ASCAP Jam

Tamara Savage


...there's a lot to learn from Tamara about how a young person can get ahead in the music business. Through a combination of luck, patience, persistence, contacts, hard work, and -- most of all -- talent, Tamara Savage found herself writing songs with some of the biggest names in the business -- at the age of 19.

Forty or fifty years ago, the person singing a popular song usually wasn't the person who wrote it. Songwriting was more like a day job: a person or persons would go into an office or a cubicle and bang out songs all day, and the publisher (often, the songwriting office was in the office of a music publisher) would then "shop" the best songs, hoping to find a popular singer to sing them.


The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Smokey Robinson were by no means the first performers to write their own songs, but they certainly helped to make singer/songwriters a lot more common -- and in rock music in particular, the ability to write hit songs is now expected of most performers.

In other forms of music -- particularly pop, R&B, and hip hop -- the songwriter-who-is-not-a-performer never went away, and a lot of them are producers too (i.e., the person in charge of the recording sessions and the final sound). You'll probably see their names plastered all over the liner notes of your CDs: names like Swizz Beatz (who writes and produces for Jay-Z, Eve and many others -- and he's only 21!); Max Martin (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys); Diane Warren; teams like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson, etc.); Soulshock & Karlin; Beats By The Pound (Master P and most of the No Limit crew); and so many others. When opportunity knocked, that opportunity was looking for a song, not a singer.

All of this is leading up to the reason we're writing an article about Tamara Savage, a 23-year-old whom you may not be familiar with, but who happens to be one of the hottest songwriters out there right now. Have you heard Monica's "The First Night," Whitney Houston's "Heartbreak Hotel," Blackstreet's "Take Me There," or TLC's "Fan Mail"? Tamara co-wrote all of those songs, and in six months there will be an even bigger pile of songs she's written for hit artists (most likely Toni Braxton and Kenny Lattimore). Even if you haven't heard or don't like those songs, there's a lot to learn from Tamara about how a young person can get ahead in the music business. Through a combination of luck, patience, persistence, contacts, hard work, and -- most of all -- talent, Tamara Savage found herself writing songs with some of the biggest names in the business -- at the age of 19.

One major advantage is coming from a musical family.

"My family is very musically inclined," Tamara says. "We've got music professors, musicians, songwriters, and we grew up singing in church. Being able to write has always been part of our background, too - and we all do it in different ways. Some of us write poems, some of us write stories, and I have an uncle and an aunt who are good songwriters."

Another big advantage is having a family member or close friend who knows about the music business.

"Yes, that would be my uncle," Tamara says. "He was a music professor at University of California at Santa Barbara. He knew a lot, and he's a real hot musician, so he knew a lot of people and knew the business well."

Tamara also knew that she had to develop her musical skills, just as an athlete has to train.

Those two factors are definitely boosts, but Tamara also knew that she had to develop her musical skills, just as an athlete has to train. This story would be a fairy tale if you didn't know how hard she's worked at it: from singing in church and at home, to singing on friends' demo recordings, to performing in musicals in high school and college. Her role in the musical "Once On This Island" (written by ASCAP members Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, incidentally) drew rave reviews from the get-go: she won the part by singing over the phone, and the performers of the show's original Broadway production were awed by Tamara's performance.

She kept active musically in other ways, too, and made sure that she knew people who were involved with making music.

And she made sure they knew that she was a singer. The first step in the series of steps that lead to her successful songwriting career came from some friends. "I was in school, and one of my friends introduced me to Ray Brown, who knew some producers who were already [successful], and were looking for someone to sing on some demos. He heard my voice, I went down and demo'ed the song, and he became my manager. Through a mutual friend we were introduced to Big Jon [Platt, from EMI Music Publishing], and that's how it all took off. Big Jon was looking for a melody and lyric person, he liked my melodies, and God had me in the right place at the right time. Big Jon heard the music that I was writing, he really loved it, and the rest is history." - Well, not quite.

Big Jon signed her to EMI when she was 19, while she was still in college. He thought her songs needed a little more work, and they got down to it right away.

