Loretta Chandler Right On Magazine Interview 1987

"Dusty" has one of the best voices on TV these days, and here she tells how singing made her acting dream come true!

Right On: So what's it like being on Fame? How do you enjoy being on the show?

Loretta: I love it! The series is great! I'm doing everything I ever wanted. I sing, record, dance, work with different directors and actors. I'm meeting all of these major talented people and it is just really great! What a wonderful experience. Everyone has been so helpful and very supportive. It's really like a family here and they work very hard to make it like that.

Right On: Is this the first series you've ever appeard on?

Loretta: It's my first time ever on television. I was very lucky to get the part. I went on an open call audition... really just hoping to see some Stars. (I always wanted to be one but didn't know what my chances would be like.) I wend down and sang for the audition and afterwards they had me dance. Then I was asked to come back again and read. When I came back for the reading they asked me to sing again, so I sang a song I wrote, its called, "Learning To Love Me". I think it's want got me the part. It just seem to blow them over.

Right On: What kind of song was it?

Loretta: It's has a Gospel feel. I wrote it while I was in college trying to get through finals and stuff. I was having a rough time so I poured a little bit of myself into a song. And it worked.

Right On: Were they going to create a character around you?

Loretta: Yes! They asked a lot of questions about my background and what it was like trying to be a star, since that's what the show is based on. I told then I was a preacher's daughter and that made it kind of difficult becasue of how some people felt about the whole thing.

Right On: And that's just how "Dusty" is on FAME. What other similarities are there between you and her?

Loretta: OK, both are preacher's daughters and we're both from Pueblo Colorado. We both want to be stars, but "Dusty is a little more forceful than I am. I usually wait my turn for something to happen. "Dusty" is more aggresive, but I'm starting to learn a few things from my character, like you have to make your own situations happen; you can't be scared to go ahead and do it!