Daily Discovery: Adjoa Skinner, “The Sun”

ARTIST: Adjoa Skinner

SONG: “The Sun“

BIRTHDATE: March 15, 1982 – my father delivered me in my parents bedroom with the Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Dept on stand-by.

HOMETOWN: Lancaster, NY

CURRENT LOCATION: Nashville, TN

AMBITIONS: The ambition that is my main focus right now is to finish writing this Musical that I’ve been writing.  In a month I’m launching a crowd sourcing campaign to get it into production this January in Los Angeles. I’m wishing on a star and working like a crazy person so that I can eventually get one of my works on Broadway. That would be a dream come true. I guess I’m just silly enough to believe that if you aim and keep on shooting, eventually you’ll hit the bullseye. Other ambitions include… a Grammy, a Family, a performing arts curriculum

TURN-OFFS: Someone who is lazy, ignorant, judgmental & has road rage.

TURN-ONS: Someone who is generous, thoughtful, fun-loving, & just a bit odd.

DREAM GIG: Radio City Music Hall

FAVORITE LYRIC: I love Sting, so I would go with one of his best “It’s Probably Me”

When your belly’s empty and the hunger’s so real
And you’re too proud to beg and too dumb to steal
You search the city for your only friend
No one would you see
You ask yourself, who could it be
A solitary voice to speak out and set me free
It’s hard to say it
I hate to say it, but it’s probably me……

When the world’s gone crazy and it makes no sense
There’s only one voice that comes to your defense
The jury’s out and your eyes search the room
And one friendly face is all you need to see
If there’s one guy, just one guy
Who’d lay down his life for you and I
It’s hard to say it
I hate to say it, but it’s probably me.

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: My Mother. My mother is really into horticulture and trespassing. When we were little she would take us on hikes everywhere, she would teach us what wild mushrooms not to eat and which ones were on the fringe, just in case we ever got lost in the woods. One time she ate a mushroom saying “Now this will either taste like chicken or I will black out.” she proceeded to black out and then told my sister (who was 14 at the time) to drive to our uncle’s house and threw the car keys at her…. she regained consciousness minutes later.

My mother felt like we should always have a sense of wonderment and adventure. She locked the television so we would experience life outside of entertainment. This helped me understand the art of unhinging lock boxes with needle nose pliers. This also led me to pursue a job in the entertainment field.

Realistically music and entertainment was the most obvious choice for me because my mom and step dad are professional musicians and taught me most of what I know. I was their 12 year old roadie. Which gave me awesome guns like my mother. She’s ripped for a woman in her 50’s cause she’s still hauling her own gear while coming up with new shows in order to make a living. And making it all costs. My mother was in a mini van a few years back en route to a school show with one of her band mates and it was an icy road… so she was taking a nap in the back of the van when she heard “Hold on Sue… I’m losing control” she remembered our old neighbor Ruth tell her “If you’re ever in a car accident, just go limp”…. so she did and after they rolled the van over she got out with a concussion. She refused an ambulance because she didn’t have health insurance and then proceeded to drive to their show to perform a school show hours after the accident. You can see my mother’s work as children’s performer “Mama Earth” at: http://susanrozler.com

Basically all of this taught us how to survive anywhere… maybe thats why I didn’t mind living in Africa for nearly two years as a single 20 year old.

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Somebody to Love” by Queen. It’s such a good anthem song. I can’t help but sing along.

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: If we’re talking famous people, I’d like to have dinner with Bono, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah, Milla Jovovich, and Jan Egeland (cause like Ylvis says, “when there’s war and all is hell… Call in Jan Egeland”) …. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn-oemgzlEU

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Since you said experience… I would have to go with Bonobo at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles. My friend Joe was their tour manager so he called me up and asked if I wanted to go to the show. So I grabbed my friend Deborah and we met up with him and the band backstage. After going to sushi with them before the show, we got seats in whatever section we wanted. I was blown away by their 13 piece group – equipped with the sickest drummer, Simon spinning on the turntables and even a harpist! Their trombone player Jason Disu became a good friend and actually played on my album “Songs For Tall Women & The Short Men Who Love Them” when he was in town. Last I knew he was touring with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. He’s ridiculously awesome! You can hear 30 seconds of the song he played on “Bikini” right here:https://vimeo.com/48933065

I WROTE THIS SONG: “The Sun” with film composer Mateo Messina. He’s a great friend. He and his wife Tammy have raised over $1 Million for the Seattle Children’s Hospital. Mateo has composed 15 different symphonies for these benefits, performing them with featured artists and terminally ill children. The guy is amazingly prolific and has such a versatile style, so when he asked me to try out a melody line and lyric on a piece of music he had composed, I was ecstatic! We sat in his studio in Los Angeles and basically pieced this song together and recorded it on the spot. I remember singing at the top of my lungs all the way across the room to get a fuller sound with the vocals at the end… it worked! His pug Ernie enjoyed the recording session very much.