The Journey of Jully Black

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The Journey of Jully Black

1 November 2010 No Comments

Jane Finch girl a multimedia personality

By: Del Cowie

IT’S A BLAZING HOT JULY afternoon at the swanky Hotel Intercontinental on the edge of Yorkville in downtown Toronto and a chatty crowd of business people have gathered in the hotel’s Skylounge for an after work get-together. Statuesque and commanding in a black dress and heels, Jully Black is a striking presence as she struts in, causing the owners of a few starched collars to stop what they’re doing and take notice.

If you aren’t aware of Jully Black’s strong sense of purpose, you find out when she opens her mouth. “I think that I’m finally, this is gonna sound clichéd, but I feel like I am every woman,” Black says. “I think people are judging me by my character and not my colour, and I feel that finally there’s a pride in Jully Black and it’s not Jane and Finch Jully. I represent, definitely, where I’ve come from, but it’s more about where I’m heading to.”

Indeed, this is a different Jully Black than the one who emerged out of the Toronto music scene in the mid- to late-’90s, and even the one who released her debut album This Is Me in 2005.

For one thing, Black is a much more visible figure than she was when her debut album dropped. While that record did well enough to go gold, Black’s appeal has been significantly widened by her ongoing stint as an energetic celebrity reporter on CTV’s eTalk Daily, hobnobbing with the likes of Oprah Winfrey and the cast of The View, opening her up to audiences who may not even be aware of the fact she can sing. It’s not a thought that’s escaped her notice. “Television and music has now become my yin and yang…. At one point, the insecure musician in me was like, ‘I want people to know that I’m a musician,’” she says. “Even though the blessing of television came naturally, I didn’t even look for it, it came to me. I was still under the impression, like, ‘Gosh, am I never gonna be a musician?’ So I really had to embrace the fact that I’m a student, so I’m able to learn both sides of the media.”

Now that she’s gotten used to the benefits of her hosting gig, Black is revelling in the exposure the role provides her. “I couldn’t pay for that sort of advertising,” she says. “For 30 seconds or a minute of advertising, you’re running into the millions — and Jully Black gets to be the face of a dream. I’m just a little Jane and Finch girl that didn’t see anyone who looked like me on television that was from Canada.” As well as her continuing role on eTalk, Black is set to star in the television version of trey anthony’s theatre hit ’Da Kink In My Hair, debuting this fall.

Black also appeared in the stage version of the play and performs the television show’s theme song. Then there’s also the matter of releasing her sophomore album Revival. Clearly, Black is a threat on many levels. “I always say I’m gonna ‘Queen Latifah’ this sucker,” she says. “You think Queen Latifah, when she was singing ‘Ladies First’ thought she would be a cover girl? Maybe. Maybe not. Did she think she was gonna be in Hairspray and Chicago and Oscar-nominated just straight doing hip-hop? No, she built her brand.”

However, Black wasn’t always CEO of Jully Black Inc. The youngest of nine children (raised singlehandedly by her beloved mother), Black sang in the church choir as a child, where she developed her distinctive alto. The death of Black’s sister Sharon in 1990 devastated her and is the subject of Revival’s “Catch Me When I Fall.” Her sister’s death is partly the reason she’s such a fitness fanatic now, years later.

“My sister died when she was 24, so I’ve always been like, OK, let me just at least be healthy,” Black says. “She was healthy — triathlons and everything — and she just died. She had two kids in one year. We were like, ‘Wow, you had two kids in one year,’ and literally one year later she died.”

“She was like the second oldest… every time (a sibling) got past 24 it was like, OK, yeah,” she says, sighing with relief.

As a teenager, she met up with Kardinal Offishall and Saukrates at the Fresh Arts creative arts program. The crew originally called Figurez of Speech would eventually expand and come to be known as The Circle, known around Toronto for their energetic live shows. Along with MC Tara Chase, Black was the female presence in the 10-strong clique, and was the only singer in the collective, a self-described “ride or die chick.”

“I’ve been married to hip-hop for most of my career. I was the girl on the eight bars, which was fine,” Black recalls of her years singing the choruses on rap tracks. “That was strategic for me as well. There’s no R&B industry in Canada. What am I supposed to do? Not have a career? Sure, give me eight bars. That’s my song. I’ll make a chorus (and) represent Jully. I don’t have enough fingers to say the amount of choruses that I made.”

Black worked extensively on music released by Circle colleagues Kardinal, Saukrates and Choclair, among others. Eventually, Black’s work ethic scored her a publishing deal with Warner Chappell in 1998, and Black delivered on her promise with the Juno-nominated single “Rally’n.” Despite the fact that in the next few years Jully would also land a major label deal with MCA in the US and end up recording with revered New York MC Nas, whom she calls a “huge mentor,” Jully still had to face significant delays for her album I Travelled. She was eventually released from her deal when the label shut down. While This Is Me eventually surfaced in 2005, Black still faced obstacles. “I went through the fire through the wire, man,” Black says. “There were times of triumph and tribulation and — really from being labelled a certain way — not being able to get gigs, because Canada was afraid of hip-hop.”

Still, Black was able to score a slot on the Black Eyed Peas’ 2005 Canadian tour, which spawned a fortuitous turn of events for her. will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas had remixed “I Know,” a song Black co-wrote for Destiny’s Child on The Fighting Temptations soundtrack. The relationship between the Black Eyed Peas and Black flourished to the point that the band that plays on the Black Eyed Peas records is all over the polished and varied Revival.

“I think that between the two years (since This Is Me was released), I’ve loved and I’ve lost. And I’ve loved again and lost again,” Black says explaining her thematic motives that fuelled sureshot tracks like “My Baby” and the throwback vibe of single “7 Day Fool.”

“I can say that I am revived, and I’m revived because I accept all my weaknesses and want to turn them into strengths.”

However, it is clear that one of Black’s strengths is connecting with people, no matter what medium she chooses. As well as her forays into television, Black blogs regularly on her website, staying in touch with her fans, and has also posted humorous videos of herself working out on YouTube. But in the end, for Black it all comes back to the music. One man in particular had Black in tears when he emailed her revealing that he was ready to commit suicide until he heard her song “I Travelled,” which Black dedicated to her mother.

Watch “I Travelled” here:

“I’m not trying to act like I’m some Mother Theresa, but I have work to do,” Black says referring to the man’s decision not to take his own life. “There’re people out there that identify with my music and I realize I’m a channel that people need to tune into, so I gotta keep my channel on. And no bundle here, it’s just one channel — it’s called Jully Black. Tune in if you want.”

Watch Jully’s video “Seven Day Fool” here: