Articles
Read RHP's interview with up and coming R&B artist Chosen Effect.
Make sure you watch the new single Liar Liar...
RedHotPie Editor | June 08 2011
Chosen Effect - RHP Interview
Read RHP's interview with up and coming R&B artist Chosen Effect. Make sure you watch the new single Liar Liar below!
Tell us a little bit about your time growing up, what are your earliest musical memories?
Growing up?? Lol, that is still on my to do list hehehe. I grew up in a Baptist family so gospel music played a big part in my upbringing. We use to spend so much time in church it was crazy. I look back at it now and realize that all that religion has helped mode me to the person I am today so I am thankful I was raised with so much love in my heart. I use to sing, play the piano & drums for the church and also directed the youth choir. I pretty much came out of my moms womb with music in my blood. My mom was a powerful black woman with an amazing voice & she use to play the organ as well while my dad use to play the guitar. I have professionally been performing since 8 years old! If it was not for music I probably would not have been able to make it through the hard times.
How did you get into music, how has it played a part in your formative years?
A seriously cant remember a time that music was not a part of my life. I was just born into it. God gave me a unique talent to be able to play the piano by ear which I very soon learned would also help me become the music producer that I am today. My passion for all that is music fueled my desire to share my gift to anyone who would listen. Music gave me something very positive to focus on at a very young age. I had a goal which was simply to utilize the talent that God had blessed me with to the best of my ability. Lol to this day I make a Joyful noise hehehe:)
What artists inspired and influence you?
Lol every single fan of mine can anwer this question. The artist that inspired me the most is the King of Pop Michael Jackson. He believed in electricfying the crowd and through is amazing passion for music defined multiple generations. No artist in the history of modern music has touched so many people. Both young and old alike, MJ today is still respected the world over and forever will go down in history as the single greatest entertainer of all time. Other artists that have also influenced me include hitmakers like R Kelly, Usher and Rappers like Jay-Z and Eminem well you have to show some love to real talent.
Tell us a little bit about the R&B scene in Australia, it’s not quite as big here as it is in the States is it
The R&B scene in Australia is starting to grow abit but is still not as big as it is in the states or even the UK for that matter. But times is starting to change and artists like Jessica Mauboy whom by the way I have had the privilege to perform together on stage with, are opening doors to a whole new group of R&B fans thanks to the commercial success of shows like Idol. Plus traditional R&B artist like Usher, Ne-Yo & Chris Brown are hugely crossing over into Dance Music which has blurred the line between what is considered R&B and what is considered dance. At the end of the day if it sounds good people are going to love it regardless. Lol fun fact for those that don't know even though I grew up with R&B & Hip-Hop being my genre of choice, when I first was signed to Sony it was actually Dance music that I was releasing and not just any dance music but the hard stuff lol. Those that dont know me will think that I just decided to jump on the bandwagon when my new dance tracks come out in a couple of months but my fans that follow me will be like... Dude! About time you put out a new dance track lol.
Where are you based now and why?
California is home so I guess that is why Im feeling so comfortable in Queensland, Australia at the moment. Lol the weather agrees with me here as I am not a fan of the extreme cold. As far as music goes well lets just say... Lol there is a big difference between the R&B scene back home and here in Australia but that is actually an attraction to me. There is so much undiscovered raw talent here that I wanted to play a part in helping them get a step closer to realizing their dreams. Being a contributing force in the rise of R&B music in Australia is a great reason to base myself in the land down under I think. I love Aussies:)
Your bio says you’ve played to over a million people, accumulatively, what was the biggest gig you’ve played? The worst? And the Craziest?
The biggest gig was in front of about 50,000 people and my group shared billing with acts like The Prodigy so it was pretty explosive. The worst gig would have to be one in Hokkaido Japan during a huge Blizzard lol. Someone still thought it would be a good idea to still have us perform that night lol. The funny thing is that all I remember is walking in extreme snow to the limo which ended up getting stuck a few blocks away. So always the professional I yelled "The show must still go on" & in a second of commitment we starting walking. The whole way I was freezing my butt off thinking forget about the show I cant wait to get back to the bed in the hotel and bury myself beneath the blankets lol. Lol I couldnt believe there was still girls wearing mini skirts too... #winners lol. The craziest gig was performing in Okinawa by way of luxury liner. I hate flying and avoid it whenever possible so this particular show I spent Christmas Eve & Day on a ship in the middle of the ocean in order to perform on Boxing Day. It was the longest trip ever and by the time I actually arrived to perform I felt too sick to go on stage lol. They gave me some pills which to this day I have no idea what it was I swallowed but I can tell you that I never felt better lol.
