RS: How did you choose to do a cover of Glamorous Life, what
about that song made you want to do it?
Inaya Day: I had done Nasty Girl and that was a song Prince did with
a woman, so I said 'you know what, I'm going to do one more Prince
song, because he's my dog.' I love his music. So I told him I'm
going to do Sheila E's track because everybody was doing funkified
stuff and I sing with funk bands, so I'm not going to let anybody
out-do me in my own genre. So I chose The Glamorous Life when I was
out there with Tim, I said, 'shall we do Glamorous Life?' And he said
'if you want to do it, let's do it.' He made a little loop, I sang it
and we got it moving.
RS: You were just saying you sang with a funk band, so in
addition to your track dates you also perform with a funk band?
Inaya Day: Yes, I'm in a funk R&B band called Dis-Fink-Tion and we
play every Tuesday in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. I'm in the band
with Cheryl "Pepsi" Riley, my brother Sean Janelle who also has a
house track out, and Mike Davis who did a remake of Ain't No Stopping
Us Now in the 90s. So we're all recording artists on the front line
and on the back line we have all recording artists, like we have Alex
Mosley from Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. He's my guitarist and sometimes
keyboard player when Mike's not in. We've had that band for a couple
of years now and we've been rocking it.
RS: Sounds like I may make a trip up to New York. Speaking
about New York, you also had a major hit with Mike Cruz, "Moving Up
(Take My Problems to the Dancefloor)."
Inaya Day: Yes, Moving Up went to number two on the Billboard chart
and I also did "Can't Stop Dancing" and "Lift It Up" with him – both
of which went to number one. He and I together are now signed with
Tommy Boy, and we have another song coming out soon called "You Spin
Me." It's like a little take off from the Dead or Alive song, but it's
not that song. I took that little part, sang it an octave higher and
finished it. So you will see soon, in about three months it'll start
to get out there.
RS: Very cool. Working with all these producers, when you first
started doing house tracks the credit always went to Boris Duglosch or
Mousse T, but lately your name is showing up on stuff. Is that
something you've had to fight for?
Inaya Day: No, I haven't really had to fight, I just decided now was
the time. At first I was allowing them to use pseudonyms or put their
names first because if it didn't do well, it was their record that
didn't do well. Not me, I was just a featured artist. So now that
I'm somewhat established, I can now say 'OK, I have more control over
it, this is going to be hot, we'll call it an Inaya Day track.' From
time to time I still do the featuring, depending on who it is. If
Mike says 'Inaya, I want you to sing on my record,' then of course
I'll allow it to be a feature. But at the same time, when it's my
record, he allows himself to be acquiesce and be pushed to the
background - so it's a one hand washes the other thing. But I've made
a conscious choice to put my name at top billing from now on.
RS: Another thing I've talked to other singers, like Jan
Johnston and Pepper Mashay about, is will there ever be an album with
all your songs on it?
Inaya Day: Yes, eventually there will. Actually on my website there
is a compilation of ten songs that can be bought only from there. By
the end of the year there will be an album coming out with Tommy Boy
and it's called Then, Now and The Future. We haven't totally settled
on that but it sounds pretty good. We're going to have old songs, new
songs, and in the future songs, so you never know, it might be a
double CD pack with all the songs I've done.
RS: Very cool. What would you like to say to all your fans out there?
Inaya Day: I would like to say that I thank them. I thank them for
sticking with me for so long. I want to thank the DJs for keeping me
in their crates and on their wheels and the people for keeping me on
their iPods.
