Musicology: An in-depth interview with Morris Mills

   Morris Mills will make a night of beautiful music this Friday.

  He will be celebrating the release of his second album “Beautified” in the next month with a concert at 11 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Hard Rock Cafe, 63 W. Ontario St., Chicago. The cover is $10.   He will play mostly original material, but, he will perform two Prince songs: “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” and “Purple Rain”. The album will be available on internet outlets like Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.com, Mills said.

  “I am singer, I am a songwriter, I'm not a poet, but, I'm a poet in music,” he said. “I'm just a man that loves music.”

  His music spans all genres including rock, pop, soul and blues. He has been compared to artists like Maxwell, Lenny Kravitz, Curtis Mayfield, David Bowie and Prince.  He said that no matter how much people try to put him into a category, everything he does comes from an individual place.

  He has also worked on a cover of  The Smashing Pumpkins song "Disarm" with Matt Fink-- better known as Dr. Fink-- who played keyboards in Prince's band for more than 10 years. Rosie Gaines, a vocalist best known for her work with Prince on his 1991 Diamonds and Pearls album, has also expressed interest in recording one of his songs. In addition, Soulpatrol.com awarded his single “Beautified” best song of 2011 and Rawartists.org nominated him for music artist of the year 2012.

 “I'm going to do something different, I'm going to do something else,” Mills said. “They are going to say that I remind them of Prince, but, not that I sound like Prince.”

Courtesy of Morris Mills

Musical Beginnings

  Mills is a self-taught guitarist and pianist and his love of music goes back to when he was five years old. He was introduced to different types to music at a young age: His mother listened to blues, country and soul records and his dad liked pop, classical and rock music. He cited Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and The Jacksons as early influences, he said.

  “It wasn't white music. It wasn't black music. It was music,” he said.

  He walked around the house singing and performing, imitating The Stylistics, a 1970s soul group, with his siblings and he was writing songs by the time he was in grammar school. His mother was very supportive of her children's musical aspirations – she herself played the trombone in high school. She bought his older brother a guitar and allowed him to build a studio in the basement of their Broadview, Ill. home, where he and his brother recorded on four-track, and later, eight-track tapes.

  “(My brother) would wake me up in wee hours of the morning to sing the vocals on songs,” he said. “We would spend all day in the basement.”

  The first time Mills heard Prince was when his older brother, who was in college at the time, brought home the album “For You” in 1978. His brother told him to “listen to this guy that sounds like you.” Before that, he had been listening to singers like Stevie Wonder, Eddie Kendricks and Curtis Mayfield and imitating them in his recordings, but, from the moment he heard that album, Prince also became a major musical influence, Mills said.

  Prince and the Minneapolis sound were very popular by the time Mills went to Proviso East High School. He remembers there were many neighborhood bands forming that paid homage to the artist and the biggest showcase was the high school talent show. He got his band together and auditioned for the talent show his sophomore year.  They performed "D.M.S.R." (Dance Music Sex Romance), from Prince's "1999" album at the audition, but, were kicked out because of the song's suggestive lyrics. The experience was devastating, especially after he saw other local bands flourish after the talent show, he said.
   "I would watch the bands and I would fantasize about being onstage," Mills said.

  Not long after the audition, he moved to Lawton, Oklahoma to stay with a relative, because he was experiencing some family problems, and there honed his craft by performing at a high school on an local army base. By the time he came back to his old high school in Illinois for his senior year, he easily passed the talent show audition.

Courtesy of Morris Mills

Mississippi Bound

  After high school, he did some touring, however, his musical dreams were put on hold after he became a husband and father. Yet, he had never stopped writing and recording music and he was also sending out demos and performing sporadically, Mills said.
  While married, he was studying to be a minister and after he got divorced in the early 1990s, he accepted a job as an assistant minister in Jackson, Mississippi. However, the situation was not permanent, he said.
  “I kind of made it up in my mind that I wouldn't do that (ministry) again,” Mills said.

   The move to Mississippi turned out to be a life-changing event, but not right away. During the time he was working at the church, he was introduced to Vasti Jackson, who became a very important musical mentor.    However, after the ministry job ended, he did go back to Illinois where he worked in “corporate America” for about a year. Mills later returned to Mississippi to pursue his music at Jackson's behest, he said.

