Nona Hendryx

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Nona Hendryx (born October 9, 1944, in Trenton, New Jersey) is a vocalist, record producer, renowned songwriter, musician, author, and actress.

Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade". Her music has ranged from Soul Music, Funk, Dance, and Rhythm & Blues into Hard Rock, Art Rock, and New Age Music. She has also sung backing vocals for the Talking Heads. Image:NONA album cover.jpg

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Career

With Labelle she became the primary songwriter for the group beginning with their second album, "MoonShadow," and subsequently writing powerful ballads like "You Turn Me On" from Nightbirds, and from Labelle's final album, "Chameleon," "Going Down Makes Me Shiver," (a song which utilizes Sarah Dash's five-octave range, and more uptempo numbers like "Gypsy Moths", "Who's Watching the Watcher," and "A Man In A Trenchcoat (Voodoo)" for Labelle's last album Chameleon (also Hendryx'x first time singing lead vocal on an album).

Shortly after Labelle's break up in 1976, Hendryx released her first solo album in 1977. A blend of soul and hard rock, the album quickly disappeared from the shelves and Hendryx' was dropped from Epic, although it contained notable standout tracks, such as "Winning" later recorded by Santana and the haunting ballad "Leaving Here Today". Subsequently she recorded four singles for Arista (London), which were equally unsuccessful. She then had more success doing session work, most notably providing background vocals for the Talking Heads.

In the early 80's she sang with experimental funk group Material while fronting her own progressive art-rock group Zero Cool. Material, featuring Hendryx's lead vocal, had a club hit with "Busting Out," which can best be described as 'disco with a hard rock edge'. Subsequently, she had two other major club hits with a dance remake of The Supremes' "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart," and "Do What You Wanna Do" (also doing the lead vocal for a group called "The Cage"). Material also produced her second album, Nona, in 1983. The hip, contemporary dance sound of this album proved to be more charts-compatible, with the single "Keep It Confidential" becoming a modest club and R'n'B-hit. Probably the most effective song on the album is the strong ballad "Great Design," which included collaborations of Valerie Simpson, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Laurie Anderson, and Patti LaBelle.

In the mid-1980s, Hendryx was recruited by RCA to record songs for various soundtracks, including the theme for "Moving Violations, "I Sweat," a big commercial hit for Hendryx from the film Jamie Lee Curtis film "Perfect," and "Transparent" from the Eddie Murphy vehicle, "Coming to America."

In 1985, Hendryx wrote and recorded the album track "Rock This House" for her "The Heat" album with Keith Richards' collaboration. The song was nominated for a Grammy award. The same year, the MTV broadcast of the video for "I Need Love" stirred some controversies as it featured drag queens and was quickly removed from MTV's playlist as a result.

Her biggest commercial success came with 1987's single "Why Should I Cry?", which became a top 5 R'n'B hit (It only reached #58 on the Billboard 100 though). The accompanying album, Female Trouble, boasted an impressive list of contributors (including Peter Gabriel and Prince), but couldn't parallel this success, merely scratching the Billboard 100.

For her next album, Hendryx took a detour from commercial music, recording a Skin Diver, new age-record with long-time Tangerine Dream-member Peter Baumann, which was generally greeted with positive feedback from critics, yet commercially unsuccessful. Some fans were disappointed that she took such an abrupt turn in her music. When one was told that she wanted to make a change from dance music, he replied, "But she's so good at it."

Apart from a duet-album with Billy Vera, You Have to Cry Sometime, and a couple of compilation-only tracks, Hendryx apparently has recorded more than five albums worth of music, but has been unable to release any of it due to lack of interest from major (or even independent) record labels. Her Epic, RCA and EMI albums have long been out of print and have failed to attract the attention of specialist reissue labels, but a Best Of album, "Transformation," was released in 1999 by Razor & Tie.

Hendryx has also dabbled in acting. She wrote and performed the theme for Landlord Blues (1987), while also having a small part in the film as an attorney named Sally Viscuso. She has also played herself in the late 90s Pam Grier series Linc's, and at the end of the show accompanied herself on the piano on "Lift Every Voice," and most recently, she appeared in the third season of The "L" Word".

