RYAN LOREN: Welcome, Avery Sunshine, to Google.
It's so good to have you here today.
I'm so glad to be here.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Yes.
AUDIENCE: [APPLAUSE].
AVERY SUNSHINE: How you doing?
[INAUDIBLE]
I'm sorry.
RYAN LOREN: No.
AVERY SUNSHINE: I'm so out of order.
I'm so out of order.
I'm so excited.
Well, you know that.
You know I'm excited.
RYAN LOREN: I'm excited too.
AVERY SUNSHINE: This is huge.
RYAN LOREN: This is going to be a great night.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Yes, it is.
RYAN LOREN: Just wanted to have a little chat with you
before we get started.
So, Avery Sunshine.
This is your name.
AVERY SUNSHINE: [LAUGHING].
RYAN LOREN: Can you tell us about your name?
AVERY SUNSHINE: Well, my name-- this is so funny.
My partner-- I don't know why he's not in here right now.
Dana, wherever he is.
But Dana and I, we worked on-- I never
thought I was going to be an artist.
I didn't think I sang well enough,
or I was talented enough to be an artist.
And Dana was like no, listen, listen, listen.
I think you've got something.
Let's just start writing and see what happens.
So the first song we wrote, and we're going to sing it tonight,
the song is called "Stalker."
And I know.
I know.
But I wrote the hook.
And I said, Dana, I'm going to send you this hook.
I can't get you out my mind, and all this stuff.
Just good stuff.
I'm not the kind of girl who'd stalk you,
but I might call you over and over and over again.
So we wrote the song.
And a good friend of his was a house DJ.
And he wanted to remix it.
And he did, and it was amazing.
And he said, OK, we're about to put the record out.
Who do you want to be?
I was like, what's that mean?
He was like, well, no you can change your name.
I was like what's wrong with Denise White.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHING].
AVERY SUNSHINE: Everybody was like, there's
nothing wrong with Denise White, but you
could do something else if you wanted to.
And I blurted out, Avery Sunshine.
And it's so funny.
When I tell you I never thought about being an artist before,
I hadn't.
At least I didn't think I had.
And I think it comes from my love two characters.
First character is Shug Avery from "The Color Purple."
And then the other character is Sunshine from "Harlem Nights."
He'd throw it up in the air and it would to sunshine.
It's all adults in here, right?
There's no children here..
But if you don't know what we're talking about,
please rent "Harlem Nights," so you
know what I'm talking about.
In no way am I-- or whatever the case.
But that's how I got the name.
Just blurted it out.
RYAN LOREN: Well, it suits you.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Thank you.
RYAN LOREN: Really well.
You know, you have an energy that's contagious ever
since I met you.
AVERY SUNSHINE: It's coffee.
RYAN LOREN: Is it coffee?
I was going to ask.
I know you've got kids.
I know you're always upbeat.
Is it coffee?
AVERY SUNSHINE: It's coffee.
Because otherwise-- you have to be with kids and keeping up
with what's going on.
With a career as an independent artist, you better be.
RYAN LOREN: So for those of you who haven't heard your music,
how would you introduce people to your music?
AVERY SUNSHINE: It is--
RYAN LOREN: What's your style.
AVERY SUNSHINE: My style is R & B soul.
And there's that common thread of gospel through it all.
But I'm still talking about my baby daddy, and life,
and stuff.
But I hope that it makes people feel good,
so I like to call it feel good music too.
RYAN LOREN: Great.
AVERY SUNSHINE: So I hope it does make people feel good.
RYAN LOREN: Great.
I think it does.
And I was a little surprised to hear
you say you weren't planning to be an artist,
or weren't expecting that.
But weren't you involved in music at a pretty young age?
AVERY SUNSHINE: I was.
I started playing piano at eight. .
And I started directing choirs and playing
for choirs at the age of 13.
So I was reading music.
And I had an aunt, her name was Aunt Tootsie.