  Jackson, was well known for his writing work with artists Tyrone Davis, Johnnie Taylor and Buddy Guy. He took Mills under his wing, introducing him to blues music and local musicians. Mills also became involved in the neo-soul music and spoken word scenes in Jackson and surrounding cities. He added that Jackson was also instrumental in getting him away from relying heavily on computers while recording: one day Jackson put him in a room with a piano and tape recorder and told him to learn “Ooh, Baby, Baby” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

  In addition, Mills was staying in a home he rented from Jackson that had its own recording studio. Jackson was working with blues artist Bobby Rush on an album there that ended up being nominated for a Grammy award.

   Mills later put his own band together and opened for artists like Brian McKnight and Jon B. when they did concerts in the Mississippi.

  “(Jackson) taught me how to be a real musician,” he said.

Courtesy of Morris Mills

The Road to Success

  Mills later moved back to Chicago, put a band together and started touring the city regularly.

He released his first album, "Love and Coffee" in 2005, which actually supposed to be the soundtrack for an independent movie he was making with William Pierce that was never completed. He has worked on other films, including My Phamily Barbeque and seven other movies. His most recently completed film "Ran$om Gains" starred Elise Neal, best known for her work on the TV comedy The Hughleys and Wood Harris, who starred as Avon Barksdale on HBO's The Wire

  Two songs from that album garnered him major attention: Radio Personality Terry Bello, Senior Executive Producer of the International Soul Summit, which takes place yearly in Atlanta, heard his music on MySpace.com and took an interest in him as an artist.He included Mills' song, "Steppin' Out Tonight," on the Heineken Soul Star Series, a compilation CD that included  well-known artists like Angie Stone, Rashaan Patterson and Anthony David, among others. The CD received international attention and helped really push his career, he said.

  He said that the song “Hello,” which was co-written and produced by Jackson from the album "Love and Coffee" also brought him attention around 2009. It caught the ear of Stephanie Levine, owner of Lovebrand Records, who got in contact with him and flew him out to New York for his first music video, directed by David Watson. She also heavily promoted the song on the East Coast and internationally. He worked with her company for two years.

   Interscope Records also digitally released “Beautified” as a single in 2011, he said.

  He said with his newest album, however, he wanted to move toward featuring a more rock feel, but, he was worried about what some fans of his first album might think.

  “I was afraid I was going to lose my soul base, but, at the same time, I wanted to be true to myself,” Mills said.

  He said some of the artists he would like to work with in the future include British Singer Lianne Las Havas, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and, of course, Prince. He is also looking forward to touring in Budapest in 2013 and expanding his fan base there. He has also had an offer to tour with Lee Fields and the Expressions. He also is working on another movie, "Soul," which should begin filming this summer.

  “What is me is that category you can't put me in,” he said. “That feel, that fun, that electricity.”

Check out Morris Mills' music at Reverbnation.com/morrismills and soundcloud.com/morris-mills.


Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Morris Mills.

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Party Like it's 1999: Beautiful Nights meets Purple Funk SF

  

  Marcus Scott, of the Beautiful Nights Facebook page and fan parties, will bring some Chicago flavor to the San Francisco Bay Area this New Year's Eve.

  Purple Funk SF, a group dedicated to celebrating Prince's music, will present an end-of-the-year bash, "1999 New Year's Eve Dance Party" at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 at Rassela's Jazz Club, 1534 Fillmore St., San Francisco. The cost is $19.99 and the night's theme will be 1999, in honor of Prince's 1982 breakthrough album. The event will be hosted by DJ Miguel "Hightop" Fonseca.

  Special guests include Scott, who is traveling from the Midwest and Jeff Harris, a local DJ best known for his work with the Prince vs. Michael Jackson parties. The party will feature mainstream, as well as unreleased, songs, music videos and a special performance by Scott. Christophur T will oversee art direction and Evol Knight will be the event photographer.

  “It will be a beautiful purple funky night,” said Christophur T, of Purple Funk SF.

 Courtesy of Willie Adams, aka DJ Spooky Electric

  The group consists of Fonseca, Christophur T, Willie Adams, aka DJ Spooky Electric, Evol Knight and Monya K. The idea was born after Prince made a stop in Oakland for the Welcome 2 America Tour in 2011. Not long after, Fonseca approached Adams about reviving all-Prince parties in the Bay Area, in the spirit of now defunct Prince fan groups like the Dream Factory and Bay NPG (New Power Generation), Adams said.

