Interview: Beside / B-Side
In 1982 French record label Celluloid released five hip hop singles, including Fab Five Freddy’s Change The Beat. The song became famous as the source of the “ahhhh this stuff is really fresh!” vocal sample, but it also stands out as one of the earliest recordings of rapping in French.
This was provided by an American, Ann Marie Boyle. The story goes that the label wanted Freddy to rap in French, and they had written it out phonetically for him. Ann was there and since she spoke French, she took the mic to show him how it was done. The result impressed everyone so much her recording became the songs B-side, which also gave Ann her artist name: Beside or B-Side, with one release also crediting her as Fab Five Betty.
Ann featured on three more of the early Celluloid 12” singles, including Tribe 2’s What I Like, Phase II’s The Roxy, and Time Zone’s The Wildstyle where she raps with Afrika Bambaataa in French and English.
In 1984 Ann released her next single Odeon with Bernard Fowler. It featured production from Afrika Bambaataa, and a B-side with lyrics written by Vivien Goldman. Then, for her album Cairo Nights in 1985, Beside became B-Side.
The album saw Ann move away from hip hop and explored more of a new wave sound, which received favourable reviews in Cash Box, Spin, and Interview magazines in the US, as well as Spex in Germany.
Although she’s released only one album to date, Ann’s music has remained talked about thanks to the popularity of those early Celluloid singles. Now, it’s time to put a record on and read our interview…
You’re credited for the graphic design on several of the rap records released by Celluloid, including Fab Five Freddy’s Change The Beat. Were you working in design before your music career took off?
I was in art school at Parsons School of Design when we made the record, so my friends and I did a lot of the graphic design and lettering for all the records. I also drew the art for the single Odeon’s sleeve with the scissors and record.
As well as Change The Beat, you also rapped on Tribe 2’s What I Like, Phase II’s The Roxy, and Time Zone’s Wildstyle. Were these all part of the same sessions?
Those were separate side projects conceived and recorded in the spirit of the times, mixing hip hop culture and rapping with the mostly white “downtown” music scene.
The French, specifically Celluloid Records, were instrumental in seeding this early mix of collaboration. It was done with a light touch and few contracts or formalities as I remember. Just people eager to collaborate. Stylists and photographers were also part of it all, like Maripol of Madonna and others fame and Sophie Bramly, a French photographer who just published an amazing book of photographs from those days.
After all these records came out there was a French tour called the NYC Rap Tour in 1982. Were you on that tour and had you been to France before?
I was on a tour to Los Angeles and on the French tour but I didn’t perform on the French tour. I don’t remember why, but I think it was opening for The Clash and the punk shows at that time were super dangerous! Fred was the opening act. Later there may have been another tour but I was not on it.
Your next single Odeon was released in 1984 and you performed it on French TV. Because you were singing and rapping in French, was your music more popular in France than the US? Yes. The music was marketed better in France but also France was much more open to this new sound than America at the time. Most people in USA were scratching their heads and assuming rap was a weird fad that would go away! That’s if they even knew it existed.
That video was shot in the Paris metro with Bernard Fowler, an amazing singer who taught me harmony and went on to tour with the Rolling Stones.
Odeon’s B-side Jive Guys was written by Vivien Goldman, and she performs vocals on the track too. How did that collaboration come about, and were you aware of her music too? Vivien was a journalist at the time, and I assume she just got in on the fun and freedom of the scene. Her metier was journalism not music that I was aware of, but she was a great performer and was also one of the Funk Queens, a trio put together by Afrika Bambaataa who along with Fab 5 was very instrumental in bridging the gap from the Bronx to Downtown.
The Funk Queens were me, Vivien and a rapper from uptown named Lisa Lee. We are featured rapping on Timezone, a Celluloid/Bambaataa production. Bam, as we called him, was also responsible for putting Change The Beat on the map. He played it uptown and it caught on from there. He was very open to all kinds of music.
There’s a few different Bambaataa releases which mention The Funk Queens or Funk Queen. Was that always you?
I’m not sure but I think the term was a used for whichever female performers were interested in participating on a given recording as separate from their other work as solo artists. There were not a lot of women getting attention in hip hop at the time so it was to Bam’s credit that he created the construct of “the Funk Queens”.
For the album Cairo Nights, Odeon and Jive Guys aren’t on it. Do you remember why they were left off?
Cairo Nights was a solo album with new types of tracks, one written by guest writer Kevin Coyne specifically for me to step into a new direction. Solo album is the key phrase.
On Cairo Nights it sounds like you’re moving away from rap and doing more New Wave / Pop songs. Was this the style of music you were more interested in exploring?
Yes. In my mind it was still more experimenting and trying something new. Bernard Zekri as well wrote some amazing songs for Cairo Nights and I really enjoyed growing into that music.
There’s two covers for the album. The US version is a colourful photo by Thi-Linh Le, and the European version is a more minimal photo by Johnny Rozsa of you in a leather dress. Which one do you prefer?
For sure the Cover by Thi-Linh shot in New York. It was styled by Maripol with hers and my clothes, plus an amazing pants skirt by Andre Walker, an incredibly innovative and fun designer. I loved everything about that shoot and the styling.
The London shoot was to be more commercial and “Euro hip” I guess. I could not stand in the 7-inch high heels and so we have the floor pose- voila! I was not really into rubber/trendy clothing at the time either, but people love that one!
Was there anything else recorded for the album which wasn’t released?
No.
Were there plans for a second album, and did you continue working in the music industry at all?
No plans for more. Being young we all moved on to new projects and I went on with Art School and other more alternative music projects in Chicago and Los Angeles, I had several bands over the following years and put an illustrated art/poetry zine in Chicago, and now I’m in LA. I have usually been active in music and art through the years. Living my best life. •
A special thank you to Alain Bizos for permission to use his photographs. You can see more of his work online at: alainbizos.fr
This article was originally published in The Shadow Knows Issue #2, December 2021. Buy the fanzine here or read more at our website.
