Dawn Richards. Arguably one of the most dedicated members of Diddy’s protégé camp. At 25 years old, like the rest of us, she has encountered her fair share of disappointments, most of which were not seen on Making the Band. As sweet and delicate as she may appear, she lets me know the raw deal, and what really goes on in her life... Her first rule: “Success does not come for free.”
The price is pain.
We take it back.
Louisiana, New Orleans is the place you call home that was deeply affected by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Millions saw the effect it had on the people living over there, but our view is from a bridge; close, but not close enough. How did this personally affect you?
It was hard you know, we lost our home, and our dancing school, that was the two things that meant the most to us, so much that we didn’t know where we were gonna sleep, where we were gonna eat, we lost everything- other than that it affected my career because these times, we hadn’t made the band, I had to go back and do the show. It was very stressful but it did come out positive, you know, we had to start over. It was a hard process.
The pain behind her voice is the sound of a struggle overcome, but what was it that made her made gain motivation again, who was behind the force?
My spirituality is strong, so I would say God did that for me. Other than that I had a great base, you know, great parents, they supported me, so even through the worst times, they helped me look at the positive and keep moving. If you keep looking at the negative you will never get out of the hole that you’re in. My mum played a huge part, no matter how far away she was from me, she was always there, and I have a really good foundation.
Starting as you mean to go forward seems like has worked for her so far. Before Danity Kane, she was opening stages for Neo Soul Singer, Anthony Hamilton fresh out of her teens. He’s a strong performer. Watching him perform and the process was so inspiring, he did it with so much heart and passion when he was on stage; he makes me wanna do the same.
And you accomplished that making the cut of the band, what would you say is the most valued lesson of being a part of Danity Kane?
I learnt about myself, you have to be able not to lose yourself, because you CAN lose yourself in this business. You have to come with a lot of love, passion and eye of the tiger in this industry because there are a lot of snakes out there, so it’s hard to stay afloat, and it can make you lose that love. When you start losing the thing that you came in with, you start to hate the thing that you loved once. Once you stay true to yourself and stay true to the passion you have in the business, then you’ll survive.
What would you say what the highlight of being in Danity Kane?
Highlight? Easy! That has to be performing on the stage for the fans every night! I love it, it’s crazy, and it’s crazy hearing people sing the songs that you have written. I’ll never forget them singing some of the songs I wrote on the album- It was like THE biggest highlight! When they sang Lights Out, I wanted to cry, you know, because that was MY song that was my baby! I wrote that! People were singing the lyrics, that was my dream, you know! To hear people sing a song that came from your heart.
Sunshine only comes after rain, a lot of the time on reality TV shows we don’t see the harsh realities of being in the music and media industry. What would you say was your biggest set back?
The worst thing about this is being on TV, you know, people see you on TV and they don’t want to separate the two. Then they will say ‘Oh, they are just reality TV stars’, and it’s like NO, we are artists that have a TV show, and I think that people sometimes forget that. You know, it makes it extremely hard, as well as the editing. People tend not to understand that there is more to a story than what they see on TV, that becomes difficult. People start coming up with the rumours, and it starts to damage your image, damage who you are, people have this idea that it’s the truth, when its only part of the truth, and everybody who knows life knows that life has many layers and many situations that come up to one experience, and there is always five or ten sides to a story.
How did you deal with these negative aspects, especially with the editing process of the show, people thinking they know you because they have seen an hour of your life shown on TV and then the rumours?
Honestly, I stopped looking! I stopped looking and I stopped caring. Ignoring it? I have to a lot of the time. I would call my mum and be like ‘oh, why is this like this? Why are people saying these things?’ and she always said not to entertain it, because it is what it is! I had to go in there with thick skin, and I learnt to be around people who know who I am, people who know what I would and would not do. People that know the real me are the people I have to keep around me to be real to myself.
Louisiana, New Orleans is the place you call home that was deeply affected by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. Millions saw the effect it had on the people living over there, but our view is from a bridge; close, but not close enough. How did this personally affect you?
It was hard you know, we lost our home, and our dancing school, that was the two things that meant the most to us, so much that we didn’t know where we were gonna sleep, where we were gonna eat, we lost everything- other than that it affected my career because these times, we hadn’t made the band, I had to go back and do the show. It was very stressful but it did come out positive, you know, we had to start over. It was a hard process.
The pain behind her voice is the sound of a struggle overcome, but what was it that made her made gain motivation again, who was behind the force?
My spirituality is strong, so I would say God did that for me. Other than that I had a great base, you know, great parents, they supported me, so even through the worst times, they helped me look at the positive and keep moving. If you keep looking at the negative you will never get out of the hole that you’re in. My mum played a huge part, no matter how far away she was from me, she was always there, and I have a really good foundation.
Starting as you mean to go forward seems like has worked for her so far. Before Danity Kane, she was opening stages for Neo Soul Singer, Anthony Hamilton fresh out of her teens. He’s a strong performer. Watching him perform and the process was so inspiring, he did it with so much heart and passion when he was on stage; he makes me wanna do the same.
And you accomplished that making the cut of the band, what would you say is the most valued lesson of being a part of Danity Kane?
I learnt about myself, you have to be able not to lose yourself, because you CAN lose yourself in this business. You have to come with a lot of love, passion and eye of the tiger in this industry because there are a lot of snakes out there, so it’s hard to stay afloat, and it can make you lose that love. When you start losing the thing that you came in with, you start to hate the thing that you loved once. Once you stay true to yourself and stay true to the passion you have in the business, then you’ll survive.
What would you say what the highlight of being in Danity Kane?
