Sophie B. Hawkins Continues Moving Forward With Fans And Friends

By Shannon Hicks

HARTFORD — It’s been five years since Sophie B. Hawkins released Timbre, and it’s been a busy five years. As of April 20 the singer-songwriter has been enjoying the release of her newest album, Wilderness, a beautiful celebration of women and life.

Its first single, “Beautiful Girl,” is a bright sounding song with lyrics that have one woman reaching out to help a younger woman battle some demons. It’s a song the singer has described as dark and light.

Ms Hawkins will be performing that song and a few others from the new album when she performs at Charter Oak Cultural Center on Saturday night. Tickets for the May 1 concert are just $20 and can be purchased at the door.

“The shows these days include a little bit of everything,” Hawkins said the week, calling from her home in Venice, Calif., which serves as both residence and studio. “The first three albums are the focus. I play all the hits, and most of the songs that people request, along with three or four from the new album.

“I want people to want to hear these songs, not have them forced on them,” she said. Performances are presented by Ms Hawkins and just two backing musicians, “a power trio,” she says. “We sound a lot bigger than that when we get going,” she said. “It’s cool. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Ms Hawkins is perhaps best known for two songs that came from her earliest albums. She broke into the mainstream with “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” from her debut album, 1992’s Tongues and Tails, which earned the singer a Best New Artist Grammy nomination. Two years later Hawkins released Whaler, a fantastic album that featured the single “As I Lay Me Down.”

Timbre, her third studio album, was actually released twice, first by Sony Records in 1999 and then by Ms Hawkins after she was able to get out of her Sony contract and rerelease an expanded version on Trumpet Swan Records in April 2001.

Wilderness is the first that she has conceived, recorded, and released independently. It’s the second on her Trumpet Swan label. The new collection shows the strong songwriting skills Ms Hawkins has always had, dating back to the demos that she used to get herself signed to a major label in the first place.

 “I’m fascinated, in retrospect, when anything comes out,” Ms Hawkins said. “I worry every time I go into the studio that I’m not unique enough, not organic enough. It’s enough to give anyone a nervous breakdown.

“I do hear a huge difference between my albums,” she said. “I hear more power and range, and can pick up on more relaxedness.”

It’s good that Ms Hawkins has been able to find a relaxing place, because the turmoil over Timbre would have forced most people out of the music business. After two strong albums, both of which were certified gold, Ms Hawkins began to receive mixed signals from Sony.

According to the biography provided by her management, Ms Hawkins began to feel that in order to have any support behind her third album, Sony expected her to begin working “with schlocky writers and totally sell out.”

After trying to make things work with Sony, Ms Hawkins says, she was able to negotiate out of her contract. She no longer recorded for Sony, but she wouldn’t have the label’s backing, either. On the other hand, she walked away from the table with her freedom, her identity… and the masters for Timbre, which she eventually rereleased and then moved on.

“At a certain point I just had to give it up,” Ms Hawkins said Monday afternoon of her work with Sony.

In order to protect her work Ms Hawkins recently found herself in small claims court, this time defending the material included on Wilderness. Ms Hawkins learned from some fans in December that a promotional copy of Wilderness had been sold on the auction site eBay for $300, and this was months before the album was to be released. Ebay shut down the online auction, and the unnamed seller was contacted by attorneys representing Ms Hawkins, but the seller still managed to sell two more copies of the pirated album at $12 each.

That’s when Ms Hawkins filed a lawsuit against the seller, for $324. Earlier this month Ms Hawkins was awarded $324 by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roberta Kyman.

“Wasn’t that cool?” Ms Hawkins said this week. “The judge warned me ‘Good luck collecting your money,’ but I didn’t go in to this for the money. This was my work, plus my fans were getting ripped off. ”

After the ruling, Ms Hawkins sent the first buyer $300, along with a full copy of Wilderness. The promotional copy he had purchased online last fall hadn’t even had liner notes or artwork. As a thank you gesture, Ms Hawkins also sent the fan a number of collectible items no one else would have any access to. She also sent copies of Wilderness to the other two fans who had purchased the CD on eBay, and returned their money.

The fan who had spent $300 on his copy of Wilderness turned around and used the money he received from Ms Hawkins to buy copies of Wilderness, which he gave to his friends.

“He ended up helping me,” Ms Hawkins said. “Isn’t that beautiful?”

With lawsuits and label issues behind her, today Ms Hawkins is doing a lot of touring, and radio and television appearances. She loves being on the road.

“As hard as it can be to leave home sometimes, I’m getting to know and love this country as never before,” she said. “I’m finding all these wonderful places. Sometimes I wish I could live everywhere.”

Showtime for Saturday’s concert is 8 pm. Charter Oak Cultural Center is at 21 Charter Oak Avenue in Hartford. Call 860-249-1207.