She remains in high demand for musical collaborations, both for vocals and her songwriting. One of her best collaborations was Jerry Harrison's (The Talking Heads) The Red and The Black album 1981. In 1992, she recorded a duet with Billy Crawford, "Urgently In Love," which was a strong single, but was not promoted properly. In 1998, she recorded the huge rap hit "It's a Party" with Bounty Killer. She has also written songs for Dusty Springfield and Ultra Nate, and produced albums for Lisa Lisa and The Bush Tetras. Other artists with whom she has recorded with over the years include: David Johansen, Yoko Ono, Cameo, The Talking Heads (3 albums), 80s band Our Daughter's Wedding, Garland Jeffreys Dan Hartman, Afrika Bambaata (performing a duet of "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" with Boy George), Canadian band Rough Trade, Curtis Hairston, and Graham Parker on the hit single, "Soul Christmas."

In addition, her songs have been covered by other bands, including "Transformation" by Fierce Ruling Diva and "Women Who Fly" by Jefferson Starship.

In the beginning of the current decade, Hendryx was asked to appear on two of Paul Haslinger's albums; two tracks for which she sang lead vocals, "Higher Purpose" and "Beginning to End," both of which are featured on the soundtrack for the Showtime series "Sleeper Cell."

Currently, Hendryx is still touring, and engages in writing plays, including "Blue"). Recently, she recruited daughters of famous African American soul/blues icons, including Lalah Hathaway, Simone, Indira Khan, Leah McCrae, together with 'spiritual daughters' Joyce Kennedy, Caron Wheeler, and Sandra St.Victor to form the Group Daughters of Soul, which has enjoyed much success, especially on the European tour circuit.

She also formed her own record label with Bobby Banks, Rhythm Bank, in 2005, and has released a gospel CD by per protege "Najiyah."

Since the breakup of Labelle, Patti, Sarah, and Nona have reunited for Patti LaBelle's "Live In New York" video, recorded the dance hit "Turn It Out" from the soundtrack To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1985), and have appeared together on two television specials. As of January 2006, Labelle again reunited to record "Dear Rosa," a tribute to civil rights leader Rosa Parks, (yet to be released), and currently there are talks of more recordings and even a tour in 2007. Labelle will have songs featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming film "Preaching to the Choir." Nona is the composer for the film's soundtrack.


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Trivia

In 2001 she discussed her bisexuality in an interview with the Advocate magazine.[1]

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Discography

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Singles

  • Everybody Wants To Be Somebody, 1977, Epic
  • You're The Only One That I Ever Needed, 1979, Arista
  • Love It, 1979, Arista
  • Snakes Alive, 1979, Arista
  • Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart, 1980, Barclay
  • Busting Out, 1980, Island Records
  • Holiday, 1980, Island Records
  • Do What You Wanna Do, 1982, Metropolis
  • Do What You Wanna Do, 1982, Hot Tracks Remix, 1983
  • Keep It Confidential, 1983, RCA (R'n'B #22, Club #25, Pop #91)
  • Keep It Confidential, 1983, Hot Tracks Remix, 1983
  • Transformation, 1983, RCA (R'n'B #40)
  • B-Boys, 1983, RCA (Club #25)
  • I Sweat (Going Through The Motions), 1984, RCA (R'n'B #28)
  • To The Bone, 1984, RCA
  • Heart of a Woman, 1984, RCA
  • If Looks Could Kill (D.O.A.), 1985, RCA (R'n'B #71)
  • I Need Love, 1985, RCA (R'n'B #68)
  • Baby Go-Go, 1987, EMI (R'n'B #60)
  • Why Should I Cry?, 1987, EMI, (R'n'B #5, Club #6, Pop #58)
  • Winds Of Change (Mandela To Mandela), 1987, EMI
  • SkinDiver, 1989, Private Music Records
  • Women Who Fly, 1989, Private Music Records
  • Urgently In Love (with Billy Crawford), 1992
  • It's a Party (with Bounty Killer), 1998
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Albums

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Compilations

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Film / Television / Theater


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Links

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