Marla:
Hey girlfriend! Welcome to LA.

India:
All this time I thought you were a New Yorker.

Marla:
I’m a Wanna Be New Yorker.

India:
You seem like a New Yorker, a real New York City girl, the way you carry yourself, your confidence.

Marla:
Well, I was raised by New Yorkers.

India:
How come I see you in New York all the time?

Marla:
I go there to see you!

India:
Oh, really.

Marla:
Well, that and I’m working on a film out there, remember?

India:
Oh yeah, about the mambo dancer.

Marla:
Yeah, I’m spending a lot of time in New York researching it. Last week I spent a few hours with Tito Puente.

India:
He knows everything that went on back then.

Marla:
Yeah, he even gave me a dance lesson.

India:
Tito’s a great dancer.

Marla:
Yes, he is. But now, let’s talk about you. When I last saw you a couple of weeks ago, you had just been nominated for a Grammy. Has the reality of that sunk in yet?

India:
Not really. It’s sort of like, I don’t know what to think of it. For so many years I felt like I was putting out the best music I could and I never got nominated before and then all of a sudden this is just a big surprise to me. I never make music for nominations because if you do that, most of the time you’re going to be let down. I’ve known that from the start. You know that I would make music because it felt good to me and because my producers and arrangers and songwriters felt good about it.

Marla:
Well, I talked to Isidro the other day and he said that he was really proud of you.

India:
He’s so sweet, so sweet. Let me tell you, I got on his nerves. When we were recording I kept telling him, "I don’t want to do it this way. Let’s do it over." Sometimes we scratched things up. There’s one song on the album and the first time I went into the studio and I heard it, I said, "Let’s stop the session." Isidro said, "What’s wrong?" and I said "I want to move it up, a whole step. I want to sing it higher." He said, "I think it’s fine like this" and I said, "But I don’t think it is. I don’t want you to be upset about it Sugar but trust me when I’m telling you. It’s a woman’s intuition." As soon as he heard me say that he said, "You’ve got it India" and that’s what I love about him. I love the fact that he didn’t get intimidated by me. He knew that there was something about me that when I’d say "let’s do this" he would follow me. He felt that I knew what I was talking about. He gave me that opportunity.

Marla:
And he probably has enough confidence in himself to not feel threatened.

India:
He has a lot, a lot of confidence. And another good thing about him is that he’s the type of man that loves being surrounded by women. Not in a male chauvinistic way but in an easy going, very respectful way. He seems like he was a good son, you know. A good son who loved his mother. And he’s also a good husband. So that shows a lot about him and it was wonderful working with him.

I wanted to elevate myself to a new level, a level that fans and industry people could see. You know, I think about everybody. I think about the industry. I think about the fans. I think about the whole music business. When I come out with something I want it to be a new sound. I want to reach a new elevation. I think that makes an artist grow and I love to grow. I felt like, "Why don’t they give Isidro a chance? Instead of criticizing him, let him do his job because he might be able to coming out winning."

Marla:
Well, it worked. A Grammy nomination.

India:
It worked. The numbers are great. We just went double platinum. We’re growing every day. Fans are going crazy about this CD. Women are calling and writing letters and coming to the shows and requesting the songs. You know when an album is a hit when you have women saying to you, "India, this is my song." Everybody has their own song. That shows a lot and I am proud of Isidro. He was incredible to work with. He had no ego.

Marla:
He doesn’t have to have one. He’s secure in his ability.

India:
And he’s down to earth. I like to work with people who are down to earth. I don’t like to work with people who are in love with themselves and they think that they are the stars and the artists don’t do anything. It’s the music and the sound and forget about the artist. No, that does not work. Whoever thinks that way, they are going to bump into walls. I think it’s a 50/50 collaboration between the music and the artist.

Marla:
It seems like this album worked because Isidro and you both trusted each other.

India:
We did trust each other. You know, we knew that we were going to be criticized and people were waiting for the worst, waiting to say, "She’s not going to be able to prove herself." I said to myself, "How could I not prove myself? You know, if I’m dealing with myself and everybody is entitled to work on growing and getting better at what they like to do, why can’t I do that? Why can’t anyone grow?"   And it was wonderful working with Isidro and Luis Quintero, my boyfriend.   There was magic between them. They got along so well. Watching Luis and Isidro work was like wow. It was like magic. And I said, "You know, this is really starting to sound good." And you can tell when something is going to be good when you hear the percussion, when you hear the rhythm section.

