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Maria "Miss Funkyflyy" Granditsky: Although you're only twenty-nine, it feels like you've been around long enough to be in your forties (laughs). What I'm saying is that you have staying power. I mean, who remembers, or even wants to remember, the other stuff that was topping the charts in 1988 when you debuted? Bros, Kylie Minogue.. The late eighties was a horrible time, real music was so hard to find.
But Mica, you've hardly been unsuccessful. You've had more than 12 U.K. hit singles.. Even had six singles on the U.S. R&B chart! I know. It's just been very hard. It's just been a lot of record company politics. You know, records you wanted released never got released.. I've been through quite a lot of shit and it's been very annoying because I know that people love what I do and when they ask me where my stuff is and I can't tell them.. By the way, is your real name Michelle Wallen? Yeah! Who came up with Mica Paris?
You started singing in church, didn't you? Yeah, when I was seven. I read somewhere that your first influence was Chaka Khan..
Listening to your voice.. Some people say they can hear a little Chaka in there. But I think that if you sound a little bit like anyone, then I think you sound more like Chaka's baby sister Taka Boom, than Chaka. I like Taka! She's brilliant! She's wicked! She's so great! But, you know, Chaka has influenced so many singers and she has done a great service to lots of people because she embodies Jazz as well as the Funk and that's why we love her. We love her because she wasn't pretty when she sang. She gave everything she had and didn't give a shit. And I'm all about that. I'm all about artists that just give their soul. Forget about being pretty. I hate people who are technically brilliant and not spiritually brilliant, you know? I think a lot of singing nowadays is technical. A lot of people are just worried about the note sounding great.. When I sing a song, I just do it. I don't give a toss what comes out. Even if my voice cracks in the middle of it, at least it's real. The rational mid spoils it, I think.You've got to come out of the rational mind, the system. It doesn't touch people either, I think. The minute I stop affecting people with my music is the day I die. And you know, no one looks pretty when they sing. Have you ever seen anyone look great while they sang?
How did you get into the music business? I was a session singer. I left church at fifteen and then I started doing backup vocals for Hollywood Beyond, Shakatak and other bands. At seventeen I signed my deal with Island Records. It took a year to make the album and we released it in '88. I left school and went straight into the record business. I've never had a job. This is all I know. Have you ever regretted it? Never. Never. I was an art student when
I was in school, though. I still paint and sketch in my spare time. My dad's an artist
too. But I'm glad I didn't do that, I really felt passion for music. I believe that you
must always do what you love, because then you'll do it best |
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© Maria Granditsky
January 1999. |
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Mica Paris: It was
a horrible time. And it was very difficult for me because I was the only one doing what I
was doing and I was always the one that had to do live stuff, like six in the morning, and
all the others got away with miming. I used to get so hurt by that. It was hard, seeing my
records go out the charts and seeing less talented artists dominate and make my record go
down. It can be very demoralizing and it can be very painful, but you just have to get on
with it. I thought "OK, it's Bros's time and Kylie's time now, maybe it'll be my time
one day". You can't let yourself be too hurt. You let things happen the way they
happen. Obviously there is a reason why I haven't dominated the charts yet. Maybe the
Spirit wants me to develop into a human being first, before it gives me all those fruits.
Who knows? But I will continue regardless. One day my star will shine.
Me! I was about
sixteen at the time and I just knew so many girls who were named Michelle and thought I
better change it. First I changed it to "Micha". Then I took the "h"
out because I thought it looked shit. Then, when I was in Covent Garden I saw this brooch
and it really stuck out, this brooch was stuck on me. I picked it up and thought
"wow, I need to get that". It had "Paris" written on it, in diamontes.
I had to buy it. Remember when diamontes were really fashionable? Anyway, I thought:
"there you have it, let me use that". So, "Mica Paris" it was and I've
kept it ever since (laughs).
No, I was
influenced by a Gospel outfit called the Hawkins Family. They were the first people I
listened to. I didn't get into Chaka Khan until I was fifteen. Chaka is a good friend of
mine. She's a great girl. But I got into her when I was fifteen. Before her, it was mostly
the Hawkins, then later Barry White.. We weren't allowed to listen to secular music
because my grandparents were ministers. So we weren't allowed to listen to anything but
religious music. It was on the weekends when I would visit my father who's a Jazz
musician, that I would listen to Miles Davis, the Isley Brothers, Barry White.. Patrice
Rushen is a very big influence on me. Chaka was later and it wasn't Chaka I got into
first, it was Rufus. I've been influenced by loads of people, I can't put it down to one
person. But the singing started when I was seven and I became like a child star in church.
They were very upset when I left at fifteen. They were very hurt because I was winning
awards for the church and all that stuff.. 
I have seen it and
I don't like what they do.
