Tiffany

The term ‘girl power’ certainly applies to singer/songwriter Tiffany. This extraordinarily talented musician took the music industry by storm when she was just a young teenager with her self-titled debut album released in 1987, and she is still going strong today.

Just prior to her world-wide tour which starts in June, making stops in Boca Raton, Fl on November 19th at Boca Black Box and Lake Park, Fl on November 20th at The Kelsey Theatre, she revealed some details about her recent shows and her new album Shadows, as well as her other projects and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music: You have a new album coming out Shadows. What is it about? Is there a theme or what inspired it?
Tiffany Darwish: Well, I think it’s just the music inspired it. Shadows kind of has a little bit of a rock sound. A little punk. Little tweak to the 80’s. Very up-tempo kind of album. A few more deeper cuts called “Bed of Nails”. There’s a song called “I Love You” and “Everything”, but for the most part, we kind of kept it pretty straight up beat rock and roll. Again, with that modern flair. That pop kind of undertone. So, I’m very excited to be able to start the new tour. Shadows the new tour comes out June 4th, So, we’re moving forward on that one which is, yeah! You know It’s exciting to be able to bring new music to people. Reminiscing. I’m just starting again. COVID has been such a wild ride for everybody, so this is great to be able be doing what I do and doing what I love and doing live music. Social distance with masks and mostly outdoor venues, but we’re doing it. So, I’m thrilled.

SFL Music: The tour is going to follow after June or how is that working?
Tiffany: Well, we’ve been booking June through November so, the first single is out now called “Hey Baby” and we decided to just kind of make it a special edition you know, just coming out of COVID. Everybody kind of getting their footing back again, so we wanted to do something very special. The remastered version. That’s got a little bit of an edge to it. That’s one I’ve been playing at my shows for a couple of years. We released that version a couple of years ago with the new video that went with that. Kind of did a little bit of some retracing the steps of what the original video had on it, but you know, kind of a new updated version. That just gosh, got over four million views. We celebrated that, so we wanted to kind of pair it with a new single on a vinyl package. I think with COVID, you know, you were home. My team was just thinking creatively out of the box. When we do resume, let’s go big. Let’s do something we’ve never done before. This is a very special edition, vinyl. It’s got the beautiful blue and it’s got some etching on it. I love the artwork. It’s not my norm. It’s a little bit more retro with the fun colors and things like that. I’m very proud. That’s my selfie that I took. Again, old school and organic because in COVID it’s like, photo shoot? We can’t do a photo shoot. Nothings like the normal of working it, but we all made it work and I think it really, really fits the package and “Hey Baby” is just that really infectious, wordy, summertime song. So, it’s the perfect one to come out of the box with and start touring. Then the album will be out fully in August.

SFL Music: So, the album (Shadows) will be out in August. Are you planning on touring the US or…
Tiffany: We’ll see where it goes. I mean, as things start to open. I just got a phone call yesterday possibly the UK which I’m excited. Obviously, we have some Canadian dates that are on hold right now until things resume there, but this is definitely a worldwide tour as we start to again, everybody starts to feel comfortable. I really do appreciate everybody supporting live music. You know, as long as we’re being safe with vaccinations and stuff, social distance, half capacity and that, but I’ve been working some of these Tiff takeovers which is for my company Lets Food with Tiffany, which I kind of put into play again during COVID. It was like well, what else can we be doing? And I already had a big plan with the Shadow Tour going prior to COVID to do some food experiences with my fans. To cook for them. Do some Airbnb, meet and greets because it’s another one of my passions, and I think that food and music go together. So, unbeknownst to me, some of my fans were already doing some of my favorite dishes that I had shared with them, and then I found out there was this group of people cooking my food and that’s kind of what led to Lets Food with Tiffany. Now I have a cooking club and we zoom and I have a Facebook, but it’s been great because I’ll work with chefs and start to branch out as people feel more comfortable, but I’ve been learning the zooms and all the stuff behind the scenes. So, it’s going to follow me. All of these things are designed to be a part of music and we’ve got lots of things planned for the tour. So, June 4th is the day that we’re setting out in Texas. Behind the scenes right now, we’re just getting ready promoting the new single “Hey Baby” and you know, getting our rest in a little bit before the storm, but it’s gonna be great. We just came back from Hawaii. I did four sold out shows there and I just really can’t tell you enough about how I’m always grateful for music, but how like important it is now. People having their masks on, but you can see that twinkle in their eyes and that connection again. We’re having a good time and it means the world to me.