Marla:
Luis did the percussion on it, didn’t he?

India:
Yeah, he did the job of maybe six people. He played all the percussion instruments: the congas, the timbales, all the minor percussion sounds and an instrument called the cajon. It’s sort of a wooden box and it comes from the streets.

Marla:
Is that like what they use in guaguanco?

India:
Yes. It’s a Peruvian instrument. It makes these sounds from the box and it sounds real streety. A lot people incorporate it into rumbas and guaguancos because it gives a whole different light to the music. He even got innovative that way on my album. We mixed a lot of Colombian, Peruvian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Latin, Afro-Venezuelan, rhythm and blues and jazz. This album has a little bit of everything. And I love that. I really do. I love things that are exciting.

Marla:
Well, your album is exciting. It’s great.

India:
Thank you.

Marla:
So what got you to the point, to the point you’re at now, to the point of being nominated for a Grammy? The first time I met you I remember asking you if you had any formal voice training and I was surprised that you didn’t have any. I’ve been wondering then, how’d you get so good?

India:
I did a lot of studying in the sense that I would read about how I should take care of myself. When I was young I saw an opera teacher and I was learning how to sing opera.

Marla:
So you knew that you wanted to be a singer since you were little?

India:
Yes, but I didn’t like opera in a sense. I mean, opera is beautiful. It really is but I didn’t like to sing it, to stay on a head voice forever. It’s boring after a while. I had mixed emotions with the opera training. I didn’t follow through on it. I sort of slacked off.

Marla:
So you had a little opera training?

India:
Yes, I took the opera training.

Marla:
How old were you then?

India:
I was ten years old. But I wasn’t satisfied with the training. I didn’t want to sing like that.

Marla:
Did your parents support your desire to be a singer?

India:
Yes, but I used to say in my mind, "I don’t want to sound like this. The radio doesn’t sound like that. I don’t hear anybody singing opera style on the radio. So, you know, I don’t think this is gonna be my ticket to fame." So I stopped the school immediately.

As I was growing I used to sound like Minnie Mouse. It was very funny. I was very self conscious about my voice. I wasn’t really happy with my voice. I thought I needed a lot of help and I was certainly self conscious about my accent. You know, I was very critical. I used to make fun of myself. You know, I’d go to Great Adventures and I’d pick one of the top hits and go into one of those little studios to record a demo. When the demo would come back I’d sound like Minnie Mouse with a Bronx accent. I hated it. My cousins would say, "But India, you’re young. You can’t sound grown. You’re not grown."

Marla:
Who did you look up to as singers when you were young?

India:
I always loved Aretha Franklin. I loved her. She killed me. She still kills me. And then I used to always listen to this singer and think, "My God, this singer’s got a lot of soul." It was a rock ‘n roll singer by the name of Janis Joplin. I thought she was black. One day I was looking at TV and I saw this white woman carrying herself that way, with all this soul and all this raunchiness. I saw her and I said, "Wow, she’s just representing. Look at all those girls. Look at how the girls look at her. She’s got so many followers. Wow." I would look at her and think what an amazing voice.

Then many years after that I would listen to Patti LaBelle. I loved her. I would listen to singers like Ella Fitzgerald. I loved listening to Celia Cruz. I also listened to Mercedita Valdez who sings all the Afro-Cuban music from Cuba. I would listen to her but there was something about Celia that I loved. I loved her energy.

Marla:
How old were you when you started listening to her?

India:
I started listening to her when I was about fifteen.

Marla:
Is that when you started to get interested in Latin music? At first you didn’t sing Latin music. How’d you get started singing it?

India:
No, I wasn’t singing Latin at first. I always loved Latin music but half of the time I was fighting with my parents about it. I wanted them to give English pop hits a chance to. They would always play salsa and I’d be like, "But, Mom, we want to hear disco. Let us listen to Gloria Gaynor I Will Survive. Let us listen to Donna Sommer On The Radio. Give us a chance. We’ve been playing salsa for five hours now. Give us one song."  You know, every Christmas party, every birthday party, it was salsa and I wanted to listen to disco.

It’s funny how like when I was growing up I listened to salsa and loved it but it was always like, "Salsa again?" I wasn’t into it because my parents wouldn’t let me listen to dance music or the rock ‘n roll stuff that I loved. I liked listening to Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Stones. I loved the Mamas and the Papas. I loved singers like Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Luther Vandross. All the R&B Motown stuff I loved, the Supremes and the Temptations. You know we all grow up here in the states and we’re fortunate because we listen to everybody. You know, we can listen to rock ‘n roll, whatever. And there’s always somebody we’re not gonna like but there’s always gonna be somebody we love. Like one out of ten, we’re gonna love somebody. I was the one that was always fighting to bring English music into my house.

