January 02, 2006 @ 11:00 pm

Tony Hussle - Freak of Nature

by: Elon Johnson

Amid the frenetic scuttle of tourists snapping flicks on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Tony Pearyer, aka Tony Hussle, hears an electronic novelty shop blasting a popular ’80s rock tune. He jolts up to the speaker and lowers his ear to the subwoofer. “This is the song!” he shouts before diving into a ferocious air guitar spasm while interpolating his own lyrics to the Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket.” After a few bars, Hussle abruptly stops. “You know, R&B music is really crazy right now. All them other cats, they shit is in the studio. Mine is right here in my heart.”

Don’t expect anything predictable to happen when in the presence of this black rock star in the making. His confidence is almost intimidating, and in his world, the idea of “personal space” is a foreign concept. He’s the touchy-feely type — in a gentle kind of way. But there’s nothing soft about the sexually exuberant songs on his debut, Sexy, Freaky, Electric. With Prince-inspired hymns like the orgasmic “Cum Again” and the guitar-ridden teaser “Wait,” it’s hard to believe this 26-year-old rock-and-soul-singing sexologist got his start in the church. “I feel like these records were always inside of me,” he says. “It was just about getting it all out.”

Bred in a family of artists, music was a natural form of expression for Hussle. His mother, Deborah Pearyer, was a church pianist, and his late Uncle Glen Goins was a member of the legendary Parliament Funkadelic. His mother recalls Hussle’s early signs of musical affinity: “At two and a half, he was playing the piano,” she says. “When I carried him in my belly, he would jump around as soon as music played.”

Now a virtual one-man band, Hussle’s out to prove that there is a place for his eccentricity, even in the world of R&B. “I learned in the church, I’m rock ’n’ roll, I play with a live band, and people like DeVante Swing and Raphael Saadiq inspired me,” Hussle says. “There’s no telling what I’ll give you, but the music industry is missing that rock star with charisma and pizzazz.” And that’s the touch we’ve been waiting for.

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Article tags: Tony Hussle, Sexy Freaky Electric 

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