“Pocket Full of Purpose represents growth in me creatively and as a person,” the songstress comments. “I’m a work in progress who stays on my grind and I'm here to make history.”
With over a decade of experience in the music industry, the Cleveland native says she remains more excited than ever about her singing career. It’s a career she’s managed to pursue full-time as she balances her role as a mother, which inspired her new material, in addition to the profession of a junior high school teacher in her Midwestern hometown.
“I’ve prayed on it and six albums in, it has worked for me,” she says. “It was divine intervention.”
Inspired by her students, the award-winning artist blends her writings from her muses with her influences from the soulful artists Donny Hathaway, Nina Simone, Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo, Sade and others to create her soulfully, eclectic sound. As an entrepreneur, Conya started her own recording label in 2001. A year later, she released her debut album, A Poem About Ms. Doss, enthused from her students.
“Music is in a unique place right now and I want to continue to carry the torch for R&B and soul,” Conya comments. “The R&B genre is in a gray area, but any music that comes from the heart is soul music to me.”
With memories of the desire to always be a part of the music scene, Conya started singing at the age of five. It wasn’t until she entered the music industry as a songwriter as a teenager that she realized she could do more than write songs for others: she could perform her own music. The soul artist also uses her talents to get involved in her community as she works with a female youth group and spreads awareness about the water crisis in Haiti. Her single, “Pray for Rain,” is a tribute to the issue in the Caribbean country.
“I never wanted to be an appeaser because then I’m a part of the problem,” Conya adds. “Wherever my heart tells me to go, I’m following.”
Visit Conya Doss’s website at www.conyadoss.com and follow her on Twitter at @conyad
Photo Credit: Stephen Midgette
