Meet Fawn, Accomplished Singer/Songwriter, Pianist and Plus Model by Shanté Gordon

On the day of my interview with Fawn, an accomplished singer/songwriter, pianist, and plus model, I couldn’t remember if our scheduled time was 11am EST or 11am PST (2pm EST). So I called Fawn at 11am EST and after her automated voice attendant asked me to identify myself, a sleepy-sounding Fawn answered the phone. In the in infamous words of Homer Simpson I mentally exclaimed, ‘Duh-oh!’

“Fawn I am so sorry to wake you up. I wasn’t sure if our interview time was 11am my time or 11am your time. Well clearly, we scheduled it for 11am your time since you are still asleep.” I quickly apologized for waking her and promptly get off the phone.

Nice Shanté! Great way to kick off the day…LOL!

Later that day, at the right time of course, I called Fawn and she answered the phone sounding much more awake. We immediately hit it off and talked about everything from the book “The Secret” to how to relate to the various men in our lives. We eventually started the interview after about 20 mins of ‘chick-chat.’ Here’s a bit of our discussion:

So what’s your name?

You can just call me Fawn.

Where are you from?

I’m from Colorado and lived there until college when I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston. During my undergraduate career I won top songwriting awards from Berklee and SESAC two years in a row and gave an unprecedented sold-out performance at the BPC in Boston.

What are your musical influences?

I listen to everything from Queen to Madonna , to Prince to the Carpenters. to Darude to Aretha Franklin. Anything that I hear is an influence/inspiration to me. Really it’s whatever catches my ear.

When did you start your musical career?

I’ve been writing and singing jingles since I was 10 years old and appeared in various TV commercials since I was six-months old.

Wow that’s amazing! What were your parents like?

Mom was a radio disc jockey (one of the first females to DJ), a model and an actress. Dad, the Son of a Baptist Preacher, sang in the church choir and ended up being a CPA.

So you were pretty much born to be a performer considering both of your parents were ‘artists’ in their own respective ways. Did you always know that?

Well, music definitely chose me. We are all created to fulfill our own purpose and live our own lives and this is the life I was called to live.

I know music is your focus but I also noticed that you model. How did you get involved in that part of ‘entertainment’?

I was out with a clothing designer and noticed this calendar in his shop. It was a Hollywood glamour calendar and Satu was the photographer. I loved the images and ironically ended up in the next 2 year’s of that particular calendar.  It was during those photo shoots that I met my favorite all time photographer, Satu. When I was younger/thinner I had done print and commercial modeling, so modeling in general was not foreign to me. I would love to do more calendars and modeling in general. I think [plus] modeling is very empowering because it’s important to put out a realistic image of people. It’s very important in breaking barriers and stereotypes.

How do you use your art (music/modeling) to help people?

In both my music and my modeling I want to be an example to people on how to walk in light and truth, not fear. Be who you were born to be. Is what I always say. Case in point: I’ve been braiding my hair for 15 years partly because it’s easy to style. It eventually turned into an image. Unfortunately, I experienced a lot of racial animosity as a result of my hair! People would ask me all the time “why would you do that to your hair?” Some people just gasp and I’ve even had people drop bags they were holding. Mostly it’s been positive feedback though, just a few bad apples in the bunch out there. It’s funny, if I didn’t have braids, I’d probably just shave all my hair off and be BALD because I hate styling and fooling around with my hair. And as for the racial slurs about my braids, it’s called a hair style and has nothing to do with race, which by the way is a silly arguement anyway, because we all come from the same dna: human being.

Also, for the last two years I’ve done nothing but eat 1400cal/day, no sugar, no carbs w/ the exception of small amounts of dairy and 2 pieces of fruit. Do you know that in all that time, I only lost 50lbs and am between a size 16 and 18? After two years of this drama, it just shows me that some of us are just going to be bigger people. People have to just love themselves and be themselves.

What sort of correlations do you see between music and modeling?

Well, music is all about abs these days and so is modeling! (Laughs). You really don’t see heavy pop stars. [American] Idol votes off women because of appearance and it seems to be all about how you look for both fields. In the music industry, it seems like everyone wants to be thinner. With [plus] modeling I think we just need to portray a health image both inside and out. Both industries force the artist to present an image and this is what’s similar to me.

How do they affect each other?

Well I cross promote constantly. My music may be used on the runway and if I’m on the [red] carpet I’m promoting my music and modeling at the same time, or whatever project I may be involved in at the time. My focus is on my music so that’s where the inspiration to get out there stems from.

Tell me about some of your current projects

Currently I’m doing a lot of press/promotion around my group Body, Soul and Mind with my partner Vincent Covello. We recently traveled to Prague to perform at the Book/CD release party and pen a deal in the Czech and Slovak Republic. We’re writing and recording new songs for a worldwide distribution deal and collaborating with some name electronica artists/producers.

I also work with a lot of non-profit organizations. One of which is the Oneday Foundation.

Right, I read about that on your site. How did you get involved with them?

They saw me in Billboard Magazine and contacted my management. They asked me to write the song “Oneday” which to date has raised $5 million for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. I didn’t take anything from the proceeds; all of the profits went directly to the organization. That was such an amazing experience. Now the song is used to raise money for 9-11 families. If people are interested, they can go to www.fawnmusic.com to purchase the song. BT produced it and all of the proceeds go to charity.

Thank you Fawn for sharing your amazing story with me today. Any last words of wisdom you’d like to share with our readers?

We are all in this world together. We need to list everyone up. Some people believe that if they snuff out someone else’s light, theirs will shine brighter. What they don’t realize is that the more candles you light in the world, the brighter it becomes. It’s important to lift each other up for the betterment of the world. Whatever the medium, we can make a difference.