PRAYZEHYMN Online | where gospel music lives [Interview with June Rochelle]

By J. MATTHEW COBB
Founder, Editor-In-Chief of PRAYZEHYMN Entertainment

HER OUTER BEAUTY CAN BE COMPARED to an ebony beauty queen. Her voice has even graced major platforms while providing sultry background vocals for musical divas such as Celine Dion and Diana Ross. But the name June Rochelle may not register in the minds of those that have already mastered the science of gospeltology. Or in other words have an ear for the Who's Who in Gospel Music. And while they may wonder if June Rochelle can match up with popular female vocalists such as Yolanda Adams, she's well under way to achieving that goal. She recently opened for Yolanda Adams and J. Moss on the Yolanda Adams Today tour in Huntsville, Alabama and is preparing to release her soulful ministry to the world on April 4th with her national debut, "Changing Places", which will be released on Vision Entertainment Media and distributed by Pyramid/Fontana. Plus, one look at her itinerary in the upcoming months and you are bound to say June Rochelle is "going places". Several stops include the GMA's Dove Award celebration, I Hear The Music In The Air (sponsored by GospoCentric Records) and a grand appearance on Bobby Jones Gospel, set to air on Black Entertainment Television (BET).

So who is she? What is her mission? Her aspirations? Her agenda? Well, PRAYZEHYMN sat down with the up-and-coming rising star from Indianapolis, Indiana to discuss these things. A little chi-chat, if that's what you want to call it. Yet it was evident from the phone conversation that her future truly looks brighter.

PRAYZEHYMN (PH): While growing up, did you listen to gospel music? If so, who do you recall best impacted your life musically?
JUNE ROCHELLE (JR): I grew up listening to artists like Walter Hawkins and the Clark Sisters. You know before they were individuals I knew them as the Clark Sisters so...them two really influenced me...Coming up under my mother, she used to be a secular singer. Actually she was in church too. I would call her...sorta like an Aretha Franklin...where you grow up in church but you kinda branch out and do different things. She was in a group [the Sentimentals] and she would open up for Patti Labelle & the Blubelles. I was very young at the time. She was around music alot and went on to start one of the first black independent labels in Indianapolis and I was exposed to so much music because my parents not only listened to gospel, but they listened to country, R&B, soul...I mean they were like always on the Billboard charts; tracking each record from every artist you can think of.

PH: According to your bio, you have sung with Diana Ross and Celine Dion. What memorable events from that period shaped you into who you are now?
JR: Professionalism. There's one thing that I can say from a vocal perspective...and I do want to clarify; I was a person when an entertainment agency, when they needed a professional person to do backup for them...that could learn a song in a hour and a dance routine in a hour, I was one of the people that was called. We had a day or two to get ready for the show. I was fortunate to back up for Diana Ross and Celine Dion. But one of the things I took from them is being on time, being professional...knowing what you got to do before you get there and getting the job done, ya know. And Celine was very gracious, very accessible, very reachable. And you know even in gospel sometimes you don't always see that, but I saw professionalism and graciousness...and a way you should carry yourself.

PH: Because of your affliation with secular artists, do you plan to sing record secular music in the future?
JR: Actually I do not. I wrote a mini-cd featuring jazz songs and contemporary R&B songs for a particular label several years ago. I was writing a few songs that I wanted to present to Yab Yum Records; which at the time was under LaFace Records. And there were four songs: two jazz songs and two R&B songs. And I didn't get a good feeling about it. I just so happened to go up and look up what "Yab Yum" meant and it was a terminology for a Japanese god [god of love]. You know those idol gods. And I was like, "Oh, no!" [Laughing]. So to say the least, that was scrapped. And I just decided not to do secular. I have an appreciation for the music and some of the songs and the messages are good but I knew God had put a calling on my life 'cause I been singing in church since I was twelve. And so, that was the time of my life I was just experimenting with being a writer; trying to see if I can write for anybody.

PH: Do you have a problem being labeled an inspirational artist or gospel artist?
JR: I don't have a problem with any title because I am all things to all people that I may win souls to Christ and really to encourage people And I believe this particular cd has been widely received by so many people because I was true to what God had given me. So if I go to a church and they call me gospel or if I go to a Jewish convention and they call me inspirational and let people feel encouraged once I leave, and they can say Yes that woman carrying the spirit of God in her, well done, that's ok with me, I don't have any problems with being branded or titled at all. I don't have a problem...not at all. Its not important at all because when we get to heaven, the name, badge the title they gonna fall off anyway. But that's not anything I concern myself with. It's not for fame, its not for fortune, its not for all eyes to see me. Especially...particularly today I just got through watching some footage about the Hurricane Katrina survivors and my heart, just the compassion that I felt, I was like if I only had a gazillion dollars, ya know, what I could do and about what I sent in already. And I was like "God, if you could send me to Louisiana to sing", ya know, that's just my heart.

JUNE ROCHELLE will be dropping her national debut project on the country on April 4, 2006. Her vocals have been compared to the likes of Yolanda Adams, Aretha Franklin and Tamela Mann, with musical stylings ranging from contemporary soul/R&B to urban gospel.

