you had a special place in your heart for that show. So we knew some of that was going to be coming over as far as legacy building and changing lives and

Who was the yeah who directed it, and well we had.

Different directors first c season, but our ex executive producer was and and Beats, who had come off of Square Pegs and et cetera.

So we were.

There was no difference because we basically did square peg scripts.

But did you feel like, I don't know this will fly away?

We were.

We thought it was ridiculous. Really, we thought the scripts were ridiculous and literally, I'm very serious. We did revamped square Pegs scripts, Like when we first started working the show was myself, Jasmine, myself, Lisa and Marissa to May. When the new management came in. That was when the Whitley Gilbert character was added, the Dwayne Wayne character.

Pilot.

Well, they we reshot the pilot, right, they weren't in the pilot, but we reshot stuff so that they would be included from beginning.

Because he's the first person you see right on the Well, the pilot was like this was.

It was eighty six. No, we shot shot the pilot in eighty five.

Yeah, but it was eventually sorry, eight eighty six. It was eventually aired as a finale of the first season, right because no.

It was eventually aired as the first episode was. It was eventually aired as the first.

Episode where Dwayne talks to the camera fourth wall like, yeah, but there was another episode that came before that because like Verne is in it as the door correct and Witley.

And they weren't so you remember butter than I do. Yeah, so that's what we were doing, and miss miss Beats brought in those other characters, so we reshot stuff to include them once for when the show actually began airing, was.

There panic in the air once you realize that Lisa wasn't going to come back for season two.

But how comfortable do you have to be before you're like, this job is real?

Let me be you know, I never got that. No, I'm because I had already been working for so long. Shows start, shows end, Nothing is forever. So you know different people. You buy cars, you buy houses, like I ain't buying nothing because they could tell us tomorrow. And the way they fire folk around here. If Lisa can go guess what they can let you go to you know what I mean? You we would come to work some days and not know who was going to be at work. It was like that.

But by this point you could probably afford your own marbles.

Right, yes, but but but I was so far past I was so past marvels. But then yes, yes, but that was hilarious.

You didn't You didn't have what is there a moment where it's sort of like, okay, uh I made it, or you're still.

Like is the guilt?

But yes, I'm telling you. I wouldn't say not comfort. You knew you had a job, and you were if you were wise, you would be aware that this could change at any moment, So you go to work and you do your gig. And I watched the show go from featuring three people to featuring fourteen people in just four years. You know, all these other characters got added, you know, from you know, to from Creed's character to

Now, how hard is it to navigate in that world because.

Voiceover, Yeah, it really depends you. The directors and studios like to work with who they know can deliver. So once you're in the circle, you work a bit more and people just request you directly. It's a little harder to break into, but it's not impossible, especially because there were so many projects available now. When I first started, my first animated series was produced by Susanna Pass Wow Suzanna Pass project.

It was Kidd and Play their cartoon.

Kidding played card cartoon. I played the younger sister. I was the younger sister on the show. And I remember that there you go, Oh God. I was the younger sister on that show. And then Suzanne got the opportunity to produce a Christmas special with boys to men doing guest spot voices called cool like That. So I did voices for that and I played a seven year old boy in that that show. And again this was all freelance.

I assume the term that can deliver means that you can knock it out with the well, you.

Knock it out and you understand what what they're asking you to do. And because you're not on camera, you have to be able to sell and convince something just with your with your voice.

So you have to turn into a seven year old turn into a seven.

Year old boy and yeah, and it has to be believable when you listen back to it.

So since then, you know, So what is your arrange like as far as your I know Cree has a range of Yeah, she could sound like a freakazoid or.

You know whatever.

Right, I do all of that. I do video games Mortal Kombat and I've done Yes Storm and the x X Men. I do lots of different video games. I do Simpsons, Simpsons calls me and to do all kinds of extraneous voices like the last three years I record to Simpsons last week. I have another one next week. I do the series Apple and Onion, where I played Patty the Meat, the Meat Patty Boss.

Uh.

Star CBS is coming out with a new animated series, Star Trek Lower Decks the Captain on Star Trek Lower.

Decks, Don Lewis, I'm really not going to ask you about cramps now, No.

No.

I also do Where in the world is Carbon San Diego? For Netflix, I'm the voice of the Cheap And when we just released our interactive series games, I do the voice of the chief in that don't forget Futurama Now Futurama. I'm La Barbara In Futurama, I'm Granny mcstuffans and Doc mixed mic mcstuffans and who is.

The voice of actual uh of Doc mcstuffans.

To be honest with you, I don't know. I honestly don't know the young lad lady's name because usually when I get called in the studio, it's just me and you meet people, you don't meet people. So I apologize.

I was stuck in an elevator with her once and when I told I had never heard of Doc mc stuffins in my life. Okay, So when I got out the elevator go to the airport, one of my managers she's like, I mean, even though she's of age, she's eternally thirteen years old. So I Cavli said that, Yeah, I was in the elevator with the whoever plays doc x stuffans, and she, like Zarah like lost their mind.

