Finding a Place in ‘Sun’--at Last : Lisa Keith Waited Years to Record Her Cheery, Soul-Pop Debut

When Lisa Keith begins talking about R&B; diva Chaka Khan, a gleam of reverence creeps into her eyes.

“When I first heard Chaka sing, I couldn’t believe it--the feeling, the emotion, all the incredible vocal ad-libbing,” says the much talked-about new pop-soul singer whose “Better Than You” single was a recent Top 40 hit. “I just wanted to sing like her.”

Keith, 33, did more than just admire Khan.

While still in high school in Minnesota, she began systematically studying her idol’s music.

“I was determined to figure out what she was doing--how she hit those notes, how she got that sound,” Keith recalls. “If you heard me back then I sounded just like her. That’s the way I sounded until I was comfortable singing in my own style.”

But rather than veering in Khan’s direction, with her trademark phrasing and the nimble vocal acrobatics, Keith, who studied classical voice while attending Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Ind., chose more of a straight-ahead pop style, gently laced with R&B.; Think of medium-tempo Whitney Houston but with a stronger R&B; flavor.

“Over the years, I felt more comfortable with more basic pop singing,” Keith says. “But that R&B; feeling is still ingrained in my style. I couldn’t get rid of it if I tried.”

Many in the industry predict a bright future for Keith. Says program director Tom Gjerdrum of San Diego’s Q106-FM: “She has the sound of what Top 40 is all about--bright and up-tempo. She’s a good songwriter, and there’s meaning behind her lyrics. She has a sound similar to Amy Grant’s. With that Grant sound plus the R&B; feel, she has the potential to reach a wide audience.”

Keith’s cheery, soulful-pop debut album, “Walkin’ in the Sun”--on Perspective/A&M; Records--was a long time coming. She had been talking to the production-writing team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, best known for their work with Janet Jackson--for almost a decade.

“The album was first supposed to happen in 1985, but things kept getting in the way,” she says. “Jimmy and Terry kept putting it off because they were busy with other projects. When they finally got their own label (Perspective) a couple of years ago, the time was right.”

While waiting for the right time to make the album, the producers kept Keith busy singing background vocals on records by such artists as Johnny Gill, Karyn White, Herb Alpert, Alexander O’Neal and Jackson.

Surprisingly, Keith doesn’t grumble about all the years on the sidelines.

“Sure I was impatient at times, but it wasn’t all that bad,” she says. “I was singing and I was learning and getting ready for the solo album. If I didn’t have an outlet for my singing--then I might have gone nuts.”

Actually Keith didn’t have much choice but to wait. The recording offers weren’t exactly rolling in. “For a while I thought about recording a gospel album for this Christian record company in Nashville, but what I really wanted was to record that solo album with Jimmy and Terry--so I just had to wait,” she explains.

Keith is the first to admit that if she had recorded the album eight years ago her career might already be over.

“I would have recorded other people’s songs and the album probably wouldn’t have been that good,” says Keith, who co-wrote most of the album. “Besides I was young and immature. It might have been a one-album career.

“Also, when I first met Jimmy and Terry, I was just a singer. It was Terry who told me to write some songs. He said if you can sing you can write. It may have been the best advice I ever got.”