Phatmag Takes a Look Inside Cherise The MOBO Sensation

For those of you that haven’t yet heard of Cherise listen up cause you are gonna know all about her very soon. She is the new kid on the UK R&B scene, last years winner of the best unsigned act at the MOBO’s, and East West Records hot new signing. Her album is just about to be released, and as usual Phatmag knows whats going on and went along to see what she has to say.
We encounter a young girl who admits that all this media stuff is quite new to her and she’s a little nervous, but she soon relaxes and begins to tell us how excited she is about her album coming out. “I can’t wait till it comes out. They showed me the whole plan and the final prints and I was like wow, it’s really happening. It don’t click in till you see something right in front of you.’ She tells us that she has been working hard, in and out of studios recording the album, not that she minds though, “I want it too bad and I’ve been waiting too long. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I’ve never wanted anything else.”
So what is Cherise’s story? “ I come from a mixed family and I live in Shepherds Bush. My mums Irish and my dads Jamaican. I always wanted to sing, and I’ve been recording since I was nine years old with my dad. I done loads and loads of auditions and never ever got through. I then hooked up with a rap group, who made loads of promises as people in the music industry do. Then I worked with Big Brovas who entered me for the MOBO awards. Two thousand people took part, five heats and I won.” That’s when she first made her mark. “I thought yeah it’s finally happening. I am not gonna say that I’ve been waiting a long time, cause I know people out there who are in their big old forties and have been doing it since they were young. But for me it’s been long enough, cause I’m not a very patient person.”
The production team Big Brovas heard Cherise’s voice on a mix tape, and tracked her down to work with her. And she was very happy to work with them,” As soon as I heard their stuff, I said no one does production in the UK like BJ he is wicked, BJ’s stuff is the stuff, I love working with him, Mike and all those guys”. It seems like Cherise has benefited from their touch, She tells us, “When they first reworked 2nd Best and put the Miami Bass thing on it I wasn’t sure. But when I started to perform it people went crazy, and I it was like all right then, know what I mean. If they like it that must mean something”.
‘2nd Best’ is going to be the first single and features Dino another talented young singer from London. Cherise tells us the story of how it came about, “the day I met Big Brovas was the day I met Dino. He had written 2nd Best on that day and we recorded it on that day. And that was like two years ago. People see it as like its been out for two years and its just got picked up now, as though that’s luck and you haven’t had to do nothing. But I’ve had to break it on the underground so bad. Doing nightclubs, doing this doing that, trying to get interviews for small magazines. It is hard.” Doing lots of little clubs and PA’s have given her some useful experience but she still admits to nerves before a live performance, especially if that gig is supporting Missy Elliot as she did recently at the Brixton Academy. “Its mad yeah, cause if I’m going to a Missy concert I want to see Missy, I don’t wanna see no supporting act. And that’s how I was thinking, these people are not going to take me very well, they wont be patient cause they wanna see Missy. But the crowd was good; they were really nice to me. I respect those sort of crowds that give people a chance.”

That gig isn’t the only big gig that Cherise has done recently. She appeared at Jam In The Park on the same stage as the likes of Destiny’s Child. She also appeared along side the other acts who work with Big Brovas supporting Black Rob. “We all just got up on the stage together, all hype and jumping about, Black Rob was there. I just loved it cause I thought look what we are doing, we’re giving them a taste of what we can do, we can do something just as good, we let them hear what we’re about.” And Cherise feels that the Americans need to know more about UK music. “I was in New York and I interviewed Ray J and Phillys Most Wanted, I was with George K over there. And I’m asking questions like do you know about UK music, do you know about the garage scene and they’re like sorry no. They need to see the light. All they knew about was Craig David but they were like we don’t like him though. I was like don’t try it, Craig is bad, but they were like no man we’ve already got so much of that out there. And that’s a bit frustrating for me cause I’m an R&B artist and if they don’t accept us that’s terrible. I’m trying to bust it international, I’m sure anyone else would want that, it’s every one else’s goal, but America is a tough place.”