PH: You are an awesome songwriter. How would you best describe your songwriting process?
JR: It comes from my experience and it also comes from the music. Uh, I liken songwriting to - if God gives you an assingnment and he's like "OK, heres a lump of clay and I want you to make something out of it." It's a process and you build upon it. But sometimes it can take me a couple of hours or up to a couple of days. But usually God gives me a concept or a hook or a chorus then I build upon. And of course, theres going to be experience.

PH: Who produced "Changing Faces"?
JR: The producer of the music is Robert Tatum, Jr. and hes from Indianapolis also. And it just so happen that he wrote the music on all the songs but a couple of them, worship, I wrote the music on that. So he just gives me the music and I just write the lyrics and the arrangements for about 95% of the stuff I did on that album.

PH: I'm sure there is a story or a defining moment which brought about the effective album title. Whas was the inspiration behind it?
JR: Actually "Changing Places" was a title that was given to me by my label. And when they gave me that title, I actually wrote a song about it. When I thought about the title, I said "Changing places/from poor to rich/sad to happy/sickness to health" and as the children of God we should always be ready to change places, to go from bad to good, from sickness to health, because God wants us to have abundant life and He wants us to be blessed. And he wants us to make up in our minds that we are going to go on with the Lord and allow His will to be in our lives. And you have to change places for that. You have to literally step out of the old and into the new. And that's actually what the CD title is about. Coming out of the old and into the new. Coming out of the bad. And hopefully every song will be received as evidence that you can change places. Even with, and i just want to elaborate, even with [the single] "For All The Love", that's a song about changing places. It's a song about being hurt by human beings, but instead of dwelling on the hurt that the person did, you're like "You know what, I might have been lied to by Brother-So-And-So or Sister-So-And-So, but God has never lied to me. and He's always been there for me.

PH: You deal with various social issues and subjects of importance on your project. Alot of gospel artists avoid areas of controversy, especially when the lyrical content allows them to become transparent before their listeners. Are you okay with being transparent?
JR: Um, transparency to me is good because when you are transparent, it leaves little to hide and you learn about yourself in order to help yourself. In allowing yourself to be transparent...of course it will help other people, but for the most part I feel that transparency gives you an opportunity to be who you really are. When we hide things, it's because we don't want people to see who really are. So I try to be as transparent as I can.

PH: OK. I'm bout to pull an Oprah move on ya. Big question [laughing].
JR: [Also laughing] Go right ahead. I don't mind.

PH: This is a startling fact. Based off of a survey by the Barna Research Group, divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups and for Athiests and Agnostics. It may be hard to believe or digest, but we can say that there have been a good number of gospel artists to battle with divorce. You were a victim to a failing marriage and in closing, experienced a divorce. How did you begin to heal from this breaking experience?
JR: [Stunned silence] Well, it wasn't easy. I was married for fifteen years...and the problem I had is that I married an unbeliever. And I feel that if you marry someone that doesn't believe...and I try to watch my words carefully because you don't want to say things about people and they can't defend themselves. So it's always gonna be an interview from my perception on my side and I leave people with the certain amount of respect; whether its earned or not. I feel that its a given right.

It is very difficult and I tell people, especially when I have the opportunity to talk with young people, wait on God and hear from God. Get counsel and wisdom and advice from your pastor; because when you make that transition and you make that covenant, if you marry the wrong person, it is as painful year after year as it is when you have to separate from that person. It's a painful experience all the way around. Now, there is grace and mercy to help you keep through it, but from me, when you are dealing with two people, the head is going to be the head. And if the head is darkness, then the house is darkness. And there are opportunities when spirits will come into your home and infratrate...and you're in a constant warfare state. And I was in constant warfare for the last ten years of it [the marriage], to the point where I just got down on my face and I think I cried for a good ten years and I just cried. And I prayed, "Lord, release me from this thing". Because I knew I had a call and a ministry on my life and I knew I needed a covering, yet I was in a situation where my calling was in a spot of jealousy.

My situation I wasn't married to a believer. So, after awhile the Word of God says that you become an enemy to those that don't love God. God said "I'll set mothers against daughters, fathers against sons, and a man against his own household." And that's what happens. And people don't understand it, but that's what happens when you are in the presence and living with non-believers, afterwhile you even have to separate from non-believers that don't want God. That was my situation. And he wasn't a bad person, but when you don't have God in you, you can make bad choices and do bad things.

PH: Who do you wish to work with or collaborate with in the near future?
JR: Oh wow! (Laughing) I mean, well, musically? I wouldn't mind working with Karen Clark-Sheard, Yolanda Adams or J. Moss. Non-musically? Oprah Winfrey.

OTHER VALUABLE RESOURCES TO LOOK INTO:
We perish because of the lack of knowledge. Get schooled.

Sonicbids - June Rochelle - Bio, music clips, video, photos, calendar and much more.
Vision Entertainment Media Group - Macromedia Flash needed.