“My music, as a woman of color, I’m off the grid. My music is rocking and heavy,” Joyce Kennedy tells HollywoodLife, and her new EP, Rock’n My Soul, is evidence of that. The project, out today (July 15), features a handful of tracks that reflects Joyce’s legendary career and wide range of musical interests. Kicking off with “My Bad,” the EP starts with a blistering guitar riff, a funky bass line, and Joyce’s undeniably powerful vocals. From there, the funk-rock fusion delivers moments of heavy metal, hard-hitting rock, and vulnerable soul – all connected by Joyce’s remarkable voice.
“We have two kickass guitars, and the energy on stage is electric. It’s manic, but it is powerful,” Joyce says about her sound. “There’s nothing else out there like what myself and the members of Mother’s Finest do. It’s scary for me because here I go again, doing something different. But it’s me. I didn’t choose rock; rock chose me.”
Born in 1948 in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Joyce found herself on the road to rock when she connected with Glenn Murdock, formerly of The Vondells. The future wife-and-husband duo began performing together as a two-piece act before forming Mother’s Finest in the 1970s. Incorporating elements of rock, funk, soul, and R&B, Mother’s Finest toured ’round the world, opening for acts like Black Sabbath, The Who, and Aerosmith (AllMusic dubbed them “the most dangerous opening act in rock” because Mother’s Finest would often “blow away headliners.”)
Like Funkadelic and Sly and the Family Stone, Mother’s Finest fought against the whitewashing of rock music (a fight still being waged today by bands like Oceans of Slumber, Meet Me @ The Altar, and Cinnamon Babe). And though the group never achieved mainstream success like the acts mentioned above, Joyce and Mother’s Finest continued to build a following with their dynamic live performances — to the point that they’re still touring to this very day.
“I left the band for a while back in the day to try the pop world, which is where I got my Grammy nomination,” Joyce tells HollywoodLife. Her song, “The Last Time I Made Love,” secured a Grammy nod for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. “But the music didn’t nourish my soul in the way the rock, funk, and heavy music filled me up,” she tells HL. “So, that’s what I went back to – what nourished my soul and love for music.”
Now, Joyce Kennedy offers a chance for the new generation to get to know her and an opportunity to give flowers to one of the under-celebrated queens of rock’ n roll.
Rock’n My Soul is out now.