In 2020, local R&B singer Tanna Marie released “Gumbo,” a catchy, bad bitch anthem with all the confidence of a premier Lizzo track. It gained traction around the city, earning plays at Vegas Golden Knights games and during a friend’s Life Is Beautiful set. And none of that would have happened were it not for Marie’s son.
“I had my son in the car and was dropping him off at daycare,” she explains. “I had this hip-hop YouTube instrumental playing and thought, this is sick, I should write to it. Right then, my son asked for his snacks. I thought about how people would call themselves snacks, and how I was a plus-size girl so that would make me a three-course meal. I literally dropped my son off at daycare and sat in that parking lot and wrote the song.”
The lyrics reframed the narrative around sexy. Thick, skinny or in between, anyone could be spicy. You just needed a little swag and a lot of nerve, two things Marie has plenty of. But it wasn’t always that way.
Growing up in Las Vegas, Marie sang at school and performed in talent shows, “but I was still very much insecure about singing in front of other people then,” she says. “I didn’t really know my own voice.”
Marie’s parents brought music into the household early. Her mom, a Louisiana native who used to sing and open for big acts in Aruba, played classics from Earth, Wind and Fire, El DeBarge and Whitney Houston, while her dad introduced her to everything from the Wu-Tang Clan to AC/DC.
After attending college, Marie moved to Virginia, where she ventured out musically. She collaborated with rapper Cane on an album. She covered Amy Winehouse and Mary J. Blige. And she won $1,000 and a recording contract from 2014’s Fredericksburg Idol, a Virginia-based singing contest.
She returned to Las Vegas in 2015, but put music on the backburner as she dealt with a relationship she calls “toxic.” Then in 2018, a friend invited Marie to a talent showcase, where she performed her own music for the first time, putting her on track to finding herself once again. She began singing at local spots like Ninja Karaoke, Classic Jewel and Cork and Thorn. With Sad Art Collective’s support, Marie recorded “Gumbo” and more personal music that has opened “the door to my vulnerability,” she says. “It’s a self-love journey.”
In her day-to-day life, Marie juggles working full-time and caring for her son. But she’s scrappy about making her music, whether that means writing at 3 a.m. or pulling over on the side of the road when she thinks of a verse. This month, she debuted two new songs at the Space’s Jam showcase. And there’s more to come.
“My sound has changed a little, my voice has gotten stronger and I have learned to be more comfortable and give myself more grace,” Marie says. “I have really learned to love myself and, the new music I’m working on will really showcase that.”
TANNA MARIE open.spotify.com/artist/092JE6h8UNwIARWmiV3bOS | music.apple.com/us/artist/tanna-marie/1504439045
