After two decades as Madonna’s back-up singer, you’d think Niki Haris might be tired of corsets.
Shrugging off that familiar wardrobe piece is a poignant image when you consider how long Haris’ notoriety has been linked to her career as Madonna’s back-up vocalist, dancer, touring partner, and - as glimpsed in Madge’s racy tour documentary Truth or Dare, anyway - close friend and confidante. Yes, she has loaned her pipes to any number of the pop queen’s hits ("Like a Prayer" and "Vogue," for instance), but to fans Haris was never a faceless, interchangeable back-up singer. She was an integral and highly visible part of Team Madonna.
Today, she’s ready to chat about her latest club single, "Bad, Bad Boy," a collaboration with DJ/producer duo (and Rhode Island born gay brothers), The Perry Twins. But she knows there will always be some obligatory ground to cover about her time spent with one of contemporary music’s biggest gay icons, and she’s okay with that. In fact, it’s actually Haris who drops the M-word first.
"Now, which publication is this for again?" asks Haris, rifling through a mental Rolodex.
It’s for Bay Windows, I remind her. A gay paper.
"Oh, yes!" she recalls. "You know, I always have to remind myself who I’m talking to. But I always know when I’m doing a jazz interview, because they never ask about Madonna." :rolleyes: (watch out sarah vaughan :lol: )
She laughs. We’ll ask, and she’ll tell. To start: why the fallout? Diva drama?
"Maybe there was some drama, but I didn’t buy into it. We were sisters for years," says Haris. "At the end of the day, really she [Madonna] is a gem and I’m so grateful."
"She threw my baby shower for me!" adds Haris, who gave birth to her daughter in 2003. It was shortly thereafter that Madonna launched her Re-Invention Tour, the first time she staged a show without Haris in over 15 years.
"People can talk all the crap they want, but we both knew by that last tour [Drowned World, 2001]," says Haris. "I had broken my legs, learned how to walk again, how to dance again, and did that tour with really bad injuries. It was okay, but painful. Now, I was 41 and pregnant. ... Of course, my ego was involved: ’Oh, she don’t want me no more!’ But at the end of the day, she gave me the greatest gift. Because of her, I got to spend every freaking day with my kid, doing the music I love to do. I’m close to ’the family’ still. She knows I love her and she loves me."
Coincidentally, Madonna’s last two tours have featured similarly named singer Nicki Richards as a backing vocalist. Haris doesn’t mind.
"She can get Niki Two, if she wants to," she chuckles.
Since parting ways, Haris has been more free than ever to pursue her own work.
see you at the next gay pride, niki harris!!!!
