In 2001, years before Amy Winehouse and Duffy marched out their versions of blue-eyed soul, Nikka Costa did it harder, louder and with the spirit of psychedelic funk masters from Sly Stone to Teena Marie.
No stranger to the limelight, the daughter of the late arranger Don Costa had a long and successful singing career doing grand pop ballads in Europe. But when Costa found the funk, she found it fast and made it freaky.
Everybody Got Their Something
(2001) and
can'tneverdidnothin'
(2005) didn't sell a gazillion copies, however, and her record label (Virgin) was faltering.
"Did those girls have it easier because of me?" Costa says with a laugh from her home in Los Angeles. "Are you trying to say I'm a trailblazer? I believe I am to an extent. But I know there were others before me. Plus I'm older than those girls, and their success now will make it easier for me to go full force."
Full force has meant recording a raw-knuckled new album,
Pebble to a Pearl,
on her dime, and finding a home for it on the revived Stax label. That back story of being a lost lady maverick soul queen colors every aspect of
Pebble'
s best moments. When she sings in "Can't Please Everybody" about using her tears to mop up the floor, you get that she isn't moaning over a man.
"This is a new chapter for me in so many ways," Costa says about her anthem of frustration. "This is my surrender to being an artist, to being what you are without ever worrying about appeasing someone. If you don't remember that, there'll always be someone around to nitpick; you'll forget who you are and what you truly love."