For nearly 30 years, Jully Black has used her singing 'superpower' to advocate for others
‘It’s always worth it to stand in the gap,’ the Canadian R&B singer says in a Q interview
Jully Black, Canada's queen of R&B soul, was only six when she discovered that her voice was her "superpower." She got her start singing sacred music at church, where it was clear to everyone that she had a gift, but it wasn't until she was a bit older that she realized she could use her voice to help others.
At 19, Black decided to pursue music professionally, but in her spare time she completed Seneca College's Police Foundations diploma program. In an interview with Q's Tom Power, she says she enrolled in the program so that she could advocate for her community.
"A lot of my friends didn't know their rights and responsibilities and they were getting profiled," Black says. "And so I stepped in. I realize I'm the same Jully back then as I am now. The reason why I said 'home on native land' is the same reason why I went and took that course at Seneca College, to go through that Criminal Code and say [to my friends], 'You know that these are your rights?'"
Two years ago, Black made international news when she sang the Canadian national anthem at the NBA All-Star game. She made one subtle change to the lyrics, swapping out the opening line "O Canada, our home and native land," with "O Canada, our home on native land," adding a slight emphasis to the word "on" when she sang.
That moment went viral and renewed a conversation about changing Canada's national anthem to acknowledge the history of Indigenous people in the country. Black was later honoured at an AFN Special Chiefs Assembly, where she was called a "truth-teller."
"I felt like I was in a bubble all by myself, like there was nobody there but me and God," Black recalls. "I often say that it's not the word that I said, but it's the pause [so] you could hear what I said. It was the pause — the power of the pause."
After that night, Black did six straight weeks of press. She also received death threats, though she says she didn't let the "keyboard gangsters" intimidate her.
"I'm from the hood," she tells Power. "To be honest with you, the scariest thing I've went through is burying my mom."
Black says her mom is the one who taught her that raising your voice for others is always the right thing to do, even if it means sticking your neck out.
"It's always worth it to stand in the gap," she says. "Basically, it's doing something that I hope somebody would do for my culture, for the Black community, right? … My mom would always say, 'Listen, you want something done for you? OK, well do it for somebody else. Do it for somebody else first. Do it for somebody else, even if they wouldn't do it for you.'"
You can catch Jully Black on her first headlining tour in over a decade, which features music from her entire catalog. It's called the Songs and Stories Tour and it kicks off tonight in Oakville, Ont.
The full interview with Jully Black is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. She talks more about some of the key moments that have defined her career as Canada's queen of R&B soul. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Jully Black produced by Cora Nijhawan.
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