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The
Radar Screen Interview – Danielia Cotton
April 1, 2004
by Alexander Washburn
 “It’s
a really good time for me right now,” Danielia Cotton
says to a late-arriving Radar Screen. We’ve decided
to meet for lunch near Danielia’s Chelsea neighborhood
on a cold, snowy Wednesday afternoon and even before Radar
Screen can whip out the handheld recorder, Danielia is
talking about her new backers, her hand-selected producers
and a slew of new songs she’s working on.
Danielia’s backers are aiming toward the sky with
her, a safe bet if you’ve ever heard her sing or
gazed at her rock goddess face and body. Danielia, sensing
that this is her moment is also aiming high and is up
for the tasks that lie ahead. Among the tasks for this
up and coming singer – finding a record label that
will put money and marketing power behind her and her
magic voice.
She scans the menu recalling a lentil salad the restaurant
use to serve. When the waitress informs her that they
don’t have the lentil salad anymore but today are
featuring lentil soup, Danielia opts for that and a mixed
green salad to boot.
“Can you bring the soup first?” she says.
“These tables are so small.”
One of the reasons that it is a really good time for Danielia
Cotton is because of Anthony Liberatore and Michael Dixon
who have put big money behind the young singer. “Anthony
and Michael are incredibly supportive,” she says,
and recalls the night she met them after her performance
one evening at the Cutting Room. “They came up to
me and said, ‘We want to help you do what you want
to do.’”
They were immediately tested when Danielia wanted Kevin
Salem to produce her new songs. Her backers had never
heard of Salem, who has produced Chocolate Genius as well
as winning songwriting awards from Rolling Stone
magazine. Yet they trusted her vision, stayed true to
their word and the duo green-lighted the hiring of Salem
solidifying this match made in Chelsea.
“You normally don’t find people like that.
Backers tend to want to dictate everything but they’ve
given me a wealth of freedom. They’re my dream team.”
With people she trusts and respects fully in her corner,
Danielia is now in the process of recording 10 new songs
in order to showcase her talent to more perspective labels.
To date, six of them are finished and considering that
she is relying on new material and not pulling from the
old Danielia Cotton catalog (which was far from shabby),
this is highly impressive and a testament to her work
ethic.
Radar Screen first saw and heard Ms. Cotton at the Cutting
Room over a year ago (see Radar
Screen 3/03). Danielia has a rock and roll sound in
which to lay her soulful, bluesy voice over. At times
she sounds as if she can be a headliner on Lollapalooza,
and at others The Smoking Grooves tour seems more her
speed. Throughout it all, however, is that blues voice.
Strong and forceful and always the star of the show, it
is the perfect complement for her interpersonal lyrics
and meaningful storytelling.
Even though she hasn’t played much in NYC over the
last year, Danielia hasn’t stopped working, honing
her guitar playing and vocals.
“Vocally, I’ve grown leaps and bounds,”
she says somewhat surprising as if she didn’t feel
she could grow further in this area. “For the first
time in a while, I remembered that you’re telling
a story every time you sing.”
Danielia’s love of music never left but as she puts
it, it’s sometimes hard to feel that love throughout
it all. “You’re constantly pushing. You give
so much trying to get noticed. Trying to get signed. You
get so tired doing all the other things that you have
to do in the music business that you forget. I started
to like what I was doing again.”
One of the songs that she feels have helped her grow is
a new recording she made with Salem entitled Shame. Upon
listening to this track, it’s easy to hear why Danielia
considers it to be one of the most intense songs she has
ever sang or recorded.
The intensity heard in her voice is a result of what she
calls “living a little,” a combination of
paying her dues and knowing what and how she wants to
say things. If Danielia sounds like a mature veteran of
a battlefield that is littered with failed indie artists,
she is, Radar Screen is just not sure how old she is,
and Cotton is not offering up that information.
Revealing that information, Danielia feels, can be used
against her by an industry that is obsessed with looks
and marketing more so than they’re obsessed with
talent. “To be ashamed to say that you’re
not 19 is foul. Tell people you’re in your late-20’s
and the industry automatically shuts off,” she says
playing with her lentil soup.
