From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

A rare bird

Tweet’s career is soaring, thanks to her songwriting talent — and her friend Missy Elliott.

by Larry Getlen

October 20 2004

Tweet is not a performer who sugarcoats the rough spots. The songs on the hip-hop vocalist's hit 2002 debut album, Southern Hummingbird, read like entries from the diary of a woman with a messed-up life, and while it may not be completely accurate -- at least not anymore -- it's also no accident. Tweet (born Charlene Keys) writes everything down. All the considerable pain and suffering of her life winds up on paper, and that, in turn, becomes music.

"I usually write my thoughts out every day," she explains, "just to get it out and to reflect on what I'm thinking." Many of these thoughts get turned into songs, some of them almost verbatim. "If there's something wrong with the writing, I can fix whatever the problem is. It's very therapeutic."

The songs on Southern Hummingbird, some of them produced by Missy Elliott and Timbaland, deal with some of the most trying and traumatic incidences in her life. "Always Will" challenges the man she spent eight years with that he'll never love another like he loved her, and "Motel" relays the feeling of seeing the love of her life leaving a motel with another woman. Some people might find it difficult to convert such intense pain into music, but for Tweet -- who will release her second album, It's Me Again, in January -- it's automatic.

"At the very moment I feel pain or hurt or any emotion, I usually write it down, and that's the song right there," she says. "I might not make it a song right away, but I always have the pages to go back to."

Tweet feels no topic is too personal to share with her fans -- the album's hit single, "Oops (Oh My)," was an ode to masturbation -- and that sense of personal trust helps explain why she strikes such a chord. "I get people who come up to me every day and say, 'You don't know how you took me through what I was going through, and thank you for being right there with me and helping me get through this. I know that I can make it,' " she says. "Just what I touch and who I touch, whether it be one or two people, it's just amazing, and that's what makes me want to do it more, to write about what I go through, because I know I'm not the only one who goes through things. So if I can just write about it and tell them how I got through it, I can help somebody out."

Tweet has always been a firm believer in the amazing power of music. Raised in a churchgoing family in Rochester, N.Y., Tweet was exposed to gospel at a young age. Her family was very musical, and hearing her parents sing in church had a tremendous effect on her. "I can remember as a child sitting in the front pew of the church, watching my mother and father sing, as well as my aunts and uncles and my whole family," she recalls. "It was obvious I'd eventually do something musical. I didn't know to what extent or whether it would be professional or not. But I'd be in the mirror singing all the time. I didn't know how far it would go, but I always wanted to be onstage."

The gospel influence was essential for Tweet, who says gospel music is still as pervasive in R&B as ever, even though not many people discuss it now. "Whether people know it or not, whether they say it or not, a lot of people in the industry are from the church, from the musicians, the writers and the producers on down," she says. "I can tell when I hear a song, like [one by] D'Angelo; you can tell they're from the church."

Tweet made a major contact in 1994 when she met fellow aspiring singer Missy Elliott. The rapper was in a group called Sista, while Tweet performed in an act named Sugah. Neither group really got off the ground, and the Sugah experience left Tweet somewhat traumatized. But meeting Elliott was a boon for the singer, who found a great friend, mentor and champion.

Tweet says Sugah actually recorded its debut album at least five times over five years, and every time the group was ready to release it, something happened to prevent its coming out. But having no one to guide her through the business, she believed her contract with the group's founder to be airtight, and she felt trapped. "Each time, there was something different. Either the reels would get lost, or he would owe a record company money," she remembers. "We would have to go back and record it again. That was Sugah."

The group moved around quite a bit, and Tweet says the experience was so stressful that her family was worried about her health. "I lost so much weight," she says. "I went down to 90-something pounds during that period, from around 115 or 110. We would go home for a month or two at a time, and that's when my family really got concerned, when I started losing the weight."

She left Sugah in 1999 and found herself with nothing, unable to provide for her 9-year-old daughter, who had been living with Tweet's mother, and unable to find a job because she had a very sparse résumé. She even became suicidal. Just as she was contemplating an ugly end to it all, an old friend called, offering her some work.

"What was so amazing was that I hadn't heard from Missy in about two or three years," Tweet says. "For her to call me at a number she never had and never knew about was just amazing. I considered her a gift from God, because at that time, it was very, very crucial. She came through like that. It was really amazing."

Tweet isn't sure whether she would have committed suicide had Elliott not reached her, but she does credit the hip-hop star with saving her life. Tweet sang background vocals on Elliott's 2001 album So Addictive, and when Elliott heard her singing her own songs during the sessions, she arranged for an audition with the CEO of Elektra Records. Before Tweet knew it, she was climbing out of the abyss with a record contract.

Although Tweet's new album won't be released for another three months, its first single, "Turn the Lights Off," is already getting radioplay. A collaboration with Elliott, the single is yet another reminder of how lucky Tweet is to have made the friend she did. Instead of dwelling on what might have been, Tweet just enjoys her success and counts her blessings.

"I can't say what would have happened if Missy hadn't called," she says. "I can only say that I'm here now, and thank God I'm blessed to be in the position I'm in right now, which is that I'm happy and living life and thankful every day for just being able to breathe."

Tweet will open for Cee-lo Green 9 p.m. Saturday at Club 112, 1439 Washington Ave., in Miami Beach. Teedra Moses and Dante Carter will also perform. Tickets cost $25. Call 305/532-7726 or visit www.seagramsginlive.com.