Yeah, they do a lot of people do. Yeah, it's it's a trip shows like Spirit shows like Sophie of the First. Another one I did way back in the day was c Bear and Jamal with Tone Tone Lok.

Yeah.

I think I did like three or four voices in that show. I played the grandmother who kind of almost didn't have any teeth in her in her mouth and it was just so much fun and the and the kids teacher Miss Fine. Another one where the little bear wanted to get a job. I was an old, old Jewish man in the factory where he worked.

So no, we had a lot of maybe I know wants his name.

His name was Fingo. You're basing too much time? Time is money? Fuck fuck fasta.

To hear it. Doors have never closed on you or always I wouldn't say. I gotta ask. Has one role ever gotten away?

That like either to a to another commitment or something that you had a chance to go for that you weren't able to.

Yeah. I wanted to do Tina Turner and What's Love God to Do with it? And they got some unknown chick named Angela Bassett to do it. She was she was phenomenal.

The name like Angela Bassett.

She'll never go anywhere, She'll never I mean, she's just the coolest people, one of my dear friends in a.

You know, yeah, I got it well.

Speaking of which, let me let me lead it to this where you are now at the Tina Turner play, the.

Sort of the the why is I? A violatile relationship between her mother and her in that play? Was that that was intense? Is she executive producer of the play?

Like?

Is she a part of the production?

Miss Turner?

Yes?

Yes, from the from the beginning, she handpicked all of the songs that are in the show. All of the songs are songs that she record at one time or another. The way that they're placed in the show is not necessarily chronolological or when they were released, but there they're placed strategically to help tell the story.

Well only ask because this was way more intense than the what's love got to do with it?

At least the relationship, yes, between the two and I wanted.

To know, Well, it goes into a bit more detail of the life. You know, some people, you know, think that if you've seen that movie, then then you've seen the whole right, But that's that's not the case. At all and in playing Zelma. My mother's name is Zelma Bullock. Her name was originally Anime Bullock before it got changed to Tina Tina Turner. It was important to me to come and do this particular role just because it was so real for me in my life, because that was

That's domestic situation, get involved.

In, yeah, exactly, Jesus. So my mom left us and we ended up being taken by my grandmother that I mentioned for a cup couple of years until my mom was able to come back and get us. So that was how we went from Bedstide to Park Slope back to Bedstye when my mom came back and got us. Fortunately, my dad learned to make better choices in his life and grateful for that, especially you know, before he passed, passed us the way, so we were able to heal

Thank you, I enjoyed it.

Thank you very much. I brought you a gift, Actually.

Thank you, you brought me a g scroll.

I'm unrolling a scroll. This was something that I made for the entire company for Opening Gift. So it is a playbill version of your cast. I made this for the professional man, and this is the entire company, each one of us. And so yeah, so that's that's the creative team. That's the Bullock family. Tina, that's our director. That's me, that's young the little girl that plays Anime Bullock. That's the young woman that was playing uh, the older

Well, we thank you for this. I will cherish this, he says.

Did you notice that I will cherish this?

This is.

This is really on good paper. This paper is like leather.

Yeah, that's beautiful.

So I would like to think that.

At least hearing the narrative and sort of the linear emotion that your life has taken you stepping out in confidence and not saying that everything was done without you being nervous or I can't do this, but I kind of feel like the common denominator is like everything.

That you've attempted to attempted to do.

You did without a second thought or a voice in your head that says you can't do this and you know, so what But from you doing that at an early age till even now still working where no one has this narrative that I've heard and I've been doing the show for three years now practically, like what is that? Because I feel like that's what's it. I feel like you have a confidence or stepping out on faith in terms of just.

Doors open for you, you know, yes and no, yes, doors open. When I saw you at mister bebela Fonte's birthday celebration and you told me that you wanted me to be on your show, that just really blessed my spirit. Because you don't know who sees you, you don't know who cares. You know who you pursue in life and they either respond or you don't. Like me trying to chase down an agent for months and nobody being willing

Tournament, Yes, you.

Know what I'm saying. All those kinds of things matter, and it it sometimes gets frustrating when the journey feels stifled. But like you said, I'm walking on faith because I was told at seven that where I was pursuing was going to take me on a downward spiral, that was going to be my spiritual demise, my physical demise, all of that. And God has proven me that that is just not true, that that's just not his journey for me.

I wish you was here.

She we should tell was very upset that she couldn't be here today. She really really wanted to.

I was looking forward to meeting her. She's been very kind.

Well, we thank you very much for doing this.

You've got to come back and tell us some Latin record stories.

You guess, there's always stories. There's plenty, plenty stories and tales to tell, so.

On behalf of Boss Bill and Sugar Steve lay Fan, Tikolo, and Babe Bill.

Thank you Don.

Lewis for being here today and we will see you on the next go round of Quest Love Supreme.

I love It, Love It.

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