R&B Songstress Meli'sa Morgan exploded on the music scene in 1985 with her Billboard No. 1 breakout hit "Do Me Baby" followed by "Do You Still Love Me?", the dance floor anthem "Fool's Paradise", "Love Changes" with Kashif, "Still In Love with You" to name a few. Having worked with the likes of Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Freddie Jackson and six studio album releases later, the Powerhouse Singer-songwriter is still here delivering soulful and sultry music and performances worldwide.
Check out her newest single and music video "Footprints of An Angel" below.
TERRANCE: First, congratulations on the release of your new single "Footprints of An Angel". How are you feeling about it?
MELI'SA MORGAN: It feels great. It's been two years in the making for this to get released because we started this during the pandemic and it really happened after I shot my first scene in the film that's coming out on the same-name. I did a gut wrenching Church scene where I had to sing at my daughter's funeral and after I did that I came home I just felt like the movie needed a theme song and the director said, well go ahead and write us one, and we did and here we are. "Footprints of An Angel" two years later. Films take a long time to make. We had to wait a long time for the clearance for the sample, but thank God I know Valerie Simpson and she gave us her blessing without charging us a lot of money. *Laughs*. We feel really, really good about that.
TERRANCE: How did the movie opportunity come about?
MELI'SA MORGAN: One of my fans that was doing a movie. His name is Tramar Pettaway and he said he always loved my music and loves me. He said, I want her to be in the movie and he found me and called me and he made it happen. The deal was good and what he had to offer was right and the part was good and here we are. It's coming out in the Summer. It was directed and produced by Anthony Mealing and we're so excited. He's a young director coming up and I'm just glad to be on the ground running with the theme song before the movie comes out. I'm very blessed to have this opportunity and I'm thankful to them for giving it to me.
TERRANCE: Can you share with us what inspired the song?
MELI'SA MORGAN: The song is about hanging onto the memories of your loved one and knowing that even though they're gone physically, spiritually they're still here with us. Walking with us and talking with us and watching over us, because a lot of times people don't know how to deal with the emotion and hurt of losing a loved one and this song kinda helps you get through it and let you know that it's gonna be okay.
TERRANCE: As a songwriter, what makes a great song?
MELI'SA MORGAN: Sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you think you know. It was my fiancé who said, even though you have this classic track like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", the sample which we used, you still have to make it modernized. So we worked really hard to modernize it from the melody to the words that we were saying so it wouldn't feel like a song that came from the 60s or 70s. It feels like a song that belongs in 2022.
TERRANCE: What has the transition been like forming and navigating your own label Asilem Productions?
MELI'SA MORGAN: I have been the artist that has been on major labels basically all my career. Starting with Capitol and then I went to Elektra and then I went to Pendulum and then I went to Cleopatra. It seems someone was always taking care of things. At first it was great, but then as your career goes on, you get with people that don't have as much money or as much know-how and everything. They're doing things in the industry, but they're not doing things exactly the way you want them to do it. So I was going to go back to Cleopatra and ask them to distribute the song. It was my good friend Dedra Tate and my fiancé Sabastin Commas who said we could do this on our own and put it out and then we have the power. Why do we keep giving everybody else the power? And it's a scary thing because it costs money. *Laughs*. It cost money, but I'm blessed that I have publishing and I saved my money. My girlfriend says I saved the first penny I ever made. *Laughs*. So we've been blessed with having the funds to say, okay we're gonna allocate this and try not to go over because it costs a lot of money to promote even one song, forget about an album. So we said, let's do it. We got friends in this industry like you and all of our other good friends would hopefully come aboard and give us a favor. Hopefully we can take this to number one, because this is a song that everyone needs to hear.
TERRANCE: This year marks 35 years since your sophomore album Good Love. What was it like getting that second chance because many don't often get that in your industry.
MELI'SA MORGAN: Well, you know "Do Me Baby" was such a big hit for me that we were all nervous about the sophomore, but Kashif brought that home with "Love Changes" and then we had the No. 2 "If You Can Do It: I Can Too!". We were just selling after that. It was a good experience. It was scary because they always say it's the sophomore, but it wasn't the sophomore, it was the one's after that that became the problem *laughs*. But I'm here and it just feels like full circle and so we just want to have a wonderful journey promoting and getting "Footprints of An Angel" out there and me getting out there working because I've always worked and I've always toured and I've always made money, so that's not the problem, because I've always had great publishing and I've always written my stuff from "Do Me Baby" on. My publishing situation and songwriting situation, I'm going to get money from that for the rest of my life and be enriched with that, so I'm never going to have to worry. But to be back out there with something that can touch people again, that's priceless.
TERRANCE: Are there any upcoming events or shows we can look forward to in the near future?
MELI'SA MORGAN: Well, I got shows coming up in Alabama, Virginia, New York. I think Dubai is coming up. You can go on my social media platforms. My instagram is @melisamorgan1 and definitely check me out day to day and don't forget to go on my YouTube. I just got Vevo and you can go on there and check out my new video for "Footprints of An Angel". So check it out and let's get those numbers up. Support, support, support. That's what we need. We need our people to support each other and that's all that I'm asking and to give it a chance.
TERRANCE: Any final words you would like to share with your fans, followers and readers?
MELI'SA MORGAN: Thank you for all of these years of supporting me and being with me and believing and hanging in there. You guys have made "Fool's Paradise" and all of my classics legendary. They've been on television series, sampled by Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige. They've been in the Meek Mills movie Charm City Kings and in one of Tyler Perry's movies. It's just been a blessing. Everytime I see my royalty statements and monthly statements, I see where "Fool's Paradise" or "Do Me Baby" or "Do You Still Love Me?" is playing somewhere else or someone is sampling them. It's just wonderful. I just feel really, really blessed and I'm thankful and I just want to say thank you for your support.
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Follow Meli'sa Morgan:
Twitter @melisamorgan22
Instagram @melisamorgan1
Facebook @melisamorganfanpage1
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