  Adams then tapped Christophur T to come on board, since the two had collaborated in the past to throw Prince parties in the Bay Area, the last one being held in 2008. The Purple Funk SF group held their first party in June 2012, which featured a live Prince tribute by The Scoundrels.

  “There (are) a lot of Prince groups all over the world,” Adams said. “But, we wanted to distinguish ourselves and represent the Bay (Area) and give it that Bay (Area) flavor.”

Adams and Christophur T both met Scott when he traveled to California in June 2008 to attend one of their parties in Berkeley. Christophur T said that he had mistaken Scott for another well-known Prince fan Sir Jack based in Santa Cruz, Calif. and greeted him as such before realizing his mistake. However, the two connected that night and have periodically kept in touch, via Facebook and by telephone.

Courtesy of Christophur T

  Adams recalled another meeting, also in 2008, when Scott attended a party where he was the DJ in San Jose. He said that after he was done playing, Scott told him he liked his style and gave him a copy of “21 Nights,” a coffee table book featuring Prince, that had just been released at the time. He said he was “blown away” by the gesture and never forgot it. He has not seen Scott since that last meeting, but, they have also kept in touch since then.

  When Scott started Beautiful Nights, he reached out to members of Purple Funk SF and they in turn, invited him to collaborate with them on their New Year's Eve party. They have been in talks since the Beautiful Nights team was planning their first party, which took place in November 2012, and featured Maya and Nandy McClean, better known as The Twinz, who have worked extensively with Prince, Adams said.

  “It just made sense for us to come out to support each other,” he said. “It was really just out of a spirit of collaboration and appreciation for the music and the culture.”

  Scott said he is looking forward to visiting the Bay Area again for the first time in more than three years, performing at the party and meeting new people. He said he hopes this party will bring the focus back to Prince's music and uniting fans from all walks of life.

  “We need to set an example for the new generation of Prince fans,” Scott said. “If everybody just supports each other, we could have the ultimate Prince party.”

  Adams said he wanted fans to know that this will be a one-of-a-kind event and anybody into the “purple culture,” will not want to miss it.

  “Get ready a for a night that you will never, never forget,” he said. “If you're a Prince fan, this is the place you want to be.”

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Purple Funk SF.

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$: An Interview with L'Quita Sanders

  This is Part III in a four-part series of interviews with the Beautiful Nights creative team:

  Meet the singing accountant behind Beautiful Nights.

  L'Quita Sanders, along with Marcus Scott, Bemaji Tillman and Alexis Wofford are part of the creative team for the Beautiful Nights Facebook page and parties, dedicated to Prince and associated acts.

  They started the page in October 2012 and it now has more than 800 members. They also threw their first party Nov. 24 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Chicago. It was hosted by The Twinz, Maya and Nandy McClean, singers/dancers/choreographers who have worked extensively with Prince and featured DJ Maurice Ice Culpepper.

  The turnout was between 150 to 250 people, Wofford said.

  Sanders has worked in accounting for 14 years and is currently studying to take the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. She is also an original member of Tillman's band House of Twang and has also worked on songwriting and her own solo recording for last several years.

  “I was an accountant by day and a singer by night,” she said. “I'm not as boring as most accountants.”

  Sanders said she has been a Prince fan since her mom took her to the movies to see Purple Rain in 1984. But, her earliest memories of Prince are of her mother and father singing the song Controversy, which was released three years earlier.

  However, she did not get a chance to see Prince live until the Musicology tour in 2004.

  “(My mother) wouldn't take me to his concerts. She said he was too wild,” she said.

  Sanders recently did a telephone interview with “Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s,” where she discussed her favorite parts of the Beautiful Nights experience, her need for perfection and making the group's parties “international”:

Courtesy of  L'Quita Sanders

?: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background? How did you become involved with Beautiful Nights?

  LS: I have been a member of House of Twang for 10 years, in the very first band...and I have been and out of the studio recording solo projects in between that time. I have always been helping out (Tillman) with songwriting... (Tillman) said 'I want you to come and help (Beautiful Nights) with some numbers.' He said 'Oh my God, you're great with numbers, you're a keeper.' I also negotiate the contracts...

