From the SOBO Magazine Files: Nona Hendryx: Chameleon
I was a die-hard MTV kid in the early 80s. It was all about coming home from school, doing my homework, and turning on Music Television where I would sit for hours and soak up videos by artists such as Billy Joel, Billy Squier, The Pretenders, Saga, and Supertramp just to name a few. I loved the music but even at that young age I was perplexed because I’m listening to all this rock music and I love it, mind you. Still, it bothered me that I never saw anyone who looked like me rocking a guitar or banging on a drum kit. About a year later, I finally got a sense of relief when I saw Prince’s “1999” video and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” but for some reason, I wanted more. Of all places, I found it on Solid Gold.
I had to have been no more than 9-years-old and by then, my musical knowledge of entertainers could probably rival that of Casey Kasem. I’m flipping channels one day and I land upon Solid Gold. There’s Marilyn McCoo and the lovely Darcel dancing up a storm and a few moments later, I see an entertainer who would change my outlook on the way I related to music. Her name was Nona Hendryx and she blew me away from the moment she stepped foot on the Solid Gold stage. She was singing “Going Through the Motions (I Sweat)” and as I watched Nona work her magic, I was literally changed as a person. This was rock and roll. Not to mention, finally I could see someone rocking out on TV and the person looked like me. I became a fan instantly of Nona’s music and whenever I heard her work, I was stopped in my tracks as if I was commanded by a deity to submit.
As I got older, I got even deeper into rock music. While everyone was Licensed to Ill and proclaimed to be Bigger and Deffer, I was picking apart Sign O’ the Times and waiting for the debut album by this new group by the name of Living Colour. At school I was the oddball because of my musical tastes but I didn’t care. My buddy Gaylord told me that it was cool to be black and listen to rock music “because it belongs to us, Chris.” It was so cool to listen to Guns N’ Roses and it was an even bigger trip to find out that Slash was black. And then there was Nona. It was all about “Rock This House” and “Why Should I Cry” that had me throwing up my devil horns and driving my Pops crazy because I was jamming my music at high decibels. Nona Hendryx was the one who let it be known that it was cool to dig rock and that it was alright to be different. In a sense, seeing her on Solid Gold was life-altering for me. I have been an admirer of Nona Hendryx ever since.
When Georgette and I started SOBO Magazine, we had the idea to do a special “Rock Goddess” issue. We put our heads together and came up with a list of names of the sisters we wanted to highlight. It was then that I knew if we were going to do an issue dedicated to black female rockers I had to have The Queen. I had to feature Nona Hendryx. I had no idea how I was going to do it or if Nona would even be up for talking to someone who hadn’t really proven himself as a journalist yet but I figured it was worth a try.
Talk about perseverance! I can’t tell you how many times in the course of a two week span I reached out to Nona’s people! Looking back, I believe I called everyday until finally someone told me “Okay… you got your interview!” I couldn’t believe that I was going to get the chance to talk to one of my musical idols. The night before the interview was like Christmas: I was that excited! When it was time, I recall my heart beating so loudly in my chest that I was hoping it wouldn’t be so obvious that I was nervous. I called the number that I was given and after two rings, the voice picked up on the other end and there she was: Nona Hendryx. She had the speaking voice of an angel and the coolness of a true rock star. I felt like I was talking to a master as she shared her story and I sat there and soaked up all the knowledge that she gave me. The highlight of the conversation was me telling her about that little boy who watched her on Solid Gold and how much it changed his life. To this day, talking to Nona Hendryx remains one of my fondest memories and one of my favorite interviews.
Here in it’s entirety is my interview with Nona Hendryx from SOBO Magazine’s “Rock Goddess” issue of Fall, 2006.
Nona Hendryx: Chameleon
by Christopher Whaley
According to Webster’s dictionary, one of the definitions of a chameleon is an adaptable person. Judging by the body of work she has accumulated over the past four decades, this designation fits Nona Hendryx like a hand in glove. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist with a musical range from soul, funk, dance, and R & B to hard rock, art rock and new age. She is also one third of the 1970’s powerhouse Labelle, who had a major hit with “Lady Marmalade.” With their glam rock/space age diva persona, Labelle created a sound and look that was unheard of for a black, all-female crew. It was Hendryx who embraced the concept wholeheartedly and eventually became the primary songwriter for the group.
