Five Minutes with Glenton Davis

Glenton Davis not only has a new record coming out in a couple of weeks, he's even defined a new musical genre to fit it into. And he just founded a non-profit to cement a connection between his kind of music and high school kids.  Clearly, this guy is thinking big picture.  So Indie Sounds wanted to find out more ...


Photo by Nathalie Walton

Indie Sounds: So, April 22nd.  Are You Ready for it?

Glenton Davis: Haha - the question I pose to the world comes back to me! I am in fact very ready for the release of my second EP Are You Ready. It was really exciting and fulfilling to team up with French drummer and producer Julien Mannoni on the record, and on an urban dance single called Go Get on the Floor specifically. We had a lot of fun experimenting within my self-coined genre of soul pop, to explore what it is about good pop music that just makes people feel good, you know?

It's been so humbling to see support rally behind the disc already, as Go... recently broke through the Top 500 Hot AC tracks in Canada. The release of Are You Ready to iTunes, CD Baby, and select stores is the culmination of many months of hard work put in by many incredible people - I can't wait to keep working hard to deliver music that moves people, and that gets them to pull out their dancing shoes from time to time :)

IS: OK, so what is Soul Pop?

Glenton: Soul pop is music that makes you feel good, man! It's music that literally makes your soul pop, that moves your spirit to a higher and better place. To me, soul pop is a blend of '90s inspired urban dance and classic R&B/Soul. In the past, industry types have had a hard time categorizing my music, so I decided to categorize it for them.

I love soul pop because it represents so many sides of who I am. Are You Ready, for instance, spans urban dance, more classic soul, and R&B - all of the tracks have very different personalities and have the capacity to move in very different ways. Soul pop allows all sides of me - the fun side, the subdued side, the vulnerable and sensitive side - to find their light. I can more fully be who I am.

Legends like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, Donny Hathaway - they are the main ingredients of my soul pop recipe. Their music catalogs are my Bible, and help me find a musical home where many said it would be difficult for me to find one.

IS: Let's backtrack.  Where did you get your start in life and music?

Glenton: I've loved music my entire life. I actually knew the words to Michael Jackson's Bad before I could say "Mom" or "Dad" (there are cassette tapes and VHS's to prove this embarrassing fact). I got my more formal start in music at four years old, I guess. The story goes that I, a rambunctious toddler, asked my mother for a piano out of the blue. She was so moved by this - in part wanting to live out her love for piano and organ music through me - that the next day a straight-back piano arrived at our house in Marion, Alabama. I played on that thing essentially everyday for the next eleven years in Montgomery, Alabama, where I spent most of my childhood.

IS: And then to Atlanta?

Glenton: Yes, Hot-lanta! The way I found myself there is another entertaining story. It was the summer between my junior and senior year of high school at a boarding school in Southwestern Connecticut. I was 16 and at home in Alabama, but wanted to get involved in the industry somehow - interning, getting someone's coffee, anything. I called an agent in Atlanta I had worked with in the past, who let me know that there was a music conference taking place in town, and that I could likely volunteer there. I decided, though, that I wanted to perform for the industry reps at the conference. I wrote a song called Paralyzed and literally walked into this conference with a $200 Casio keyboard in hand, batteries charged.

Miraculously, I got to perform that song for one executive from a major label - in the parking lot, out the trunk of my SUV. He told me to move to Atlanta, where I spent the summer working on a demo record for him and songwriting with some of my heroes like Jim Halsey and Tomi Martin. I lived out of a hotel, spent about 16 hours per day in the vocal booth, and loved every second of it. Ultimately, though, I parted ways with this particular label, graduated high school, and got an Economics degree from Yale. It's always been my intention, though, to dive fully back into music, which is what I have the incredible privilege of doing now with Are You Ready.

IS: And what have you been up to more recently, in NYC?

Glenton: I recently began a new chapter in life with Are You Ready, quitting my Wall Street job to promote it. I play around town regularly, with my next show being the album release at R Bar on April 22nd. I also just got back from Toronto where I showcased at Canadian Music Week. About three months back, I founded an arts education non-profit called Soul Pop University. The organization's mission is to connect emerging artists in the entertainment business with middle and high school students in local communities. We currently work in four cities, and will even be expanding to France this summer.

IS: What's next in the works, recording, performance wise?

Glenton: We have a busy few months in store, which is great. I'm in rehearsals now for the album release showcase. I am also in the studio working on two new singles, and will be on tour with Soul Pop University throughout April, May, and June in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and France. It's a 24/7 operation introducing soul pop to a global audience, but I am loving it and I feel so blessed for the incredible support that I have received thus far. I look forward to continuing to work hard and staying busy!