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Terri Walker chats to I Like Music

ILM: You've been in the business a while, and have a classically-trained voice. What have you learned about the business side and stagecraft? What are your biggest tips for artists coming into the industry now?

TERRI: If you're a singer, nurture your voice, make sure you look after your voice, respect your voice, respect your craft and always make sure that you practice and are always learning stuff. Look at a lot of the greats that have been out, but try to become an individual. There's Beyonce right now, and I love Beyonce, but I don't choose to be like a Beyonce, I choose to be like Terri Walker. I think a lot of kids now they see someone on TV and they want to be an exact replica of that thing and I think the reason why she stands out is because, yeah she was inspired by Tina Turner and the old school greats but she's made it into her own thing. So kids definitely need to know, yes, use it as a template, but add you, add you towards it. That's the most important thing, because that way you will always succeed because you'll be different, and nobody can say they've heard something like that before.

ILM: It's about finding your own voice then?

TERRI: Yeah and it doesn't happen overnight. It took me a while to find my voice to be honest. I was classically trained so when you're trained like that and influenced by different things, I was kind of singing whatever but at the time I was just trying to sound like them, until I went to America one time and over there everyone is very individual, and trying to break new boundaries and that's when I really found my voice. I was like, 'oh my God, that's me, that's my voice!' I don't hear anyone that sounds like that, there may be songs that sound similar but as far as my tone and the way I sing, I know if I heard it I know it's me singing, like the way you talk, there's only one person who sounds like you.

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Related links:

1. Hugo Urban Rules
2. Terri Walker Biography
3. Terri Walker - Whoopsie Daisy