  ?: What area of expertise do you bring to Beautiful Nights?

LS: Besides numbers, I bring the gift of negotiating and writing proposals. I am what they call the brains behind the business. I give the yes or no...

  ?: What has been your favorite part of this experience so far?

LS: I am loving reaching out to the different artists. Marcus has the gift of gab. Marcus will initiate the conversation and I will be the one to seal the deal, I love that. Meeting new people is exciting also.

Courtesy of L'Quita Sanders

  ?: What would you improve about the next party? Why?

  LS: We have to be more organized, the first event, while I was a little chaotic, came off pretty well. We want to make sure the artists are okay. We want to make sure the party goers are okay. We want to make sure everyone is taken care of. We don't want any room for error. I feel like Morris Day: we want perfection!
  ?: Which protegee would you like see host the next Beautiful Nights party?

  LS: Who don't I want to see, that's the better question. I would say out of all the protegees I love Rosie Gaines...She is definitely my favorite. I can hit all her notes. I love being able to sing along with people. When you can sing along and hit the notes you can say, "yeah, she's the one."
  ?: What has been some of the fan reaction so to the Beautiful Nights so far? What has been some of the criticism?

  LS: The only criticism we're receiving about the first party was that another event (ran into the Beautiful Nights party). We want to make sure there are no other events before ours...it takes a while to set up Beautiful Nights. I'm grateful for the people who stuck it out with us. That shows that not only does Prince have true fans, we do too.

  I didn't see this page spiraling like it has. Rosie Gaines is on our page. Jill Jones (is on the page). We're giving our fans the chance to connect with the protegees and I am sure they are appreciating it just as much as we are.

  I was on the phone with the ladies from Australia getting details for a Beautiful Nights Australia. We might have to drop the Beautiful Nights Chicago, because, we're international now!

  ?: What is the most unique item of Prince memorabilia you own or have owned in the past?

LS: I actually attended my first Prince concert, I think it was 2004, It was the Musicology Tour...I ended up going and I got one of the Musicology shirts and I have that, as well as my tour book...

  ?: What would you like to happen with Beautiful Nights in the next year?

LS: I ultimately would love to have Prince attend one of our Beautiful Nights (parties). We would like to have all the protegees come through with Prince being the icing on the cake.

  ?: What is your personal message for the Beautiful Nights fans?

LS: Let's continue to lift up the purple one and let's continue to unite. I think it's great that he's been able to bring us together from around the world to appreciate the music he's given us.

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of L'Quita Sanders

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For You: An Interview with Alexis Wofford

This is Part II of a four-part series featuring the Beautiful Nights creative team:

  Alexis Wofford wants Beautiful Nights members to know that everything the group does is for the fans.

   Wofford, of Chicago, is a part of the team behind the Facebook page and parties, dedicated to Prince and associated acts, along with Marcus Scott, Bemaji Tillman and L'Quita Sanders, all of Chicago.

  The group held their first party Nov. 24 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center in Chicago. The event, hosted by The Twinz, Maya and Nandy McClean, also featured DJ Maurice Ice Culpepper, and had a turnout of between 150 to 200 people.

  “It was a very nice turnout, it was a revolving turnout,” Wofford said. “If there were people who came early and left, someone (else) was coming in.”

  Wofford, who is in her early 30s, is executive producer of “Stats and Stilettos,” a sports-radio show that airs Sunday nights on WVON 1690 AM. The show focuses on showing sports from the point of view of both sexes and targets a younger demographic. The show celebrated its one- year anniversary in November of this year.

  Her first on-air interview was when she interviewed The Twinz about two weeks ago to promote the Beautiful Nights party.

  “What a way to crack a mike,” she said.

  During a recent telephone interview with “Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s,” she discussed the moment she fell in love with Prince, her feelings on the fan response to Beautiful Nights and bringing the party to a city near you.

Courtesy of Alexis Wofford

 ?: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background. How long have you been a Prince fan? How did you get involved with Beautiful Nights?

  AW: [I] graduated from the Illinois Center for Broadcast last November... I have a love for entertainment and arts and radio and music overall. Music is a passion of mine. (Scott) is a good friend of mine. We met about a year and a half ago and we just clicked. He sent me a text message about a meeting at his house...  When I got to his house, he and (Tillman) were there. When he said 'Prince,' I was on board. They said 'we want to give back to the fans and reach out to the protegees.' It was an honor for Marcus to (ask me to) come aboard...

