Teron Beal: Acting Like a Songwriter

Teron Beal was studying acting at the University of Southern California when he landed the lead role in one of the university plays. The production turned into a musical, the director encouraged Teron to sing, and he found himself hanging out in recording studios with the musicians and singers who had quickly become his friends. Soon Teron was writing songs, and while his friends didn’t tell him he was writing the next number one single, they did encourage him to keep writing.

Teron Beal was studying acting at the University of Southern California when he landed the lead role in one of the university plays. The production turned into a musical, the director encouraged Teron to sing, and he found himself hanging out in recording studios with the musicians and singers who had quickly become his friends. Soon Teron was writing songs, and while his friends didn’t tell him he was writing the next number one single, they did encourage him to keep writing.

Today the young man has residences in both New York City and Los Angeles, and he’s a much in-demand lyricist for the rap and hip-hop market, with aspirations to expand his writing expertise into other areas.

Though he had a cut with Immature in 1995, Teron really considers his recent success with Shanice, “Doin’ My Thing,” his first effort where he really knew what he was doing.

“I’m signed to BMG music and Derrick Thompson (vice president, urban music) gave me a cut from a producer who was looking for someone to write to tracks,” Teron explains. “He knew I was looking for people to write with, because I hadn’t established working relationships with producers.

“I heard the track and I immediately knew what I was going to do with it. I have these friends who call and get me to turn to Jerry Springer because they know I don’t like to watch that show. They had just done that a few nights earlier, and there were these two girls yelling at each other… ‘I want her to leave my man alone’ and the other one is screaming ‘He’s paging me!’ When I heard this track that was fresh in my mind, and I wrote the song almost verbatim from that Jerry Springer episode.”

The guy who produced the song signed with a production company owned by LA Reid, who sent the cut on to Babyface. He liked the song, asked who Teron was, and wanted to work with him on it. When Teron and Babyface met, Teron told him that he was so influenced by the producer’s music that it should come as no surprise that Babyface liked the song!

Babyface said he thought there should be a bridge and Teron started making suggestions. “Then I realized here I was, working with Babyface, and I’m trying to tell him what should be done with a song!! So I stopped but he encouraged me to go on, saying he wanted to hear my ideas. It was just one of the best experiences. I mean, I went around for days after that going ‘Hey, I know Babyface!’” The song was pitched to Shanice, she loved it, and Teron got to be in the studio when she recorded it.

Teron has upcoming cuts by Mya, Ray J (Brandy’s brother) and Changing Faces. He also has had a duet recorded by Kelly Price and Chico DeBarge. While he is getting to be very established in the hip-hop and rap world, Teron would like to expand his writing to other markets.

“People look to me to write young hip black stuff, not ‘Colors of the Wind.’ I want to be so much more creative now, I want to write some great stuff that will make people call me and tell me the things I want to say to Garth Brooks about ‘The Dance’ or ‘Unanswered Prayers.’

“People tell me that when I write songs, I have a concept and I stick to it, but the songs I’ve been writing are trendy. I’d like to write a song that becomes an artist’s signature song. I want to write the songs with lyrics that will stand the test of time.”