'It's a very similar time': Jully Black on preparing for her 1st tour in more than a decade
The R&B star reflects on her early musical memories ahead of her upcoming tour
This month, R&B star Jully Black is heading out on her first headlining tour in over a decade.
"From unforgettable music to meaningful moments, this is a celebration of connection, resilience, and joy," Black shared about her upcoming shows on Instagram, adding that the concerts will be "bigger and bolder than ever."
Black joined The Block's Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe to talk about how church influenced her singing, going out on the road as an independent artist and more.
The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below.
So that track ["Sweat of Your Brow"] is off This Is Me, and you talked about it when it was playing, that it celebrates its 25th birthday anniversary coming up in June.
Yes.
And when you think back to that time and compare and contrast with where you are now, what kind of reflections do you have or what kind of memories come to mind?
It's a very similar time because I was in Da Kink In My Hair preparing for my album to come out that June. So in February we were in rehearsals and I had to shoot the "Sweat of Your Brow" video in the dead of winter. And I wanted a whole Do the Right Thing theme. And so as I'm preparing for a tour, it's similar as preparing for theatre and preparing for the album. You know, they're these kind of big-ticket items happening and [there's] lots of excitement.
Let's talk about your upbringing first, let's take it really far back. So you're one of nine kids.
Mmhmm.
Where are you in the order?
Last.
Baby!
Yeah, last.
Did you have a good relationship with them? I fought with my sister like crazy, but you had nine to choose from, so there's probably some closer ones in there than others.
Yeah, well, they're like 20 years older than me, so some of them were already grown and moved out. Some lived in Boston, Chicago, etc., right? So for me, I had quite a few parents, I guess, but I'm the one Canadian child born here. So there was that kind of special thing about me and my twin brother, who passed away. So for me, that's my first bit of grief and loss.
Yeah.
And I think that it's informed a lot of who I am, wanting to be connected to people or someone all the time. And so I think that, you know, God gave me my music to keep me connected to people all the time.
Did that begin in church?
Yeah. Thank you for asking about that. I was six years old. My sister would have been 16. The next-born is [my sister] MJ. And so she would bring me to church and kind of park me with my colouring book and Barbies and whatever else while they were doing youth choir practice. But I was soaking in the songs, right? And so there just came a time [when] I said, "I want to sing, you know, like all day." And they thought it's going to be just a little kid voice. And it was, "Oh it's Jesus. Yes, it is Jesus. It is Jesus in my soul. For I have touched the hem of his garment and his blood has made me whole." And I sang that at six years old.
That was it, that was the song. My goodness. Give me all types of shivers, shivers, shivers, shivers. And then, you know, you had that, and did that maintain that relationship with the church and your singing up until you kind of moved into the world of secular music? Or was there, you know, time spent apart?
No. They were kind of intertwined because in the house we still hear Bob and Sister Nancy and my mom didn't become a born-again Christian until way later, until my sister Sharon passed away. It'll be in the memoir, too [so that people] can kind of follow the breadcrumbs right now. But my mom sent us to church so she could have the day off, real bad gyal. [She] put us on a church bus. The bus would pick us up on Finch Avenue and the five of us would go to church for it. And Black church [is] whole-day church.
Yeah.
So she had the whole day without the kids.
We need it.
She would cook, we would come home, the food [would] smell nice, so that was it. That was how you know. And it's funny because she became a Seventh-day Adventist, so she'd go to church on Saturday and still have the Sunday off and send us to Sunday church.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.
