One on One with Producer/Writer/Artist/Inspirational Speaker, Marcella Precise

Jacklyn Jones
Dec 1, 2015
8 min read

Back in 2008 I had the opportunity to meet Marcella Precise. Our paths crossed when she reached out to me for an interview when I had just started a previous magazine at the time. Marcella interviewed me for her Inner Beauty/Outer Wellness Blogazine. I was extremely grateful and appreciated her beautiful spirit and warm energy!! I recently caught up with Marcella for an exclusive interview to see what she has been working on lately. Here is what the Multi-talented Artist told me in that interview.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Hi Marcella and thank you taking time out for this interview. You have made your mark in the music industry with numerous songs that you have written and produced. The list is endless! Can you tell me the first song you wrote and what artist it was for?

Marcella Precise: YAAY Le Votre Ezine! Hi there Jacklyn :) Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and the good that God has done for me. I am grateful for every new day I get to live my purpose and praise His name. I am a work in progress and I am appreciative of my journey as I am still growing!

Music has been apart of my life, my whole life. It was always around in every home, car and early life gatherings. My love of writing stories, poems, songs and being a Creative, keeps growing. I am thankful for every person that has encouraged me without even knowing. I wrote/recorded demos for my own projects, did open mics, produced hooks, freestyle sessions and since I believe in doing the work - the work expands the awareness.

My music landed in the gracious hands of the late great Icon, Luther Vandross. He wanted to meet me, offered me a recording contract, tour opportunity and I did songs for his album. Before I graduated from college I performed live on The Today Show as a featured artist with him and he let me interview him for one of my class finals. I will always cherish that recording and goodness he possessed.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Tell us how Lady And A Tramp came about?

Marcella Precise: Our mutual admiration for music, good food and passion for life brought us together. Prayer, faith and work are apart of our mantras. As per, "The Lady", my family always called me a little lady as a child. My friends in high school had the mentality that we were Ladies. Fun, focused, great dancers, fearless and lady like. Always learning. I was also apart of a awesome female collective that included Lauryn Hill, Bahamadia, Tripp & Uneek to do a song entitled "Da Ladies In The House". Tramp was an avid music collector in his teens and music producer. His massive vinyl collection had jumped all decades. He had albums older than the Otis Redding era back up, pass the Salt-N-Pepa. Both those artists had songs called Tramp and his producer name was born from that. Lady and A Tramp was meant to be. Tramp is also a great illustrator and was a once a graffiti writer as well. He's a great example of a multi-talented, kind, caring, person with drive :)

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Who are some of your influences?

Marcella Precise: I am inspired by many wonderful spirits sharing their journey through their art, charitable efforts and cool conversations. I think we are connected in the energy we convey as we walk in our purpose.

In my early teens I read liner notes in albums. Kenneth "BabyFace" Edmonds was a name I always saw while being in awe of his diverse writing style. He was in several singing groups, he wrote songs for men, he wrote songs for women and he captured specific details that express real life. When we got to work with him, (as Lady And A Tramp worked on Pink's album at his studio), I asked him questions about his earlier tunes and who sung the female vocals on songs that I played on repeat, what is his favorite song from the "Lovers" album and I ate all his yellow Starbursts lol. His wisdom, kindness and brilliance was priceless. I'm glad the universe chose us to receive it :).

I have equally been influenced by Kanye West, Diahann Carroll, Rihanna, Dianne Warren, Jamie Foxx, Sakiya Sandifer, Benny Blanco, Tyra Banks, Ralph Lauren, Queen Latifah, Osa Asemota, Anita Baker, Jay-Z, Rachel Ray, Rico Love, Sabre Mochachino, my mom, my dad, my junior high school teacher Ann Taylor. Each of these people were determined to use their diverse gifts to grow forward. They knew following their own instincts, self-encouragement, inner strength and unwavering belief was a real way to build their reality. Random doubt from the outside doesn't matter.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Not only are you a singer/songwriter/producer, but you are a voice actress. Can you tell us about some voice overs you have done?

Marcella Precise: Sure. I have just voiced an entire album that is dear to me. I am grateful to say, my 2 million viewed Inner Beauty/Outer Wellness blogazine, YaaY-You, has jumped off the pages and into a 60 minute audio (15 sets of 4 minutes) of Grateful Notes, affirmations with acronyms applied as "self-encouragement conversation" to rejuvenate your optimism, your spirit and persistence. Designed for anyone to get centered and go! The YaaY-You focus groups listened to it while jogging, cooking, meditating and for morning/bedtime motivation. "Yaay-You:Notes To Self, An Audio Conversation" has had over 10,000 plays. I hope it has truly impacted someone's joy and enthusiasm to go on. It can be found here http://apple.co/1MbOcEy and at all online (Apple Music, Spotify, Googleplay, etc) retailers.

