He had you talking about his role in "Hairspray" and now he plans to have you talking about relationships in every aspect when he drops his debut album "Love Letters" this September. Elijah Kelley spoke with MiddleChild about his transition from film to music, his upcoming album and why seperates him from the rest of the pack.

Elijah Kelley: What's up man?

MiddleChild: Nothing much man. I'm excited to be talking to you actually.

Elijah Kelley: Oh man. That's what's up.

MiddleChild: Well let me go ahead and get it out the way because you know it's coming. I loved you as Seaweed in "Hairspray". I must have killed that DVD by now.

Elijah Kelley: Ahh man. Thanks alot dawg. That's nice of you to say.

MiddleChild: Definitely one of my favorite movies. So you're about to transition over into music, so how did this whole career move come about?

Elijah Kelley: Well I woke up and ain't have nothing to do so I went and cut a whole album in a day.

MiddleChild: (laughs) You got it like that? Might as well, huh?

Elijah Kelley: But it's a natural transition. Music is my first love. I was singing in church all my life before any of the acting stuff came about and it's a natural progression these days in entertainment if you have the qualities and you have the talent to do it. I think everyone naturally migrates or back pedals to whatever that talent is.

MiddleChild: Well seeing that you started out in the church, do you remember what your first solo was?

Elijah Kelley: My first solo? Dang...I think my first solo was "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired" by James Cleveland. I was like three years old. We used to sing Winans' songs and things like that. I know I sang "Amazing Grace" probably a hundred million times in my life.

MiddleChild: That's the one, huh? (laughs) Well what sound would you say you're gearing toward?

Elijah Kelley: Man. It's like Pop Soul. It's like the perfect mixture between today's Pop and the feel and the vocal power of 70's artists like James Brown and Sammy Davis Jr. and the smoothness of people like Frank Sinatra and that ruggedness from people like Aretha Franklin. I like to pattern my vocal stylings by people in the past and as far as the music is concerned, the tracks, I take you on a trip between like 1970 all the way to like 2050. We like to be very current and very futuristic while paying homage to the past as well.

MiddleChild: Okay. So of course you're an 80's baby like myself.

Elijah Kelley: Oh yea!

MiddleChild: So ain't no telling what all you listened to coming up. I know my mama played all the Motown classics...I can't sing though. (laughs)

Elijah Kelley: But you can write though and I hate writing. You write and you read and I hate both of those. Like I write music, but sitting down and being a journalist like yourself I couldn't do that. So everybody's talent works.

MiddleChild: That's whats up. Speaking of writing, you wrote every song on your album right?

Elijah Kelley: Yea man. I penned it up. I did everything. I had a lot of inspiration. A lot of stories. I feel that if you're capable of doing that, you come out with some amazing stuff. You come out with some really really amazing stuff because it's all first hand and nobody can invision the experience like you do.

MiddleChild: Well what's the most personal song to you from the album?

Elijah Kelley: One of my most personal songs is called "Tell Me". It's basically a song talking about how me and this girl kind of fell out with each other and we didn't end on really good terms, but the thing is I don't want her back. I just want to know if she still loves me or not. We don't have to get back together. We don't have to spend every day of our lives together. I just want to know if I hurt you that much that you don't even want to say my name anymore. I've been there and it's a hurtful feeling where you are with someone and you just really feel some way about them and they don't even want anything to do with you anymore. That's a horrible feeling. So I just want to know if she still had anything for me.

MiddleChild: Yes suh. So you went off and got deep on us, huh?

Elijah Kelley: Oh yea man. It was a pretty bad situation. You know how we do as men. We mess up. We get stupid. We just do some random stuff.

MiddleChild: I hear you. So we got several young men on the scene trying to give the male face back to R&B. From Trey Songz to NeYo, what is going to seperate you from the average R&B artist?

Elijah Kelley: I think what seperates me from the average R&B artist is the fact that I am pretty much..I like to be self contained in my music. I don't think that a lot of R&B artists are able to physically produce the music and physically write the music, perform the music and vocal arrange the music all within yourself and I take pride in that. That's one of the things that I like to do and on the album I produced three songs and I wrote everything. So that's a facet of my talent that I think seperates me. And then another thing is with my performances I like to put on a full full show. I'm not only gonna dance, I'm not only gonna sing but you many see me hop on the drums. You may see hop on the piano. I may get on the synthesizer machine. You may see me jump in the crowd. I really really do the full gamet, you know? So I think that's what seperates me.

MiddleChild: I feel you. All around entertainment. Well since you give such a great show and we were discussing artists from the past, if given the chance which artist would you like to perform with. Be it past, present, dead or alive. Any artist. Who would you choose?

Elijah Kelley: You know what...I would really wanna go...I have never been asked this question in my life. [pause] Dang....I would really wanna go tit for tat....[whistles] Man, that's crazy. Dang. I've really never...never...never....Stevie Wonder.

MiddleChild: Stevie Wonder.

Elijah Kelley: Stevie Wonder. I would like to sit down and just sing some love ballads with Stevie Wonder. I actually did his radio show in L.A and I was singing and he has a piano in his studio and I was singing and he actually started playing behind me and that was like one of the amazing....I would of said James Brown, but James Brown ain't about to embarass me dancing and everything.

