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Article From TIME OUT NY 9/07
By Beth Greenfield
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Boy in the hood
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Adam Joseph is raising his voice—and his profile—in the queer nightlife scene.
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Adam Joseph
THE GAY IMP Joseph has a hip-hop style
and a soulful sound.
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Just 25, Adam Joseph has already tried on a gamut of musical personas. First there was the choir boy, as he spent Sundays belting out spiritual harmonies with his mother, sister and brother at their Southern Baptist church in Cincinnati. “White gospel music— it wasn’t very exciting,” he says, adding that the phase didn’t last long. “I came out when I was 14 and kind of stopped going to church.”
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Next up was the show-tune queen. “I used to do a lot of musical theater and really thought it was what I wanted to do,” he says of his teenage interest, fostered at his hometown’s school of music and arts, which Joseph attended from fourth grade through high school. At 15 he also ventured into the hip-hop world and penned a series of rap songs. And by his college years—spent at Boston’s Berklee College of Music—he had dipped a toe into the waters of opera and other classical styles.
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But it wasn’t until his New York arrival in 2004 that he truly found his calling: as soul singer and producer. His entrée into the gay downtown club scene was a smash, as he quickly befriended and began collaborating with its familiar talents— including Jonny McGovern a.k.a. the Gay Pimp and Michael Formika Jones. And now, three years after releasing his first album, How I Seem to Be on his own Jah Records, Joseph is in the midst of one seriously shining moment. He just released two videos—the soulful “Your Mine [sic]” on MySpace, and the frisky “Faggoty Attention” on Logo—and began an August residence at the Ritz Lounge. The premiere performance of that monthlong residency was abuzz with fans.
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“Hey y’all!” he called out to them, an impressive mix of clubby gay boys (including nightlife impresario Daniel Nardicio) and straight African-American groupies who had crammed themselves into the banquette-lined back lounge at the new Restaurant Row hot spot. Joseph was backed by his own band, Elegant Children—Beyoncé percussionist Nikki Glaspie on drums, Amy Boules on keyboard and Aaron Bellamy on guitar—and kicked off his set with a retooled, hip-hoppy version of Sade’s “The Sweetest Taboo,” followed by his own amped-up soul material. The lanky, baby-faced singer—rocking white pants, black T-shirt, a thick rope chain and cocked black fedora—busted out with his low George Michael–esque sexiness, high-register sweetness and sassy raps. He looked thrilled to pieces.
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“I love performing live,” Joseph says a few days before the show, chatting with TONY over iced coffees in a Hell’s Kitchen café. “I feel really lucky because I get to do all three things—perform, write and produce.”
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Fine-tuning his skills at Berklee has helped him get plenty of paying gigs doing what he loves (and that’s a good thing, he explains, as his last pay-the-rent job—waiting tables at HK—was disastrous, with the owner telling him every day, “You’re the worst waiter I’ve ever seen!”). His writing chops have finally been taken seriously, as he recently snagged a publishing deal to write songs for other artists. He’s also signed with Columbia Records/Music with a Twist (which featured a track of his on the gay anthology Revolutions), and spends plenty of time in the studio perfecting his own style—“It’s real neosoul, R&B,” he says, “it’s not trying to be cute”— and has a second album in the works.
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Joseph did venture into cutesy territory recently, though, thanks to the fun-lovin’ influence of his pal McGovern. After performing with McGovern’s collective, Team Pimp, and producing his recent Gays Gone Wild CD (featuring tracks like “Girl, I F*cked Yo’ Boyfriend” and “Bossy Bottom”), Joseph was encouraged to try his hand at tongue-in-cheek pop.
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“Adam is amazing,” McGovern says of his “lil’ white hummingbird.” “He can do anything, from soul ballad to bitch track.”
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He explains that Joseph was “very amused by my faggoty lyrics…and soon you could tell he was ready to add a bit of ‘wink’ into a track or two [of his own]. I had suggested we write him a song called ‘Faggoty Attention,’ about the kind of special attention a straight guy could enjoy from a wily and willing homo,” he continues, “and a couple weeks later he said, ‘I wrote it,’ and played me the song, which I flipped for!” The clever, high-energy video, shot mainly at Formika’s party at Ultra, is out-of-control, double-entendre fun.
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“I figured if I was going to do something gay-themed, I’d just do it,” Joseph says. “I wasn’t going to try to be all cryptic.”
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"QUOTES"
"That's my NIGGA!"-Chaka Khan
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"The album is awesome, I love it! Your talent is irresistible, and the vocal choices you make are heaven sent."-RuPaul
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"An incredible debut from the best blue-eyed soul singer we've heard since Lewis Taylor!"-Dustygroove.com
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"That boy is BAD!!!"-Brenda Russell
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"Someone's been doing there homework"(after scatting with)-Dianne Reeves
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"If Anita Baker re-incarnated as a white boy...here he is"-Medusa
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"A sure testament to the phrase, 'don't judges a book by it's cover' Riding tight beats and flavorful chord changes it's an overall approach shot shot with a healthy dose of soul."-ispysoul.com
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"Man 'damn' I'm feelin your CD for real..."-Eric Roberson
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Nice album cover for X'Mas tune
It's in your blood.