  I was probably six when I started to like Prince. My mom used to play music on the record (player) all the time...On the weekends she would play Lady Cab Driver and Controversy. One day I picked up the 1999 album and looked at the insert (with Prince lying across a bed with a sheet pulled up halfway across his body) and thought 'oh my God, this man is beautiful' and this is at six (years old)!. Instantly I knew what type of man I was going to like...

  My mom would take me to Loop records in Downtown Chicago and I would buy a 45 every Saturday. The very first Prince record I bought was When Doves Cry with 17 days as the B-side... and I knew this going to my favorite artist for life.

  

Courtesy of Alexis Wofford

?: What area of expertise do you bring to the parties?

  AW: The creativity. I also keep people calm. I work in that area to where if there are any loose ends, I tie them all up... I make sure all those ideas are perfected. Also, I work along with [Sanders], making sure the numbers are done... I make sure I figure in the most accurate information...

  ?: What has been your favorite part of this experience so far?

  AW: The planning is definitely the fun part and seeing the ideas we have come to pass. [Also], meeting and greeting all the people...But, seeing everything we put the effort into coming to life is what satisfies me the most.
?: What would you like to see improve about the next party? 

  AW: Just time management, so that we can ensure that everything is summed up and punctual... I like for everything to run on a schedule.

  ?: What has been some of the reaction you have received so far about the Beautiful Nights party and the Facebook page? What has been some of the criticism?
 AW: I'm amazed (at) the reception that we're getting, being a new [Facebook] page. Sometimes, people don't know who are you are (and) people don't respect what you're trying to do as a group. It's been overwhelming, (but), people (are) accepting us into the Prince group... To be honest, I haven't heard any criticism. Beautiful Nights is going to tell you exactly who they are (and) they are bringing (the protegees) to you. The people from Prince's camp are on that page, too. There is nothing more that Beautiful Nights can ask for. We can only go up from there. I will not ever miss my 'Cirque du Soleil moment'. But, the fact that they (Tillman and Scott) both wanted me to be apart of it means a lot. The group that I work with, I'm thankful for.

  ?: Who would you like to see host a future party? Why?

  AW: Prince. That's self explanatory. That is the status I want to get to. The reason we're throwing this party is because of this man...the reason I fell in love at six. Even if he doesn't talk to anybody at the party, even if he just waved...We would know that we put our stamp on the hearts of our fans, but, also, on the man we're trying to honor.

Courtesy of Alexis Wofford

  ?: You can tell a lot about a Prince fan by who their favorite protegee is. Who is yours and why?

  AW: Sheila E. is my favorite protegee. She's talented all around. She plays an instrument (and) she can captivate an audience...even if she doesn't sing. She is bad.

  ?: What is the most unique piece of Prince Memoribilia you own or have owned in the past?

  AW: A couple things, actually. When I went to the Musicology concert (in 2004), I actually bought a Prince teddy bear (with a Prince t-shirt)...(Also), I have a symbol necklace I found on eBay. (It is) a gold necklace, with Swarovski crystals with teardrop diamonds and matching earrings. I found one of the crescent earrings that (Prince) wears and I wore it to the Beautiful Nights party. If you come to my house, on my coffee table...there is a spiral notebook, that actually has the Prince cover on the front. It has to be special, whatever I write in there...

  ?: What would you like to see happen with Beautiful Nights in the next year?

  AW: I would love to take this show on the road...offer Beautiful Nights to different cities... [T]o where [the group becomes] a charitable organization that gives back... [I] would love to be able to incorporate this into the community, not just (give back to) the fans and the protegees, but, the people who need help. You see a lot of promoters who are out here for personal gain, but I want to separate Beautiful Nights from that.

  ?: What is your personal message for Beautiful Nights fans?

  AW: Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the support for the love you've show Beautiful Nights... We'll do our best to make sure that each beautiful night is more beautiful than the last...

Check out Stats and Stilettos on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StatsandStilettos, on Twitter at (@StatsStilettos) or at www.blogtalkradio.com/statsandstilettos.

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Alexis Wofford.

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Much 2 Hot 2 B Cool: K Nicola Talks 2 The Twinz

   It takes two to make “A Beautiful Night.”

