Young B. Lauren has performed with Common and has already been compared to the likes of Beyonce and Aaliyah. To boot, her father, Steve “Silk” Hurley, is a celebrated mix-master and producer who has worked himself for some big names in the ind
Young B. Lauren has performed with Common and has already been compared to the likes of Beyonce and Aaliyah. To boot, her father, Steve “Silk” Hurley, is a celebrated mix-master and producer who has worked himself for some big names in the industry and has exposed his daughter to many of them. But the vocal dynamo is looking to break into the recording industry and make a name for herself. One gig at a time, she told the Defender that she’s determined to make her star rise. “It’s been a lot of hard work,” the suburban Olympia Fields native said. At first glance, she looks like the late R&B princess Aaliyah. When she opens her mouth to sing, her vocals have the maturity and fortitude of some of the recording industry’s veterans. B. Lauren is only 20 years old and has spent most of her years with a microphone in hand. “I’ve been singing since I was really little,” she told the Defender. “But I didn’t know that I wanted to do it until I was about 12.” Her beginnings read a lot like most R&B stars: B. Lauren got her start in the church, singing lead in the choir. But unlike some, she had to be pushed to belt out her vocals. She was shy and lacked confidence in her ability to sing until, she said, her parents pushed her and encouraged her to sing in the choir. The solos and leads she sang on Sundays helped her to build the confidence she needed to embrace her talent. “Now I’m really glad that my parents pushed me,” she said, telling how she got an opportunity at church to sing with rapper Common. And the petite singer has been going at it ever since. She’s also picked up some other industry skills along the way, taking pride in learning to record on her own and acknowledging herself as a songwriter, too. Dad’s been by her side – and in the production booth – along the way, and she said she’s grateful for that. She admits that having a Grammy-nominated father whose name is synonymous with head-bobbing, grooving beats has its advantages when it comes to her industry aspirations. “It helps a lot, a lot of people know his name,” she said. But like a baby bird leaving the nest, B. Lauren wants to spread her own wings in the industry. “I don’t wanna just be Steve “Silk” Hurley’s daughter now, I kinda wanna just start getting a name for myself. That’s what I’m trying to make happen right now,” she said. And for all of her hard work and earnest effort, fingers crossed, “It seems like I’m getting closer and closer every year,” she explained. She has cut a few singles, including Away With You and Take Our Time, which can be heard on her website, www.blauren.com. Still, she’s looking forward to her album debut this fall. Dressed like a superstar in a calf-length black strapless dress, with flowing locks and moving effortlessly in to-die-for stilettos, B. Lauren said she’s bracing herself for a journey through an industry that has seen one-hit-wonders and is home to esteemed legends. She’s already had a taste of it. The newcomer said being in the recording industry is “an adventure every day. You never know what opportunity could arise.” But whatever mark she makes in the world of entertainment, she wants it to have her own flavor. “I want people to be like ‘oh B-Lauren’ not ‘that girl that sings like Beyonce,’” she said chuckling. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender (Defender/Kathy Chaney)
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