Ten years ago, a cover version of Gary Wright's "Dreamweaver" introduced Erin Hamilton to the dance world. The daughter of comedienne Carol Burnett enjoyed a string of club hits including "The Flame," "Satisfied," and "The Temple" which all appeared on her CD "One World." After personal struggles with substance abuse and relationships led to an extended break from the music industry. With five years of sobriety and a new family, Erin is back again – having achieved back-to-back number one hits on the club chart "The Flame 08" and "Control Yourself."
DJ Ron Slomowicz: When "The Flame" was reinvented and relaunched his past year,
were you ready for that or were you expecting that to happen?
Erin Hamilton: Brett Henrichsen is the mastermind behind all of that
and he approached me and said that he wanted to re-release it with all
new mixes. I said great, let's go for it. We launched it at his New
Year's Eve party in Los Angeles where he was spinning at the Mayan.
No one knew I was going to perform and they did the countdown and the
new mix started to come up, and I think it was Tony Moran's mix that I
performed to, and no one knew what it was because they hadn't heard it
yet. The crowd started to recognize it and there were big screens
going up and I was up on this high scaffolding. I did the one song
and then they put down the screen and it said "Erin Hamilton – The
Flame 08" and I was like yes! Brad worked his butt off to get it to
number one and so did Bobby Star. I think everyone was just excited
to have it back. So I couldn't be happier about it.
RS: How has "The Flame" changed things, like what were you
working on before and what are you working on now?
Erin Hamilton: Well I wasn't doing anything before that because I had
a baby and I really wasn't doing any music at all. I was in school to
become a drug and alcohol counselor. I'm sober now almost five years
which is why I took so much time off, because I needed to get my head
straight. I was training to be a counselor and then I had a baby who
just turned two so my life was pretty full and pretty busy.
RS: How did "Control Yourself" come about?
Erin Hamilton: When "The Flame" hit number one, Scott Anderson of
Solar City and I talked and thought we should put something else out.
A good friend of ours, David Todd, and Scott created "Control
Yourself" and I came in and did my little magic to the melodies. I
felt that "Control Yourself" could be a hit because it's just so fun
and it's so different than any of the other dance music I'd put out.
Everything else I'd put out was happy and about rainbows and love and
all of that, while "Control Yourself" was in your face. This is
something that I haven't done before in this world, so I felt that it
was going to go somewhere.
RS: And "Control Yourself" went number one on the club chart as well.
Erin Hamilton: Now we're kind of in the same boat where we're looking
at it and we're saying well what an amazing thing to have been
recognized by Billboard and the DJs and the whole circuit but, now
what. At this point, it feels like I should have a recording deal by
now. Everything we put out is independent and it costs money for me to
do that. Most of the clubs are hiring the DJs and not so much the
performers so it's tough to make the money back. I'm trying to see if
I could pitch my music to a dance label and see if they'll throw me a
bone to make another full record, because I would love to jump on the
momentum and keep it going.
