Chattanooga Times Free Press - ChattanoogaNow
LaTina Webb: From backup into the spotlight
The woman who has been the only female singer onstage with Grammy Award-winning artist Maxwell for two decades says she plans to step into the spotlight more this year.
LaTina Webb will perform with Maxwell in Chattanooga on Sunday, June 4, at Memorial Auditorium. The show also features singers Ledisi and Leela James.
Webb has been featured with Maxwell on singles such as “Reunion” and “Matrimony,” and she’s on his 2016 album, “BLACK-summers ’night.” She’s written songs for R&B artists Ray J and Chante’ Moore, but she kept songs she wrote for herself on her mantel.
“For some reason I had doubts about if I was good enough,” she said. However, seeing other background singers with Maxwell record solo albums encouraged her to try.
She describes her sound as sexy, soulful, upbeat, feel-good music. She says it’s a mix of the late British rock star David Bowie and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell. She calls them her “musical parents.”
She got her start in music just as she entered elementary school. Saying she suffered physical and emotional abuse from ages 5 to 12, she listened to music intently to escape her pain. She started singing at age 14 while participating in her grandmother’s church choir.
In high school, she formed her own music group and started writing music and playing guitar. Yet she describes herself as a shy soprano, always singing in the background.
She made a name for herself singing backup for legendary artists like Barry White, El DeBarge, Macy Gray, Eric Benet and Justin Timberlake. She started singing for Maxwell in her early 20s after he held auditions for a backup singer.
“I think we sang ‘Sumthin’ Sumthin’ and then he asked me to sing something off the top of my head,” said Webb. “I was just singing these really high notes, and he was kind of falling out of his chair. He was like, ‘ Oh my goodness!’”
But with all the fanfare of touring with Maxwell, she’s never forgotten the healing peace she found in her youth that first drew her to music.
Webb made a name for herself singing backup for legendary artists like Barry White, El DeBarge, Macy Gray, Eric Benet and Justin Timberlake.
“I’m thinking that because of the stuff that happened to me when I was younger, I’ve sort of had to replant myself and regrow. I always felt like a late bloomer. Thank God I look young,” she said, laughing. She’s now a 42-year-old wife and mother.
“And you know what, I still have something to say. I still have a voice. So I’m one of those artists who started later on in life, and I think it’s still OK.”