True Identity

Dre was my partner-in-rhyme as he liked to put it. We met in 1987 when we were both working at Video Planning on 57th St. Dre was very into hip hop then - he had a manager and a single and he appeared on a local radio station's rap show. I kept volunteering to sing with him but he just brushed me off.

While I was away at the Banff Centre Dre left Video Planning and we didn't see each other again until a chance meeting five years later. I had just finished the JVC Jazz Workshop and Dre and I decided to hook up and play our recent work for each other. After this meeting we decided to work together.

We spent our spare time writing lyrics and coming up with melodies for tracks which Dre would acquire from various producers. It was a lot of work and involved many late nights recording up in the Bronx. We wrote several songs but only completed one fully produced work, "Gotta be Funky", which I later turned into a video.

During this time I also co-wrote and recorded "I'm all Woman" with Louis Steverson and sang back up vocals on "Wild Child" by the Bad Ass Knockers.

The business side of this adventure was weird - some producers offered us fictitious record deals, some took back their tracks, some stood us up, some stayed up through the night to work with us, and some tried to divide and conquer us. Dre decided that he wanted to do hardcore rather than the Acid Jazz we were heading into and I decided to go back to California and focus on animation. He's doing really well these days and is getting married this year. I'm also doing well but I miss working with Louis Steverson and Dre.

Songs

JVC Jazz Workshop Songs, Summer 1993
Gotta Be Funky © 1994 Beeton, Bullock and Steverson
I'm All Woman © 1994 Beeton and Steverson