I had the pleasure of writing music for commercials, such as a Guinness Malta health beverage in South Africa. I am grateful to have been one of the voices for Sasha of The Bratz, PSA’s and commercials ( Littlest Pet Shop, Wendys, Keyspan, Gamefly, Sesame Street, Lottery etc).

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): How do you balance your work and your personal life?

Marcella Precise: Through prayer, optimism, determination and planning. I am excited for the chance to have a new day so the balance is based in love. Honoring a schedule and being spontaneous are both rewarding. We get to live, help others as we help ourselves, so as I think about what is important and the importance of order, I just do what I have to do. My perspective is to always be open to the goodness of work and play.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Can you tell us your most memorable and rewarding experiences in music?

Marcella Precise: Oh wow! I TRULY BELIEVE THE BEST IS YET TO COME! :) When I received a BMI Award and got nominated for a Grammy the first time, I knew the work had just begun. But there are so many great reasons to remember the fun. Lady And A Tramp have worked with Jaheim on all his albums and our friendships go past the music. Going shopping with Pink once for a memorable gift for a friend was really fun. Writing a song with the amazing Syleena Johnson for a Naughty By Nature album was dooope! She is such an inspiration. Ooh and once upon a time I had a uplifting conversation with the super fly Slick Rick at his amazing home (Hi Mandy!!!) and started writing a song with him. Thank you God for the journey so far.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): What project(s) are you currently working on?

Marcella Precise: I am preparing to continue The YaaY-You:Notes To Self, A Face To Face Conversation workshops based on my concepts for joy and the content of the audio spoken album "YaaY-You:Notes To Self, An Audio Conversation". If you take a listen to it, I hope you love it :) I am thankful that my genuine excitement for life helps me improve on what I have to do, to get to my goals completed. That excitement, led to me being requested to create a platform where I can share my concepts thru conversations and fun activities with attendees (The Yaay-Sayers).

My new album #TAFR that I co-produced will be released in 2016. A little girl from Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, N.Y. had dreams of living her purposes, helping others with theirs, loving my family and loving life. No matter the struggles. There was always hope and perseverance to keep my thankful. Thankful to remember that I already have everything I need, inside, to cherish the new days I get.

Lady And A Tramp are producing the phenomenal new artist, Ryan Lane. He was a timeless voice and so much style in many ways! There are also 2 albums that we are just beginning to work on for artists that we all know and love. I am excited to reveal more as more is revealed to me.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): What artist would you like to work with or collaborate with and why?

Marcella Precise: Music is life. Life is what you believe and feel. I look forward to energies connecting, to do good things. I would like to place songs on albums with producers DJ Snake, James Fauntleroy, Bryan-Micheal Cox, Shea Taylor, Dem Jointz and Will I AM. I would like to do amazing classic work with Childish Gambino, Mariah Carey, Usher, Tamar Braxton, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, 5 Seconds of Summer, Janelle Monae and Drake. Each person has their own imagination and focus that seems to carry them to really live in the details of songs they make. It's awesome to witness folks enjoying their craft, feeling good and never giving up. Oh, I had the pleasure of working with Brayton Bowman and the great producer Om'Mas Keith as well as the ultra talented Jordan Bratton. Good vibes.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): As a Singer, how would describe your type of music?

Marcella Precise: My music is fun and some would said it has thought provoking themes that can uplift. Life, Love and possibilities. I just love to create and be true to myself so it's up to the listener to decide if it's Pop, EDM, Hip Hop. My tune released in Spain entitled "Joli" with Mon DJ and Master System Never Died is Tropical House yet one of my other tunes "Champagne" is Dance.

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): You have produced theme songs for television and movies. Name your favorite theme song you have produced/written.

Marcella Precise: Lady And A Tramp being apart of the team for the impeccable Queen Latifah Show on CBS made history. Grateful for Centric and BET promos as well. My tune "Fly" featuring my UK family, Juliette Ashby was super fun to do and even more fun to hear it air on VH1/MTV Channels. There's some music in the works for a documentary and new tv shows, so stay tuned :)

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): What advice can you give to someone looking to get into singing, producing or writing music?

Marcella Precise: Enjoy your journey and believe! Always be kind, while being open learning and growing in your work. Make good friends and cherish them. If giving up will bring you down, don't ever give up. Trust your instinct. Make your own reasons and stick to those and hopefully you'll remember why you started in the fist place. Have fun and faith! :)

Jacklyn (Le Votre Ezine): Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Marcella Precise: Loving life with my wonderful husband. Owning beautiful homes on the West Coast as well as the East. Homes filled with great food, music, our good times and immeasurable joy:) As well as business ventures/partnerships rewarding us in ways that we plan and can appreciate. Giving back to The Arts and still giving thanks for God's grace.- Marcella Precise

Connect with Marcella Precise, visit her at: hhttps://twitter.com/MarcellaPrecise

ttps://www.instagram.com/MarcellaPrecise/

Download Marcella's YAAY YOU Inspirational Audio spoken album

"YaaY You: Notes To Self - An Audio Conversation" Available Now!