NANETTE
at the Women's Blues Revue
Nanette Workman is hardly known outside of Quebec where she has been a rock superstar for decades, but with the release of her new CD, Roots 'n' Blues, she returns to her roots and will be demonstrating her soulful interpretation of the Blues at the Toronto Blues Society's Women's Blues Revue, Saturday, November 24th at the Music Hall on the Danforth. Other confirmed featured vocalists include Suzie Arioli (also from Montreal), Divine Earth Essence, Martina Sorbara and multi-MapleBlues Award winner Sue Foley. Nanette Workman, who's been a star in Quebec for nearly 35 years, had no idea what to expect when she arrived there in the mid-'60s. Workman, who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, couldn't speak French - she was unaware that most people in Quebec are French - and had never seen snow.
Shortly after she got there, Workman shot to the top of the province's flourishing music scene with her first French single, which held the No. 1 spot on the charts for 15 weeks. She now has more than 20 English and French recordings, in various musical styles, to her credit.
Lately, Workman has been tapping her Southern roots, and the result is her latest critically acclaimed CD, Roots `N' Blues, featuring blues, R&B and gospel. A passionate, sensual singer with an awesome set of pipes, she's makes her debut in Ontario as part of the Toronto Blues Society's Women's Blues Revue on November 24.
Growing up in Mississippi, Workman listened to blues, R&B and gospel music on the radio. "It was part of growing up in the South" she says. "The music I grew up with is inside of me. It's part of who I am."
Workman's connection to her hometown remains vital. She visits Jackson twice a year with her son Jesse, 14, and says she often dreams of the streets of her old neighbourhood. "Music has a way of keeping the past alive," she told the Montreal Gazette. "I suppose I'm feeling homesick and that's been working on me at a subconscious level."
Workman's new CD, a collection of strong original material and covers, was released by Montreal's Bros Records. Her label-mates include Steve Hill and The Stephen Barry Blues Band. She signed with Bros Records because she liked the idea of working with a small label where she'd have control.
Workman was involved in the writing of most of the original material on Roots `N' Blues, and describes herself as a melody person who likes to write lyrics. "Words are very limiting," she says. "Words can go so far but melody will give you the emotion to carry it through."
Workman's sultry "Just Another Night," about an encounter with a young man, has been getting a lot of airplay in Quebec and her hungry "None Of My Business," in which a woman's attraction to a handsome guy leads to a proposition that he, rather humorously, turns down, is to become a video.
When selecting covers, she says the melody of a song attracts her first, then the feel - if the song moves her emotionally - and last, the lyrics. Her new CD opens with a hard-hitting version of Etta James' "Breaking Up Somebody's Home" and includes one of Workman's favourite songs, "I'm A Woman," along with a searing rendition of Ray Bonneville's superb "Trouble Comes Around" and a gospel-tinged interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
The main players on Roots `N' Blues are guitarist Steve Hill, who also co-produced several of the tracks on the CD; bassist Tim Loftin; keyboardist Bob Stagg and drummer Sebastien Langlois. Kim , singer Jackie 's daughter, is in the gospel choir.
Workman's career has taken her on a winding path. She started out at 18, leaving Mississippi for New York, where she understudied the leading lady in the Broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Then, at 19, she landed in Quebec.
Love brought her to Montreal - she moved there to join local record producer Tony Roman - and she ended up falling in love with the province. "I must love it because I'm still here, and I've been all over the world," Workman says.
Culture shock wasn't a problem for the youthful Southern American. "Nothing is shocking when you're 19," she recalls. "It was pure joy - a great adventure. The snow was fun." Along with recording her first French hit single, Workman went on to make appearances on many popular television shows there and hosted her own TV show for CBC at Expo 67.
She's spent time in England, where she had a weekly spot on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's comedy series, and sang backup on the Rolling Stones' albums Let It Bleed and Tattoo You, as well as on recordings by John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
Workman has toured the world with French superstar Johnny Hallyday as his opening act, starred in two French rock musicals and, as an actor, eventually spread her wings into television and film. She was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in April 2000.
Workman has sung jazz, pop, disco, heavy metal and operetta, in keeping with her view that all music is beautiful. "All of the songs I've done were an expression of who I was at the time," she says. "Why limit yourself? Why not touch on everything? We're changing people - we don't stay the same all our lives - so why not change music?"
She hasn't ventured into English Canada before this year because she was content doing what she likes best - "playing live, singing live, working with other people" - exclusively in Quebec. "Everything was going so well here," she says, adding she's not a driven person.
With Workman's highly rated new CD going out to radio stations across the country, English Canada should be hearing more of her in the future.
- Ruth Schweitzer