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ICYMI:
There are very few albums in my life that I've liked from start to finish Exposure, the debut effort from legendary girl group Exposé is still near the very top of my shortlist of favorites. 1987 was a year of firsts for me- the first job slinging fish in a fast-food restaurant. First summer of freedom thanks to turning sixteen and having a bestie with a car. A first taste of heartbreak courtesy of a boy that I didn't honestly even like. Exposé was there with me every step of the way. Whether they were blaring from a boombox while my friends and I laid in the sun covered in baby oil or were whispering through my Walkman headphones about seasons changing while tears rolled down my cheeks at 2am, they were there. And I was grateful.
Perhaps the best thing about the 80's
being so hot right now is hearing my kids walk around the house
singing the exact same songs that I was singing at their age. Why?
Because the music is fun and it holds up and that's precisely the reason why you can catch acts like Exposé (Jeanette Jurado, Gioia
Bruno and Ann
Curless) still lighting up the stage. Over the last few years
I've had a few opportunities to catch the ladies live and to connect
with both Gioia and Ann, both of whom I adore.
Jeanette has been a bit more elusive.
I'd liken it to catching a unicorn, you just know that if somehow you
can make it happen it'll be totally worth the time and effort. This
week I was finally able to chat with her one-on-one and was not
disappointed. She is deeply devoted to her family, including her
Exposé sisters, and has a sense of humor and a sarcastic streak that I
really appreciate. Most of all, Jeanette was totally present in this
interview and really dug deeper than even I expected. Check it out
below. Click the links and if you have an opportunity, go and see
Exposé live. I promise you'll love every minute!
Jeanette Jurado:
First of all, I'm not at peace with myself or comfortable with myself
unless I'm singing somewhere. If I go too long without singing my
boys are like “Mom!!!” because I'm singing around the house or
I'm singing in the shower full blast (laughing). I have to have some
way to be able to get that out of me, it's like this built up energy
and if I can't go out and sing then I'm not a happy individual. The
second reason is actually getting together with Gioia and Ann. I keep
joking with them about how you hear of maybe once a year girl's
getting together with their friends and planning a girls' weekend. I
get to see them all the time and get paid (laughing)! What's there to
complain about? We go and stay at a nice hotel, enjoy dinner and
catch up on what's going on in each others' lives. The third thing is
the audience, of course. That moment when you first go out on stage
and you just feel the audience and the energy of that room. It really
is, quite addicting. It's really all of those things that keeps me
out there performing regularly.
(Photo: Robert Valesco)
CM:
Onstage I know that you refer to each other as “sisters”. Does it
really feel like a sisterhood to you?
JJ:
It's absolutely true. I have two real-life sisters, no brothers. I'm
the middle of the three. There's nobody that I argue with and love
more. In some ways you can kind of get away with stuff because you
love them so much that you know you're going to come back and work it
out. Ya know, you're sisters so you kind of have to. That's the same
way that it is with Gioia and Ann and I'm glad that we feel
comfortable enough to be horrible with each other sometimes
(laughing). I think it's a healthy thing and whenever there is a conflict between us I do think, “Okay, they're my sisters and I
know we're going to get past this just give it a little time.” and
in the end, we always do.
CM: The group really skyrocketed quickly (seven back-to-back top ten Billboard hits) and you found yourselves on the road with your sisters. Did you enjoy that part back in the early days of Exposé?
JJ:
That's a hard one. There was a time when we were in Europe
together, I think we were in Scotland and I was just so young and
homesick. Growing up I was never one of those kids that wanted to
travel the world, I was not even interested (laughing). I thought I
was going to get married and have children and stay in East LA for
the rest of my life so, surprise (laughing)! I was very young and I
was literally having a hard time getting out of bed. I just wanted to
stay in the hotel, order room service and watch CNN because it
connected me to the United States. Had it not been for Annie, who had
to literally at one point go and get a key to my room and force me to
come out- and she yanked me out (laughing) and made me leave. She
said I'd never get this opportunity again and that I had to get out
of bed because she had made reservations to go see this and that. I
think I was literally crying and she would often push me to go and
see things that I thought I had no interest in. Had it not been for
her I probably wouldn't have enjoyed half of the places that we
traveled to.
