Ex-teen Star Tracie Spencer Cultivates New Style On Capitol Set

NEW YORK-Absent from the recording scene since her second album, 1990's "Make The Difference"-which yielded "This House" and four other hits-a more mature Tracie Spencer finally returns with "Tracie," which Capitol releases June 29.
The album, produced by the team of Soulshock & Karlin, features seven songs co-written by Spencer, a former teen sensation who is now 22. "Tracie" also is the first release from Capitol's newly reactivated black music department and is being hailed by the label accordingly.
For Spencer, the album caps an extended period of personal development, prompted by her initial success and a move to L.A. from her Waterloo, Iowa, roots.
"I've grown up a lot and gone through a lot of changes since the last album" says Spencer. "I went home and became a normal teenager-being around my peers, dating, going to the prom, and finding out who I really was. It was a wonderful transformation, because I'd been performing my whole life and needed to find the direction I wanted to go in."
Indeed, Spencer began singing at age 3 and, after appearing on "Star Search" in 1986, landed an audition with Capitol. Her self-titled debut album, containing the hits "Symptoms Of True Love" and John Lennon's "Imagine," came two years later.
"It was pretty stressful for me, wondering if people would care if I made another album," continues Spencer, referring to a post-"Make The Difference" panic. "So I moved to L.A. and became independent at 17-because when you're around your family, you depend on everybody to take care of you. And it's such a difficult life being an entertainer that you don't want to be handicapped by letting that happen."
L.A., of course, is also where Capitol is headquartered. "In order to get the new album going, I had to be surrounded by the music and the people; I put a lot of time and energy into getting it right. The marriage between me and Soulshock & Karlin is perfect because they didn't know my past and didn't want to know-they came in blind, hung out with me, and created the music on how they felt about me."
Spencer says the set shows little relation to her previous efforts. "I wanted to do edgier hip-hop and something very fun, but with ballads at the same time," she says. "The last album dealt with the homeless issue with "This House,' and the first had "Imagine.' Now I'm at the point where I don't want to be too serious-even though some of the songs deal with relationships that every boy and girl goes through. But I laugh and don't take it too seriously and am writing with other young up-and-coming songwriters."
Spencer, a Southpaw Entertainment management client and ASCAP writer, collaborated with Tamara Savage, along with Soulshock & Karlin, on the album's "If You Wanna Get Down" and also called on Heavyn Lumpkin, who co-wrote the album's first single, "It's All About You (Not About Me)," with the production team. Singer/songwriter Andrea Martin contributed "Still In My Heart," and Diane Warren gladly submitted "Nothing Broken But My Heart" when solicited by Spencer.
The single was shipped to R&B formats in early May so programmers would get it immediately following the Impact convention, notes David Linton, Capitol's senior VP of R&B promotion and marketing.
"We're excited because the record is receiving overwhelming success and acceptance at radio," he says, adding that it's being shipped to crossover stations. This issue, the song is No. 54 on the Hot R&B Singles and Tracks chart. "It's a more mature Tracie that's definitely going to reach the adult audience," says Michelle Campbell, music director at WBLS in New York. "I love the single, and we've gotten a lot of requests from people who don't know who it is at first and are nicely surprised-just as I was."
A "very exciting, cutting-edge video" has been shot with director Francis Lawrence, says Linton. Capitol is staging "a full-fledged frontal media attack" starting with R&B-slanted trades and proceeding to the consumer press. Spencer, who is booked by William Morris, is slated to perform at radio promotional dates.
"The key is to get her in front of crowds so people can feel the enormity of her talent," says Linton, adding that talent agencies have also expressed interest in Spencer based on her photogenic looks. "But once she gets out, people will see that she's more than just a pretty face."
Violet Brown, urban music director for the Wherehouse music chain, predicts a re-emergence for Spencer on par with that of Shanice. "Tracie's just a knockout and has the personality to follow it up," she says. "She's been gone awhile, but her voice is better than ever, and the songs are up-to-date."
Spencer's name, Linton says, is "almost synonymous with Capitol," making her "the foundation upon which we can rebuild the genre here."