Exclusive Interview: Rocker Fefe Dobson on her fears, her music and her dad

Then later, you opened for Justin Timberlake.

I did. That’s why it’s so funny because when I was living in the suburbs I would save up all my money to go to these concerts. Don’t get me wrong though, it was such a weird thing because like I say I grew up and my mom would play Lionel Ritchie and the Bee Gees and pop music and then my sister played rock and roll stuff, like Guns and Roses and Nirvana. That’s kind of how I was in high school I could listen to N’Sync and then listen to Green Day. So whenever N’Sync would come into town I would buy a ticket and every time they’d come I’d get closer and closer and closer to the front. It became like a ritual with me and my sister. I would cry when Justin would sing “Gone,” like ‘Justin, one day you’ll know me.’ Then he took me on tour. After he took me on tour, I was a little older so I didn’t cry

Did you tell him you were a fan?

No way! Oh my gosh. I would be so embarrassed. He doesn’t even know. He took me on tour and I was a fan. I had his marionette dolls, I had every C.D. I still do. I was like a mega teeny N’Sync bopper.

You’re half black so we know a lot of people thought you were an R&B singer. Can you speak to the importance of maintaining the integrity of your music?

Honestly I’ve always not let people change me. And as I’ve gotten older that’s just kind of the way I am. My combination and my energy is Rock and Roll but that doesn’t mean in the future I wouldn’t make a country album or a reggae album, you know I’m half Jamaican. The way I speak and the way I walk and the fact that I’m in love with Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin, that kind of stuff is never going to change because that’s just my core. But R&B, I listen to R&B, I grew up on R&B from Lionel Ritchie to Marvin Gaye to El Debarge I grew up on it. And the song writing is unbelievable. If we’re talking about real Rhythm and Blues, that’s a different thing, because R&B is originally Rhythm and Blues. I have mad respect for that music, for that genre. I may have harder guitars on something but back in the day music was organic. There was live instruments on almost every genre. It’s just who I am and it just so happens that I make the music that I make and I look up to the artists that I look up to. I love all genres really. I mean look at Lenny Kravitz. He’s going to make music that he feels. So I don’t ever want to put myself in a box with anything. I always just want to make music but my core and my energy and my foundation will always be Rock and Roll because that’s who I am.