Patience, Little Sister

taragirl

by A.D. Amorosi

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Published: Mar 7, 2007

Photo By: Michael T. Regan (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)   Read Michael T. Regan's commentary

Tara Betterbid is a patient woman in an impatient business. The North Jersey-born singer — who goes by taragirl — has bided her time since moving to Philadelphia in 2002.

That's the year she left Manhattan after studying music theory at NYU, working for Oprah's Oxygen network as a PA, acting as a manager's assistant to R&B trio TLC and honing her vocal skills in New York City bars.

She was working out the kinks in what she calls her "girl funk." Some of the shows she did were with her now-shelved band Soul Project. Most were solo. All were sweet. But she craved change.

"I wanted to head to this big ol' soul city," says taragirl. "I believed that what I had — and have — to offer as an artist was not quite like anyone else."

Rather than announce herself to Philly loudly, brashly and quickly, taragirl became a rumor. She would show up at open-mic sets, blow audiences away and disappear.

You'd hear that she had these hotly original, mind-blowingly organic soul songs worthy of a Christina Aguilera.

People you trusted said taragirl even had Aguilera-like pipes, but with a winding tricky trill to her voice — like Teena Marie.

All the while, taragirl was quietly working on a record produced by Philly's illest producer, Simon Illa, at a time when he, too, was growing in stature to become a Scott Storch protege.

Then she dropped The 26th Power in 2006. It had keenly moody midtempo tracks like "Saturday Morning Love" and "Why Can't Cha." It had jazzier hip-hoppity tracks like "High Life" and "Love-Change-Everything." But no matter what jeep beats got applied, this was R&B of the highest, slickest, subtlest order.

"I think my voice is a special gift, yes. But so is the combination of that sound with my personality and my energy," says taragirl. "Hopefully I'm fusing it all together in a way that equals 'taragirl.'"

The record came out. She did a Grape Street show. She opened for Avant at TLA and Fat Joe during a Campus Philly festival.

Most impressive, though, taragirl did a CD signing at Sound of Market. Dag. The last time I saw a signing at S-o-M was probably a Keith Sweat jawn.

Then in January, the "twentysomething" (she won't say beyond that, but I put her at 29) singer did the unlikely for a local with few real shows under her belt: She sold out World Café Live.

"Did I know we were gonna sell out that Saturday night? Heck no. Did I recommend buying tickets in advance, but actually think it mattered? Yeah I did, and no, not really," she laughs.

In the parlance of David Byrne: Well, how did she get here?

"To quote Eve, 'I do what they can't do — I just do me,'" claims taragirl. "D'ya know what I'm saying?"

Yup.

 

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Hanging in the Balance
Moment of Trooth
Dance Dance Evolution
The Essential
Hot Mess
Soul Man
After the Fire
Rad Medicine
At the Hip