| The Billie Holiday Story | Grove Theatre. Dunstable 31 May-1 June 2007 Eves: 8.00pm |
The Billie Holiday Story is currently bringing blood, sweat, songs and tears to theatres across the UK and this dark portrayal of jazz's too often romanticised fallen angel comes to the Grove Theatre, Dunstable this week. Billie is powerfully portrayed by Rain Pryor, daughter of the legendary black comedian Richard Pryor, who became one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars and died in 2005 after nearly 20 years with Multiple Sclerosis. Now an international star in her own right, Rain told Katy Lewis what it was like growing up in the shadow of a famous parent, but she first described the show that she is currently starring in. The Billie Holiday Story, I guess dramatises the singer's tragic life?Rain: Absolutely. It’s a musical play so it takes you on a semi-chronological journey of what it was like, how she first started, the middle of her career working with Artie Shaw, her relationships, her trials and errors, that kind of thing. It’s very interesting. You’re playing Billie, what was she like? | | Rain Pryor |
Rain: I think she was a very complex individual. She was a girl who was basically molested and raped when she was 10-years-old and didn’t deal with it. Most women like her got sent to priories to deal with it, institutions, where she ended up, never dealing with it and dealing with the fact that at such a young age she had to work in a brothel. Some of the things she had to see I think just influenced her behaviours. I think jazz music, and for her jazz and blues, was an outlet for her inner state, but at the same time she was still in that same kind of environment and I think that really affected her as a person, which is why I think for her to take drugs or to drink, really was a way out, an escape and to try to forget. The singing was a better outlet than drink and drugs though?Rain: Yes, I think she looked at it as a better outlet and then it became about the outer stuff, getting the money, even though it was true in her spirit. What’s great about her is that the woman didn’t read music. That wasn’t her thing, she just heard and felt her music and if you listen to early recordings through to recordings near the end, you can see the difference in the way she approached a song. It’s not like she thought hard and long about it, she just went with whatever was happening in the moment. It was very spontaneous. There were times when the bands that she worked with got upset because they didn’t know what she was going to do, or where she would actually go, or what she would remember. She was definitely a challenging artist and she definitely made a mark and changed the face of jazz and blues. She really put it out there for all of us to enjoy and embrace. How have you approached it? You’re a singer in your own right so have you tried to do an imitation or is it your own interpretation?Rain: I think it’s a combination. It’s part trying the recreate her and part adding my own influence because I think there’s leeway where I get to be a little more of an artist appreciating another artist, and then there are moments where I think it serves to be as dead on as I can be. I think it weaves in and out of that. So you’re putting your own stamp on it but remaining faithful to her spirit?Rain: Absolutely. And recreating a little bit. One of the best complements I got was from one of the writers of the piece who said, “I listen to a lot of tapes of hers and you’ve really captured at least her talking, the way she sounded” and that made me feel really good because I was in the right direction of what I wanted, that the audience could believe for one moment that this is the person portrayed and this is her life, that’s the best complement. They suspend their belief and go on that journey with me. Do you find you can relate to her and what she went through?Rain: I think definitely for me. I didn’t realise some of the things she had gone through. I read her book which was her interpretation of her life but she was also under the supervision of a very abusive husband at the time so you have to take it all with a grain of salt. Learning what I’ve learned about her, I think there are definite things I can draw from in my life and experience. You’re an all-rounder, you act and sing and are a comedienne and writer – but what would you say your first love is?Rain: I think my first love is actually the stage so if it’s music or singing, or singing and acting together like in this play, I’m in heaven. Obviously you have a very famous father, the great Richard Pryor, do you think you were always destined to be a performer?Rain: I think maybe I never knew anything else. Both my mum and my dad really encouraged me to be a performer and enjoy the arts and partake in the arts so I think it was sort of drawn out for me. But I don’t think that was their intention, I don’t think it was like “oh she’s going to be an actress” but more like “what else is she going to be?!” My other brothers and sisters seem more educated than I am – they have degrees but my degree I think is in life. You seem to be doing a fantastic job of carrying the name on. You’ve written your autobiography and done tributes to your father. What sort of relationship did you have with him?Rain: I definitely had what you would call an