Eboni Lewis, known to those who grew up in Charlotte as Eboni Wallace, was voted Most Likely To Succeed when she graduated from high school. Her classmates figured that was the highest honor they could give to West Charlotte’s 1994 student body president. And while she didn’t choose a career as Oprah (that was the word back in the day) she did turn out to be quite the socialite. She’s a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Smart Set and the Links. She is a former Zumba instructor and blogger for MomsCharlotte.com and currently owns her own photography business. She is able to balance it all because she has music.
Brandi: What is your relationship with music? How does it make you feel?
Eboni: I absolutely love music, it is something that I can not live without! Music is very personal to me in that it can evoke so many emotions. I think people use the term “soundtrack to your life” very loosely, but it is so very true. I do believe that you could tell your life story by using songs. It doesn’t matter the situation, there is music that compliments any mood. Music can take me across the complete spectrum of emotions. I can go from happy with uplifting lyrics and/or a party beat that takes over my body, to sad and in tears because of a song that reminds me of a certain place or situation in my life or just from the story the song tells.
Brandi: What’s your all-time favorite song or the song that brings back the most memories for you?
Eboni: Wow, that’s a hard one! Ok, I’m going to cheat on this one and say I have a Fab Five. D’Angelo’s ‘Lady’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely’, LL Cool J’s ‘I’m Bad’, Zhane’s ‘Everything Happens For A Reason’ and ‘You Are My Sunshine’…yes the nursery rhyme/song. I sing it to my son at night.
Brandi: What’s your favorite musical era? Why?
Eboni: The 90’s because that covered high school and college and those were very memorable years, good and bad. Certain songs instantly trigger certain memories and take me back as if I was literally right back in that moment. There was a variety of different types of music and so it really felt like you weren’t listening to the same thing. Although it didn’t really go away, we had the re-introduction of soul in Neo Soul w/ great artists like Jill Scott, India Arie, Maxwell, Bilal, Musiq and one of my absolute favorites, Kindred. Mary’s ‘My Life’ album had to have been one of the most played albums in the world!! There was Jodeci, Toni Braxton, Biggie Smalls, Brian McKnight, Tupac, Busta Rhymes, No Limit, Cash Money, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Zhane…I really could go on and on. Also during that time, the south emerged as a serious force in the music industry and we were being represented in music, dance, video and movies.
Brandi: What’s on your iPod?
Eboni: What don’t I have on my iPod? Some of my favorites: Stevie Wonder (who I love like you wouldn’t believe), Donnie Hathaway, Whitney Houston, Erykah Badu, Floetry, Amy Winehouse, Natalie Cole, Outkast, Carrie Underwood, DMX, Mary J. Blige, Zhane, Amel Larrieux, Fat Pat, Blackstreet, Monica, Travis Barker. I use to teach Zumba so I have quite a bit of Latin music as well. I even have songs from The Wiz.