You’ve played with some massive artists, who left the most powerful impression on you after seeing them do their thing?
Hmmm wow this is a hard question because there has been a few so I guess I will tell you about the latest experience. I opened for Ja Rule and as always I had my dancers and a tight well rehearsed show that blew the crowd away. We worked hard to put on a really amazing show. Ja Rule then came on stage with a couple of random girls (btw I must admit they were pretty hot lol) that he met before coming to the show and managed to basically just stand there with minimum effort on stage and get the crowd to lose their mind! Lol I was so impressed by the power of his hit songs that everyone knew. That left a really powerful impression in my head...the power of music!
You’ve got your finger in a few pies, you emcee, model, act, do you prefer any one artistic medium over another or are you into everything equally?
Yep Red Hot Pie lol! For me if its entertainment then its all good. However, I guess if I had to choose music would take the top position followed closely by acting. I always have complete passion regardless of which artistic medium Im exploring so in a way I guess you could say all disciplines are created equal lol.
What’s going on atm? You just launched a new track? Tell us about it.
All of the music that is being released now is actually music that was suppose to be released early last year but was delayed because my mom became sick and died. Liar Liar is the new single that is out now and is the song that we just finished shooting the music video for. I wrote the song for a girl who was a major liar liar. Lol needless to say its not her favorite song hehe. June 25th my new single "Why You Pretending" comes out which is a tribute to Michael Jackson. My single "Tonight" was scheduled to be out already but we have decided to reshoot some of the footage for the music video so it will not be released until July. Besides tons of new music releases scheduled to be released this year we are currently in production for the new feature film that I'm starring in called "Quick Momma" and also a couple of TV Shows are in the works.
Where will you be touring the new release?
Lol wherever duty calls hehe:) I will definitely being showing my fans in Australia lots of love though!
What can people expect at a Chosen Effect concert?
Lots of great fans watching me perform lots of great songs lol. Ive been told on many occasions that my shows are extremely electrifying so expect me to electrify you:)
Where do you want to be in ten years and how would you like your fans to remember you?
I want to be still rocking the crowd plain and simple. I would like my fans to remember as the little engine that could haha. I love music and Im going to keep on doing it til the end of time or til my battery runs out whichever happens first lol. Hopefully they will happen at the same time so I can say I was there lol:)
Tell us a little bit about your time growing up, what are your earliest musical memories?
Growing up?? Lol, that is still on my to do list hehehe. I grew up in a Baptist family so gospel music played a big part in my upbringing. We use to spend so much time in church it was crazy. I look back at it now and realize that all that religion has helped mode me to the person I am today so I am thankful I was raised with so much love in my heart. I use to sing, play the piano & drums for the church and also directed the youth choir. I pretty much came out of my moms womb with music in my blood. My mom was a powerful black woman with an amazing voice & she use to play the organ as well while my dad use to play the guitar. I have professionally been performing since 8 years old! If it was not for music I probably would not have been able to make it through the hard times.
How did you get into music, how has it played a part in your formative years?
A seriously cant remember a time that music was not a part of my life. I was just born into it. God gave me a unique talent to be able to play the piano by ear which I very soon learned would also help me become the music producer that I am today. My passion for all that is music fueled my desire to share my gift to anyone who would listen. Music gave me something very positive to focus on at a very young age. I had a goal which was simply to utilize the talent that God had blessed me with to the best of my ability. Lol to this day I make a Joyful noise hehehe:)
What artists inspired and influence you?
Lol every single fan of mine can anwer this question. The artist that inspired me the most is the King of Pop Michael Jackson. He believed in electricfying the crowd and through is amazing passion for music defined multiple generations. No artist in the history of modern music has touched so many people. Both young and old alike, MJ today is still respected the world over and forever will go down in history as the single greatest entertainer of all time. Other artists that have also influenced me include hitmakers like R Kelly, Usher and Rappers like Jay-Z and Eminem well you have to show some love to real talent.
