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. . . EVERYBODY HAS GONE THROUGH SOMETHING. THEY ARE FACING THEIR OWN DEMONS, THEIR OWN LEVEL OF TRAUMA AND PAIN. THEN YOU CAN LOVE. EMPATHY AND COMPASSION ARE COUSINS TO LOVE. LOVE LEADS YOU FROM THE INSIDE. WHEN YOU LOOK AT PEOPLE, YOU DON’T JUST SEE THEM, BUT YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BACKSTORY BEHIND THEM BECAUSE THAT HELPS YOU LOVE THEM. Leotis Clyburn was. “They are calling, and they want to sign you.” I told my principal to have him call my parents. That was how I was discovered. They called my high school after seeing me on “Big Break.” From there, I went on to sign my first record deal. You then reached 28 on the Billboard chart with what song, and what was the inspiration? Everything just happened, and nothing was planned. Stacy Lattisaw, who I’ve mentioned, was dating a guy named Kevin Jackson, a budding producer. He had never done any production before. He had a song that I thought would be really cool called “Through the Rain.” As a 19- or 20-year-old, it resonated: being in love, going through a breakup and wanting to keep it together. Both the song and lyrics spoke to my heart at the time. We went to his mother’s house, and we recorded it inside of a closet. I let the record company hear it, and that song ended up being the song that went to number 28 on the charts. Your musical influences are a complex mixture. Yes, because I was raised as a Black Latina. My mother was Hispanic and had an accent, so I would get teased in school. My dad was from the country in the South. In the middle, there was church, which is even more complicated because I went to a Catholic school during the week and attended a Baptist church on Sundays. I remember the first time singing in the Catholic choir, and I wanted my Baptist influence to show. The nun came over and said, “No, no, no, no. We don’t do that here.” I said, “Sundays, this is what we do. I just did that yesterday.” My whole life has been a play. It has been theater. I was raised and grew up very differently, with white American or Hispanic American neighbors and all the cultural differences from the South. I was influenced by it all, and it was beautiful. I think that is what makes America what it is. How old were you when your parents got divorced, and where are they today? When I was 8, they divorced. My mother passed five years ago, and my father is still well. Can you tell me about that? It was extremely traumatic because she was my life and all that I knew. To have that rug pulled up from under you was very traumatic. I have always found music as my one escape; the thing I would do, even
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• l’été 2021 • readelysian.com
Tanya poses with celebrated “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius during her first appearance on his long-standing show.