- [divider]Anthony Brown interview continued[/divider]
Parlé Mag: Let’s go back to Group therAPy for a second. How’d you meet everyone in the group?
Anthony Brown: Funny story, so the vast majority of them went to college with me. I had tried to put together a group before them to an epic failure, so the next time I was like, ‘God if you want me to do this, then show me who’. So I would be in the practice room and a random person would walk by and He’d be like, that one, bring him in here. I would tell them I wrote this song, can you sing it for me. That’s how it happened. They all met me in the practice room one day, fifteen years later, we doing it together. They’re a special group of people, they deserve—everything that happens to me I try to show them a lot of light and love because they go with it and rock with it.
Parlé Mag: How many members are in the group?
Anthony Brown: Currently 9 members. They’re a pretty dedicated bunch. Even when I moved to California, they um, quit their jobs and they moved with me into my one bedroom apartment. So you can imagine how that goes. All the girls are in the bedroom, all the guys are in the living room, we just happy to be in California, living it up. But they were just so supportive of me. They were like, ‘Ant if you going, we going with you’. You can’t buy that kind of loyalty.
group therAPy is:
Shirley Daley Tamika Caldwell
Doretha Allen Ashia Bello
Nicole Wilson Michelle Thompson
Gabriel Hansborough Martellies Warren
Jamarice Daughtry
Parlé Mag: I wonder, when times weren’t as successful how were you able to keep it all together and make it work?
Anthony Brown: I think what it all boiled down to for us was it was never really about success, it was really just about the music. We just love the sound that we made when we came together. And so success was really new for us. For years we were really just broke students singing together, travelling around the city. It wasn’t until things started going where we were like ‘oh my goodness, this thing can really open up for us’. I’m kind of glad it happened that way so that for them or me, it never became about the money or success. It became about the music and reaching people.
Parlé Mag: You mentioned it earlier, kind of want to revisit it, why or how did you end up going to California?
Anthony Brown: You know what, I’m from Baltimore and I got to a place in my career and as a man where home was safe and familiar, but I didn’t feel like I was living. When California opened up for me, it just was an eye opening experience. And when I told them [group therAPy] I was leaving, they were like where are you going? I told them California and a month later they were like, ‘we coming with you. If God called you our here, we going to be there with you.’
Parlé Mag: What year was that?
Anthony Brown: That was 2005-2006.
Parlé Mag: And what year did you end up leaving Cali?
Anthony Brown: Left Cali maybe 2009.
Parlé Mag: Why’d you leave California?
Anthony Brown: Well, I had great success out there. I got to do shows like BET Celebration of Gospel and other things like that, but my whole family was on the East coast and essentially I missed my family. I also missed the stability, because when I lived in California it was like working gig to gig as opposed to what I was doing before, which was working at the church and having a consistent job. So the mixture of missing my family, they don’t really have no Winter out there, so I missed seeing snow. I didn’t want my nephew and my family not to see me or me not see them grow up. So I feel like it was time to go.
Parlé Mag: How’d you end up working with Justin Savage on your first album?
Anthony Brown: The funny thing is Justin is from Baltimore too. He’s a great friend of mine, I’ve known him for a long time. We both were going around the city doing music with people and for people. So one day we were like maybe we should get together and Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis this thing. You do the music, I do the vocals and let’s see what happens. And so, I was the guinea pig. I guess it worked.
Parlé Mag: Is there anything about your journey that you would change?
Anthony Brown: Naw. You know, there are things that I wish may have gone one way or another, but ultimately I feel like things happen the way it’s supposed to happen and all of it is for you and your development. There’s a scripture in Romans 8:28 that says: all things work together for the good for those who love God. I feel like when you love God and you’re called to doing what your doing that everything, no matter how good or bad, works out for the good. I feel like in the end even the things that I didn’t like about my journey, I feel like God uses them or will use them for my benefit. So I wouldn’t change anything.
Parlé Mag: Moving forward what does success look like to you?