SFL Music: That’s nice. It means the world I think to everybody. How did Lets Food with Tiffany come about?
Tiffany: Well, I mean again, I’ve been cooking behind the scenes since I was a little girl actually. I have a Lebanese, German grandmother. My German grandmother was raised in the south so you know, come on. There’s all things wonderful. The kitchen was always the heartbeat of the family and the place you gathered, and so I was always there cooking with my grandmother. Just learning it which I was very lucky. They let me experiment with them, but then as I started to travel around the world, you know being from Norwalk California, my family is not in the music industry. They didn’t really travel. They didn’t have any really reference and they’d be like, what’s Thailand like? And I’d be like well, they have this amazing food. Lemon grass and ginger, and these are things that my family knew, but they didn’t ever try it. So, I would experiment in the kitchen and kind of like show them a little bit through food what that place was about, and I would tell them about the people that I met. The culture and difference experiences that I did, and it was just a way to kind of get people in my world and them understand it. That kind of led me to always cooking. I love entertaining. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking for the band when we go on the road at Airbnb’s. Like I said, prior to COVID, I thought well, wouldn’t it be great if I like did some meet and greets where I cater the event. Sit down and you eat with me or I do an Airbnb. You know, you come and I cook for you. Like that would be really fun. So, that was always the plan and then COVID happened. It will eventually resume again once things are safe, but you know COVID happened and I was like, what else do I love to do? I love to cook and I can turn the camera on and I can invite like people to be a part of that, and my band again, they were cooking my Lebanese chicken just through the things that I had mentioned to them here and there; or I’m cooking one of my favorite childhood recipes and I put it up there, one of the recipes, they would all go in a cookbook. At one point my friend was doing a cookbook and he asked to put my recipe on there, but my band got a hold of it, and so they were cooking my dishes and I thought Well, ok. If you want to follow me on that, let’s try something else. So, Lets Food with Tiffany has really grown. I’m very, very proud of it. I’ve been doing Tiff takeovers in Florida. I’m on my way right now to Cincinnati. We’re doing some in California and that really is restaurants who kind of embrace the idea of me coming in, cooking, and they do one of my dishes. They do a signature dish or one of my rock tails. I have cocktails that I’ve made up my own recipes. They can do a rock tail. So, I host the event. We meet together. They get to taste my food. I get to learn through all these wonderful different chefs from high end to mom-and-pop places and we always do a couple of songs. So, you get “I Think We’re Alone Now” and you know, we’re having a good time.

SFL Music: When you started you were really young and you took off and wowed the world (topping the Billboard charts as the youngest female artist to do so). Throughout the years you’ve put out many albums and songs. You’ve not only written for yourself, but others. What inspires you when you write music?
Tiffany: Well. I think it could be anything from a co-write to maybe what somebody else plays. I write different things. You know, it kind of goes along with a lot of times I’m cooking and I hear melodies and it’s just coming out of me, and I write lyrics down or I turn on my phone and kind of like sing something. So, I think more and more I’m writing all the time and the weirdest times like doing laundry, or I’d be walking my dog and all of the sudden this melody comes in. I’m like ok, just jot that down. And I’ve learned to remember to jot that down because you won’t really remember it, but I draw from my personal experiences. I draw from things that I see. I draw from my fans who share their life with me. I’d never embarrass them. Then some things just fall out of the sky in kind of a supernatural really experience. It’s just like all of the sudden, somethings coming through me and obviously it’s somebodies’ story that I’m meant to tell, but usually they’re mostly personal, a lot of my songs. Things that I’ve lived through, and that’s the whole thing is that finding the music that I’m writing and people connect with that and they go “I feel like that and I so went through that.” It’s just, A, it makes me feel not alone and it’s also great that you know, music could heal people. That we can feel connected. So, I’m truly always just really honored. I love that they love “I Think We’re Alone Now”, “Could’ve Been”. I never get tired of singing those songs. Forever grateful, but when somebody walks up and says “I love your songs” I just get inspired ‘cause it’s like well, that’s my baby. That’s what I wrote. That’s my art. You know and I love that it spoke to you.

