PODCAST: Nona Hendryx

Get a taste of Nona Hendryx Re-Wired by listening to her original version of an '80s hit and a current student's 2013 take on the same tune.

By
Rob Hochschild
March 20, 2013

A star since the 1970s, Nona Hendryx has always thrived at music's cutting edge. As a member of LaBelle, Hendryx was in a groundbreaking rock/funk band that racked up smash albums and singles, including No. 1 hit "Lady Marmalade (Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir?)." Her solo albums also garnered hits and large audiences.

She has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Prince, India.Arie, Peter Gabriel, and Talking Heads. Now she's returning to Berklee—where she has performed and taught clinics—to perform reinvented versions of her compositions with students and faculty in the Electronic Production and Design Department, at Nona Hendryx Re-Wired, on March 26.

One of the reinventions came from Berklee senior Gary Lazzara, who takes on Hendryx's 1983 song, "Transformation," and puts a very 2013 twist on it, one that EPD chair Michael Bierylo describes as dub-step. The podcast features excerpts of both Hendryx's original and Lazzara's new version. They'll perform it together at the Re-Wired concert.

Nona Hendryx
Gary Lazzara
"Transformation"