“Labels want you to write songs like you’ve
been kicked in the butt a few times but at the same time
want you to be 17. Having a voice and depth takes time
and experience,” Danielia says, as her soup is removed
and replaced with her mixed green salad. To make her point
further, Danielia brings up two of her favorites: Janis
Joplin and Tina Turner. “They didn’t lay down
great vocal tracks in their teens. They needed to live
a little before.”
What she will reveal to Radar Screen is the following:
She is a graduate of Bennington College, where she studied
acting. She was such a talented actress that she studied
for a year at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London
and even did her start turn in a small film made in New
York City.
 Singing
came naturally for Danielia largely because she comes
from a singing family. Her two aunts, who are helping
out on her new recordings, sang backup for Springsteen,
Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny and the Jukes. Yes, you
guessed correctly, Danielia Cotton is Jersey Girl, which
gets automatic props in Radar Screen’s book. Growing
up, the music of Phyllis Hyman, Stevie Wonder, Bonnie
Raitt, Kenny Loggins, Donny Hathaway, AC/DC and others
surrounded Danielia, and those influences can be heard
admirably in her work: especially in her lyrics.
Now, Danielia’s lyrics are of not of “rocking
all night long,” and it is unclear whether she wants
to get “Footloose” in the “Danger Zone,”
yet when it comes to revealing personal tales and tragedy,
Ms. Cotton doesn’t shy away.
“I remember performing at a café and telling
the audience that when I first moved to New York, that
I was so depressed that I would buy a bottle of wine a
day, feed my fish and read Page 6.” That song turned
out to be one of her favorites "Reading Page 6"
and since then she has no trouble putting some of the
darkest chapters of her life out for the world to see.
“Kevin is good at making me go to ugly places and
really bring out something beautiful,” she said.
“Recycling pain into something extraordinary is
what every great artist does.”
With such depth in her lyrics, it is no surprise that
Danielia is no fan of the current garbage that passes
for music on MTV’s TRL. “There’s too
much over produced music out there, and too many people
over-singing trying to make up for the fact that they
can’t sing,” Daniela says offering up some
advice. “Scale it down people.” Radar Screen
couldn’t agree more.
Danielia is full of energy and life even though she ran
four miles prior to our meeting. It’s part of her
training routine, for she is getting ready for her second
marathon in as many years. She ran her first one in Burlington,
Vermont in an impressive time of 4 hours and 34 minutes.
By the time she ran her next race in New Jersey, she had
shaved over 30 minutes off her time. To get ready, she
has herself on a strict diet that excludes her favorite
vices of choice: Johnny Walker Black, neat and Parliament
Lights. “I’ve cut out two vices for one vice,
running. It’s addictive and I’m not sure if
I could stop jogging if I tried.”
Danielia also reveals that she started the first multi-racial
Jewish children choir in New York City history. “I
converted to Judaism in my teens,” she says. “What
attracted me to the religion is the fact that Jews tend
to be more community-oriented and do more for not just
their community but society as a whole. Danielia feels
that her work with the choir is just an extension of that
community-first mantra. In June, Danielia will lead her
22 children ranging from ages 7-14 in their first concert
of the year which excites her as much, if not more, than
her new songs and major label interest.
With so much going on, Danielia Cotton has a firm grip
on her career’s direction. Even though she thrives
to hear herself on the radio, she’s not looking
to be a one-hit wonder. Danielia Cotton wants to leave
behind a bulk of work that she can be proud of. “Even
if it ended today, I would be satisfied. But I’ve
just began to touch the tip of the iceberg.”
 The
road ahead is as uncertain for Danielia Cotton as it is
for many of us. She has surrounded herself with talented
people who believe in her, and their belief has only reaffirmed
her belief in herself. She is afraid but her fear is far
from controlling her. “Fear is not a bad thing,
as long as it doesn’t inhibit you.”
Fear, grueling 26-mile runs, screaming children learning
to sing, the tight skirts, lugging a guitar uptown and
back down, late-night shows to 10 people, not to mention
the horny journalist angling for a date, you wonder why
one puts themselves through it all. For Danielia it’s
simple – the chance to make great songs.
“Listening to a great song is an amazing place to
be and I’d love to have one of those songs.”
~
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Liner
notes: Are
you an indie artist looking to be picked up on Radar?
Got a show in the NYC area you'd like us to check out?
Email Radar Screen at: radarscreen@2walls.com
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