Marla:
How did you eventually start singing salsa?

India:
I know I had a lot of influences and I knew la clave and I knew that it was a feeling thing, something based on the rhythm section and inspirations, a lot of improvising.

Marla:
How is singing salsa different than English music with reference to the clave?

India:
Clave is the soul of Latin music.  You have to learn to phrase around the clave.

Marla:
Do you like improvising?

India:
I love doing it but in a sense I didn’t see myself doing salsa because I thought I would get into the music business on the English side. There was absolutely nobody who knew me then. Ralph Mercado surely didn’t know me.

It wasn’t the right time for that to happen. I think Louie Vega being a DJ and being surrounded by dance music and having a lot of faith in me helped me. He wanted me to go out there and audition, for anything, background sessions, whatever. Maybe someday have a group. I was very shy. You know I loved to dance hip hop but I wasn’t a rapper. I can’t rap. The only thing I could do was sing so I thought I’d go to an audition for this group called TK8. I made it to the group and it was great. We’d travel to Florida, to LA. The guys would get all the girls and I’d be in one corner. I was sort of like the black sheep. I got no attention. Nobody liked me.

Marla:
Well, people are making up for that now.

India:
It was funny because the people who you don’t think are gonna make it are the ones who make it. I was one of those people. There was something strange about me. How would you know that I would make it? Maybe the people around me who were my friends knew. I liked the fashion.  I liked something different. Maybe they thought, "That girl with the green lipstick might go somewhere."

But really you always have to have somebody to believe in you. I had Louie Vega. We recorded dance music. I had my first record when I turned 18. I signed with Jellybean Records and I did, "Dancing In The Fire." One of the things that always bothered me was my accent because I had a really heavy accent, really Bronx. Sometimes I would say "dunt" instead of "don’t" and "thut" instead of "thought" so I had a lot of problems in the studio, not singing, but learning how to pronounce the words and getting the street out of studio. It was my first time around. I think I could have done better but it made a lot of noise for me.

From there I continued doing great work with Louie through backgrounds and writing. Later on we got together with Marc Anthony. You know we wrote an album for him. Then he got a manager named David Maldonado who was doing this thing with Ralph Mercado. They were starting a new label called, "Soho Records." Suddenly David was working in the office with Ralph Mercado. There was a thing called "Thursday Nights at the Palladium." Ralph Mercado used to have a dance act open up for the salsa.

I remember that I used to love Oscar, Oscar d’Leon. Celia and him to me were like Gods, you know. They called me up and said they wanted me to do a dance track. I would do like two songs a night and pump up the crowd. I noticed that out of all the Latin hip hop artists, I was one of the artists that never cheated the crowd. I never did lip sync. I always sang live, even if it was tracks. Who cares? I would always show the crowd that I could sing, that I can do this live. I could go up and do a dance routine, make them think I’m singing, take the money and run but I’d just be cheating myself, not the crowd. I would not be allowing the people to hear me. How would I grow that way? So from the very beginning I said, "I’m going to prove that I can sing so I’m going to go out there and sing live." I noticed that the crowd liked that about me whereas a lot of Latin hip hop artists used to lip sync and it was a turn off.

I remember one night Ralph saw me. He asked, "Who’s that girl singing like that?" So he told David Maldonado, "I like that girl. She’s all right. She pumped out the crowd a lot. I like her. I want to hire her again." The following week they hired me again. That was when Marc Anthony and Louie did an album together. I had done a little writing and background on it. They did a show. It was called "Little Louie Vega and Marc Anthony." Can you believe it? It was so strange. People were looking at them like the next Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe. And I was like the background singer. I remember singing backgrounds and Marc Anthony had this long hair and a cap and sneakers and jeans. Everybody was like, "What is India doing singing background for Marc?" Ralph looked at me and said, "Why are you singing background? You should be singing lead." I looked at him and said, "I ain’t got nothing to do right now. I’m having a good time. It’s all good. Marc is my friend." Ralph said, "Yeah, I know he’s got a lot of talent.  We’re interested in him but we like you too."

