Her name? R-O-X-X. Divinity Roxx. She’s a bassist who has played The Grammy’s, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Saturday Night Live, and even The White House. Divinity spoke with WKAR’s Jamie Paisley ahead of her performance in Lansing's REO Town on Wednesday.
It’s safe to say that spending 5 years and doing 3 world tours with Beyonce serving as co-Musical Director can change someone’s life. But that’s what happened to bassist Divinity Roxx. She is playing REO Town’s Robin Theatre Wednesday night. The bass is an instrument she picked up as a hobby in Berkeley, California, but got really good at when she was forced off her feet by breaking her Achilles’ tendon.
"Now, I don't really think about what would have happened if the Achilles hadn't snapped" says Roxx, "because it was so meant to be. It just seems like it was really part of 'The Plan.' You know, the funny thing, and I don't really talk about this is, I had written in a journal, written a prayer to God to basically help me find my way. And to knock down anything that was in my way of finding my way… and it was me! So, I always comes back to that whenever I feel like I'm blocked. Or, you know, that, that, something isn't happening that I really want to happen or that I feel a little lost, I always go back to that moment when I asked that whatever it is that's blocking me be knocked down. And I always come back to the conclusion that it's me that's blocking whatever it is that I want to happen."
When Divinity Roxx learned about that opportunity to audition for Beyonce’s all-women band, she had to be pushed by friends to go, in part out of fear losing her own musical identity.
"I just didn't think I was ready for it. I didn't think I would get it." admits Roxx. "I just didn't know what would happen and whether or not it was the right thing to do given that I had, I had really started to have some success as an independent artist and as a solo artist and I thought, you know, if I go and do this then all of this stuff that I had been working for, you know, I'm going to have to leave it and you and, you know, am I ready for that?"
After 5 years of the world tours, yes, she was ready. That experience prepared Divinity Roxx to relaunch the solo career and she’ll bring her blend of music to Lansing’s Robin Theatre Wednesday night.
it's hard to put me in any kind of box. - Divinity Roxx
"I mean, we play everything from rock, to hip-hop, to jazz, to funk. I mean we go, we really take the audience on this journey and it's always so amazing no matter where we play to watch people go from 'What is this? Ooh! Oh man! Oh, I'm into this! Oh!' They start screaming and yelling and clapping and becoming really exciting. but in the beginning everybody's a little timid because they're not quite sure what to expect! I'm the girl who played with Beyonce, so they're not sure, am I going to -- is she going to be, you know, playing a lot of bass, or is she, like, what is happening? But in the end, people really get a sense of who I am as an artist and it's hard to put me in any kind of box."
Divinity Roxx plays REO Town’s Robin Theaterin Lansing Wednesday night at 8pm with a special pre-show Q&A just down the street at the Riverview Church starting at 7pm in conjunction with Lansing’s All of The Above Creative.
Visit DivinityRoxx.comfor more about Divinity Roxx, including her album ImPossiblewhich we’ve been hearing a few selections from.