MiddleChild: Oh I done seen you cut some steps now. You don't think you can hang?

Elijah Kelley: I ain't even gonna front on the Godfather bruh. Hey, he tough. I can't even front on him.

MiddleChild: I see. (laughs) You said that you produced three records on the album. Who else did you link up with to help lay out the blueprint for your album?

Elijah Kelley: Well there is not a lot of producers on the record. There is immediately only four producers on the record, one of which is named Darulah. Darryl Darulah Farmer and he produced about eight songs off the record. And we have a production team together called Status Music and we just kept it in house this time. We just wanted to keep it all under one umbrella. Right now he is working with New Kids On The Block. He worked with Chris Brown. They got a song that leaked on the internet. I don't know who leaked it, but it's a song called "I'm Afraid" that Chris Brown did. He's worked with T-Pain...he's worked with a lot of people. He's one of the futures of music. Another guy named Josiah Bell, who is an amazing artist - producer, and another kid named Jukebox and everybody is fairly newbies in the game, but we also had people like Rodney Jerkins come through. He would sit back and listen to the music and give us pointers. He was sort of like a mentor throughout the album process because we recorded a bulk of my album at the same studio he was at while working with people like The Pussycat Dolls and Janet and everything. He would always come in and give us some pointers.

MiddleChild: That's the business. Now what have you titled the album?

Elijah Kelley: Oh. "Love Letters".

MiddleChild: And what does that signify to you?

Elijah Kelley: I think that every song encompasses a way that you can write a love letter. I formatted the album in a way that if you wanted to tell this girl everything that you ever wanted to say in a love letter, I put it in song. So it's very very fitting. I know people will like it. I know people will feel it. Not only feel the music but want to dance to it. I didn't start doing this record and wanted to do a crazy, upbeat, all over the place album. I thought about it as I did it like doing a show. You know how when you start a show and the first track is like banging...da da da da da...banging banging banging...and then there is more banging and then you bring it down a little bit and then a little bit more and then you expose yourself. Just like in life when you write love letters, sometimes those love letters end up being pretty hurtful or whatever that letter may encompasses and that letter may be helpful or hurtful to you. So I went there with it and brought the energy back up on the album and ended to album on a high note. So I really thought about doing it all in a concert. Like if I did all fourteen songs, I could have the perfect show. The perfect concert.

MiddleChild: I feel you on that. Well I have heard your song "P's & Q's" and also "I Got It" and just from your previous work, I can tell I'm going to be an Elijah Kelley fan.

Elijah Kelley: Ah man. Thanks alot bruh.

MiddleChild: So I'm definitely going to be looking forward to the album. Now another thing I heard that there was rumors of you playing Sammy David Jr. in an upcoming film. Any truth to that?

Elijah Kelley: Yea man. People are really really interested in me doing that and playing Sammy, but nothing is signed yet. There was a lot of artists strikes going on and there is a potential actor's strike going on right now. So I'm just really just waiting around to see what's going to happen. I'm staying prayerful and all that.

MiddleChild: Well alright. We'll be looking forward to all of that and I know your fans can keep tabs on you on your myspace page. Do you have an official site also?

Elijah Kelley: Yea, elijahkelley.com is currently under conctruction, but you can touch my music page on myspace. So what do you think the single needs to be "I Got It" or "P's & Q's"?

MiddleChild: Oh man. "I Got It" is more addictive I think. I love "P's & Q's", but its something about "I Got It" that I can't quit playing it. So I'm thinking that would be a good choice. But I also haven't heard the rest of the album so it could be something even hotter on there. You know what I'm saying?

Elijah Kelley: Well it's three of them man. It's those two and then there is another one that is way more Pop. It's like a mixture between Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz and that's called "Dangerous".

MiddleChild: Okay. Well what is your soul telling you? Which of those three songs are pulling on you the most right now?

Elijah Kelley: I mean "I Got It" is pulling on me.

MiddleChild: Well sounds like we got two votes for that one.

Elijah Kelley: "I Got It" is definitely pulling on me. I think "I Got It" will pull the people in and get them used to me and then I got hit em with a "P's & Q's" because both of them are more my personality, but I think "P's & Q's" is more like that groove sect. Girls like to be grooved. I can try and get my smooth on with that one.

MiddleChild: Well you can never go wrong with what your soul tells you, so I say go for it and whatever you decide to drop I'll support it. You get much love from MiddleChild Promotions.

Elijah Kelley: Appreciate it man. Where are you from?

MiddleChild: I'm from Alabama.

Elijah Kelley: You're from Alabama? What part?

MiddleChild: North Alabama. I stay in Huntsville actually.

Elijah Kelley: Huntsville. I'm in Georgia right now. I'm in LaGrange, Georgia.

MiddleChild: Word? I'm actually coming to Atlanta again this weekend. I get down there a lot so maybe we'll run into each other one day.

Elijah Kelley: No problem man. If it can happen then I'm down.

MiddleChild: That's what's up. Well you have a good day Elijah and I definitely wish you much success on this album.

Elijah Kelley: Thanks man. I appreciate it.

MiddleChild: Have a good one.

Elijah Kelley: Alright man. You too.