unconventional dysfunctional relationship. I loved him to death, he was the first love of my life, and at the same time I yearned for his attention and there were struggles. It was up and down, nothing’s ever perfect but I think for me there came an understanding that the man was a genius and an artist, and so there has to be a form of narcissism that comes with that, in order for him to be where he was at. And for me to understand that in my young adulthood helped me deal with it and find a place of forgiveness and love for this man, otherwise I think I would have gone the other way and had great resentment and anger and forgot about great moments. I think that’s what I held onto, more of the great moments than holding onto what I didn’t or couldn’t have had. So it was your understanding of why he was like he was that helped that relationship?Rain: Definitely. In an interview the other day, someone said “did your dad leave you money or stuff” and I said “no he didn’t” and I’m grateful for that. Firstly I don’t think he had much to leave anyway and also, the way I was raised, my mum especially insisted I worked and was part of society. The fact that I didn’t have a silver spoon in my mouth made me a far more grounded human being than if I had been raised the other way. There are a lot of demands that you put on the world and the universe around you if you don’t know what it’s like to actually work. You must have had quite and extraordinary upbringing, was it your mother that kept you grounded?Rain: It was definitely my mother. My mum was an artist as well. My mother was a comedian and a writer, she was a genius and now she’s an astronomer and teaches and lectures about it all over the place. She’s an incredible and gifted talent in her own right and really instilled in me that if you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it on your own and you’d better do it well, and there’s great power in that to be my own individual person. Is the Pryor name a help or a hindrance? It’s a tough act to follow but at the same time, has it opened some doors that may otherwise have been shut?Rain: I think it’s a two-edged sword. There are good moments and one of those is that I get to be an ambassador for Multiple Sclerosis and go all over the world including the UK to help raise money for research into MS. I think if I wasn’t Richard Pryor’s daughter it would be a lot harder to do that. That’s a perk but the other side is the fact that you have to stand on your own two feet and say this is what I am, this is what I do, I’m not him, I’m my own individual. I think that’s the hard part. Do you see a sort of duty to get the truth out there?Rain: I think for me and my brothers and sisters there’s a duty to get the truth out about how we grew up and what our father really was like and what he meant to us and what we meant to him. When you live a life in the shadow of a parent and everyone else was able to tell their story, although some of it maybe true or not, you feel “well, when does my voice get heard about him and what is was like”. For us it’s been very important, especially since his passing, to really honour our dad, not only to be truthful but to say that he loved us and we loved him. You must have also seen the downside of fame so you’ve probably learned a lot from that as well?Rain: Yes, you definitely do. Our lives weren’t private, every moment was made public by him, whether it was on stage or by default for just being him, and you want to say how this affected me or didn’t affect me. It definitely makes for an interesting growing up process. Are you working on a film version of your autobiography?Rain: I am actually, but it goes in phases of ups and downs but that’s how Hollywood works. It’s hot property but then something else is on the burner, but I think eventually it’s going to get done. I have a director who I would really love to direct it, so that’s the goal. So do you have a dream casting for yourself and your father?Rain: I have an artist in the States who actually became a good friend of the family. He’s a comedian and his name is Michael Apton, he’s someone who I have in mind but I have back ups in case that doesn’t happen. For myself, I really haven’t even thought about it! People say I should be in it but I think not, I think that’s so self indulgent. My main focus is him, I’d love Sharon Stone to play one of the wives in it but who knows – I have a grand list. And you’ve probably not got a lot of time at the moment?Rain: Yes, I’m doing lots of shows and I think it’s also time to grow up and think about having a family and having a real life as well, showbusiness can’t be the only life there is! Who would you recommend came to see The Billie Holiday Story?Rain: I really think it will appeal to those who appreciate music and especially live music. I came to the UK and discovered Amy Winehouse for the first time and I think because of artists like her, it’s opened up a new generation that can appreciate this kind of music again. So, I think any generation who’s kind of hip and wants to learn about a different kind of person and their lives and what it was like before there were artists like myself or Amy or Norah Jones will like it. This was the real deal back then and this is where the true influences are from and I really think it can definitely appeal to old and young. | 