SFL Music: Is that why you released that again in 2020 as an EP? How did that come about?
Tiffany: Yeah, Pieces of Me (originally released in 2018) was like kind of the front runner album that I wanted to again, turn the corners of more of a rock base. I think if you really look back in the 80’s even though I was pop, I was always kind of like you know, me and Debbie Gibson. I was a little bit more of the red headed bad girl, and I’ve always loved 80’s rock music. I mean, Van Halen to Led Zeppelin, to AC/DC, to Stevie Nicks, to Heart. These are all people that I love and grew up with and especially Fleetwood Mac. Especially Heart and women. I wanted to be them. So, it makes natural sense for me to want to show more of my talent. More of the vocal ability I can do, and so that’s kind of how that all started to happen. There was never really a great time to like show new music. Everybody was always like “Oh, what’s it gonna be like?” It was great to go on the road prior to COVID again and just to make believers out of people. I am a live artist, so again, COVID was like devastating for all of us, but for me, I had Shadows tour planned, even though weeks away from going out and it was like, eh, stop! There’s no way. And it was just awful, but looking at it now, it is the perfect time to release new music. Everybody’s feeling more confident. Things are opening up. We’re becoming more knowledgeable about COVID and how to proceed on safely, and we’re just so lucky to be doing it. So, “Hey Baby” is like this really infectious flirty summertime single with a little bit of a wink back to the 80’s. Little (The) Go-Go’s, a little Ramones. Little bit of Tiffany with a very modern production. This is going to be a high energy tour, and I’m excited that we’re all going to be able to enjoy music, and old music and reminisce, and just have a good time.

SFL Music: Looking forward to seeing that. When you’re writing for somebody else, is that different than writing your own music? How does that come together?
Tiffany: I’ve been very, very grateful and it’s taken me a while. I live in Nashville. You know, when I first started going there as a young teenager and with country music. I got my record deal when I went back to Los Angeles, but my parents early on would take me to Nashville. They didn’t know anything about the music industry and I was around amazing artists. George Jones, Johnny Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, you know, Little Richard. The Nashville community, and watching people song write right in front of me and saying, that’s what I want to do one day. Again, Stevie Nicks is one of my idols and just hearing the documentaries about her and the band. How they write and everything. So that was always something I wanted to do, and coming back in the early nineties to Nashville and breaking into the songwriting community, not just Tiffany or writing songs for me, but actually writing songs for other people. It took a little bit of time, but it’s been really a great honor because it does take time, and once you’re accepted, it is a great honor to be looked at as a writer in Nashville and to write for other people. To write for people all over the world. European artists, and I write anything from obviously country music to dance music to ballads to whatever’s on my plate. I’ve written jingles for T.V. For Japanese commercials. So again, it’s all an experience and I always feel that I can do it.