  The team behind the Beautiful Nights Facebook group, a page dedicated to Prince and associated artists, have tapped Singers/Dancers/Choreographers Maya and Nandy McClean, better known as The Twinz, to be special guests at the group's kick-off Prince party, “A Beautiful Night,” at 10 p.m. Nov. 24 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. King Dr., in Chicago. The two will host, meet and greet with the fans and sign autographs. The party is being thrown by Marcus Scott, Bemaji Tillman, Alexis Wofford and L'Quita Sanders, all of Chicago. The event will also feature DJ Maurice Ice Culpepper.

  “We got connected (with Beautiful Nights) and we thought it would be a cool, fun event,” Maya said. “We're definitely looking forward to mingling with the fans.”

  The pair is best known for working with Prince since 2005. They performed with him during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLI in 2007,  did a six-month residency at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas starting in 2006,  there was a historic 21-night run at the O2 Arena in London and were featured in 21 Nights, a coffee-table book released in conjunction with the London concerts. They were also featured with the artist on American Idol, Saturday Night Live, the videos for his singles “Fury,” “Guitar” and “Chelsea Rodgers” and a Verizon Wireless TV commercial, according to a press release.

  “It was a big chain of events,” Nandy said. “It just started working one right after the other.”

Maya McClean, courtesy of Coastal Connection Group

  They have also worked with Chris Brown, Rihanna and LeToya Luckett. For the last two years they have fronted the urban pop-rock band Heroine December-- the group name being a combination of a suggestion from Prince, who noted the word “heroine” in one of their songs and the fact that the band was formed in the month of December. The group released the promotional single “Weekend,” in April 2011, which is available on iTunes and they working on a currently untitled album, which will be released in early 2013.

  They also teamed up again with Prince more recently in 2011 for his 21-night stand at The Forum in Los Angeles and the Welcome 2 Australia tour earlier this year, according to The Twinz' Facebook page.

  Before The Twinz hit U.S. soil they were well known in their native Australia. They both auditioned for Season 2 of Austrailan Idol, in 2004: Maya made the Top 30; Nandy did not. They created a sensation when Maya withdrew from the show to continue pursuing a career as a duo with her sister. They continued to work in Australia doing commercials, theater, fashion shows and movies, appearing in Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan MacGregor, according to the Prince Vault Web site.

  The next year, they relocated to Los Angeles to further their careers and quickly found the break they were looking for. Their third audition was for backup dancers in a music video in a revue reminiscent of Ike and Tina Turner, featuring Tamar, an artist Prince was working with at the time.

  Nandy said they later heard that when Prince saw the audition tape, he saw one of The Twinz dancing and said “she moves in an interesting way.” Then the camera panned out and he saw that the dancer had an identical twin who moved the same way and that's when he made his decision.

  The music video eventually fell through, but, Prince tapped Maya and Nandy to back up Tamar on her tour, which he eventually ended up joining himself after Tamar's original guitar player dropped out. This was after being in America for a little more than six weeks and they said things took off from there.

Nandy McClean, courtesy of Coastal Connection Group

  They said they have two moments they consider career highlights: performing for their childhood idol Michael Jackson in Las Vegas and performing with Prince at the Super Bowl. Maya described the moment when she was waiting to begin the halftime performance and was in a position looking up at the sky. The sky was changing as it began to rain and there was a moment of reflection. She said it was a “really peaceful gratitude moment”.

  “The Super Bowl, that was amazing,” she said. “Especially when it started raining. That was a whole different ball game – literally.”

  On the night Jackson attended one of the 3121 shows at the Rio Hotel, they said their hairdresser did not tell them that Michael was there until after she finished their hair, because she did not want them to “bolt from their chairs” before she was done.

  The first chance they got, Maya said, the two checked the set list and saw that they did not have to go on stage until the third song, which gave them nine minutes to talk to their idol. The girls found him backstage and talked with him for as long as they could before they had to go to their places.
  However, this was not the first time they met Jackson: He came to Sydney with the HIStory Tour when The Twinz were 16 years old. They ended up visiting his hotel room for three hours and were able to speak with the artist and a chorus of children who accompanied him when he sang “Heal the World” onstage. They later auditioned as backup dancers on the ill-fated “This is It” tour in 2009, but were not chosen. She said they were both very emotional when they heard he passed away later that year.

