Anthony Hamilton: this former barber is restyling soul music with a slinky, sultry debut

Interview, Sept, 2003 by Dimitri Ehrlich

On wax, soul singer Anthony Hamilton sounds like the ultimate mack daddy: smooth talking, streetwise, and brimming with lover-man confidence. But in person, the 30-year-old self-described "spiritual pimp" has the gleeful, impish demeanor of a man for whom contacting his inner child has always been a local call. Preferring a trademark trucker's cap to a pimp's feathered fedora, he still looks like the Charlotte, North Carolina, barber he was a decade ago. "Being a barber is about taking care of the people," he explains in a relaxed Southern drawl that sounds like molasses studded with gravel. "My music is like the perfect haircut--a Friday-night cut! It makes you feel like wanting to put on some nice clothes to go out and have a good time."

Hamilton's long, slow journey to R&B stardom began in 1993, when he left for New York City and recorded his debut for Andre Harrell's Uptown Records. Just as the album was going to be released, Uptown folded, and Hamilton was shunted to MCA, the label's parent company; but his career fell between bureaucratic cracks. In 1999, he found a new home on Soulife Records; that label also went out of business. Hamilton then got a job singing on D'Angelo's Voodoo tour, and last year, he performed on the Nappy Roots' Grammy-nominated single, "Po' Folks."

Last month, at long last, Hamilton's debut, Comin' From Where I'm From (So So Def/Arista), an album of deliciously sly funk nuggets, finally saw the light of day. Of the many delays and setbacks, the singer is philosophical: "It's the best thing that ever happened to me," he says. "I learned patience, perseverance, and dedication. Now I really know myself, and I know my voice. It's a voice of pain and victory."

Dimitri Ehrlich is a Contributing Music Editor for Interview.