By Laura Medina
Stacey Jackson, center stage at the Avalon.
Last week, right in the middle of Britweek and two weeks away from Mother's Day, here's one mom who became the United Kingdom's hottest singer...Stacey Jackson.
What started out as a way to help out kids in Music for Youth (a charity program discovering and grooming young musicians in the U.K.) four years ago, it has turned Stacey Jackson into the most unlikely of pop stars.
This gave this former publicist a new lease in life, a pop music's hottest star at age 44.
After her first career as a New York publicist then settling into London to follow her husband's career and raising four children (her youngest is 6), Stacey thought she's settled and assumed it would be nice to help out these young musicians in releasing an album of Motown covers. She never expected that a single, "I Hear A Symphony" from the first album, "Upside Down," would later be remixed by a DJ then land in the Top 10 Dance Chart, sandwiched between Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue.
Just like Stacey Jackson said, when one door opens, a chain reaction of doors do open. Before she knows it, Stacey was here in Hollywood, invited to perform her second album, "Live It Up," at the Avalon as one of Britweek's hottest concerts. She thinks it's an honor to debut her second album during Britweek in the heart of Hollywood, representing what is hot and current in Britain. Being embraced by them as their own is cool...
"To work from London which makes it more difficult. It was a good opportunity. It made it more difficult for me to juggling
because coming from London to LA was a big schlump but I’m in a different place
in my life and in my career. Like I
said, one door opens then I went into it then another door opens then I went
into it. If you don’t go where the doors
are open, then I guess you will never succeed I guess, to go along with the
flow. One of my songs did really well
here last year. My album is in the top
20’s and that’s really exciting so, I gotta come here and promote it and I have
fans all over the world. I really want
to be where people want to see me. I’m
selling my music and I have to be there for the fans as well."
Aware she's not the standard pop ingenue, Stacey relies on her experience as a publicist and her wisdom of having lived through the '60's, the '70's, the '80's, and the '90's to make her a better singer and a suave business woman...
"I can pull from so many different variations from my life,
in different chapters of my life…in how I write the songs, promote the songs,
… I also think music is a business as
well…How I sell the songs…Being able to have a career in pr, in marketing , it
gave me so many tools in how to get it out there."
Because she witnessed fame first-hand, behind the camera as a publicist, she is more assured in handling new-found fame unlike the majority of pop singers half her age...
"Also, being confident, I think. Being in pr in particular, in a television
network, you need to be confident in order to see to clients who are not big as
you mentioned. ..After college, this was my first job. The confidence that I gain from working in
the corporate world gave me the confidence to take a chance later in life. Everything is tied in to one thing."
As for morphing into a pop star in her Forties, there is a three-part trajectory.
First, as soon as her song bursted out in the Top 10 and she knew she had what it takes, Stacey sat down with her husband and 4 kids, ranging from almost 18, almost 16, 11, and 6, then discuss what this new found fame means to her...
"When are you going to take that risk, you know? When the opportunity came out for me, I had
to sit down and talk about with my husband and my kids and say this is an
amazing chance, do I go for it or not? Who wouldn’t it? Who wanted to be sitting around, being 60 and
saying I could had been a pop star? So,
that’s part of it?!"
Her husband was very supportive...
"If you have a good bond and a good relationship, then that’s
what’s it’s all about. Respect each
other for many things, especially for what you can do. That’s a part of a good balance in marriage".
Stacey's youngest, her daughter, wants to be a pop singer because she thinks mom is so cool,
"My
daughter is 6 and she thinks it’s great. When you ask her what she wants to be
when she grows up, she says pop star like her mom. It’s very cute."
As for her two oldest, the older boys in high school, this arc has the most transition.
"Everybody
asks me that question because they’re boys.
So, they’re particular about it..."
"My kids, it was very tough.
This hullabaloo didn’t really happened until last year. That’s when they’re going to high school and
they’re teenaged boys. Mom, no matter
what she does, is really embarrassing. ..period. But, mom decided to be a pop star so there
you go. They’re very supportive because
they think…They first went thru a phase of embarrassment then went thru a phase
of respectfully cool of I dig it, mom is
doing what she wants to do and I think it’s cool. The idea of what I want to do is cool, not
what I’m doing. Now, I’m just cool."
The resolution of accepting mom is cool is when Stacey was producing her second album and wanted to go back with recording with the Music for Youth kids. Her management changed then they hinted at bumping this release up a notch. Why not Snoop Dogg?
Astonished...Snoop Dogg? They all agreed, why not!"
"That’s a funny story.
I wrote a song based on a dream I had when my late father visited
me. He said this is what you always
wanted to do and go for it. I wrote the part for a rapper. I though I’ll revisit the kids from Music For
Youth. At that time, I had a hit song in
the charts and my management has changed.
My manager at that time, said no.
We should go for somebody big
like Snoop Dogg. It was a random
as that. I sent him the track. I was saying, “you must be kidding. That guy
gets 3 million things a day.” He loved
the story and he loved the track. He
asked when can she come-pop! 5 days
later, I was on a plane (to Boston). My kids thought
I was very cool for doing that. That’s
when I graduated from being embarrassing to very cool mom."
But, Stacey has something to say about having a new career and reinventing at age 44, after taking the time to raise her family...
"It’s still really a challenge for me at my age. I think it’s great I’ve been accepted, just amazing, as a new artist. People, when they don’t know the whole story. They just listen to the music, the DJs, the radio but when they do realize the story, they’re really taken back, “You’re 44 and Keisha is half my age.” Yes, it is a challenge at my age, especially in the UK where they think the demographic is younger. But, that’s such a waste. You listen to music. We all go to clubs. You go the clubs and listen to what’s playing. So, I feel like I am a new artist but I’ve also been around the block so to speak. So yeah, my age has been part of a challenge but I feel like I’ve overcome it. Being able to do what I’m doing. I think I am the first pop singer to come out at my age. There are “heritage acts” like Madonna and J.Lo who’s my age. There are a lot of us out there but, they’ve been in it since they were in their 20’s. There is something to be said, at age 40, this is what I wanted to do. Age shouldn’t be an issue. The songs are being played. People are buying it. Radio is playing. I’ve overcome it. It’s all about heart and attitude."
She believed having the experience, knowledge, and wisdom are what make her a star, now at 44, and having them underneath her belt are what make her better equipped to handle fame and popularity easier than anyone half her age...
"I think it is an advantage because I can pull from so many
different genres, having lived through it, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the
90s. Having those influences made me a
better songwriter. This is the key for
her to be accepted as a new artist at her age in the industry, being able to
pull from those experiences."
When the time came for the album launch the next night, Stacey took control of the red carpet and the stage then owns that performance.
Stacey Jackson is a woman in charge.
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