Then I was introduced to Tito Puente. He already knew about us. We were like the new kids in town: Marc Anthony, India and Louie Vega. He was very fond of Louie Vega. He said to Louie, "You’re very innovative and I’m glad that you know of my music." He told all of us, "My name is One Take Tito" and you know what it was, he knew the music and he’d do it in one take. He messed with our minds so bad. After that we knew about each other. We’d often go out to see the Latin concerts at the Village Gate every Monday. We’d see Jack Hooke and Ralph Mercado. They started to see more and more of us.

Then finally what happened was Eddie Palmieri was invited to go to the studio. He had also heard about us. He wanted to know what kind of talent we had. You know, he’s very critical. Tito’s the type of legend that he’s open to new things. He’s open to innovative new things. Eddie’s open to innovative things but if he doesn’t like something he’ll come out and say, "I don’t like it."  I’m telling you, he’ll come right out with, "If I don’t see you ever again then God truly loves me. How do you like that?" That kind of stuff. So, you know, we were afraid to meet him because, you know, we heard a lot about him. We were shaking. I remember thinking, "Oh, My God. He’ll be here any minute." We had a box of Cuban cigars ready because we heard that he liked cigars. We figured that if he comes we’d want to be on his good side, you know. So he came in and, luckily, I don’t know what it was that possessed me that day but I decided to turn on a cigar and try one out and Eddie came in and he was impressed. He said, "Who’s that girl smoking like she’s my grandmother?" And Louie said, "That’s my wife, India." You know we were married at the time. Eddie said, "India? Nice to meet you India." I said, "Very nice to meet you Mr. Palmieri." He said, "Oh, don’t call me Mr. Palmieri. Call me Eddie." I said, "Great. Want a cigar?" and we made it. You know, that was the first time I met him.

So, to make a long story short, Eddie was working on a new album. He wanted to have new blood in it so he wanted me to write a song for his new album. Then came the whole thing about Ralph taking me out to dinner, talking to me, letting me know that he represents Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. He told me that he felt that females in salsa were going nowhere. It was dead. There was nobody after Celia Cruz. Everybody wanted to sound like her. There was no new activity. He was upset about it. He spoke with a lot of seriousness. You know, he was saying that the market was going nowhere and was very concerned about it. He said that Celia is an incredible woman. Her talent is enormous and no one has been able to take her place. And nobody ever will. He said, "We have to do something with this market. Nothing is happening here India." He was serious.

Marla:
Those were some big shoes he was asking you to fill, at the same time telling you that you could never actually fill them.

India:
I’m serious girl. I was like, "Look here brother. I know salsa. I like it. I understand the rhythm but I’m a whole different movement. I know what you’re trying to say and I really would like to fill the shoes but right now I have to be able to believe in what you’re telling me. I can’t just tell you that I could come out and do a salsa album right now. I have to talk to Louie and I have to talk to people who believe in me to be able to do this album." He said, "Well, right now Tito is busy. He’s not going to be able to do an album with you as much as he would like you. He likes you. He believes in you. One of the things about you is that everybody is talking good about you, including the legends. Everyone is taking notice of you. Everyone is talking about your talent. I saw you. I think you’re great. And I think you have the kind of spirit and soul that Latin music needs right now. So, you make a choice. You can spend your life making English music or come to Latin music and get noticed."

Marla:
Wow, what a history making moment.

India:
I tell you. He made me think. I went home that night and the next day I called him up and said, "I want to do this." He said, "Great. Who do you want to work with?" I said, "Eddie Palmieri." He said, "Oh no."  But you know, he said, "In actuality, I think it would be a good combination." So, we went in and we recorded Llego La India and it was a major controversy. Everybody talked about the girl who smokes cigars with Eddie Palmieri. What I didn’t like was what the press was saying. They were saying I was supposed to be like competition to Celia when, in actuality I’m not. It’s just such a whole different movement. It’s just that she was the only woman on the scene so to have somebody new come out...There was nobody else they could compare me with so they kept saying that I was the next Celia Cruz and blah blah blah. In reality I was different.

Marla:
What was it like the first time you met Celia?

India:
Oh, wow. I was so nervous. I was worried she wasn’t going to like me because the press kept saying all kinds of things that really would be upsetting. Tito would call me and say, "I know you didn’t say that. I know you’re not like that. I just spoke to Celia. Celia needs to know that you’re a good girl so I want you to talk to her." So, I was very nervous. When I met Celia she was a sweet woman. She said, "Come sit down. I know all about the press and I know that this is a very hard market to be in. As long as you give yourself respect then others will respect you too. What you give is what you receive. You have to be professional in everything that you do." She was so friendly with me that ever since then I love her. I admired her and now I loved her. You know, sometimes when you meet artists that you admire you get so disappointed because they might be stuck up or mean to you but with her, everybody loves her because she’s sort of like a part of the community.

