From Vegas Showgirl to Soul Singer: Markey Blue's Evolution

0:00 Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball, if you believe you can achieve. Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire. Today, we are joined by singer-songwriter Markie Blue. She blends blues, jazz and contemporary pop to create a sound that's fresh and timely. So we're going to be talking to Markie about everything that she's up to and about that new song that's out.

0:45 So, markie, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for having me Curtis. Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself? Goodness, I have got a crazy background. Started out as a Las Vegas showgirl, was a dance major so was in in Vegas and was too afraid to sing. So I started as a showgirl in the big shows and then I started doing stand-up comedy and I started working with a lot of the big stars and stuff and started doing impressions. And that's where I started singing. Singing was doing impressions of other people, but in fact I think the biggest one, the biggest notoriety I got there, is I'm in the Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago.

1:36 When they inducted George Burns and Gracie Allen into the Hall of Fame I got to accept for Gracie I didn't even know who she was, I just had a manager that gave me a thing and said, here, learn this voice. So. But then that's when I started to sing and, uh, I wanted to get out of that. I wanted to start learning how to song right. So I got, was on a country label, got bought off, the label moved here to Nashville and the guy who owned the label he passed away. So I was like, well, I've always wanted to song write. So that left me here. Then got into blues.

2:17 I've toured the blues world for the last gosh 15, 20 years I've toured in the blues industry. I've had a lot of luck, quite a few television placements. You might have heard some of my music in some of your favorite TV shows and then my partner and husband, who I was co-writing and playing with, and husband who I was co -writing and playing with, got a brain injury. And so this is my first song on my own and I decided to go a little bit more soul, more soul, more R&B and pop.

3:08 So this is my first endeavor in a long time, from coming out of blues on into my own. Okay, so real quick. What did you do? as a Las Vegas show girl, I know the movie show girls is out there in the nineties. So what did you do that? That was absolutely nothing, nothing like what it is for real. I got signed to my first show. I still have braces on my teeth so I had to get plastic the clear braces. And I was a freshman at UNLV and one of my dance professors was like you really got to come audition. So I went and auditioned and got it. I was just one of the chorus at the time, but it's two shows a night, six nights a week, you know, with the big feathers and the.

3:50 You know you're at heels and stuff and it's, it's hard work, plus going to school full time, you know, plus taking other classes and teaching classes at the time. So, um, yeah, it's, it's not like what that movie was. I mean there's prayer meetings in between shows, there's everybody's a family, it's people have families, it's. It's a job, you know, and it's a hard job. Being a professional dancer is a hard job. But I I worked a lot of the big shows, um, there also got moved to japan for a while and was doing a show over in Japan before coming back and then I started starring in the shows, becoming the featured dancer and that, before I went in, started going into stand-up.

4:39 I started seeing 30-year-olds get pink slips because they were too old. So I'm like, okay, time for me to learn a new craft. So I started working on stand-up, learning how to do it okay. Well, tell us who are some of your biggest influences in music. Who influences you to do what you do? oh, my goodness, um, I love me some ann pebbles. I love me some mavis staples. Um, you know all, all the stacks. And it's so funny because stevepper who I don't? Are you familiar with who that is?

5:22 No, tell us about him. Oh, my goodness, let's see, he won the Grammy for writing Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. Yeah, that's Steve. Oh, okay, I love that song. You know the song Soul man, I'm a soul man. Soul man. Yep, I love that song too. Play it, steve. That's Steve. Steve was one of the original Blues Brothers but he was one of the writers. He's the guitar player for so many hits that you know and love All the Sam and Dave, all the Otis Redding, all that stuff, so many of the Staples Singer songs.

6:03 There's so much great music that came out of Stax um records and that's Steve both playing on it and writing Um I. We got a chance to open for Steve. Never met him before. We opened for him here in Nashville and so we got done and he came up on stage and band started. He stopped the band and said that band that just left the stage, he goes. I don't know who they are, but if I were still writing music today, that's what I would be writing and we were like holy cow, he's talking about us. So afterwards he came out, found us, was hanging on to us and he's like I love your music and so I gave him a CD and I said we haven't released this yet but maybe you'd listen to it and maybe write liner notes.

6:53 I get an email in the middle of the night saying I cannot get one of your songs out of my head, but I think we can beat the vocal. Come to my studio I'm like, oh my God, this is a multi-winning, grammy winning artist. You know, one of my heroes that I grew up with you know listening to all the Stax music and Blues Brothers music. So he had us come to his studio. He's rocking out to our music and then I redid the vocal there. He produced it, he told me what he wanted to hear and, yeah, it was just amazing and since then he's just been like a dad, he's like a band dad and since then he's just been like a dad, he's like a band dad.

