September 01, 2006 @ 2:03 pm

Támar

by: Thomas Golianopoulos

left Seeing my picture out front stamped ‘Sold Out’ thrilled me,” says Támar Davis, 26, of her recent debut at Manhattan’s Nokia Theatre. But even with Prince backing her up on guitar, Támar suffered a bout of stage fright. “I got nervous at the third song,” she says, “because I was warned New York is one of the hardest cities to win over.” After 90 minutes of singing, dancing, and having the audience join in on cuts like the vibrant “Holla & Shout,” Támar overcame her butterflies. She now considers the evening a turning point in her career: “That was the first time it hit me that I’m really doing this.” Támar’s reluctance to acknowledge success is a result of too many close calls: She was a lead vocalist in the kiddie sextet Girls Tyme, but quit the group that eventually became Destiny’s Child. Then a cousin passed her demo to Morris Hayes, the New Power Generation’s organist, which led her to Prince’s Paisley Park Studios. There, she was hoping to meet the music icon and sign a deal, but with Prince unavailable and her management in disarray, neither panned out. Eager to learn about the industry, she enrolled at the University of Southern California, majoring in music business. After graduation in 2004, she auditioned for the fourth season of American Idol. Despite impressing the prescreeners, however, Támar didn’t make it to Randy, Paula, and Simon. “The producer said she was too polished,” remembers her mother, Caroline Davis. “She was really disappointed, but it made her work harder.” Confident even through rejection, Davis won Prince over during a chance meeting in January 2005 and signed to Universal a year later. Now under the tutelage of His Purpleness, Támar debuts with Milk & Honey, an eclectic mix of funk, R&B, rap, and rock that calls to mind her mentor’s early works. And while it’s important for a new artist to develop his or her own identity, Támar is happy being an apprentice. “I don’t look at being a protégée as a bad thing,” she says. “I’m just that: I'm a student of a master." Do you want VIBE delivered to your home or office? CLICK HERE.

Article tags: Milk And Honey, Prince, Tamar 

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