"He kept telling me, 'You're hot, all I want you to do is tighten up your lyrics, make 'em a little bit stronger.' So I went in the studio and I'm tightening things up and thinking a lot deeper and a lot more maturely. He must not have thought that I was gonna get it that easily, because when he heard the songs, he just went, 'Oh my god! I'm gonna put you with Jermaine, I'm gonna hook you up with everybody, so you can start getting a feel for what being a professional writer is like.'"

"I remember a moment where I was like, 'OH MY GOD! JERMAINE DUPRI!,' but the other part of me said, 'He's just like everybody else.'

That Jermaine happened to be Jermaine Dupri, the songwriter and producer responsible for dozens and dozens of hits by Usher, Kris Kross, TLC, Mariah Carey, Da Brat, Xscape, Toni Braxton, Aaliyah, Mase, and many others. (Jermaine produced his first record at the age of 13 - you'll see an article about him in these pages soon!) In other words, it was like hearing, "You play baseball pretty well - I want you to play with my friend Derek Jeter."

Tamara laughs at the memory. "I remember a moment where I was like, 'OH MY GOD! JERMAINE DUPRI!,' but the other part of me said, 'He's just like everybody else.' And once we got together, that was it: our first song was 'The First Night.' He had already done the track [music], he left me in the room, and I wrote the melody and the lyrics fast, in like 35 minutes."

The song was Big Jon's first #1 single as a publisher, as well. "A #1 single -- that's when you know you've really done something," he says. "And at the time, Tamara had no records out, and no records coming out -- and I had her writing with Jermaine, Teddy Riley, Soulshock & Karlin [some of the biggest writer/producers in the business]. I just approached those guys like, "She's got the goods!" And needless to say, when she steps up to the plate, she hits the home runs.

"When I first met her, she had that look in her eye -- the eye of the tiger. I don't know if she knew she had it, but she did. And the songs that she played me weren't the best songs, but they could compete with what was out there. I knew that all we had to do was to get her in the trenches, so I just said, 'Do this, do that,' and she was almost like, 'Oh -- that's it?' And boom! She was out of here! On 'The First Night,' when she and Jermaine went into the studio, I went in maybe 45 minutes later and she already had the chorus. I knew it was a smash!"

Once success comes your way, you must be able to handle it. "Just make sure that your mind is straight and you're humble."

Needless to say, Tamara's career has taken off from there, but it's important to know that once success comes your way, you must be able to handle it. "I always try to tell people, before you get into the music business, you have to get your mind straight," she says. "If your mind is not ready for all of this, it will take over everything and overwhelm you -- and that's how people get on drugs and all that, because they're not really sure of themselves. You have to have your mind together and know who you are as an individual, that you're strong, that you can go a long way. Just make sure that your mind is straight and you're humble."

You also have to know when an offer is too good to turn down.

"The reason I was [singing demos] was so that I could get a record deal -- I was gonna be an artist before I became a writer. It kinda went backwards!" she laughs. "But I think it's best that I make my name bigger as a songwriter so people will know exactly who I am. You have to be smart: you have to know when to go in, and when to let go. I went on in: I worked with a lot of people to improve my craft, but in the back of my mind, I knew those people were not the ones I was gonna stay with. So I let go and moved on to the next thing. On the other hand, there are certain people that come into your life and they're it, and you know it. Big Jon was it!"

"Be yourself, and make sure you're good at what you're trying to do. ..Be the best you can at what you do, and be humble, and it will help you immensely."

"But I would say to young people out there, be yourself, and make sure you're good at what you're trying to do. Study it, like you're in grade school and studying science or math. If you're trying to sing, get your voice together. Don't be lazy -- a lot of singers don't seem to want to put 110% into what they do."

"You've got to have character, you've got to have personality, and most of all, you have to be humble, because the industry loves humble people. Be able to listen to people, as well as put your five or ten cents in, and just roll with it. It's all about your personality. You may not be able to sing real hot, but they may like your personality or your character, and that might make them say, 'Oh! You've got it!' So be the best you can at what you do, and be humble, and it will help you immensely."