Mar 25, 2005  |  By: Trey Butle  | COMMENTS     

SHE LIVES IN West Hollywood, frequents gay dance clubs and is a former personal trainer. When asked about her musical tastes, she gushes about Madonna and Deborah Cox. And she’s tackling her fledgling music career with the do-it-yourself moxy of a queer pioneer facing a home-renovation project.

“I am kind of like a gay boy I guess,” says pop starlet Alyson, who, like Madonna, has no need for a last name. “Most of my friends are gay. When I go out to clubs, I go to Santa Monica Boulevard because that’s where they play the dance music that I like. So I guess I am a gay boy trapped in a woman’s body.”

Gay music lovers might not yet consider Alyson a household name, but that could soon change. Last September, her sultry single “What’re You Gonna Do” made it to No. 4 on Billboard’s dance chart.

In January she repeated that success with “Feel You” which broke into the dance chart’s Top 10.

Unlike Madonna, however, Alyson has achieved her early success without the support of a record label. Instead, she launched her own label, Alysongrooves, and has been feverishly producing and promoting her music on her own.

A NEW YORK native who moved to L.A. two years ago, Alyson says her love of dance music stretches way back. While living in New York, she’d buy mix tapes from vendors on the street. Once in L.A., her musical aspirations began to gain momentum even as she was pursuing another creative outlet, acting.

She landed a role in an independent film and gave the filmmakers permission to use a couple of songs that she had written. They were so well received that she decided to put more of her music there.

Alyson produced a single, “Baby Come Back,” and shipped it out to mix-show DJs and record pools. Through her job as a personal trainer, she was introduced to music producer Daveed, who became her collaborator and helped educate her on the industry.

The success of that single prompted Alyson to immerse herself in the record business, basically learning how to take her songs from mere concept to dance floor gold. Soon enough, her songs had landed the attention of DJ Ralphi Rosario, a star on the gay circuit. His remixes of “What’re You Gonna Do” and “Feel You” have given Alyson her first exposure on the dance charts and brought her sound to gay discos across the United States.

THIS WEEKEND ALYSON is scheduled to appear at Miami’s Winter Music Conference, where she was nominated Best New Dance Artist.

“I was so blown away. It’s such a prestigious honor. I’ve worked really hard to make music that I like, and music I hope that other people will like,” she says. “To have an acknowledgement like that from the dance community is really special for me.”

But Alyson’s debut CD, “Take a Good Look,” reveals more than mere dance music. It’s an upbeat and sometimes moody mixture of pop, dance and R&B. Comparisons to Kylie Minogue seem obligatory, but on one track, “Nothin’ More to Say,” Alyson’s longing vocals slide much closer to Joss Stone.

The forthcoming remix of “Nothin’ More to Say,” however, will do a classic Deborah Cox move and remake a soulful R&B ballad into a dance-floor anthem of empowerment. Superstar producer/DJ Hex Hector has signed on for the honors.

The new CD isn’t due in stores until May, but most tracks can now be downloaded from Apple’s iTunes Music Store.