|
 Our Valentine to Miss Martha Wash
You may not recognize her name, but you know The Voice. Martha Wash: that powerful soprano with a seemingly endless run of octaves and soul; a big, black, beautiful woman with the voice to match. Gospel-trained and world-traveled, Martha’s been singing professionally since the ’70s. Strip away the world-dominating campiness of C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” and listen to Martha’s vocals, and you hear it all: the power, the range, the sheer joy of music itself. When she builds up to the diva crescendo, wailing, “Music is my life!” it’s one of the truest lyrics ever sung. Martha Wash’s life is music, music that the entire world recognizes and loves. “People know the songs, but they don’t know the name,” she laughs. “But—this is the fun part—when I open my mouth, they say, ‘Oh, her!’”
HER CAREER ENCAPSULATED: As a member of Two Tons of Fun, Martha and Izora Rhodes supported Sylvester on such classics as “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real” and “Dance (Disco Heat).” They went out on their own as The Weather Girls and “It’s Raining Men.” Martha later provided the vocals for such ’90s hits as Seduction’s “You’re My One And Only (True Love)” and a string of era-defining Black Box hits, including “Everybody, Everybody”, “Strike It Up.” She went on to solo success on her own…and under her own name.
WHY WE LOVE HER: Sassy, brassy and with a voice more powerful than Godzilla’s deodorant, Martha’s always been there for the gay audience. She still is today. (“Pride events are always fun to do. June is always the busiest month. [Laughs] Thankfully!” )
MOST POPULAR MARTHA WASH-ERA FOR DRAG QUEENS: “It’s Raining Men.” (“That happens a lot.”)
NUMBER THAT LOOK AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL: “None!”
HOW SHE CHANGED THE WORLD: Post-Milli Vanilli, she filed lawsuits when her unmistakable vocals were attributed to other “more marketable” singers. Her lawsuit spurred legislation making vocal credits mandatory on CDs and music videos, and also nabbed her a recording contract with RCA.
HER SOLO DEBUT: 1993’s Martha Wash, which charted three top ten dance hits, including the number ones “Carry On” and “Give It To You.”
THE MEANING OF MUSIC: “Anybody can do the ‘ooh baby, baby please, baby baby please’ kind of thing. That’s fine for somebody else; not necessarily for me. I want to sing songs that people can be touched by.”
YOUTUBE KEYWORDS: Search for “secret martha wash” to see her most loyal subject.
WHAT’S NEXT? “Getting back out on the road doing these Pride fests. [Laughs] Oh, honey, my suitcases are packed! I’m a working woman!”
MARTHA'S MUSIC MEMORIES
“You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
“It’s the funniest thing—I never cared for it. My number one song was ‘Dance (Disco Heat).' I used to have fun to that song—just thump, thump, thump, thump!”
“It’s Raining Men”
“Who had a clue? We didn’t. We just went in and recorded it and laughed.”
“Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
It was supposed to be a demo for another singer. Guess it was just the combination of the music and my big mouth.”
“I Don’t Know Anybody Else”
“Oh, God. Regarding Black Box and those songs, I was dealing with broken English when I was singing those songs. If you listen to some of it, you can’t quite put some of the sentences together. But, hey, I guess that was part of the Italian sound at that time.” [Laughs]
“Carry On”
“It has helped a lot of people. At a signing, a lady told me about her son, Joey. He was 6 years old and HIV-positive. She said that “Carry On” helped her through dealing with her son. That’s what keeps me going. It lets me know that I’m still doing something right, that I’m doing what I’m meant to be, that I am touching people in some way.”
--
Visit martha-wash.com
|
Instinct Online 
written by Larry Francisco on July 31, 2007
I this is so cool that Martha talks about her songs. YOu guys should have more like this with our favorite artists.