7:41 But he was such a huge influence with me growing up. And you too, I'm sure you know all the old Stax hits, midnight Hour, all that stuff. That's Steve, you know. Helping write, helping arrange, helping produce that stuff that's Steve, you know. Helping write, helping arrange, helping produce that stuff, you know. But it's definitely been a thrill getting to work with him and then getting to interact with him later and stuff. So those are some of my influences wow, that's pretty interesting. So tell us about you know, your, your, your new projects or any newer upcoming projects that you're working on.

8:24 You know, kind of talk about it, talk about what, what inspired it and anything else you want to say about it well, I this song. Um, like I said, and, by the way, this song just got picked up by our television publisher. We've got songs in like like gray's anatomy picked up, one clause picked up. We've got songs in so many tv shows and, um, this one just got picked up. So I'm crossing my fingers that a show will take it because our publisher is really picky, our TV publisher, he's so picky about what he's looking for.

9:04 But I always wanted to do something with layered, lots of layered vocals in it, layered, lots of layered vocals in it. I kind of got to go wild because it was me, by myself producing it. Usually I would produce with my husband, but this one was me. So I kind of went a little crazy. I did a little Ricky Lee Jones kind of thing on it and added all kinds of vocal layers. The people on there there's a couple of couple legends on that. The guitar player is Eugene Moles. He uh started playing with Buck Owens and Waylon Jennings when he was like 16. He started touring with them and you used to see him on Hee Haw and that that's when he was a little a boy and he is just amazing.

9:53 He's toured with so many greats. It was funny. He did the solo and he goes hey, it's kind of a midnight at the oasis solo. I said, isn't that funny? That's who's coming in to lay the b3. Mark t jordan played on midnight at the oasis. You know he's you got to look up the discography for mark t jordan. What all hits he played on. The guy's amazing. But I brought in a cool eclectic group of guys that I thought would fit together well on this, some known, some unknown.

10:37 And then I had a friend of mine. He used to be the guitar player for Rick Springfield. Um, he was a writer from Motown for years and, uh, since my husband's brain injury, he can no longer work our studio. So I had to go to a friend's studio and so he helped me, uh, put things together. And that's Jeff Silverman. Um, yeah, he was great and he went along with all my crazy ideas on this song. So I'm just I'm thrilled with the way it came out. You know I'm excited. I produce songs for other artists. I just did a, I just did an Americana artist, and then today I'm working with a Christian reggae artist and so I'm producing a new single out for them.

11:17 So that's literally why I was like come on computer work. I just got done working in a studio with those guys, so I'm crossing my fingers it'll come out good and they'll like where I'm taking it for them. Oh, I'm sure it definitely will. You're definitely talented I look. There's nothing more exciting to me than to to create a song, to go from nothing, absolutely nothing, and then seeing it all the way through and creating it. Well, you know, you know, as you know, starting with nothing on your hip hop songs and then creating something and hearing the parts in your head and then actually being able to get them down and have the end thing, you know, and I get excited helping helping other people do the exact same thing.

12:10 Absolutely Well. Throw out your contact info so people can keep up with everything that you're up to. Oh, I'm sorry, but you can find me like on Facebook or Instagram. I think I've got Marky Blue on Facebook Plus. I have Marky Blue, rick Latina Project. That's the band with my husband that we're no longer working because of his injury. Band with my husband. That isn't, we're no longer working because of his injury. Um, I think on instagram it's the same thing. I it's under marky blue, rick latina, but now it's just my stuff, or?

12:53 okay, we'll close this out with some final thoughts. Maybe, if that was something I forgot to talk about that you would like to touch on any final thoughts you have for the listeners let's see any final thoughts. Man, you know my life has changed so many times and you just got to keep walking through those doors as they open because you never know where it's going to lead. I mean literally started out as a dancer, which, and then I wound up doing standup comedy and working with so many celebrities, you know, and got into acting. Same thing, worked with so many different celebrities, but you know, and got into acting.

13:35 Same thing, worked with so many different celebrities, but you know, it kept going. And then I discovered songwriting and then started singing and it's, it's never too late, and just just keep following it. You don't know where something's going to lead and all the knowledge that you get along the way you're going to wind up using it later on. You may not see where it's going to come out and how you're going to wind up using it later on. You may not see where it's going to come out and how it's going to be used, but just keep following that creative doorway because you don't know what's around the next corner. Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen, the great Markie Blue. Please check out her music, check out everything she's up to, check out the new project.

14:17 Follow, rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible. Follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Visit wwwcurveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show and, markie, thank you for all that you do and thank you for the great music and thank you for joining me. Thank you so much, curtis, I appreciate it. For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit wwwcurveball337.com. Until next time, keep living the dream.