Vinny Lupton
Superstar
Oct 6, 2016 issue of Rolling Stone
No act was more out of practice than Total, the R&B trio known for hits like "Can't You See." The three hadn't performed together since 2000; one member, Pamela Long, worked at White Castle after they broke up. But they jumped right into rehearsals when
called.
Different /extendeed quote from the RS website
Inside Bad Boy Family Reunion, 2016's Most Hit-Packed Tour
No one was more out of practice however, than Total, the R&B trio best known for a string of hits like "Can't You See" and "Kissin' You," not to mention providing the hooks to indelible hip-hop classics like Biggie's "Juicy" and "One More Chance." Before the show, the three of them share a dressing room in various stages of preparedness – Kima Dyson sits in the far corner getting makeup applied, Keisha Spivey Epps lounging in a black robe, Pamela Long in a tall chair getting her hair "a little baked."
"Total stopped here," explains Long about the group, essentially dormant for 14 years after their 2000 dissolution, and only recently reforming as a trio instead of the duo doing package tours. "We was as at the height of our career when everything paused, so it was more or less this open place that God really left open for us. Nobody else could have done that except for him. It was just like we stepped right back in the place. You got 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds, 20-year-olds singing our records still today. That right there? It doesn't happen for many people like that."
After the group split, the members had lived decidedly different lives. Spivey Epps married House and Juice actor Omar Epps and is studying acting in Los Angeles. Dyson went back to school and now runs a medical coding consulting company. "There would be people that would know and then ask the dumb question: 'Why you work?'" she explains. "Same reason you do!"
"Mine is not so glamourous," says Long of her story, "but at the end of the day I can say that it's a great journey. I went back to work … but I went to White Castle. I went to fast food. Did I have to do it? No, I went by choice because I had a lot of pride in my life on the inside that I didn't know about. I was like, 'All right, God, if I go in here and they hire me on the spot, I'mma start working at White Castle.' … It was difficult for people to see me working and say, 'Yeah, that's her,' turn around and leave. … I got a lot of laughs, gotta lot of this that and the third, but here I am today, a different woman. Stronger because of the things that I allowed God to take me through."
For the reunion, Total had some phone calls and jumped right into rehearsals.
"We walked in like, 'Hey,'" says Long, leaping from her chair to mimic a scenario where the girls say a quick hello and immediately start dancing. "As soon as we came together it was just like: You bringing your A-game. You step right into excellence, 'cause is not gonna have it any less than that."
No act was more out of practice than Total, the R&B trio known for hits like "Can't You See." The three hadn't performed together since 2000; one member, Pamela Long, worked at White Castle after they broke up. But they jumped right into rehearsals when
called.Different /extendeed quote from the RS website
Inside Bad Boy Family Reunion, 2016's Most Hit-Packed Tour
No one was more out of practice however, than Total, the R&B trio best known for a string of hits like "Can't You See" and "Kissin' You," not to mention providing the hooks to indelible hip-hop classics like Biggie's "Juicy" and "One More Chance." Before the show, the three of them share a dressing room in various stages of preparedness – Kima Dyson sits in the far corner getting makeup applied, Keisha Spivey Epps lounging in a black robe, Pamela Long in a tall chair getting her hair "a little baked."
"Total stopped here," explains Long about the group, essentially dormant for 14 years after their 2000 dissolution, and only recently reforming as a trio instead of the duo doing package tours. "We was as at the height of our career when everything paused, so it was more or less this open place that God really left open for us. Nobody else could have done that except for him. It was just like we stepped right back in the place. You got 12-year-olds, 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds, 20-year-olds singing our records still today. That right there? It doesn't happen for many people like that."
After the group split, the members had lived decidedly different lives. Spivey Epps married House and Juice actor Omar Epps and is studying acting in Los Angeles. Dyson went back to school and now runs a medical coding consulting company. "There would be people that would know and then ask the dumb question: 'Why you work?'" she explains. "Same reason you do!"
"Mine is not so glamourous," says Long of her story, "but at the end of the day I can say that it's a great journey. I went back to work … but I went to White Castle. I went to fast food. Did I have to do it? No, I went by choice because I had a lot of pride in my life on the inside that I didn't know about. I was like, 'All right, God, if I go in here and they hire me on the spot, I'mma start working at White Castle.' … It was difficult for people to see me working and say, 'Yeah, that's her,' turn around and leave. … I got a lot of laughs, gotta lot of this that and the third, but here I am today, a different woman. Stronger because of the things that I allowed God to take me through."
For the reunion, Total had some phone calls and jumped right into rehearsals.
"We walked in like, 'Hey,'" says Long, leaping from her chair to mimic a scenario where the girls say a quick hello and immediately start dancing. "As soon as we came together it was just like: You bringing your A-game. You step right into excellence, 'cause
is not gonna have it any less than that."
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