That same night, we listened to the song about 50 times and, afterwards, Dallas asked if I wanted to be signed as an artist.” Producing the entire project as well as playing most of the instruments and co-writing the songs, Dallas’ obvious excitement was mixed into the grooves. “It was clear from the beginning that was a special song. “I’m feelin’ that pressure, now now / I’m feelin’ that same round and round / I can’t go forward,” Joi droned in a ghetto Goth style. One of the songs Dallas and Joi worked on that night was “Sunshine and the Rain.” The ambient angst of the music blended perfectly with Joi’s hot ice voice. He was itching to do something different. A few years later, he was a proven hit maker with the post new-jack swing sound heard on ABC’s “Iesha” and Boyz II Men “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.” Austin was a lifelong Prince fan, though, who was also into the electro moan of Depeche Mode’s Violator and the Brit-beat of Massive Attack’s Blue Lines. What she heard sounded nothing like the young producer had done before.ĭiscovered by Klymaxx member Joyce “Fenderella” Irby, Austin started his career at 14. The young producer played her tracks he’d been working on. When Dallas got wind that she was in town, he invited her to his studio. A few months later, Joi moved to Atlanta, where the fledging hip-hop/R&B scene, mostly centered around LaFace and So So Def was about to explode. Joi was hanging out at local studios, just messing around with music.ĭallas, who was in town working on his own ill-fated R&B/funk group Highland Place Mobsters, was impressed by Joi’s demo, but soon returned to Atlanta to finish working on the then-upcoming TLC album Ooooooohhh. My mom and grandmom taught me to be fashionably competent.” Back in the ’90s, Joi’s style varied from thrift-store chic to boho b-girl to leather pants-wielding rocker chick. “So, even when I’m ratchet, I try to be elegant. “I come from a family of sharp ladies,” Joi says. At the time, she had short dyed blonde hair. Austin was introduced to Joi by a studio engineer in her hometown.
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