That
still really sticks out in my mind. I'm so grateful and I always
thank her because without Ann I wouldn't have done half the things
that I did. I'm much different now, but I think then I was just so
young and naive that I didn't realize the golden opportunity that was
right in front of my eyes that I fell into. I just didn't get it. I
just thought, oh this happens to everybody that wants to be a singer
(laughing). I think back now and it's comical, I thought it would
always be there and I'd always be traveling- you know, who doesn't
get a tour bus (laughing)? Because when you grow up and this is what
you wish for this is what happens, right? No. Now I look back and
realize the amazing blessings I had. Just the record company and
having Gioia and Ann and being able to travel. It was all a little
miracle in itself. Now I know! You're young and you think you're just
invincible until you grow a little more and realize you're not.
CM: Once Exposé started to
conquer the charts several other girl groups like Sweet Sensation
and The Cover Girls also started to break out. Did you keep
your eye on the competition?
JJ: I'd have to say I was pretty
secure (laughing) only because we were so busy that I probably wasn't
even paying attention. The three of us discuss that quiet often, how
we were so busy and just spinning in everything going on within us
and around us. Everything was so new to us so to tell you the truth I
was not paying attention. I was secure in a very naive way
(laughing). I had enough to worry about within Exposé to waste a
minute worrying about anything outside of Exposé. We were absolutely
in our own bubble and I don't remember having conversations about
what anyone else was doing.
CM:
When the group disbanded back in 1996, were you ready to move on?
JJ:
I was def ready. We were all
just so miserable in that contract. I didn't think that at the time I
was saying goodbye to Kelly (Moneymaker, who replaced Gioia Bruno in
the early 90's) and Ann. I knew that it wouldn't be goodbye for the
three of us so I was good with that. I knew that wasn't gonna go away.
But we were all just so tired of waiting to be told what we could or
couldn't do. We were also not as young as when we had first started
and so there were other things that had become important to us. Our
freedom being one of them(laughing). I was definitely ready to not be
in that position any more.
CM: So then you fast forward a decade and you girls decided to reunite. Was that an easy transition or did it take some pushing?
JJ:
It took a little pushing in the beginning. It was weird talking to
the girls about coming back. I think so much of it for me was
wondering if we would still have an audience, because I didn't know
for sure. I had met a friend that suggested we get back out there and
I called a few booking agents thinking that interest really wouldn't
be there. But once I had conversations with various people that were
still anxious to work with us, then I thought that maybe we were just
missing out on an opportunity to still be doing this. I think some
pushing came between the three of us, actually putting ourselves in
that zone after we had been on our own for so long. We are three very
headstrong women and getting together and making decisions can be
tough. Sometimes what's great for Ann and I may not be the best thing
for Gioia or vice versa and so it's always a compromise. Just like in
any marriage, it's a constant compromise and so it takes a lot of
putting your ego aside. Luckily, we were all ready to do that and so,
here we are. Ann and I still have kids at home to worry about. The
good thing is that Gioia is also a mom (her daughter is 29) so she
really understands those feelings and that love and how important it
is to be present. Somehow it all balances itself out. She knows that
this is the real gig, here at home (laughing).
CM:
I'm generally a B-side girl when it comes to music. What are some
of your favorite Exposé songs that maybe weren't released as singles
or haven't gotten the mainstream accolades as say, “Point Of No
Return”?
JJ:
A favorite of mine that didn't get as much attention. Funny enough,
“In Walked Love” I love doing and I love the adult
contemporary genre of our songs. I love being able to sing background
(laughing). I love sitting behind Gioia or Ann and supporting them
because I don't get to do it all the time. I get to sit back and
really hear their voices and work on blending backgrounds and those
are some of my favorite moments and songs. We rate our own
performances on whether or not it was a great blend or the volume of
the band. Those are all of the things I'm actually thinking of
(laughing) and we need to have the full band with us to really figure
out how to tweak our performances in general. We all discuss the
technical part when we get off stage.