Tell us a little bit about the R&B scene in Australia, it’s not quite as big here as it is in the States is it
The R&B scene in Australia is starting to grow abit but is still not as big as it is in the states or even the UK for that matter. But times is starting to change and artists like Jessica Mauboy whom by the way I have had the privilege to perform together on stage with, are opening doors to a whole new group of R&B fans thanks to the commercial success of shows like Idol. Plus traditional R&B artist like Usher, Ne-Yo & Chris Brown are hugely crossing over into Dance Music which has blurred the line between what is considered R&B and what is considered dance. At the end of the day if it sounds good people are going to love it regardless. Lol fun fact for those that don't know even though I grew up with R&B & Hip-Hop being my genre of choice, when I first was signed to Sony it was actually Dance music that I was releasing and not just any dance music but the hard stuff lol. Those that dont know me will think that I just decided to jump on the bandwagon when my new dance tracks come out in a couple of months but my fans that follow me will be like... Dude! About time you put out a new dance track lol.
Where are you based now and why?
California is home so I guess that is why Im feeling so comfortable in Queensland, Australia at the moment. Lol the weather agrees with me here as I am not a fan of the extreme cold. As far as music goes well lets just say... Lol there is a big difference between the R&B scene back home and here in Australia but that is actually an attraction to me. There is so much undiscovered raw talent here that I wanted to play a part in helping them get a step closer to realizing their dreams. Being a contributing force in the rise of R&B music in Australia is a great reason to base myself in the land down under I think. I love Aussies:)
Your bio says you’ve played to over a million people, accumulatively, what was the biggest gig you’ve played? The worst? And the Craziest?
The biggest gig was in front of about 50,000 people and my group shared billing with acts like The Prodigy so it was pretty explosive. The worst gig would have to be one in Hokkaido Japan during a huge Blizzard lol. Someone still thought it would be a good idea to still have us perform that night lol. The funny thing is that all I remember is walking in extreme snow to the limo which ended up getting stuck a few blocks away. So always the professional I yelled "The show must still go on" & in a second of commitment we starting walking. The whole way I was freezing my butt off thinking forget about the show I cant wait to get back to the bed in the hotel and bury myself beneath the blankets lol. Lol I couldnt believe there was still girls wearing mini skirts too... #winners lol. The craziest gig was performing in Okinawa by way of luxury liner. I hate flying and avoid it whenever possible so this particular show I spent Christmas Eve & Day on a ship in the middle of the ocean in order to perform on Boxing Day. It was the longest trip ever and by the time I actually arrived to perform I felt too sick to go on stage lol. They gave me some pills which to this day I have no idea what it was I swallowed but I can tell you that I never felt better lol.
You’ve played with some massive artists, who left the most powerful impression on you after seeing them do their thing?
Hmmm wow this is a hard question because there has been a few so I guess I will tell you about the latest experience. I opened for Ja Rule and as always I had my dancers and a tight well rehearsed show that blew the crowd away. We worked hard to put on a really amazing show. Ja Rule then came on stage with a couple of random girls (btw I must admit they were pretty hot lol) that he met before coming to the show and managed to basically just stand there with minimum effort on stage and get the crowd to lose their mind! Lol I was so impressed by the power of his hit songs that everyone knew. That left a really powerful impression in my head...the power of music!
You’ve got your finger in a few pies, you emcee, model, act, do you prefer any one artistic medium over another or are you into everything equally?
Yep Red Hot Pie lol! For me if its entertainment then its all good. However, I guess if I had to choose music would take the top position followed closely by acting. I always have complete passion regardless of which artistic medium Im exploring so in a way I guess you could say all disciplines are created equal lol.
What’s going on atm? You just launched a new track? Tell us about it.
All of the music that is being released now is actually music that was suppose to be released early last year but was delayed because my mom became sick and died. Liar Liar is the new single that is out now and is the song that we just finished shooting the music video for. I wrote the song for a girl who was a major liar liar. Lol needless to say its not her favorite song hehe. June 25th my new single "Why You Pretending" comes out which is a tribute to Michael Jackson. My single "Tonight" was scheduled to be out already but we have decided to reshoot some of the footage for the music video so it will not be released until July. Besides tons of new music releases scheduled to be released this year we are currently in production for the new feature film that I'm starring in called "Quick Momma" and also a couple of TV Shows are in the works.
Where will you be touring the new release?
Lol wherever duty calls hehe:) I will definitely being showing my fans in Australia lots of love though!
What can people expect at a Chosen Effect concert?
Lots of great fans watching me perform lots of great songs lol. Ive been told on many occasions that my shows are extremely electrifying so expect me to electrify you:)
Where do you want to be in ten years and how would you like your fans to remember you?
I want to be still rocking the crowd plain and simple. I would like my fans to remember as the little engine that could haha. I love music and Im going to keep on doing it til the end of time or til my battery runs out whichever happens first lol. Hopefully they will happen at the same time so I can say I was there lol:)