And Aunt Tootsie called my mom one day and said, listen, Ruth.
Listen, I'm working at the Catholic Church,
and I can't be there this Sunday.
I got to Tahiti.
Can Denise come read these this [INAUDIBLE] service real quick?
And my mom asked me, Denise, do you want to try it?
And before I knew how much money it paid, I said sure.
The service was one hour, and I got $175 just
to go in and read some music.
I was like, I'm through.
That's my career.
That's it.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHING].
AVERY SUNSHINE: But I felt like I was always behind the scenes.
I was directing the choir, or accompanying someone.
And I would sing out of necessity
if somebody didn't show up to do a solo.
That's how I would end up singing.
But never, you know what?
I'm going to sing a solo today.
And I just didn't think I-- you know,
some people are like that.
You go to church, you know that one person, yeah, I'm
just going to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" for the Lord
today.
We didn't ask you to do that.
I was not that person.
I tell you, I am such a fan of that real, real singer.
The Clark Sisters and Stevie Wonder.
And I was like, if you don't sing
like that-- that's what I thought.
And you've got to have a thing too.
Because everybody that can sing doesn't have a thing.
And I didn't think I had that thing.
I didn't know.
And when I tell you, this is so divine,
I feel like it just fell on me.
And then Dana and I met, and it was really--
Dana wave your hand so everybody can see you.
That's my partner, everybody.
AUDIENCE: [CHEERING].
AVERY SUNSHINE: Yeah, without him,
there would be no Avery Sunshine.
So feel free to call him Ike Turner,
Rick James, Joe Jackson.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHING].
RYAN LOREN: Thank you.
So tell me more about the last album and what it meant to you.
Well, do that first, and then we'll go to the next question.
AVERY SUNSHINE: The last album, which was my first,
it marked a point in my life.
I was going through a divorce.
I always say this-- I didn't go to therapy.
I probably should have.
But the record served as therapy for me.
I was able to talk about what I was dealing with.
And I'm going to tell you, if stuff is better on the outside.
I just believe it.
And I was able to get it out and to make it to the other side.
So that record marks that time in my life.
And I'm grateful for it.
I look back, and I'm like, wow.
I'm glad people liked it, because I
was going through some of that.
RYAN LOREN: Yeah.
AVERY SUNSHINE: One of the songs, I was crying.
Dana was like, I don't know if we
need to put this on the record.
It's like, no, no, but I just want people to fee me.
AUDIENCE: [LAUGHING].
RYAN LOREN: So then, what can we expect for the next one?
AVERY SUNSHINE: More crying.
No, I'm not going to do more crying.
A different place.
This next record is going to be entitled "The Sun Room."
And if you have a house, the sun room
is that place where you go put up your feet
and do whatever it is you feel like doing.
If you feel like talking on the phone, you do that.
If you want to watch a little TV, you do that.
If you want to look out and look at the lake, you can do that.
Whatever it is you want to do, that's your sanctuary.
And I want to encourage everybody to find that place.
So this next record is called "The Sun Room."
And whatever has been on my mind this last few--
as well as Dana's.
Our minds this last year or so, that's
what we're talking about.
But it's definitely happy.
RYAN LOREN: Good.
I think the last one-- it's just interesting to me.
I always thought it was fascinating
how music is therapeutic.
You said you didn't go to therapy,
but it sounds like you sort of did.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Thanks to all of you.
If you have the record, you helped me with my therapy.
Thank you.
RYAN LOREN: I'm looking forward to the next one.
So before we go, just a couple of favorites of yours.
What's one of your favorite places to see live music?
AVERY SUNSHINE: Oh, what are my favorite places to see--
RYAN LOREN: In any city.
Wherever.
AVERY SUNSHINE: In any city to see live music?
I have to tell you London.
Ronnie Scott's.
It's really, really tight.
If you haven't been, please make a trip to London and check out
Ronnie Scott's.
