Everybody loves Tiffany. Her hits "I Think We're Alone Now," "I Saw
Him Standing There," and "Could've Been," launched from her infamous
mall tour, became pop classics. After spending a couple of years in
Nashville, releasing the critically acclaimed Color of Silence album,
and a popular Playboy layout, Tiffany moved to Los Angeles and created
"Dust Off and Dance" – the high energy dance album that her fans have
been clamoring for.
DJ Ron Slomowicz: Where are you today?
Tiffany: I'm in Minnesota today. I did Minnesota Gay Pride last night.
RS: That's awesome. So this month you're really busy doing a lot of touring?
Tiffany: I've been on the road for a month now and I don't really go
back home until the end of July.
RS: Does this remind you at all of how you got your start in the malls?
Tiffany: It's really different. When I was doing the mall stuff I
was going to school during the week and then flying out on the
weekends, so there was a lot of flying, a lot of homework and a lot of
not knowing if people were going to like me or not. It's a little
nicer because I actually have my fans and people who know my music. I
think I've gotten a little wiser and I'm traveling in an RV now. I've
really always been a bus girl myself, going back to those country days
when I was singing with Roy Atkinson, Mickey Gilley, and Johnny Lee.
I've always been the person who knew that you could have the bus and
the dogs and the family, everybody goes.
RS: I think that's one reason why a lot of people identify with you.
You always seem really down to earth, like everyone's best friend
when you're up there singing.
Tiffany: Thank you. Yes, I have fun out there. I think that's a
lot of credit towards my family because my grandparents were very much
like that, they knew all the neighbors and they'd sit out on the porch
and drink their iced tea. If anybody would come by they'd say hello
and they were always very loving people. Being raised like that and
having my country music, I realized that it's a lot about just liking
people and having a good time. When I got into the pop world, doing
the mall tour, that was very much about being a people person. I
loved that about the mall tour. With a lot of the tour performances
I'm doing now, it kind of reminds me of it only because I'm not on a
crazy time schedule and I can hang out with the fans afterwards and
sign autographs. The audiences are big but they're not huge or you
can't see anybody past the first few rows now. A lot of the shows I'm
doing are outdoor venues and that's great because you can just see
forever, the sea of people.
RS: Speaking about country, you're coming to Nashville this weekend
to perform at Play.
Tiffany: Yes. It feels like I am coming home because I lived there
for a couple of years. I feel like Nashville's a part of me and I
have great friends there. I miss Nashville very much. Going back
to California was just one of those things. My family was getting
older and I had a few people pass on in my family so it kind of scares
you and you want to be as close to family as possible. Living in
Nashville, I learned so much from going to places like the Bluebird
Café and watching writers and getting that whole learning experience.
I always knew that I wanted to come back to Los Angeles and do a
record and so that's kind of what I did. I think that I had to go
outside of my comfort zone in LA and really learn from people out
there, and definitely Nashville has it down when it comes to
songwriting. I learned a lot there and then applied it to what I did
when I got back to Los Angeles.
RS: Speaking of songwriting, you wrote most of the album Dust Off and Dance?
Tiffany: I did, and the Color of Silence album as well. I started
writing for other people and collaborating with other writers for
soundtracks and stuff like that because I really wanted to use my new
craft. Then I was approached by a couple of producers from my past to
do an album and I did the Color of Silence in 2000 and everything
really worked out. We got great reviews and enjoy working together
and we feel that the songs are solid, so it ended up that we ended up
doing another album together. I went over to England touring and I
loved the dance music there. I remembered being out on the dance
floor when I was like nineteen/twenty and just having a good time.
Many people have asked me to do a dance album and I just really wasn't
ready. I think you have to be a little lighthearted at the time and
just really kind of believe in the music. I came back from England
and I had kind of jettisoned a few layers there and it was just about
having a good time. I thought that I could really sit down and write
some fun dance songs.
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