Anthony Brown: Success, ah man… I think doing what you love to do—for me I do what I would love to do, what I would do for free, but I get paid for it. It’s like I never have a day of work. That’s the ultimate success for me. And I reach people and help people which is my heart and my passion, that is like the most rewarding thing ever. I feel like right now I’m successful, if I continue to do what I’m doing right now, I’ll always have success.
Parlé Mag: What’s next for you?
Anthony Brown: Next, um, next for me, I think this Summer we’re going to hit the road and tour Everyday Jesus just to bring the live experience to people to people who want to see it. Other than the tour experience, there’s some other film and tv experiences that I can’t leak all the details right now but I’m definitely headed in that direction just to be able to share the experience with more people. So tour, tv, film.
Parlé Mag: I always ask like to ask Gospel artists, not necessarily about the state of Gospel music but moreso the shift that seems to be happening with artists like Christon Gray and BJ The Chicago Kid, who are sharing the message but not directly through Gospel music. And then you have Gospel artists like Kirk Franklin with an album like Losing My Religion, so there’s a lot happening in the genre right now.
Anthony Brown: Well as for the first part of your question, it’s definitely welcome, it’s a good thing to have artists on the front line who bring different creativity to the genre, you know what I mean, because one person’s brand of Gospel music won’t reach everybody. You gotta have versatility, you gotta have be able to reach more people and that means it’s going to take more of us to do it. Shout out to BJ The Kid and artists like that. Even Lecrae, what he’s doing on the scene for Gospel music is humongous. I love that.
As for the second part, Kirk is a pioneer in this industry and what he’s always done is reinvent himself and he’s always been able to maintain relevancy and do it in an excellent way man. So I’m honored to be amongst them and be a part of what they do. So I want to continue to do my part, and bring great, creative and relevant Gospel music to people who want to hear it and not just in a Sunday morning type of way. So bringing it fresh and different.
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Parlé Mag: What’s your favorite scripture? Do you have one?
Anthony Brown: Man, so right now I have a favorite one that I’ve been quoting for a minute and I feel like it’s true. It’s from Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10 and it says, ‘For God is not unjust to forget your labor of love that you give towards the saints’ so in other words God is an incredible record keeper so when you do things for the right reasons, for God, he remembers that and rewards you in his own way. So it’s not always monetarily, sometimes it’s other things but I feel like that’s my scripture, the one I want to harp on and the one I want people to know remember and share. And what I want people to know is that as long as you doing what your doing for God and for the right reasons, He’ll remember and he’ll reward you in the most glorious way possible.
Parlé Mag: What advice do you have for artists coming up in the game who want emulate you or fall into that lane that you’re in?
Anthony Brown: If you want to emulate me, or fall into the lane that I’m in then you’re going to find yourself serving. That’s what I believe in. The artistry is nice, but the servitude is better. To serve people, that’s the greatest reward. The greatest artists are able to not only create great music but serve people along the way. In the scriptures it talks about this guy named David, that’s what he did. He killed Goliath but he ended up right back in the pastures taking care of the sheep. So that’s what I believe I’m supposed to do. Do whatever I do musically on stage which is great, point Glory back to God and then find my way back in some pasture somewhere, whether a church or a community event where you’re serving people and helping to make the community a better place.
Parlé Mag: For you, that place is going to be in Baltimore?
Anthony Brown: That’s where it is now. I serve an incredible church, First Baptist Church of Glenarden right there in Upper Marlboro. I serve a great pastor, Pastor John Jenkins who is just an incredible guy. And I have the opportunity to serve them every Sunday, four services. So right now, I’m outside of D.C. that’s where I see my life right now. But you never know, creative people we can blow with the wind sometimes. So you never know where I can go, I can be in New York next.
Parlé Mag: Any final words you want to put out there?
Anthony Brown: Yeah, I just want to share some love with anyone reading this. I just want you to know that I am literally living a moment right now where God is blowing my mind and I want to encourage somebody else out there doing anything whether it’s music or not , to do it with excellence and do it for the right reasons. I’m your living proof that God will really take you from where you were to where he wants you to be. He’ll blow your mind every time if you just do it the right way.
Keep in touch with Anthony Brown online:
Twitter: @ajblive
Facebook: Anthony J. Brown
Instagram: @AJBlive