SFL Music: You had a Christmas single (“Angels”) out this past year as well. Right?
Tiffany: I did. I’d never written a Christmas song and I tried, but they came out kind of goofy, (she laughed). So, I was like no. They’re not great. I reconnected with a great friend of mine Margie Hauser and again she was like, “I’m coming to Nashville and this was like one of my first trips out of COVID. I feel like it’s time to start writing again.” I’m like well, we would love to have you over at the house, my producer and I and let’s try something that’s a Christmas single, but I’m gonna be really picky. We had written two other songs that day that are very good, but at the very last Margie said, “I have this, the key line that keeps coming through that’s called Angel.” And all of the sudden Mark started playing something on the piano and I’m hearing the music, and then I just kept thinking about angels watching over people and it really was about the messenger. I had been receiving so many messages from my fans. In a funny way saying, I think we’re alone now Tiffany. Then sharing these really sad stories about you know, they just lost somebody or they just got a divorce since COVID or they moved somewhere and they lost their job now, or just not being able to see their families. How life’s restructure and how lonely they felt. How distant they felt now. It’s now coming up on Christmas and we’d all waited for maybe the hope of things getting better, and it was like some places were shutting down more and it was just all of this kind of like a big let down. I thought, I want to write something and it just really came organically to say you know there’s angels. There’s angels all around and they’re comforting you and you kind of think of these little beings that fly around from one house to another, but they’re just sprinkling a little love you know, from your heart to your family even though you can’t see them. And from your neighbors. From people that you don’t even know. Again, I thought, well this is the song. This is the message of what I wanted to write. It really just came from people reaching out to me saying you know, I need comfort. I need love. I’m feeling really lost. Some people don’t want to burden their family with that. They don’t want to freak them out or scare them or some people really felt you know, like suicidal and I was like oh no. There’s always an ounce of hope. We’re gonna get through this. So, it was great to write a song that I feel is a great Christmas song that really spoke to people’s hearts, but again, I was writing it not just for myself, but from all the stories that have been told to me.

SFL Music: You had a country album Rose Tattoo (released in 2011). I know there is a variety of music, but has Nashville been an asset to your writing, being there?
Tiffany: Well, I think it made me a better writer. I mean, I did the whole Nashville scene where you book your appointment. You go in. You got two hours. You gotta kill it. It’s kind of like a joke. We’re gonna write a hit, you know? No pressure there, but it does make you a writer on your toes. I think maybe now some of the newer country music nah, not overly a fan. I still like the traditional, but there’s some great artists out there. I think really there is such a blend in the community now, but you know, going to the UK and writing with artists there. Being inspired by different bands that nobodies heard over here, but just there is a different take on styles of music. It’s just all of it has made me a better writer. Country music, Rose Tattoo was really a big thank you to all the people that took the chance on me. Encouraged me. Became a part of me when I was a little girl. Before I even had a record deal and I realized, you know gosh, I’ve never really even went back and said thank you publicly. I’ve kept in contact with everybody and they’re still my friends. Even people that gave me my first start that are older than me. They’re still in my life, but I need to do an album that kind of celebrates them. Kind of celebrates my national roots and my earlier career before I even knew I was gonna really have a career (she laughed).

SFL Music: What would you recommend to an up-and-coming artist?
Tiffany: Just to stay viable. Keep an open mind. I would say, well you know, not everybody makes it to L.A. or gets a record deal or anything, but it’s always nice to have that drive, but you should be having fun no matter what. You should make you feel good. You know, local theater, your church, and your choirs. I mean, there’s local jams where you can get open mic night. The thing about that stuff is you get better. You find your footing. How to work an audience that’s not paying attention to you or whatever it is. The more experience you have, the better. and then you’ll find what works for you and what brings you joy. I’ve had so many friends of mine they’re like, that’s it. I moved to L.A. I thought I was gonna do it. I got a record deal and I decided I don’t want to do that at all. I want to do local theater and I want to work with kids and I’m still as important, and I’m still as fulfilled and I’m training kids to like shine. So, you keep an open mind. You never know, but obviously follow your dreams as I followed mine. Sometimes I’ve had to go to the left. I’ve had to go to the right. I’ve had to pull back a little bit, but anything that’s meant to be will continue to happen and you just have to enjoy the journey more than anything.

