Just as June was getting underway, Simon Cowell, judge and executive producer of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” pushed the famous Golden Buzzer after Peoria native Liv Warfield’s audition, complete with golden confetti, standing ovation and tears.
Acts that get the Golden Buzzer will move forward to live shows. So if you saw the June 4 show, or the recaps, you saw that the emotion was palpable.
Warfield, who released a studio album last September (“The Edge”), has had a career that includes mentorship, recording and performing with the late, great Prince and Nancy Wilson of Heart. She has performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Late Show with David Letterman.” Warfield’s accolades include a Soul Train Music Award (2014), and nominations for BET and NAACP Image Awards. She has also shown her vocal talent in Teatro Zinzanni at Chicago’s Cambria Hotel.
Warfield’s performance had Cowell saying “it was like being, in a good way, being punched in the face by your energy.” We spoke with Warfield about that moment and her career. The following conversations have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Are you related to Chicago actress (and “Night Court” cast member) Marsha Warfield?
A: Everybody keeps asking me. I’ve reached out to her. We probably are. There’s not a lot of Warfields. I’m pretty sure there might be a link there.
Q: And you’re related to Peoria native Richard Pryor?
A: Correct. Not too long ago, I looked up some information on Richard Pryor. And you know, he was actually an amazing singer first, a fantastic singer. I love that he’s from Peoria, we’re from Peoria. I’ve always wanted to be a performer since I was a kid. But nobody else knew. I just kind of kept it to myself.
Q: With your “America’s Got Talent” appearance, is your career now in the stratosphere?
A: From the outside looking in, it seems like I’m in that stratosphere. People have no clue what I’ve gone through in the past 10 years. I’ve performed with these amazing people, but you gotta think that’s for a quick moment in time and then it goes back to the reality of being an independent artist —struggling to make rent, struggling gig to gig. You see the amazing stuff on paper, but off of paper, it’s not that way. I struggled for so long. … We’re told “keep going, the hard work will pay off.” For me, it’s deeper than the hard work because it’s driven by purpose. For me, it’s about the passion … the story that I know that I need to tell.
Q: Now that you’ve got this Golden Buzzer, what does this mean for you? You don’t have to hustle as hard in the industry?
A: I don’t think that’s the case. At the end of the day, when this is all over, I still gotta go back to booking shows. For me, the Golden Buzzer was something I absolutely unequivocally was not expecting. I just wanted to make it to the next round to be able to perform because that’s what brings me joy. So when I got that I was like, ‘oh my god, it was a flush and a rush.’ All these years put into it (singing) and it’s still the same for me — same hustle, same work. I asked my band ‘Do you want to try it (“AGT”)? They looked at me and were like, ‘yes, sis, we got you.’ That was a beautiful part for me.
Q: How did you survive climbing the ladder of success in an industry during the pandemic, and in the lean years?
A: Booking gigs here and there. … Friends definitely helped me along the way. It’s a team effort, kind of a collective thing to keep us all going. When the pandemic happened, it forced me to think of new ways, be creative about how to market myself because the world of social media, is a hard thing for me, because I’m very much an introvert. It’s having to be creative. It’s not easy.
(The industry’s) changed so much over the years. I come from being taught musically about the business from the greatest of all time. The musicianship for me is such a big deal. We’re constantly pouring our art out to the world. However they receive it, we’re putting it out there. A lot of artists that I know, my peers, I see us grinding every single day for live performances just to be heard, and they’re magnificent. We need the platform to be heard, not overlooked, because there still is real music by real musicians everywhere. There’s a lot of us that have been grinding for a long time. And we’re still doing it.
Q: What is your pie in the sky? What would having everything look like for you?
A: I just want to be on stage, to tour the rest of my life and keep creating music. I just want to be able to keep inspiring and writing with different people and different artists.
Q: When you’re doing the elevator speech, what do you say your music is like?
A: I’m just Liv. I’m alternative soul with a little bit of rock and roll. I’m just me. I’m influenced by what I’ve heard, a lot of influences.
Q: What is your muse?
A: I’m the most comfortable on stage. I’m the most me on stage. Off the stage, I’m always looking to improve who I am as a person, making sure that my energy is right, what I’m projecting is right. I’m always looking for things that will possibly try to elevate me. I had to figure it out on my own for years, still am.
Q: Is there something that we don’t know about you that we should know?
A: I like to go musically where my heart leads me. I say this to say a lot of people who knew me in the beginning — I was doing a lot of R&B, a little bit of jazz influence here and there. “Liv, she’s R&B.” No, that’s a little part of me. Don’t put me in a box, please. My taste is different. For the most part now, I feel like my thing is very much rock funk. So that’s what I’m giving I think a lot of people try to define me musically. That can be a bit frustrating because I want it (my music) to be for all people, whichever way that I want to give it. Hopefully people can feel it.
Concert 7:30 p.m. July 30 at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston; tickets $25-$35 (all ages) at ticketweb.com. Liv Warfield’s run with Teatro ZinZanni’s “Love, Chaos and Dinner” production is through Aug. 31; tickets and more information at zinzanni.com