  “He was beautiful, really generous,” she said.

  They cited Mariah Carey as a another professional influence and said their favorite associated Prince acts are Sheila E. and Andy Allo, respectively. But, there is only person who they said inspired them from the very beginning, their mother Maureen Gwendolyn Moseley, who passed away in early 2012.

  “She had a huge heart,” Nandy said. She was a symbol of unconditional love. Just her energy... she was always happy.”

 The Twinz were born in a remote area of Northern Australia to Hughes, who did charity work with underprivileged children, and Bruce McClean, a musician from Trinidad. They had an interest in the arts from an early age. They would learn the choreography from music videos and perform the routines in their bedrooms. They later moved to Sydney and studied singing, acting and dancing at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium of Arts and Brent Street, a performing arts school, according to a press release.

  Nandy said that in their private lives they are both pretty outspoken and really honest. The two declined to give their ages and said jokingly that they were “as old as they looked”. They added that they do not drink or smoke and they are committed to being healthy. They are at a point in their lives where they are more self aware and conscious and try to encourage others to feel the same.

  “You're as old as you feel,” Nandy said.

  In the next year The Twinz want to release an album, books shows-- especially one at the world famous Roxy nightclub in Los Angeles--, start their own entertainment company and work on getting a record deal. They are also very interested in using their talents for humanitarian efforts and donating to charity. Some artists they said they would like to work with include India.Arie, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and, of course, Prince.

  They said they are really looking forward to seeing one thing in particular Saturday: impersonators. They said they have heard about a "Prince impersonator" (Scott, who will be performing that night) and are particularly looking forward to seeing their own “impersonators,” another pair of twins who they discovered while looking through the Beautiful Nights Facebook page in a picture with Scott,  where the three re-created a famous shot of the The Twinz and Prince looking at their reflections in the mirror.

  “I definitely want to connect with them,” Maya said.

  She also had a personal message for all the fans of the Beautiful Nights page:

“We'd love to give them a shout out, give our love to them, tell them to get dressed up and look fly. We look forward to meeting as many people (as possible).”

For more information about The Twinz and Heroine December visit facebook.com/heroinedecember, heroinedecember.com and twitter.com/thetwinz.

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Coastal Connection Group.

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U Got the Look: An Interview With Mr. Marcus Scott

This is Part I in a four-part series of interviews with the Beautiful Nights Creative Team:

  Beautiful Nights fans can now meet the man behind the “face” of the group's Facebook page.

  That's how Marcus Scott, 35, of Chicago, refers to his position on the creative team responsible for “A Beautiful Night,” the group's inaugural Prince party being held from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Nov. 24 at the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4107 S. King Dr., in Chicago, that will feature DJ Maurice Ice Culpepper and Dancers/Singers Maya and Nandy McClean, better known as the Twinz, as special guests.

  The foursome launched their Facebook fan page last month –which has now has more than 700 members-- and includes Bemaji Tillman, Alexis Wofford and LaQuita Sanders, all of Chicago.

  Scott, who has a background in sales, said that the team designated him the “face,” or official spokesperson of the group, because he has facial profile, which, to many is remarkably similar to Prince's, that people respond to, in person and on his frequent Facebook posts.

  He said he has been an avid Prince fan since 1992, when, as a teenager, he heard the Symbol album for the first time (although he cited Sign o' the Times as his favorite album) and the first concert he attended was at the United Center in Chicago and he “hasn't missed a beat since,” traveling across the United States and abroad --including Montreal, Brussels and London-- to see the legend in concert.

  In the ensuing years, he has become a major fixture in the Prince Community, including being a regular attendee at the now defunct Sunday-night Prince parties at Berlin nightclub in Chicago and briefly taking over as the party promoter after the original promoter left) and is familiar to Prince fans from around the world.

Scott agreed to a telephone interview for the launch of “Dyes Got the Answers 2 Ur ?s,” where he discussed his favorite associated Prince act, meeting other Prince fans and how “A Beautiful Night” came to be:

  ?: How did you become involved with “ A Beautiful Night”?

  MS: When Prince came to Chicago [for a three-night residency at the United Center that started Sept. 24] and I threw a house party and everybody came from all over including Tuna from Tokyo. I'm very popular and I appreciate the fact that people show me so much love. It was flooded with people.

