B.B. KIng

Last week I asked our SJF Communications international PR client, “High-Heel Guru” Chyna Whyne if we can do an interview for my blog. I simply asked for a few sentences for each question. Well, Chyna decided to dictate her amazing answers instead of typing and emailing them. Her answers were phenomenal and astute and a bit lengthy, to her absolute credit! I learned so much from this fascinating Goddess that I decided to split the Q & A into several parts – some written, and some audio format. Here are the first 4 areas that we covered….Stay tuned for several audio posts (and possibly a few more written ones)! Here we go!

SJF: Tell us about your choice to be a professional singer/songwriter and your new album release

CW: I was born with a voice to sing and I always made a living from singing. My recent album was recorded in Jamaica. I wanted to record my album in Jamaica, simply because I wanted to release my entire brand from Jamaica and of course my singing is a part of that. I connected with Barry O’Hare who’s a very famous Producer here in Jamaica.. He produced Morgan Heritage, Sean Paul, Shaggy, Beres Hammond – a lot of famous Jamaican artists.

I was really honored to work with Barry. We recorded at the studio on the famous James Avenue where Barry’s studio is. I wrote the entire album and Barry produced it. And I think it’s a very strong album, it’s full of kind of good messages, very upbeat positive, it also looks into, you know, loving the skin that you’re in. It looks into why people are skin bleaching themselves and not wanting to be the color that they are. It also has some love songs on it, some uplifting songs and very funny songs like ‘Sweetest Meow” which – when I do perform that absolutely causes a riot in the audience! I’m looking forward to the release of that, hopefully in 2020 at “Sexy Heels in the City”- February 3rd – looking forward to getting the album released…and I’m looking forward to getting back on stage – singing on a regular basis when “Sexy Heels in the City” actually becomes a road show, so that incorporates everything I do, within the brand, particularly the singing aspects of who I am.

SJF: What experiences and/or people (parents, role models etc) in your life influenced you the most and why?

CW: You know, people ask me that often, who were my influences growing up and I had none, I had NONE! I don’t even remember looking towards anybody thinking when I grow up I want to be like you or being inspired by anything in particular. I think because my background was quite traumatic and also quite sheltered in many ways..I mean I grew up in the church, in the Pentecostal Church. I went from school to church, church to school, I guess my biggest influence was God (laughs) which at the time seemed to be outside of myself obviously developing myself and knowing more about who I am. I can now connect to the goddess within me and know that that’s where my true power lies. So, really I had no particular influences that shaped me into who I am other than like my inner higher self I guess.

SJF: What have been the three most memorable experiences as a performer/model?

CW: OK so, one of the most amazing things I remember the most was when I was touring with The Who and we played at a stadium of 250,000 people now that’s quite a lot of people to even begin to imagine and I don’t think it’s possible to imagine because even before I went on tour with The Who I remember speaking to one of the tour managers and he told me that the stadiums were colossal and that we’d be playing to 250,000 people and I thought I could get my head around it until I was actually on that stage and hearing that amount of people scream and be excited and see that amount of people before me. It was a really incredible sight to see.

And I remember one night I think we were in Chicago somewhere playing there, and it was an evening gig and the night came down and The Who was singing ‘Rain on Me’ which was one of their tracks and the whole audience lit lighters and because there was a a big bank at the very very end of the crowd that went up to almost the sky – looked like the sky – and there were stars out that night and so it looked like there was just like a ‘sea of light’ from the ground that went all the way up to the sky and over and I remember being on stage and just what witnessing this and just thinking wow, this is absolutely spectacular – it just was so magical!

Another time on stage where I thought it was really really amazing was when I sang at Guitar Legends in Seville and I was doing backup vocals for like… You know B.B. King and Stanley Jordan, Eric Clapton, the late Jack Bruce, Keith Richards, just like all these amazing legends on the stage and I was on the stage with them. I thought – WOW I’m a legend!

