Back in 1999, I heard on the radio that singer Monica was coming to perform in my hometown as a part of the Nickelodeon ‘All That’ Tour. I was already on a huge high because I had just attended a Whitney Houston concert in Chicago a few weeks earlier.
The first thing that came to my mind when I heard the radio promo was: Wouldn’t it be great if I could interview Monica when she came to town? Why not? I thought. I can at least try.
That day, I called Matt Dietrich, the Arts & Entertainment editor of the local newspaper to see if he could give me the contact information I needed to secure the interview. Matt and I had met after he saw my interview with Whitney Houston on an MTV show called Fanatic. He wrote a great cover story article about my journey to Whitney, and as a result we established a great rapport with each other.
When we spoke, he was extremely helpful and gave me the information I was seeking.
Before we hung up he said, “Let me know if you do get the interview with Monica. I would be willing to publish it.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
“I will get right on it, and see what I come up with.” I replied.
“Keep me posted.” He said as we hung up.
After I hung up with Matt, I called Stan Washington, my friend and editor of The Atlanta Voice. When we spoke, I told him how excited I was about my possible interview with Monica. He looked at his schedule of events and said, “Monica will be performing in Atlanta soon too and I would also like to run the interview if you get it.”
“Really?” I asked shocked for the second time in a row.
“Yes, really.” He said. “Call me when you know something.”
This was bizarre. In a matter of a couple of hours, I had two editors interested in an interview I wanted to do after hearing a radio promotion. What is strange is I almost never listen to the radio in my hometown because none of them have an urban format, yet here I was being informed that an R&B artist was coming to town. This interview had to be meant to be.
When I finally called the publicist at the record label, I was told that I would have to set up the interview with Monica’s manager. Right after she gave me the number, I hung up and quickly reached out to Monica’s manager.
She said, “You don’t have to wait until Monica’s performance. I can set up a phone interview in a couple of days.”
“That would be great.” I said.
She then told me the day and time Monica would be available to do the interview. When I hung up I sat quietly in amazement at how quickly thoughts can become things. Normal procedure for securing an interview with an artist could include faxing requests, back and forth phone calls that could go unanswered, and waiting for approvals via email. And this still wouldn’t guarantee that you’ll get an interview. None of that applied to my scenario. Everything happened so quickly that all those steps were eliminated from my process. With just a few phone calls, I had secured an interview with Grammy award winning artist, Monica.
The day I interviewed Monica was great. I asked her all about touring, family and winning her first Grammy, which she shares with singer Brandy for the song, The Boy is Mine. Before we completed the interview, I sincerely thanked Monica on behalf of music fans everywhere for taking time out to do the MTV show Fanatic simply because of how much it meant to me during my experience as a fan on the show.
“It means so much for everyday music fans to meet and thank the people you have always looked up to.” I said.
“You know I really enjoyed doing that show.” Monica said. “It is always great to meet the people who really support you and your music. I love to meet my fans and let them know I am human just like them. I feel that anyone with determination can do the same things I am doing. By the way who did you get a chance to meet on the show?” Monica asked.
“Whitney Houston!” I said excitedly.
“You know what?” She questioned. “I was with Whitney when that came on. Didn’t you have braids?”
Oh My God, I thought. But I wanted to scream. Monica saw the show with Whitney! Calm down Quencie, I said to myself, calm down.
“Yes that was me.” I said trying hard to suppress my shock.
“You sure do have a laugh on you.” Monica said jokingly.
“Oh I know.” I said trying even harder to cover up how stunned I was to be hearing this from her. “But I can’t help it. I come by it naturally. “
Monica chuckled and said, “I’ll have to tell Nip I spoke to you.”
“Please tell her I said hello.” I said.
As soon as we hung up I screamed, jumped up and down then immediately focused all of my energy and excitement into the article about Monica. A few weeks later when Monica came to town, she and her people were thrilled to find out that the article I did on her was featured on the front page of the entertainment section. To be honest, I was shocked too. I had no idea when I did the interview that the editor would put it on the front page. The only other time anything I did was on the front page was when I interviewed Whitney Houston. So, this was beyond cool.
I went to the show and absolutely loved Monica’s performance. To date, it’s still the only time I have ever seen her perform live in concert. I don’t remember having to buy a ticket to the show so, I’m guessing I got a pair of comp tickets from the newspaper I wrote the article for, because I actually took a friend with me. And knowing me, I wouldn’t have invited anyone unless I had an extra ticket.
One thing I definitely didn’t have were any backstage passes. However, that didn’t stop me from finding a way backstage to meet Monica in person. If you know me, this may not be that surprising to you. But I was always shocked when and if I could make it happen. I used the article I wrote as my way in. Before the concert, I had taken the time to get the article laminated because I really wanted it to be signed by Monica. Right before her concert ended, I made my way to where the backstage entrance was. Once I got there, I asked security if they could take my article backstage and ask Monica if she would be willing to autograph it for me. Security agreed to ask and took my article backstage while I waited patiently at the doorway. When security returned he said Monica wants you to come backstage. What?! All I wanted was an autograph and I ended up with an invitation! I was floored!
