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Brenda Russell's career is at a new stage

By MARTY CLEAR
Published June 4, 2005

Singer-songwriter Brenda Russell is best known for such hits as Piano in the Dark and Get Here . But until recently, her life had been dominated by a two-year fight with diabetes.

Just now returning to performing after being diagnosed with Type I diabetes last summer, she'll be at Jannus Landing tonight as part of Norman Brown's Summer Storm, which also features Peabo Bryson, Everette Harp and, of course, Brown.

Much of her time away from performing was spent going from doctor to doctor, none of whom was able to recognize her symptoms, including pain and fatigue, as diabetes.

"I was crawling from one doctor to another, and they all said they didn't know what was wrong with me," Russell, 61, said by phone from Los Angeles. "One of them said it was vertigo. I just told him, "This is not vertigo. I feel like I'm going to die."'

Once she was diagnosed, she got the condition under control with lifestyle changes and daily insulin injections. Now she's feeling more energetic than she has in years.

Her recovery comes at a critical point in what she calls the most exciting project of her career.

With songwriting partners Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, Russell wrote songs for the musical version of The Color Purple , set to open on Broadway in November.

"We ran for six weeks in Atlanta in a regional production and the response was spectacular," she said. "President Carter was there, Coretta Scott King was there. We got a standing ovation every night."

Russell's songs have been recorded by Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Sting, and Earth, Wind and Fire, among many others, and she recently had a huge hit in England with Make You Smile , which reached No. 5 on the smooth jazz charts. She's no stranger to audience adulation.

But the opportunity to work and converse with Alice Walker, the author who won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Color Purple , was a singular thrill.

"That was the most exciting part of this project, to sit in the same room and listen to the fabulous Alice Walker," Russell said. "She is just so fabulous."

The musical has a different, more inspiring tone from the movie, which Russell said drew a mixed reaction from Walker.

"She liked some things about it, and she didn't like other things about it," Russell said. "And I'm sure it will be the same way with the play, cause it's her baby."

Saturday, she expects a less equivocal reaction from the Jannus Landing audience.

The Summer Storm tour began May 28, and so far fans have responding enthusiastically.

Despite that smooth jazz hit in England, and despite her sharing the stage with Bryson, Russell says her music is not really smooth jazz.

"I consider my music "universal soul,"' she said. "I'm a self-taught musician, and I like all types of music, and all the kinds of music I like come out in my songs. So you can call it pop, jazz, soul, R&B or whatever you want. I don't really like labels because they limit you."

[Last modified June 4, 2005, 06:14:28]