In 1976, the group went their separate ways and Hendryx embarked on a solo career. The following year saw the release of her debut project that signaled the beginning of one of the most progressive careers in black music. It was difficult to pigeonhole Hendryx who began to make a name for herself with hit after eclectic hit. Nevertheless, as her career advanced, she would deal with issues such as racism and sexism from a music industry inconsiderate of a black woman marching to the beat of her own drum. A defining moment for Hendryx was a 1985 duet with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for the song “Rock This House” which was nominated for a Grammy.
Hendryx has worked on a number of projects with collaborators such as Peter Gabriel, Prince, the Talking Heads, and Afrika Bambaataa. A member of the Black Rock Coalition, she continues to tour and has appeared as herself on the third season of The L Word along with her good friend Pam Grier singing a cover of her classic track “Transformation.”
Nona Hendryx is definitely an icon in the world of Black rock. It is truly an honorto feature this exclusive interview with her in SOBO! Ladies and gentlemen - Nona Hendryx!
Nona, can you tell the readers of SOBO how you got your start in the music business? Purely by accident, or by fate. Sarah Dash was in a group in New Jersey and we were both from Trenton, New Jersey. She asked me if I wanted to join this group because one of the people was leaving and they needed another person. That’s actually how it started; not something I wanted to do or looking to do, but was asked about exploring or trying or seeing if I wanted to do it and I did. That’s where it began.
Cool! You were part of the quartet Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells and you ladies were part of the girl group era of the 1960’s. What are some of your fondest memories of that era that you can recall? I guess it was the first major event that we did and that was going on American Bandstand. It was a big moment because it was something I watched on television after school. It was pretty big to be on that show as opposed to watching other people. The other thing was playing the Apollo Theatre for the first time, which was a major milestone in my career. That was one of the big things to do was play the Apollo Theatre.
That’s amazing, Nona. So what inspired the group to go into the glam rock, space age diva-type direction as Labelle? We had been together for eight years as Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells and we had gone to Europe and we met Vicki Wickham there because she was producing a television show called Ready Steady Go which was the seminal music show there like Shindig or Hullabaloo was here. Vicki was very into bringing a lot of the Motown artists and African-American or black artists over to England at that time. Vicki stayed in contact with Patti and in 1968, she got Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert who managed the Who and had a label that Jimi Hendrix was on called Track Records. She convinced them to sign us and she started managing us and that’s when we went to England, went through the transformation, and came back out as Labelle.
Did you ladies have any idea that “Lady Marmalade” would be so controversial at the time? No, not at all. We just thought it was a fun song with a great chorus. We were going to New Orleans and it seemed appropriate to record a song about a lady of the evening in New Orleans. We didn’t know that it was going to be as big as it was. We didn’t know as many religious groups would be against this particular song.
It’s funny because they really came down on you ladies and some 30 years later, it’s a classic. However, that’s music history because “Lady Marmalade” is a very powerful song. It’s a great song. It’s one of those classics!
The song “A Man In A Trench Coat (Voodoo)” from the Chameleon LP was one of your compositions in which you sang lead for the first time on an album. How did you feel singing on a song that you created? I had been singing lead on different things and most singers don’t like their own voice or don’t like certain things about their own voice. Because I wasn’t the lead singer of the group, there was a certain amount of fear. For that particular song my voice fit for what I was saying and it gave Patti space to lift off to another place when she came in. It was a great experience.
That song was so ahead of it’s time. Maybe it had to do with a lot of the stuff that I was listening to at the time. I was very influenced by Jimi Hendrix and “Voodoo Child” and stuff like that.
It appears that Jimi Hendrix was a major influence on you, correct? Oh yeah. I was listening to “Voodoo Child” recently and it’s just as potent today as he did it then.
Your music has always had that rock edge to it. Did you ever find it difficult being a black woman making rock music? And were there any stereotypes that you had to break through at that time? Yes, there were a lot of difficulties. African-Americans, especially in the industry for whatever reason - their own fears, limitations, and racism just didn’t believe in it happening and didn’t really support it. Even some of the people, who worked at the label where I was signed to and responsible for my projects didn’t have faith, didn’t believe and therefore didn’t support, or didn’t do their job. In the white, pop community it had become assumed that rock was white music and that a black female artist doing rock was limited to the boys. As a black woman, this was something that there was not a huge audience for. I don’t think it’s the people, I think it’s the people in the music industry who have these narrow minds and are musically racist. If you’re black then you should be doing R&B or Hip-Hop and if you’re white you can basically do whatever you want to do.