So yeah, that was pretty amazing and.. what other time was there that was amazing? Oh, I know I remember! When I formed my own band and this is when Seal used to come and see me perform – he was a fan and he used to come to the front and cheer and like, yeah “Go on, Chyna”! And I did a show at the Ocean London and I had said, right that’s it, I’m putting all of my musical talents together so it was a show where I kind of did a ballet piece on stage , I was there with the live band we had models walking in and out of the songs. I still think I’ve got a clip of it on YouTube somewhere, a whole dance routine I choreographed the whole thing, I wrote the songs- it was amazing – I got all the people to be in the show there were about 20 of us, it was an amazing coming together of a huge part of who I am.

And it was just an amazing feeling to really feel that and experience that and I would actually love to do that again and in fact “Sexy Heels in the City” is very much a sort of a recreation of that, so I’m looking forward to being on the road with “Sexy Heels in the City”as a part of a grand tour of health and beauty and music and fashion and education.

SJF: Tell us about the Alexander Technique

CW: Well, before I had come across the Alexander Technique from a personal experience, I never ever heard of this thing before. I heard about it when I finished a one year tour with Eric Clapton. I was having back problems from wearing high heels and performing on stage for 2 hours a night. I was given the phone number of a teacher named Alice Olsher – and I went along and had no idea what the Alexander Technique was – but first of all I realized it was so beautiful and gentle. That’s what I liked, because I had chronic back problems and I had been clicked and clunked by Chiropractors and Osteopathy and Physiotherapy. But none of it, you know everything had its place – those practices have their place but the pain just kept coming back, so I really love the fact that the Alexander Technique is so gentle and what the Alexander technique actually does – it reeducates your entire neuromuscular system. So, all the muscles and your bones that promote movement, if they are tightened, shortened muscles they become lengthened and released. Say for instance, if your head is pulled forward your head will then educate itself and remember to live on the very first vertebrae of your spine. If your shoulders are rounded, if your posture’s collapsed, your posture will come back up, you will be realigned your shoulders will live where they’re supposed to live and your body will function in a much more optimum fashion. Some say the Alexander Technique is the study of movement – that’s one of the parts, one of the areas that it is. Yeah…it helps you with mobility – people with degenerative bone conditions – osteoporosis or arthritis or anything that impedes movement – the Alexander technique that can help with that but there’s also a thousand other benefits that it can help with like sciatica, breathing problems, asthma, clarity of mind, relieving of neck, back and shoulder problems – it can help with concentration focus, it helps with the awareness of how you’re using yourself – you become, you know, more efficient in the way that you can walk and stand and lift and dance. The Alexander Technique can be taken to anything really, I mean I’ve chosen to take it to improve the way you in which you walk in high heels but you can take the Alexander Technique into yoga, golf, pilates, running, horse riding – anything that moves can benefit from the Alexander technique. In fact, the Alexander technique is the first port of call and a lot of these techniques like Yoga and Physiotherapy and Pilates – and all of these sort of self-help techniques and treatments are not including the Alexander Technique because the Alexander Technique needs to be a little more widespread across the world. In fact, if people started having Alexander Technique before they ventured into at any of these sports or activities or treatments or you know..even after people are recovering from surgery and rehabilitation – if people dealt with the Alexander Technique first then people would feel and have a better chance of recovery and an even better chance of no injuries or …conditions worsening or reappearing. It’s a great way to prevent injury as well. So it’s a very powerful technique that is very well respected within the world of science, education and within the medical field. So, yeah, that’s the Alexander Technique and in fact I have to add that a lot of the teachers in my school that trained me when I was living in London at the Walter Carrington Constructive Teaching Center, at least 3 or 4 of them had degenerative bone conditions and were supposed to be in wheelchairs years and years ago but they’re still standing they’re still walking, they’re still active and they’re still very well, so that actually goes to prove how powerful the Alexander Technique is.

SJF: Many thanks, Chyna. You are truly inspirational!

To book Chyna for workshops and appearances, please contact

Publicists:

(International): Susan J. Farese,

SJF Communications 408-398-5940 sjfcommunications@gmail.com

(Jamaica): Andre Stephens, Creative Director,

Premier Gentleman Company Ltd.
876-865-4587, premiergentsja@gmail.com

Chyna Whyne’s Website: http://chynawhyne.com/

Find Chyna Whyne on Social Media:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/walkinginstilettos/

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ChynaWhyne

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chynawhyne/?hl=en