Marla:
You’re like that too.

India:
Yes, I like to talk to people and I like to make friends. Even before I was in the music business I had like three phone books because I had so many friends.

Anyway, I went back and I didn’t know if it was meant for me to do another Latin album. I know that I made a lot of noise but I didn’t know if this was for me. I said, "I want to go back to dance music and I came up with an anthem, a song called Love and Happiness, tribal music. The first time a tribal record had vocals. I took a lot of Afro-Cuban chants and I added them into tribal beats. I talked about the ocean and the river, the two Goddesses. It became a hit, a big hit.

Then Latin started calling me again. I was in Paris doing the underground club and across the street from where I was performing Celia had a big concert. Ralph saw the sign and said, "India?" So he called us and he said, "India?" And I said, "Ralph?" He said, "What are you doing?" and I said, "Well, you know my music is kind of popular out here, dance music." I said, "You guys are gonna do a concert?" He said, "Yeah, Celia’s famous out here and we’re doing a big concert. You know, I’m very impressed that you’re out here performing. I may come out and see you tonight." He was so nice. He came out. He supported us. When I got back to the states he signed me. It was these little things indicating that something was meant to happen.

Marc came out with a great album, his first album, a collaboration with Sergio George and he became a hit. Then with me I was sort of coming from this "Eddie Palmieri what could have been" and then doing English again and then back to Latin. People were wondering if I was going to stay with it. Then The Perfect Combination came about and Ralph Mercado saw Marc Anthony and India teaming up which brought us an international hit. We became famous after that.

Marla:
That was during La Combinación Perfecta?

India:
Yeah, they called us the two kids. Then we did a big concert with the big stars, Celia, Cheo Feliciano, all the big-time people. We were the beginners. Then the next day after we did the concert we were the ones mentioned on the front page. Celia was reading the newspaper and she said, "You know. You guys are laughing at these kids but, you know, you better be careful because these kids got the front page. You better be careful because these kids are gonna rule." She was so cute. She supported us a lot. One of the things that I love about her is that she could have played the diva and brushed us off but she wasn’t like that. She told all the legends, "Respect them because they are starting and they have talent and when we were starting we wanted everybody else to see us as human beings, to give us an opportunity to do something and prove ourselves. Why can’t we be that way with them?" She was the only legend, her and Tito to give us a chance.

Marla:
What more do you need, Celia and Tito?

India:
Everybody else hated us. I’m not going to mention names but they were very rude to us. Tito and Celia they were very nice to us. Then Marc went on and did his thing, making noise and selling units and conquering Latin America. I was doing the same thing in my style and representing females. It seemed that for a long time females were looking for someone that they could look up to, someone they could identify with. I sort of became that.

Marla:
So, my big question. Did you get an outfit for the Grammys yet?

India:
I know. Last time I saw you I was looking around but I haven't gotten anything yet.   When I get back to New York I’m going to go see this Russian lady and she’s going to make me something beautiful.

Marla:
I’ll be watching you.

India:
You’ll probably be there.

Marla:
I’m not going to be there. I’m working on a commercial in LA but I'll see you next month at Concierto del Amor.

India:
Well, you know they’re not going to televise the Latin categories. That stuff will be earlier. But, I’m gonna stay, win or lose. There will be so many artists there that I look up to, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Babyface.

Marla:
Then you’ve got to stay.

India:
I want to sit there and watch them. So many years I’ve watched the Grammys from TV. This time I’ll be there. Really, I was gonna go even if I wasn’t nominated. This time they’re going to be at Radio City Music Hall. You know I’m gonna be there. I was going to go anyway and then I was shocked to find out that somebody got possessed and nominated me.

Marla:
You deserve it. I hope you win.

India:
Thank you. Thank you so much.

Marla:
Is there anything you would like to say to SalsaWeb readers?

India:
Hi everyone. This is India and I want you all to know that I’m down with SalsaWeb. I love it. It gives you all the opportunity to know what’s happening with salsa music and India’s a part of it and India supports it. I send you out all my love and kisses. Hang tight because you all are gonna be reading more.

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