She was a strikingly tall, cello-playing, shy girl from Northwest Washington, D.C., before a neighborhood friend introduced her to world of music.
That girl is indiestry singer Tamika Love Jones, who now embraces her 5’11” inch beauty. That neighborhood friend is Grammy-nominated producer and Bad Boy hit maker Chucky Thompson.
As the story goes, one of Jones’ childhood girl friends got word that Thompson worked for Bad Boy Records. With a push from that friend, then 14-year-old Jones mustered the courage to sing impromptu for Thompson.
“I think I sang ‘Joyful Joyful’ from the Sister Act 2 soundtrack,” she said.
It worked. Thompson became Jones’ mentor, giving her advice and guidance on songwriting, recording and vocal training. He also invited her to sit in on studio sessions with the likes of Mary J. Blidge and Faith Evans. Evans was a huge inspiration.
“If you hear a lot of my older stuff, I kind of sound like her a little bit,” Jones said of Evans. These days, her singing style is more similar to Jill Scott, Amel Larrieux, Lauren Hill, or Ella Fitzgerald, she said.
Like many aspiring musicians, Jones moved to New York City to pursue a music career. However, “I felt like I needed a backup plan,” she said. So he studied marketing at Pace University in Manhattan.
With a marketing degree, “I have a better understanding of what I need to do to put [my music] out there,” she said. However, she confessed that perhaps studying music would’ve been a smarter way to go.
Jones sometimes finds communicating with a live band challenging because she isn’t a trained musician, she said.
“It helps if you have your musical background,” Jones said. “If you have the training, no one can tell you anything.”
Jones is set to digitally release “Tamika Love Jones EP” on Dec. 1. Her underground mix tapes “Melodic Thesis” and “ B Digga Presents” are available in only hard copy form at her live shows.
Catch Jones live each week at Release Therapy Friday, where she performs and hosts a jam session from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Indulge, located across from Ben’s Chilli Bowl (1213 U Street, NW, Washington D.C.). Free before 11 p.m.
When Jones has the mic in her hand, don’t expect “music that you can party to,” she said, “but music you can feel.”
This interview was coordinated by Gypsy Soul.
Check out this video of Jones' Ear Candy performance:
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