By RON FANFAIR
Sitting at a table with a mother and daughter at the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women gala, award-winning singer/songwriter Tanya Mullings was teary-eyed for a few minutes.
“I told the young woman to hold on to her mom because I don’t have mine anymore,” the dancehall reggae vocalist said.
Marie Mullings passed away at her home in July 2023 at age 73.
“The day after her death, I went back to work at the radio station and buried myself in music until about six months later when I was no longer with FLOW 98.7,” the 2015 Brampton Arts Walk of Fame inductee said. “I then took a break to grieve.
“My mom always told me to take some time off for myself which I never did. She would say, ‘You are a go-getter, but it is okay to stop and breathe, Tanya’. I did that and am rejuvenated.
“Receiving this accolade is acknowledgment of how much I have put into the music industry.”
This was the first time that Mullings, whose Juno-nominated singles ‘A Love Thang’ and ‘Love & Affection’, which were featured in Trey Anthony’s television pilot, ‘Kink In My Hair’, opened up about the close relationship with her mother.
“I left that event thinking I have my strength from my mom,” said the host of the Tanya Mullings Show on Atlanta-based radio station www.DaFlavaRadio.com that is simulcast across internet stations in the United States, Africa and the Caribbean. “That helped me get through things and if I had the opportunity to dedicate that honour to anyone, it would be her.”
The 11-time Canadian Reggae Music Award winner started performing at age 15 under the tutelage of her late father, Karl Mullings, who was her manager. He died in July 2005.
Coming to Canada in 1963 with his band, The Sheiks, the Cornwall College alumnus worked with several top artistes, including the late Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Hopeton Lewis.
“I didn’t take my dad’s death well,” Mullings said. “He groomed me to be who I am today.”
She is following in the footsteps of her father in helping young artistes find their feet in the music industry.
“I am trying to groom other artistes and just guide them in certain ways,” the five-time Juno Award nominee said. “As long as my foot is in music whether it is singing or being behind the scenes, I am happy.”