It's half the size of this room right here.
And the intimacy, it's electric.
I fell in love with music again in that spot.
And I hope to play there one day.
RYAN LOREN: I'm going to check it out now.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Please do.
Please do.
RYAN LOREN: What's one of your passions outside of music?
AVERY SUNSHINE: Directing choirs.
That's outside of music.
RYAN LOREN: [LAUGHING].
AVERY SUNSHINE: No, my children.
My children.
My son and I are movie buffs.
So we have dates.
We try to have dates once a week,
he and I. And the last date we had, as a matter of fact,
my daughter was supposed to come,
and he was feeling some kind of way about it.
And was like, can you drop her off to get her hair done,
so we can really have our date?
But I'm taking it seriously.
I want him to-- my dad and I used to have dates like that.
I want my son to how to treat a woman or anybody by me
spending that time with him and showing him.
Not just telling him, but we do it.
We do it.
And the last movie we saw was "Superman."
What's the name of it?
AUDIENCE: "Man of Steel."
AVERY SUNSHINE: "Man of Steel."
I was nervous.
It was a little dark.
Who did Clark Kent first?
What was his name?
Michael Reed?
Christopher Reeve.
I'm sold out for Christopher Reeve.
This new stuff.
That's when you know when you're getting older too.
Like, see this new fangled stuff.
I'm not that old.
RYAN LOREN: So how old are your kids?
AVERY SUNSHINE: My son is 11, and my daughter is 13.
And y'all, my daughter, she wrote a song that's going to be
on [INAUDIBLE] and "Musiq Soulchild."
Yes.
It's going to be an interlude on the record.
RYAN LOREN: That's incredible.
AVERY SUNSHINE: It's nuts.
Actually, she played it for me.
And we listened to the track on my phone.
And we recreated it for her.
And when she heard it, she was like, it's not right.
So y'all need to do it again.
RYAN LOREN: That's incredible.
Great.
AVERY SUNSHINE: I'm excited about that.
RYAN LOREN: Cool.
Last thing.
What was the first CD you remember buying?
AVERY SUNSHINE: The first CD.
I don't remember buying one.
I I tell you, it's strange.
CDs came out, and I remember waking up one day,
and there were three CDs at the house.
There was the Yellowjackets.
And my parents had the Clark Sisters.
And then there was one more.
Kenny G. [SINGING].
It was.
What's the one?
"The Wedding Song?"
The sound quality from a tape to CD made your head pop off.
Am I the only one that remembers?
To hear that, oh what is it?
It just felt like water.
You just feel like there's life to hear that sound.
It was amazing to me.
I remember those distinctly.
I don't remember buying them.
It's like, just one day they were at the house.
RYAN LOREN: Yeah.
They have a way showing up, right?
AVERY SUNSHINE: They just showed up.
But I remember those three CDs distinctly.
And the sound was just amazing.
RYAN LOREN: Great.
Well, there's a fourth one I'm looking very forward to.
It is yours.
So thank you for joining us.
And looking forward--
AVERY SUNSHINE: Thank you so much, Ryan.
It means so much to me.
Please make some noise for Ryan.
AUDIENCE: [APPLAUSE].
AVERY SUNSHINE: Because for all the artists
that are here tonight, it means so much
for us to be able to share what we do,
and the way we want to do it.
And we just don't have the platform all the time.
And I'm speaking for everybody.
We are grateful.
And we're grateful that you're here
to listen and share with us.
And we thank you, because you didn't have to.
You could have said, let me call Beyonce.
RYAN LOREN: I do sound like Beyonce.
And I have her number, of course.
But I didn't.
AVERY SUNSHINE: BUt you could have called anybody,
and chose us.
And I'm grateful.
And we thank you so much.
RYAN LOREN: And likewise.
There's a reason I chose you guys.
AVERY SUNSHINE: Aw, thank you.
AUDIENCE: [APPLAUSE].