As a kid I watched you on Solid Gold and I thought it was so cool because this was a black woman doing rock music. Then a few years later on MTV, I saw Living Colour for the first time. I just thought how awesome that was because now I could see black folks performing music that I loved so much. It was not easy. My struggle was a musical one.
Nona, how was it to work with Keith Richards and be nominated for a Grammy for “Rock This House?” That was great! You know, I love Keith. He’s always been the same over the years that I’ve known him. Keith is a great guitarist and he has his own sound and his own thing. It was great working with him and I really appreciate him coming and playing on “Rock This House” and being nominated as a result. People in the industry obviously heard the record and gave it that recognition.
You did a video called “I Need Love” and at the time it was controversial because it featured drag queens and MTV removed it. Am I correct? I don’t know if they removed it for that reason. When I did my first video for “Keep It Confidential” they didn’t want to show it because I had on a spandex bodysuit. The next thing I know, they’ve got Van Halen who’s wearing more Spandex than I was! This was before Walter Yetnikoff refused to give them any videos if they didn’t play Michael Jackson. It’s so narrow-minded and you know that it’s a racist excuse.
So what are your thoughts on today’s music scene? Well there’s a lot of bad and then there’s some good. I saw Gnarls Barkley recently and “Crazy” is a great song. I thought their presentation was good and Cee-Lo is a great performer. I like Christina Aguilera who is very talented; there are a lot of talented people. However, I find difficulty because what you don’t get is that variety that makes things interesting. There are some bright spots out there, but I am looking for the next Grace Jones or the Sly Stone of this time.
What inspired you to go into another musical direction with the new age-type project Skin Diver? I had done a lot of music in my life up until that point and I wanted to create without words. I wanted to be able to create feelings with just sound. However, I have the unfortunate habit where lyrics are always coming. I wanted to do something different: I wanted to explore a different place of music. It was an external expression on internal life.
That is to be commended because a lot of artists never step outside of their comfort zone and that was a very bold musical statement. I’m usually not interested in what I did before.
I have to ask this question, Nona. Why is it so difficult to walk into a record store and find a Nona Hendryx CD? They’re out of print and they haven’t reissued them. They’re on major labels and they are only interested in how many hundreds of thousands of CDs you sell. They probably don’t know if they have me in their catalogue! I will correct that by doing my own record and releasing it either on my own label or in partnership with a distributor so I can get my music out there.
Tell me about your involvement in the Black Rock Coalition. I got involved back when Vernon Reid and Living Colour were dealing with their argument with the industry and MTV, before MTV started playing Living Colour. The BRC were really supportive of me, supportive of many artists like myself. It was a way for artists to come together and support each other. It’s really a great thing and today with LaRonda Davis and Darrell McNeill, it’s just good to have an organization that supports artists that wouldn’t normally get support.
You were recently on The L Word with Pam Grier. Is acting something you would like to pursue one day? I really enjoyed doing that show, even though I was playing myself. I had fun because I knew several of the people involved with the show and I’ve known Pam for a long time. It was fun to do for me. And Pam is absolutely adorable.
You’re also involved with Daughters of Soul and you ladies are so powerful together. What was that experience like for you? It has been just a fabulous experience. Working with five, sometimes six women. Sandra St. Victor started this and having Lalah Hathaway, Melini Khan, Nina Simone’s daughter Simone, Gwen McRae’s daughter Leah, and Joyce Kennedy. It’s been great almost like a sorority, a singing woman’s club and we have a great time. It’s wonderful, two hours of music and then we hang out with each other.
Is there any truth to a possible Labelle reunion in the future? Yes, if we can get our schedules coordinated. I spoke to Patti recently and we are working on it. It’s closer than it has been.
How do you feel about being a “rock goddess?” I don’t know. It feels good that people love me in that way and admire me, but it’s not something that occupies my mind as to separate myself from people. I don’t think of myself that way.
You’re just Nona Hendryx. Well I don’t even think of myself as Nona Hendryx. I’m me and that’s the me I was before and the me I’ll be after. I am very grateful for the appreciation and the love that people give me and hopefully I’m capable of giving them music and inspiration for a lifetime.
