Words and Images by Yvette Caslin
Images for Steed Media Service
Multiple Grammy Award-winning singer Regina Belle is on her next spiritual quest. The soulful siren is releasing her latest CD Love Forever Shines. Belle, who’s spent most of her career singing R&B hits like “Baby Come to Me” and the classic, Grammy-winning duet with Peabo Bryson “A Whole New World,” has turned over an new leaf and is going back to her musical roots, singing gospel.
The poised and down-to-earth Belle recently spent time with rolling out at the Atlanta Botanical Garden where she talked about her inspiration for her new CD and how she balances her many crowns — wife, mother, first lady and artist. Mother’s Day marks the 21st anniversary of her reign in the industry. She’s gone from having only one gospel single “Make it Like it Was,” in her musical library to a 14-track spirit-filled CD. Most of the new recordings were penned by Belle herself.
ro: Tell us about your inspiration for your new CD, Love Forever Shines.
Belle: God is the biggest inspiration for this album. “God is Good” is a single that takes us back to the roots where everything began. Starting with my beginning is like going down memory lane, so I am excited.
How were you able to create your own sound and stand out from your peers?
In the beginning as an artist, you don’t necessarily know who you are. You have people that you admire. I loved Billie Holiday, Pastor Shirley Caesar and Donny Hathaway. Basically, through singing all of their material and working on different gigs, singing jazz, R&B and gospel, and fusing all of them, I found out who Regina Belle was. My sound emerged through all that I studied and through the music that inspired me. Billie Holiday’s voice epitomized what femininity would sound like if it were in a voice. I wanted to capture the power that was in Donny Hathaway’s voice. Pulling all of that together helped me to find who Regina is.
How do you see R&B today?
Some I like, some I don’t. It is a little scary for me right now because I don’t hear the differences. I am not able to tell this group, from that group or this person from that person. That kind of alarms me. When I was coming along, it was Mikki Howard, Whitney Houston, Cheryl Pepsi Riley, Sade, and all of us have a distinctive sound — you know each one of our voices. I think it is important that artists have distinctions [and] that we develop those things about us that make us different and sit comfortably in it. The only way you come to that is to have a musical vocabulary. I studied opera, jazz, reggae. I listened to everything and then I played several instruments [tuba, trombone, baritone, steel drums, and a little piano]. All of this comprises Regina Belle’s sound. The lack of music history, just knowing a scale, knowing how to go to the piano and play a chord even if you don’t play piano, that’s missing. We have to remember that God gave us a gift and it’s up to us to go and polish it.
What did you aspire to accomplish with this album?
I wanted this album to be true to who Regina is in terms of the structure from the past Regina up until now. All that simply means is [that] I wanted to have a little bit of something for everybody. We’ve got the old-school gospel and then traditional gospel, songs like ‘Victory’ and ‘Can’t Nobody’; then we go to a more contemporary gospel with ‘My Destiny’ and ‘God Said.’ I believe that we have a plethora of folk who are coming into the Body of Christ. God’s love does forever shine. That’s why He is the Lily of the Valley, because lilies don’t grow in the valley but God can be a lily in your darkest valley. This CD helps us to recognize how much God loves us, how He hasn’t forgotten about us and how He has always been in the trenches [even] when you thought you were by yourself. It’s an opportunity to say it in song.
What inspires you?
My inspiration is God and the fact that He’s kept me all of these years. He’s provided for me when I thought I was doing it myself. The Master was still making a way, covering me, keeping me. So, this album is a way to say ‘thank you God for all of those years.’ There’s no way I could have gotten to this place without the covering of God, without the keeping power of God and without the love of God and without His strength to be able to go on and go through. I am blessed in every aspect. I am not ashamed of my history and doing R&B because this is what God intended for me to do to get to where I am right now. In his transitioning me … there are some places that I have to go that maybe some church [folks] are not going to be able to go or don’t want to go. That’s all good because we have the fivefold ministry to pull in everybody. So, mine is a little unorthodox and I am able to go [into] a club because God trusts me … I can go in and come out the way I went in. When I minister, ‘Baby Come to Me’ might be the bait. But at the end of the day, the folk that came to see me know that I love God, I love Christ, and He is responsible for getting me to where I am.
How did you manage to stay out of the glare of negative publicity?
I stay out of negative publicity through the Lord … God’s covering. Secondly, Big Momma is still living. And then my momma ain’t having it, between her and my dad. My family plays a very important role in my life; they help to keep me balanced. I remember when I won the Grammy, I went to my grandmother’s house the following week, she had this huge dinner. [After dinner] she asked, ‘Jabbo, did you do them dishes?’ I said, ‘No, Momma — did you see me, I won my Grammy? ‘She said, ‘Uh-huh! Did you do those dishes … I’m gon’ ask you one mo ‘gen?’ I was like, ‘no ma’am. I am going into the kitchen. I am going to put my apron on now.’ Those memories keep me balanced. When I come home, I am not coming home as Grammy Award-winning Regina Belle; I am coming home as mommy, baby girl. I’m a mother. I’m a daughter. I’m a sister. I’m a wife. I am minister of music at my church. I am first lady. I am Regina Belle. I am in the public’s eye but not so far in the forefront that I can’t do my own grocery shopping.
Tell us about your mom.
My mom is my best friend. She’s the cake, the icing [and] the candle. My mom is the bomb, she is [a] 10-31 true diva. My mother is wearing 3- and 4-inch heels and she will be 70-years-old on June 25. That’s my girl. What can I say? She is a saved woman that leads by example. Fifty years … she and my dad have been together. They represent what staying together can do for you. They are the prize and that’s what I have to look forward to.
Are your children following in mommy’s footsteps?
Sydni and Nyla sing; and my son, Jayln, plays drum and piano. They all love music. The great thing about my children is that they listen to anything from Lou Rawls, the Highway QC’s, Sade, Cannonball Adderley, Tramaine Hawkins and Chris Brown to the WuTang Clan. They listen to everything. I am really excited about that because you know that’s a vocabulary of music. My husband and I are set on [them] … listening to all types of music. We don’t want them to just listen to rap [and] hip-hop; but we want them to listen to jazz, old soul and neo-soul, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Mahalia Jackson and Paul Robeson.
What does motherhood mean to you?
Proverbs 31:10-31. It’s about a woman who loves God. A woman who’s trying to race after God’s heart and wants to be the apple of God’s eye. A mother comprises so many things. To be able to be a great mother is because God has kept us. Motherhood means a lot to me, it’s not just about having kids.
