S
herman: I’m here with Nicole Nelson
and Dwight Ritcher at Old Mill
Road Recording in East Arlington,
Vermont. Thanks so much for being here.
Ladies first. Nicole, where were you born? And I was like, “This is some powerful
stuff.” You know, you sing and you dance
and all the different people are like, “Wow,
that’s beautiful.” And they get along—at
least until the song was over.
Nelson: I was born in Brooklyn, New York.
I miss that Brooklyn. It’s gone now. Sherman: That’s a good three minutes.
Sherman: What did you love about it?
Nelson: It’s hard to put into words really. I
felt really connected to the land and to an
aspect of the people that wasn’t necessarily
the outward appearance but this, like, soul
feeling. When I was a kid, I used to try to
put my finger on what it was. It felt like
it was coming out of the sidewalk. It was
just this energy of the immigrants com-
ing to New York and, you know, making
it. Like the feeling of, “I’m going to take
everything that I have and put it into this
dream—and we’re going to make it!”
Sherman: The pulse of ambition.
Nelson: I think so, yeah, mixed with
something more sparkly. Something about
making a big, evolutionary leap. You know,
not just financial or fame, but this dream
of something bigger.
Sherman: But you moved to Staten Island
and then to Upstate New York, correct?
Nelson: My grandparents had property
in the Catskills, and my parents moved
to Monroe, New York. So, I went to high
school in Monroe. Very good school. A
little bit lacking in cultural training. Being
a bi-racial person from Brooklyn, I started
all these cultural groups when I was there.
Sherman: So, let’s talk about that. How has
being bi-racial influenced you as an artist
and as a human being?
Nelson: Oh, man. Again, hard to put into
words. Since I was a kid, I felt this respon-
sibility to be a bridge for people that were,
maybe, I don’t want to say small-minded,
but maybe not as open-minded as they
probably could be. In the end, really, love,
kindness, grace, those are the things that
matter. And so I think being like a cute lit-
tle kid—who was fairly talented—I would
put on song and dance shows for my fami-
ly, and everybody would come together.
36 VERMONT MAGAZINE
Nelson: Maybe that three minutes could
turn into something else over time, you
know?
Sherman: Three minutes can turn into 30
and then … 300!
Nelson: That’s right. Yes!
Sherman: Music really can unite people.
[A noise is heard in the background]. I just
heard some clinking of your jewelry. Tell
me about it.
Nelson: Well, I do make jewelry. It started
out as a [personal] need to wear certain
stones. I started to get really sensitive, spe-
cifically to quartz. When I was in my 20s, I
started being, like, “I think I need that on
stage with me.” I’m a hyper-sensitive per-
son, and I would just feel like, “I want this
citrine in my pocket.” So, I thought, “May-
be I need to get a little baggie and wrap
it with wax thread and wear it under my
clothes or something,” because I was stick-
ing stones in my bra and they‘d fall out
on stage. It really wasn’t the best situation.
A family member brought me all of this
stuff, like crafting wire and she was like,
“Let’s wrap them and make jewelry.” And it
turned out, I was really good at it. The first
stone I ever wore, I sold after the show to a
woman who offered me a crazy amount of
money for this hunk of pyrite wrapped in
brass wire. And I was like, “This is maybe
a thing.” [Showing her jewelry] Right now,
this was a gift from my friend, Kristen. I
didn’t make it.
Ritcher: The gift from Kristen—she uses it
all the time as a percussion instrument.
Nelson: A little tambourine.
Ritcher: Arm cymbals
Nelson: It’s pretty loud. I could take it off,
if it’s -
Sherman: No. No problem. I just want
our listeners to know what the jangle is.
So, let’s go back. Nicole, are either of your
parents musical?
Nelson: My mom’s very musical. She
played piano in the house and was always
singing and dancing in the house. She
went to F.I.T. and was very talented with
fabric and design. That was her main
thing. And my dad was a big lover of mu-
sic. They would go on dates at jazz clubs
in New York, seeing, like, Dizzy Gillespie
play. It was one of the only things that they
got along about—the love of music—al-
though neither of them really got into the
craft of it. I just had it around the house. I
don’t remember a time when I didn’t play
piano.
Sherman: And when did you discover you
had a voice?
Nelson: I started singing before I started
speaking. That’s what my parents always
said. We’d be in a car and they’d have tunes
on and I would start singing along with
Ella Fitzgerald and be kind of good for a
toddler. They were like, “She’s singing!”
And then I would remember songs! Some-
times I didn’t know what I was saying, but
I would form the sounds and get the pitch
right. So my parents were like, “She’s got
some talent,” which saved me in later years.
Sherman: When your parents discovered
that you had talent, what did they do with
it? What did you do with it?
Nelson: Oh, good question. My dad said,
“Oh, that’s cool. She can sing.” And my
mom was like, “She’s brilliant. We need to
get her lessons. She needs to study opera”
(because I was singing fake operas around
the house and making up these big song
and dance numbers). And my dad would
be like, “We can’t afford that. You’re crazy.
That’s nuts. No.” And my mom would do it
anyway. And then they would fight about
it. And I’d be like, “Wow, I’m causing all
these problems. Maybe if I put on a little
number for them, they’ll be okay?” And so
I started using my talent to kind of try to
bridge the gaps between them. And per-
haps that’s not the healthiest thing in the
world. But for me, personally, it became
very healthy because as things got more
difficult at home, music was a way for me
to express myself in a healthy way. And