  There is nothing like a good Prince party, but, there's nothing like a good Prince house party... Plastic cups and everything. I always said I would rather go to a Prince party than throw a Prince party, because the better time people are having, the more work on the person throwing the party...

  I said if I throw a Prince party, it has to be different than any other party. (Tillman) said it was a nice touch to have Robin Power [a former Prince protegee who co-starred in the 1990 film Graffitti Bridge with Prince who attended Scott's September party].

(Tillman) approached me about having (regular) Prince parties, he brought in (Sanders) and I brought in (Wofford).

  I wanted the first party to be New Year's Eve with Sheila E., (Tillman) wanted it to be with Tamar [a singer who was featured prominently on Prince's album 3121 and who also recorded an unreleased solo album produced by Prince, both in 2006] Thanksgiving weekend.

  Tamar fell through and luckily the Twinz jumped on board real fast. I wanted somebody currently working with Prince, that would be a good look. Things (are) going very fast. I know it's going to be a bumpy ride, so I'm wearing two seat belts! (Laughing)

  We're not going to have it every month, because I don't want people to get burnt out.

The [Harold Washington] cultural center is like our Paisley Park in Chicago. It's for the community...and it's for the arts.

  We wanted to touch on people that have been apart of [Prince's] life, it's all about Prince, but, we kind of want to branch out. Once we have the party and people start posting pictures I think the page will take off.

  Beautiful Nights is incorporated. It will be a business. I'm the talker, I'm the salesperson. I've been in sales for 8 years, once I talk to you, I got you. Some people want to see what you're working with and you have to kind of show them...So, each party... is going to pay for itself. We're not really taking a profit. The price is going to fluctuate depending on whether the protegee is a special guest or they're performing."

  ?: What will make “A Beautiful Night” unique compared to other Prince parties you've been to in the past?

  MS: [B]ringing in the protegees and the live band at the end [Tillman's band, House of Twang, will hold a live jam session toward the end of the party]. This is going to be cool, because some of the protegees are musicians, who's to say that they won't sit in with the band? I think Mr. Man, Mr. (Prince) Nelson, is going to like that. (Tillman) had albums out, he used to record. I actually did background vocals on some of his albums.

  ?: What area of expertise will do you bring to the Beautiful Nights team?

  MS: I'm the face of the party, I'm the people pleaser (laughing), Mr. Excitement. I don't want to use (the word) mascot. I'm the one that finds the protegees because I've met them over the years and they trip out how much I look like the person they used to work for.

  ?: What would you say about detractors who may accuse you of using your resemblance to Prince to push the Beautiful Nights parties?

  MS: I look the way I look and I like Prince. I'm not using anything. I think it's a good gimmick, but, that's not the reason why (I'm doing this). If it's something you enjoy doing and people love it, let's go with the love. It's more (other) people that be tripping than I do. It's them, it's not me.

  ?: You can tell a lot about a Prince fan by who their favorite protegee/associated act is, who is yours and why?

  MS: "I would have to say The Time, because they are very consistent. Even with trying to get the original band together and going to The Original 7ven [during their reunion album and short-lived reunion tour in 2011, because the group was not granted permission to use the name “The Time” for the venture]. They're still relevant... they still get down."
  ?: What is the most unique piece of Prince memorabilia that you own or have owned in the past?

  MS: The picture discs [Vinyl LPs that have pictures on the entire disc, instead of the standard record labels]. You don't see them around anymore, they are not an every day item that you see. This isn't something you can say 'I'm going to the record store (to get)'. The records stores don't really exist anymore.

   ?: What do you envision for the next year for the “Beautiful Nights” team? What do you hope to accomplish?

  MS: Hopefully we have... many successful parties and a couple them of them (will be) overseas. I'm looking at it like a brand. Or (for) “A Beautiful Night” to become an official Prince party. I think that would be a good look... To have Prince kind of mess with us and say “not bad, not bad at all” and eventually do “A Beautiful Night at Paisley Park” and be like 'Special Guest: Prince.' (Laughing)

  ?: What is your personal message for fans on the Beautiful Nights fan page?

  MS: 1Love. 1Goodtime.

Tickets are still available online at ticketweb.com

Stay beautiful, Kristi

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Lead photo courtesy of Marcus Scott.

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