BY NATASIA LANGFELDER
Lesbian.com
Girlfriends Charmaine Brooks and Carlie Pearce didn’t know that the love song they recorded together would go viral. Brooks wrote the song 20 years ago, and, when she met Pearce, decided she had finally found someone to record it with. We chatted with Brooks about the song, what it’s like to work with your partner and the music that inspires her.
How did you and your girlfriend meet?
Charmaine Brooks: I stumbled upon Carlie’s art page on Facebook, and thought, ‘holy crap this girl’s art is amazing.’ She was so beautiful, so I thought, ‘what the hell, I am going to message her and tell her how much I love her art, and even if I did not hear back from her at least I told her that.’ Luckily she messaged back and we started chatting. The fact that we had a 20 year age difference did not deter our mutual attraction. We met up and instantly clicked and have been together ever since.
What is it like to collaborate creatively with a partner? Do you think it’s harder than it would be if you were both musicians or just friends?
CB: I love working with Carlie. She is an artist first – she had never really considered herself a singer, but she let me hear her sing one night and I was blown away by the texture in her voice. So I wanted to do something together. I had put out a CD in 2005 and got some good response then, but soon after had kind of lost interest in music. My creative side went by the way side. Until I met Carlie, her passion for her art inspired me to want to get back doing my music.
Working together is a good combination for us – as she is more visual and I am more audio. We work together really well that way. We do not have the competition problem that might come up if we were both musicians working together. She is my best friend so that helps too lol.
Your video went viral on Facebook! What was that like?
CB: That was a total shock to both of us! We both loved the song and Carlie worked hard on the video, but we just thought we would put it out there for ourselves more than anything. I guess the fact that my friends had not heard me sing in a long time and were always hoping I would get back into it helped the excitement of it all. But when we had a thousand views in under 24 hours we both kind of were in shock. And it just kept getting more views and such positive feed back and people sharing it. It is such a good feeling to love something you do and have it ‘catch on.’
What are you musical influences?
CB: Melissa Etheridge, Jann Arden, Sheryl Crow, Beth Hart. Carlie’s are Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger.
You’ve released the single, what’s next on the horizon?
CB: Our single is now available on cdbaby.com for 1.50! Pick it up here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/
We are going to keep writing songs and making videos and see how it goes. Carlie will keep doing her art. And wait for one of them to make us famous!
Where can your fans find you?