SFL Music: That’s great advice. You’ve also done T.V., movies. You’re in some sci fi shows and have had guest appearances on a bunch of different T.V. shows. You did voice overs like Judy Jetson and Robot Chicken. How did that come about?
Tiffany: Just my love for sci fi first of all. I just made Mega Python VS Gatoroid. Again, my parents didn’t know anything about the music industry. I was doing some singing. Doing the country demos. I’d come to Nashville. I was only ten, so it was like, what material does a ten-year-old sing? So, when we went back to L.A. you know, the advice to my family was well, she needs to act. She has to do it all. So, I literally, I mean, I was already dancing by the time I was two years old. I was in a dance group and I was doing tap and ballet and that was something my mom put me in and she loved it. She loved doing the costumes. All of that, but I was always singing. My family again, just not being musical, they were like ok, she just sings all the time. When I went back to L.A. I started doing some acting lessons and modeling and that was just really the requirement at the time. It was funny because I was going on auditions with Martika, with Ricky Martin, with Fergie. We were all in the same group. All of these kids going on auditions and it’s so funny now to see everybody doing their thing. Having their careers, but I mean we were all just like going out, reading our parts, seeing each other. “Hey, how’s it going. Alright Got this, O.K. Cool.” You know, it’s just funny now to see all these people that I had an early bonding with just, I was trying to make it in the industry.

SFL Music: Did you ever find it overwhelming being so young when you started or it just was your thing and you knew that was where you were supposed to be?
Tiffany: I just kind of knew that’s where I was supposed to be. I mean, it is overwhelming. There are long days, but that’s work with anything. I think its maybe a little different as a celebrity, more as an entertaining because you’re giving a lot of energy, and especially when you’re onstage you want to give your all so, you kind of get tired, but again as long as it’s fun. I surround myself with really good people and fun. Sometimes being in a band for 18 hours or whatever isn’t glamorous, or the tour bus or even flying. I don’t like to fly. So, I try to just keep positive and know that this is what I’m meant to do. It’s really out of my hands. I’m just excited to get there and jam my new music, so I’m just gonna keep moving forward. The rest will take care of itself.

SFL Music: What else can fans look forward to? You do the cooking show on Facebook?
Tiffany: I have Lets Food With Tiffany on Facebook and Instagram. I also have Radikal Redz Beauty which I just launched a new line of lipstick Power Lips. They’re awesome. Who would have thought that I could wear red lipstick, but I have been rocking it for the last couple of months. It looks great and it just makes sense again with all the things with COVID, its like doing the zooms with my fans. Really engaging with them more. Talking and chatting online with them has led to finding out their interests. What they’d like to be a part of. Not just music, but new merch and new things, and then having my Patreon account, and it was just an opportunity for me to show other things that interest me. My meditation. Health and fitness. I just started doing more of a Keto diet and I’m doing an all Keto cookbook, so I’m just about to launch a 10 day challenge and I’m inviting people try to come and be a part of my world. Getting ready for the tour. Looking and feeling our best and rockin’ some red lipstick along the way and it’s been great ‘cause my fans are like just really gearing up. They’re like, yes girl, yes! Now we want to do all of this and come to your shows. So, I mean, it’s a great time. After such a crappy year for all of us, I think 2021, the summertime ’til the end of the year. I really hope that everybody’s feeling good and learning how to start to live again safely and enjoying it for sure. Getting back to life.

SFL Music: Are there any new videos? Fans should keep their eye out for the tour?
Tiffany: Oh, definitely keep your eye out for the tour. June 4th starting. Tiffanytunes.com is the place to go for all things, but yes, we’re doing videos behind the scenes. We’re documenting all the stuff. It’s been a long time that really just turn the camera on or have live from someplace. The livestreaming is amazing, but to really have it in a video form, I haven’t done that since the late 80’s. So, now it’s time to get back to a little bit of old school again. I think my fans now having that access, having those zooms. Having the Patreon behind the scenes. They want to see that more like start to travel again, the world and what’s that about especially if they can’t right now. So, it’s like they’re gonna be kind of living through me and I’m going to be showing them all the different restaurants and chefs and new bands and new people that I’m meeting. Whatever adventure lies ahead. All with new music. We will be doing a music video for “Hey Baby” which I’m very excited. There’s that keto kicking in. Working on wardrobe right now, but I’m loving all the energy that I’m feeling. Loving how I’m feeling and looking. So, we’ll be doing the video in July for that, and meanwhile we’ll be doing kind of sneak previews of all kinds of other stuff. So, lots of things on the horizon definitely, but I’m very excited to be like kind of the open book a little bit where people can follow me on the road and see what my day to day is like.