It
depends on the audience that we're about to perform for how we pick
our songs and how we get to perform them. When we're doing the
freestyle shows and it's a bunch of people onstage then we only have
a short amount of time and I know the audience is there to hear the
hits. So it's like bam- bam-bam, I'll arrange the show that we're
about to do to please that audience. When we have a show where we
have a live band, then I know it's more relaxed and we have an
opportunity to play around with our arrangements and our song choices
as well. It's a much more personable audience and so we have to be
more personable as well. That gives us a better chance to talk to our
audience, maybe tell them a story about the songs and really just
play off of each other a little bit. I think the audience expects to
see that investment from us at that type of show.
CM:
Expose` shows are generally on the weekend and so what does a typical
weekday look like for you now?
JJ:
Right now my day consists of doing things with the boys because
they're out of school. When they're in school it's so much easier
(laughing) because when they're here it's like “Mom can
we do this, mom can we do that...” so there's a lot of planning
around them and cooking three times a day rather than just once.
Right now I'm also putting together another band and getting
all of the music together , talking to the guys. A lot of scheduling
and figuring out who is free for certain dates. There are new
arrangements for the live band shows that we're doing. That's my day.
I also talk to the booking agents and figure out if we want to do
dates or not. So it's a little of family and work. I'm all
encompassing of my family but I also get to do a little Exposé stuff too. It's important to the three of us that we all have a
responsibility in the group and so we've sliced it up in three
pieces. My piece happens to be the music part of it.
I
don't think that I'm any more technical than Gioia or Ann is but I
have the advantage of working regularly with the band. Most of the
time when we go out on the road I have a closer relationship with
them because I work with them from where I live. I rehearse them and
choose which band members we're going to use and so by the time we
get to the stage there's already a great relationship between me and
the guys. Ann and Gioia will sometimes just be working with them for
that day or two and then they're off. So I keep up the relationship
with phone calls so I'm kind of the link between the three of us and
them.
CM:
I think that our kids are about the same age. Is it as hard for
you to step back and let your boys become more independent? I know I
struggle with helicoptering myself.
JJ:
I struggle every single second of the day. It is so difficult for me
and the fact that my boys are both driving just like, drives me
insane. You pray every time they get in the car and it's so difficult
to let them fly on their own. I keep myself in check because I don't
want to ruin them by being too over protective. It's just hard
because there's no way that you can make sure they're safe once they
go out the door so I have to tell myself that I've done my best. I've
taught them, talked to them and then I shout things to them at least
12 times as they're walking out the door (laughing). These poor kids.
It's my hardest struggle of all, letting them go.
CM:
You so rarely speak on the record, what would you like to say to
all of the fans that still listen toExposé and venture out to the
live shows?
JJ:
Oh my gosh, it's going to sound so corny but I'm just so grateful to
them. I'm grateful that they have a desire to come and see us and
that it's important enough to leave their homes and spend their hard
earned money- whether it's for the first time or the fourth time.
Sharing that time with them means so much to me, now more than ever,
so I'm just really grateful. We did a show recently and it was a
city-run event. The audience wasn't as big as we're used to, the
advertising was a little strange and it was very hot. We performed
and then after the show we actually walked around after the show and
talked to the audience, which we never ever get to do. It was just
the best thing talking to them was so wonderful. It's just like when
I go to see a group that I admire or grew up with. When you meet them
you tell them the story of why they're so important to you and what
their songs remind you of. I love hearing all of that stuff and we so
rarely get a chance to really do it!Even if we're signing autographs
after a show it's not the same. This time we went out to talk and to
connect with as many people as we could as they were leaving. It was
so cool and I wish we could do that more often, have those actual
conversations
when things aren't so crazy and venues aren't rushing to get people
out the door.
(laughing)It was just so great and I wish and hope we'll maybe be able to do that more often. It's still weird to think that our songs and our music means as much to people as some of my favorites mean to me. So when we're reminded of our impact, for whatever reason, it makes me more grateful now than I've ever been. How can I not be? It just melts my heart knowing that it touches someone.