Taraji P. Henson has given fans a glimpse into the vocal training she went through to prepare for her role as Shug Avery in The Color Purple.
On Instagram Wednesday, the actor reshared a video posted by her vocal coach Stevie Mackey, in which they worked on her show-stopping performance of “What About Love?” for the Blitz Bazawule-helmed musical movie now in theaters.
In her caption, Henson called Mackey “the man behind #ShugAveryvoice,” adding that her coach helped her “to unlock some thangs vocally.”
“We worked so hard,” she added, telling Mackey, “you helped give me the confidence I needed to breathe life into #shugavery I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL.”
In The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story featuring The Color Purple‘s stars Henson, Danielle Brooks, and Fantasia Barrino, as well as producer Oprah Winfrey (who starred in the 1985 adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg), Winfrey admitted she was initially hesitant about whether Henson had the vocal ability to play Shug.
“I mean, I loved Taraji and watched her on Empire and all the things, but none of us knew Taraji could sing. And yes, she can,” said Winfrey.
In the THR cover story, and a subsequent viral interview with Gayle King, Henson spoke about her frustration over the level she’s at in her career despite her decades of hard work.
“I’ve been getting paid and I’ve been fighting tooth and nail every project to get that same freaking [fee] quote,” she told THR. “And it’s a slap in the face when people go, ‘Oh girl, you work all the time. You always working.’ Well, goddammit, I have to. It’s not because I wish I could do two movies a year and that’s that. I have to work because the math ain’t mathing. And I have bills.”
She added, “Listen, I’ve been doing this for two decades and sometimes I get tired of fighting because I know what I do is bigger than me. I know that the legacy I leave will affect somebody coming up behind me. My prayer is that I don’t want these Black girls to have the same fights that me and Viola [Davis], Octavia [Spencer], we out here thugging it out,” Henson says. “Otherwise, why am I doing this? For my own vanity? There’s no blessing in that. I’ve tried twice to walk away [from the business]. But I can’t, because if I do, how does that help the ones coming up behind me?”
