LaTocha Scott from the R&B group Xscape, stopped by Melissa Wade’s Light Lunch to discuss her upcoming project, The Invitation: A Conversation With God, due out on Good Friday (Mar. 7).
Now, many fans may be surprised at first upon hearing the news that this powerhouse vocalist, featured on such 90s hits like “Understanding” and “Just Kickin’ It,” is putting out a Gospel record. However, this preacher’s kid makes it clear that Gospel is a major part of her development as an artist from the very beginning.
“I think people get that part convoluted a little bit because they feel like, ‘Okay, now you’re trying to come into the gospel arena,'” Scott explains. “And that’s where I started… when we first started, to be honest with you, we went to Jermaine [Dupri] and said that we wanted to, you know, get a deal. And he was like, okay. So we sang ‘Happy Birthday’. But I was very adamant about us doing [‘Is My Living in Vain’] because all I remember listening to growing up was The Clark Sisters.”
“So he was like, ‘What’s living in vain?’ and I was like, ‘Listen, you gotta hear this song,'” she continues.
Xscape’s rendition of “Is My Living In Vain” was ultimately featured on the group’s 1993 debut album, “Hummin’ Comin’ at ‘Cha.”
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The vocalist went on to explain how her religious upbringing helped shape her musical capabilities.
“You know, I grew up in a household. My father would play music, and all we had to listen to was gospel music,” she explains. “He would play by ear. I would say that he had never really had that type of training, but I would watch him, at home, come up with different songs and come up with harmony parts and put me on a program at church. And as I started singing as a child, I saw how people were just, you know, moving and swaying. I was like, ‘What is this?’ You know?”
“And I would’ve reached them through music and song. And I was like, This is what I always wanted to do. So I would say the church, 100%. The gospel, actually, yeah, that’s me.”
