HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-08-05, Page 13Second Section - August 5, 1998
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Canadian country star has concerns about the music business
. By Scott Nixon
T -A Reporter
NASHVILLE, TENN. While her status as one of Canada's
top country vocalists is solid, Michelle
Wright ,isn't happy with how her
career has developed in the U.S. .
In fact, as:Wright said in a telephone
interview from her Nashville home
last week, the topic angers her. "1'm
really upset; not happy," she says .of
the difficulties she's had matching her
success in Canada south of the border.
Despite her frustration, Wright plans
no major changes in her approach to
her music, saying she doesn't really
know what to do to increase her
success in the States. - '
"I'm frustrated that it's. been as
challenging as -it has been. There's no
reason for it."
. Wright is also disappointed her 1996
single, Nobody's Girl.,. wasn't as
successful as she had hoped. She
describes it as too progressive. for its
time, adding that country music wasn't
ready for the liberal views expressed
in'the song. .
Things aren't all that bad for the 37 -
year -old Chatham native, though.
Wright, who performed with her band
at the Grand Bend Motorplex last. .
weekend, has had success in the .U.S., winning the Academy of
Qountry Music's Top New Female Artist in 1993 and taking her
1992 single, Take it Like a Man; into the U.S. top ten, making her
the first Canadian -born artist in themodern era of country music
to appear in the American top ten.
"INCREDIBLE" SUCCESS IN CANADA
Wright has no complaints about how her career has developed in
. Canada. •
"Incredible. Way beyond what I had imagined," she says of her
success here. That success includes 22 top ten hits on Canadian
country radio and two Juno Awards for Country Female Vocalist
of the Year. She is also a 13 -time winner at the Canadian Country
Music Awards, including an Album of the Year Award in 1991 for
her debut release, Michelle Wright.
Wright's success will result in a greatest hits release sometime
around Christmas: The album will also include three new songs,
which Wright is now working on:
The new songs, Wright hopes, will allow her music to cross over
• into ,the pop marketplace, something she says artists 4e Shania
Twain and LeAnii Rimes have been able to successfully
accomplish.
As she has primarily relied on other songwriters in the past,
Wright wants to evolve as an artist and begin writing her own
songs. •
"I've started my 17th year -on the. road, I know how to be on the
road, I know how to entertain, I know how to communicate with
an audience... but I'm definitely enjoying the challenge of
trying to figure out how to write a hit record. ".
"Not a trite hit record," she says.
"but a real fabulous song."
And as with every artist, Wright
is caught between creating art that
satisfies herself and art that is
marketable to a wide audience.
"I used to concern myself a lot
with the artistic accomplishments
and sometimes that doesn't pay the
bills. Mind you, I'm:fine . . . 1 -
don't need anything more, 1 have
lots of everything, but 1 do keep :a
full-time band."
As a result, Wright admits there
have been times .when the artistic
side of her persona has been
compromised because -she -felt she
hadto make something
commercially acceptable.
She adds,. though: that it is
important she doesn't become too
commercial, believing that artists
who fall into that trap don't last too
long. . -
"I believe the reason I'm still
here is because -of my concern that
1 put out quality stuff and so I will
continue to do that and at the same
time I'm trying to figure how to be commercial and I don't -know
that anybody knows how to do that " .
A CRUEL INDUSTRY
The music business, according to Wright, is becoming more
unforgiving- "1 thiiik that you can get a hit these days, but
whether you can get a career these days is another story:"
Making a successful career "has always been challenging and I
think it continues to be challenging. There's nd easy way."
Wright says she feels sorry for artists in today's music industry
who can't sustain a'career and end up being one -hit wonders.
"Some of these kids, they've got nothing. One hii'-sold a
million records. That million, records hasn't -even recouped them
at their label and they can't drawn a crowd. it's hard."
In the past. Wright says, if art artist got a deal with a label, that
deal 'would guarantee a ten-year career; now things are different.
"I'ye been at Arista Records for eight years — that's almost
unheard of these days."
Despite the businesses' unforgiving nature, if an artist does
make it big these days, the rewards are much more lucrative than
they used to be, Wright says.
in terms of the state of country music in the '90s, Wright says
there ;is some wonderful music•being made now, although she
cautions that there are a lot of "copycats" making records these
days, a development she blames on the interference of big
business.
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"You get the corporate world involved, you see, and the
Corporate world doesn't care about creativity, they just care about
selling advertising and that's part of the problem in country
music right now." -
While she has lived in Nashville since 1991. Wright says she •
flies back to Canada all the time and often sees her family. And
surprisingly enough, while she grew up .in Merlin, Ont., last
weekend's performance was Wright's first visit to Grand Bend
and she said she had looked forward to finally getting there.
"i'm so glad," she said of finally getting to visit whatshe
describes as "the party place to go on the weekends."
A SECOND CAREER?
In addition to her singing career, Wright has become interested
in acting and recently made her debut on Due South, which will
air in Canada in the fall;
. The acting experience for Wright was "wonderful..Fabulous. It
was just a big kick."
Working on Due South was easier than Wright thought .it
would be and she said acting came naturally to her. She says her
17 years as a performer helped 'prepare her to work in front of the
camera.
"When you're doing videos.or when you're trying to get in a
•state of mind for a photo shoot or in- the studio to sing a certain
song — all of that requires a mental discipline that is very similar
to acting."
Wright plans to pursue an acting career -but says she's had
difficulty finding a good script. .
For the summer, though, Wright is touring — playing
e
approximately 35 dates in July and August — and being on the
road is what she likes best.
"I love it. I've done it for many years. It's probably our most
favorite thing to do. I've. got a band. that's been. with me for "a
long time and we're palsand we love to play. It doesn't matter
where it is, it doesn't matter who's there, just as long as we're
playing: That's what we enjoy most of all."
MICHELLE WRIGHT'S DISCOGRAPHY:
Michelle Wright (1990)
Now and Then (1992)
The Reasons Why (released inCanadia onljrt 1994)
' For Me,It''s You (1996)
MAJOR AWARD
Junos:
Country Female Vocalist of the Year (1993 and 1995)
Canadian Country Music Awards:
, Album of the Year, "Michelle Wright," (1991)
Single of the Year, "New Kind of Love," (1991)
Single of the Year, "Take it Like a Man," (1992)
Single of the Year, "He Would be Sixteen," (1993)
Entertainer of the Year (1993 and 1995)
Female Vocalist of the Year (1990,1991, 1992, 1993)
Academy of Country Music:
Top New Female Vocalist, (1992)
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