ETNT Hot Seat with Terri Lyons

Terri Lyons had a good season this year. ‘Gone’ will be remembered as the song that made you sit up and listen… and stop calling her “Faye-Ann’s sister.’ Sitting with ETNT after a six hour studio session (really, is it that serious? Might as well get a regular job…) Terri was relaxed and comfortable in her own skin, before she realized that this is Hot Seat and not some Express interview.

 

ETNT: Terri Terri Terri…. Everyone wants to know (except us really) what is up with you singing that campaign song girl?

Terri: Lorsh… Uhmmm. Well they approached me, they needed someone to sing the campaign song and… ya know, was nothing big behind it.

 

ETNT: So clearly everyone knows who you’re voting for.

Terri: Uhmm… well… no comment. Mumbles “My manager’s gonna kill me.”

 

ETNT: If some other party offered you say, 50 grand more than the Balisier, so like would you?

Terri: *Pause.* LOL wow, this real hard! Have to say no Comment. (Found Hot Seat’s been playing too nice lately.)

 

ETNT: People say you sound like Denise Plummer, what ya think?

Terri: Have no problem with that, no problem at all being compared to a singer like that who has had so much experience. Denyse is an amazing singer and amazing person.

 

ETNT: Ok, enough with that, how Faye doing?

Terri: Faye-Ann’s doing real great. New life, the baby’s great, married life, success, really only a question Faye can answer.

 

ETNT: Seeing the baby so adorable, makes you want to jump right in and have one right?

Terri: Uhmm.. no not really because my elder sister, the one before Faye Ann has a daughter, she’s 6 now and uhmmm she was the first one to have a kid and I didn’t really jump out! LOL! Not then not now.

 

ETNT: What do you get up to ‘off season’?

Terri: Off season I more or less work on some out of the box music, R&B stuff because I love R&B and jazz and stuff so not just Soca. And yes I do it right here in Trinidad because we have a lot of producers doing great stuff, R&B, Hip Hop and even in Soca there are great producers. It’s just that at Carnival time that’s what the people want to hear so that’s what they work on but they are trained to do all sorts of music and stuff.

 

ETNT: Was there ever a time, being part of the Lyons clan, you thought singing would NOT be part of your life?

Terri: There’s that period when I was trying to get that listening ear, and things don’t always go your way, and you think about just giving up but you know, it passed, never did give up.

 

ETNT: I’m sure you hate being compared to Faye-Ann, but uhm… Ok we’ll leave it alone. How’d the switch from Calypso to Soca come about?

Terri: People think it will be difficult but for me not really, because out of Calypso came Soca it’s just a smaller version… in that with Calypso it’s more of a factual correctness and seriousness even if you’re being comical so the change across wasn’t that hard for me.

 

ETNT: “Gone’ the 2010 track seems to be your ‘mainstreamyes- Terry-is-ah-singer’ song. Who was behind the tune and how’d it come about?

Terri: Darryl Braxton did the production. He had the riddim, I took it, went home, came back the next day and recorded. (You wrote the song?) Yes I did, I write all my music. This year, although I’ve been signing for years, it’s been my first… well it is my big breakthrough year, first time I really get people to listen. It’s like everyone knows I can sing but this year they were like “WOW!” This year they actually gave me that listening ear.

 

ETNT: Season went well, any disappointments? Tell us about anything that ticked you off, speak ya mind gurrlll!

Terri: It’s just what I expected, because believe success brings a lot of things, and that’s good and bad. You can’t expect things to always go smooth else you wouldn’t learn anything. People watch bad things as just hiccups but I just watch it as  something to learn off of. Take them with the good or you wouldn’t learn anything.

 

ETNT: Heading over to crop over? Need someone to hold your bags?

Terri: Of course I’m going Crop over! LOL Carry my bag huh? LOL!

 

ETNT: If Soca didn’t work out (we’re perfectly delighted it did) what was the backup plan?

Terri: R&B! And it still is my plan. Though here don’t really have a feeding ground so I’m doing the Soca I’m still going off stream and doing other stuff.

 

ETNT: Funny, I can totally see you as one of those promotion girls who give you samples of various delicious thingies… never thought of that huh?

Terri: Oh Yes! Wait, what? No, not that kind of promotion. I can see myself on a billboard,  advertising cologne, new converse or something of that, even some sort of hairstyle or a Peter Elias outfit somewhere. Because I’ve always loved  modeling, I mean I don’t have the size of a model, you know the uhmm petite look, but I can do the advertising thing. (Wonders if to have a quick pep-talk on self image…too hungry.)

 

ETNT: What’s the relationship status, BF in the wings or flying solo?

Terri: Uhmm yes, I have a boyfriend. (Condolences.) LOL! HA!

 

ETNT: Are you a ‘make him dinner’ or ‘he’s buying dinner’ sort of girl?

Terri: Sometimes, not going to say every day since we don’t live together, he’s got his place and I’ve got mine. So sometimes I make, sometimes he has to buy, for both of us! LOL!

 

ETNT: Would you date someone you met on Facebook?!

Terri: Well if I knew him before and we fell out of touch and then met up and got in touch there, then yeah. But some random stranger? No. Not gonna happen.

 

ETNT: What’s your idea of a perfect date?

Terri: Well I’m pretty boring so; he’ll pick me up at home, we’ll have some good conversation on the way to the movies – watch a comedy, yes I love comedies. Have dinner after ‘cause I love ma belly and then we go home and… continue watching TV LOL! (Yes that is actually very boring chile) I know I’m just a really simple person.

 

ETNT: And what is your favourite food?

Terri: Any kind of blue food, provision and saltfish. (Well good luck finding that after movies.)

 

ETNT: Ok so spill it, we hear you do Pricey imitations? Give us a taste…

Terri: LOL! What! OMG! Who told you that?!(We have our sources) Honestly I really like Pricey a lot eh, that‘s my girl. Love how she speaks her mind and her jokes just come off the top of her head not structured, and I love her high pitched voice. So I did a lil some’n like her one time and someone taped it on their phone and showed her at 96.1! Was like “Ms Lyons I hear ya does be mocking me?” (Pretty good imitation.)

 

ETNT: What can you not do without these days?

Terri: Other than Food? LOL. I don’t really cling to anything, but I do love shoes gosh. Shoes and jeans I guess, I’m really sick for those two, my sis always says I’ll end up topless.

 

ETNT: If there were 2 things you could go back and do over, what would you change?

Terri: Honestly, nothing because everything happened for a reason and it made me who I am, stronger and more experienced so nothing. (psh…)