Style.  Attitude.  Hot Beats.  Catchy Hooks.  You can check ‘em all off as Cherish possess some of the main ingredients required of any chart-topping female group.

With their hit debut album, Unappreciated, this quartet came on the scene right when music fans were losing all hope for the next act that would carry on the R&B female group legacy. Now they’re back and ready to murder the competition with “Killa,” the lead single from their forthcoming release, The Truth.     

Two of the four young ladies, Fallon and Felisha, joined Sixshot as we talked what’s missing in R&B music, how they balance a relationship with their father/manager, Fallon’s recent break-up, the hardest part about growing up in the music industry, whether or not they plan on side projects, and more.  

How would you say Cherish has progressed sound and image wise since the debut album?

Fallon:  We definitely matured, vocally, musically, and inside of our lives we got to experience a lot more.  Our music is much more us.  We wrote just about every song on the album and it’s definitely us.  It’s more Cherish.

One of your goals is to bring back that strong R&B music.  What do you t hink the genre is lacking at this point?

Felisha:  I would have to say that the old R&B music is not really in right now and that’s what needs to come back.  We need to get back to more singing and back to more music.  Back in the day you had Earth, Wind, & Fire, you had The Stylistics, and they did real music.  Nowadays you got a beat machine that can make anything you want.  I definitely say that the genre is lacking good music and that’s one thing, us as Cherish, we really want to bring back.

You have all been professionals since a very young age.  Was that balanced with a childhood?

Felisha: We definitely had a childhood.  Our childhood was just a little different.  We had plenty of friends growing up.  I really don’t regret it for anything.  Our music career is something that we always wanted to do and nothing got in the way of that.

I know that your dad is your manager but how much of a role does your mom play in your careers?

Fallon: Mom is such a major role in our lives period. She’s the one that started it all.  Our dad taught us everything we know but she actually convinced him to work with us ‘cause he knew how hard the business was.  She’s definitely a major influence.

How do you handle your dad’s dual roles in your lives as both manager and parent?

Felisha: Dad plays such a major role and he knows exactly when to be a father and when to be a manager.  He handles his business.  So we wouldn’t prefer anyone else handling our business on our behalf or having our careers in anybody’s hands but our father.

Artists and managers don’t always see eye-to-eye.  So do you ever disagree with some of your dad’s decisions?

Fallon: One thing about it—dad will be dad.  If he feels something is inappropriate he’ll say something.  At the same time in this industry he understands what comes along with it.

Fallon you once noted that it was a struggle growing up in the music industry.  What was that struggle for you?

Fallon:  Growing up in the music industry was definitely hard because the business is definitely a hard thing to get into.  Our father always said that “It takes a million no’s and then you get that one yes.”  So I would definitely say that the challenge is the business.  You have to look at it like a business.  Growing up with my sisters and us seeing everything go good and go bad meant that we got to experience both.  That’s one of the challenges we had to face as a family and as a group.  

Fallon, I know the song, “Before You Were My Man,” is autobiographical for you.  The song is about a woman telling her man that she was with his best friend before they got together.  How did the real life version work out for you?

Fallon: Personally we did not end up together but there are no hard feelings.  Every girl has that guy that you want to get close to because of someone else.  I hate to say it that way but every girl has experienced that before in their lives.  I would have to say that I’m one of them. 

You all sing about love and relationships and you have many young fans that are in relationships.  What’s your advice to the young women out there in relationships at such a young age?

Fallon: I would definitely say as a female always be true to yourself no mater what.  Don’t limit yourself and always put your education first no matter what—guys they’ll come and go.

The album is entitled, The Truth, which is not something that everyone wants to hear all the time or can handle.  So what’s been the toughest truth that you’ve each had to face about yourselves?

Felisha:  My sister’s made me come to the realization that I’m a little bit stubborn and a little bit opinionated.  I can’t always speak my mind at certain times.  So that’s a truth that I had to learn from and get over.

Fallon:  I would definitely have to say that my sisters say that sometimes I have a bad attitude.  I tend to get very loud when I’m either happy or angry.  So that’s one of the truths that I had to say and that they would say about me also.

Some months ago Raz B of B2K made headlines with the child molestation charges against his manager Chris Stokes.  As young girls growing up in the industry have you ever witnessed things like this?

Felisha:  We definitely had people whisper in our ears and try to get us to break-up or get our parents to not manage us anymore.

Fallon:  We’ve seen a lot of things and it’s made us want to cry.  At the same time we also see how fortunate others are and how unfortunate. It comes to the point where you have to look at it and say I want to try to help and there are just some people that you can’t.  You have to leave it in the Lord’s hands.

It’s commonplace now for group members to branch off and do solo releases.  Are there any plans for that?

Fallon:   We don’t have any plans right now as far as doing anything solo.  We definitely want to stay together and we want to be together for a long time.  At the same time we do have our different aspirations.  Me and Felisha want to act, Neosha wants to model, and Farrah wants to publish—she wants to own her own record company one day.  So we’ll definitely do that separately or together if need be.  As far as music and albums I would say that we’re gonna be around for a long time.

For more information please visit:
www.cherishsisters.com
www.myspace.com/cherishsisters