Questions + Answers

From Alice

Hi Allison,

My inquiry has to do with your mindset surrounding success vs. fame. Many performers grapple with this issue and what it means in both their personal life and career. For example, George Harrison once said "I wanted to be successful; not famous.”

Obviously, we all want to be successful at what we do and earn a comfortable living. I would like to know if you were interested in becoming more famous as a singer/performer, or even to attain "superstardom?" Do you think you could have handled that level of attention and/or scrutiny, or are you content being somewhat well-known, but still able to live your life in relative anonymity? 

Please share your thoughts in any way you choose regarding the music business and how this has aligned with your career aspirations.

Thank you!

Best,

Alice

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Dear Alice,

Thanks for your thoughtful question.

I’ll be honest — there is one thing I like about the little bit of fame that I’ve experienced either directly or indirectly, and that’s access. In every sense of the word, doors open that otherwise wouldn’t if the world perceives that you have some reason to stand out from the rest of it. I will also say that I have been in situations where that very thing has been embarrassing to me, over the top, drawing too much attention, and it has at times repulsed me. It’s a tricky thing.

Other than that, I have appreciated nothing about being a person who is even obscurely known. I find a few things about it disturbing: one is that very level of entry that I reference in the paragraph above — there’s something weird about giving a person a VIP entrance just because they can make things up or sometimes make varying degrees of fool of themselves on stage, or just because they’re on television talking about something, doesn’t it? For instance, I wonder why teachers don’t get that kind of treatment, at least for one day per year! I also find the one-way relationships weird. When you’re written about, a sense of familiarity develops but only on one side — the whole world can think they “know” someone and have no idea. That can be isolating and scary.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table of the duplex that my sister and I lived in during the fall, winter, and spring of 1993/1994 one morning and making an envelope out of wrapping paper. I remember hearing a whisper SO LOUD in my ear that I was on this earth to make. What I was supposed to make, I didn’t know, so I set about doing the kind of making I could figure out how to do, and that was making music. That took me where it i did, and it takes me places still. I am grateful for it being part of my path. But I also sit now, at my kitchen table, with my paintings all around me because I figured out that’s where the best morning light is. I’m making. I still feel like that’s what I’m here to do.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I never wanted to be famous in the first place. Nothing about it appealed to me except for maybe the money part, but we all know that’s often a sham as well. A lot of famous people are broke. I’ve never made anything but an okay living at making art and it’s also a feast or famine situation. I was talking to my sister yesterday about this very thing — working artists live from windfall to windfall. It can be exhilarating, but it’s hard on the heart and soul after a while. But at the end of the day, I’ve done pretty well for someone who has always seen herself as a harmony singer first and foremost, the end.

Could I have handled superstardom or a bigger level of success? Goodness gracious, I don’t know. It’s doubtful. But I think that all depends on timing. I really like where I am now, so I have to like everything that got me here. I do wish I had a more significant musical outlet, but I also want to say that I think one of the keys to happiness is to be able to change, pivot, swerve, dip, and dive with life, because it moves, and finding out a way to move with it is the best way to move through it.

Thanks again, Alice, for another great question.

I hope y’all have a glorious weekend.

Peace. Love.

Allison

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