Highlight? Easy! That has to be performing on the stage for the fans every night! I love it, it’s crazy, and it’s crazy hearing people sing the songs that you have written. I’ll never forget them singing some of the songs I wrote on the album- It was like THE biggest highlight! When they sang Lights Out, I wanted to cry, you know, because that was MY song that was my baby! I wrote that! People were singing the lyrics, that was my dream, you know! To hear people sing a song that came from your heart.
Sunshine only comes after rain, a lot of the time on reality TV shows we don’t see the harsh realities of being in the music and media industry. What would you say was your biggest set back?
The worst thing about this is being on TV, you know, people see you on TV and they don’t want to separate the two. Then they will say ‘Oh, they are just reality TV stars’, and it’s like NO, we are artists that have a TV show, and I think that people sometimes forget that. You know, it makes it extremely hard, as well as the editing. People tend not to understand that there is more to a story than what they see on TV, that becomes difficult. People start coming up with the rumours, and it starts to damage your image, damage who you are, people have this idea that it’s the truth, when its only part of the truth, and everybody who knows life knows that life has many layers and many situations that come up to one experience, and there is always five or ten sides to a story.
How did you deal with these negative aspects, especially with the editing process of the show, people thinking they know you because they have seen an hour of your life shown on TV and then the rumours?
Honestly, I stopped looking! I stopped looking and I stopped caring. Ignoring it? I have to a lot of the time. I would call my mum and be like ‘oh, why is this like this? Why are people saying these things?’ and she always said not to entertain it, because it is what it is! I had to go in there with thick skin, and I learnt to be around people who know who I am, people who know what I would and would not do. People that know the real me are the people I have to keep around me to be real to myself.
Talking of rumours, you know I have to go there...what's the real deal?
You know, I can’t confirm anything! All I can say is that I do still be a part of Puff's label . I would love to rock with Danity Kane again, everyday of the week if I could! But, like I said, this is a business based on five sides and I can only verify my side. I’m willing to rock whenever and whenever because I love this business.
Considering that, I would never say no to solo material, you never know! Puffy’s a man that is always full of surprises, he always surprises me! And I would hope he would support me. Diddy, you know, he’s The Boss. He’s extremley focused on his business, he wears his business head, and I learn from him. He knows the formula of how to stay on this business and be successful and I wanna be around someone like that. He teaches the key of success in this business.
Tell me about you producing the remix of British star, Cherri V’s music, how did that come about?
Oh my gosh! Cherri is my girl, you know! She contacted me through MySpace! I liked her music and I told her so, and so we was like ‘we should do something together’. It’s crazy! I love her song, she’s amazing!
So it happened just like that?
Yeah, I love talking to people, I love people who are tryna make it, I was that person, hell, I still am that person, you know! So I support anyone who is a great singer and who makes great music, and she’s a great singer and a great artist.
OK, let’s talk solo stuff and Lil’ Wayne:
Yeah, I had done some music with Lil’ Wayne, it was for our album, but Wayne loved it so much that he put it on his mix tape!
And FloRida?
Yea, StrobeLight, a friend of mine did a beat and he was gonna use it for his album but we put the two together, that’s how that came about!
OK, I know you were an NBA dancer before, do you plan to go back to dancing or would you prefer to further singing?
Yeah, I danced for the New Orleans Hornets. Me and dancing, that’s never gonna stop, that’s a part of my life! I dance and sing at the same time. We ain’t never gonna stop!
Dawn is making waves on the radio, what is her number one rule?
Learn your craft. Don’t just be a great singer or musician, learn your craft, you know, play more than one instrument, really have a passion for your art, because they are alot of people that can do the same thing, and probably better, so you have to have a one-up on everybody. And once you get that you have to get on the other side, you have to learn you finance, you have to know your marketing, all your rights, all the things to keep your money safe. With me, its 90 percent business and 10 percent music. You need to know all the tools to protect your name and your brand. Get comfortable with publishing as well; writing is the key in this business!
And believe in yourself to accomplish the impossible, because once you do that anything is possible!
Now i’ve done an alter ego comic based on me and on our group, Danity Kane. It’s out right now. I’m really excited about it because I’ve got a follow up comic book coming out in stores in March 2009, and I also have another single being released. It’s all independent, it’s not on the BadBoy label, and it’s the single that is leading up to the sound track entitled All The Way, which you can hear on the MySpace. It’s really dope; i’m really excited about it!
Tell me Dawn, what made you want to get into that field because, it has nothing to do with music, what made you want to branch out and explore that world?
I’ve been into this since high school, I’ve been wanting to do something that everybody doesn’t do, and a lot of women don’t go into the comic world. I was always pleased and intrigued by it and so it’s only right to do it. Maybe in someone else’s head it may seem random, but for me it seems normal because that is what I love.
Now we’re talking of writing, who would you say your favourite writer/ comic book writer is? Who has got you waiting for a spare moment to read their work?
Oh wow, that’s a really good question... erm.... I have to say, I loveCourtney Love.I love the way that writer puts everything into play! Oh and Misaho Kujiradou, he’s an amazing writer, his head is crazy and I love it!
Comic books, OK, Dawn has big plans for the New Year...
I was so negative towards everything that was going on around me last year, I wanted to talk everything around me that was negative, and make it a positive. My new year’s resolution was to speak positively and speak it into existence.
The next step for Miss Richards...
I wanna have at least twenty songs written on different albums, I would like to have a couple Grammy awards, I would like to start going into acting after my music career is where it needs to be, I would love to travel all over the world performing songs that people wanna hear. Most of all, I wanna be happy in this. I wanna fulfil my dreams, I wanna be an icon, I wanna be able to change the game!
I would LOVE to work with Bjork, Sugababes, Adele, Brandy and John Mayer. And when it comes to my secret passion for acting, working with Forest Whittikar and Edward Norton would be my dreams.
© Simone Byer, 2009
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