CeCile Sex appeal, a female entertainer's secret weapon. Most of them have it but not all of them use it, those who do think it's the greatest marketing tool.
Sex.
Of course, all this goes well for men who want action. They will go "head over heels" when Lady Saw comes on stage or turn to CeCile's website which has some real hot stuff.
Toni Braxton will be long remembered for her outrageous outfit at the last Grammy Awards - described by some females as a piece of cloth with a slit in front.
How about the cunning Foxy Brown who performed at Sting 97 in a bathing suit or Crissy D who has often teased with tight clothes.
Dancehall artiste CeCile really believes that sex sells. The singer has created a website with revealing pictures and hopes to change her wardrobe all in the name of being hot.
"I am marketing myself so whatever you see on the website is me. I am not overly sexy. Sex sells so if I have to dress a certain way to get attention I am going to do it. CeCile is a commodity so I have to sell myself as something to attract a lot of people."
The singer says she will not be intimidated by critics.
"I am not singing gospel so I can't wear anything like what gospel singer Carlene Davis wears."
She pointed to Li'l Kim and Foxy Brown as individuals who market themselves through sex appeal.
"Just think of the many boring female entertainers around all because they don't chose the sexy route. Some people might be intrigued by you and buy your music," she said.
Another artiste, Crissy D, doesn't mind using sex appeal. She says men often call her names in relation to her 'sexiness'.
The singer adds that men go crazy over her hairy legs - especially when she pulls on a pair of shorts. "You see my legs enhance my body," she said.
On one ocassion at the Tamika Awards, Crissy D recalled how her halter-back jumper outfit caught the eyes of Wesley Snipes. "The transparent fabric was a bit revealing. When I came on stage people, including Wesley Snipes, felt I looked great."
Crissy D has her limits however. "If I am wearing something sexy it must look good but we need to save something for ourselves. We have to limit whatever we are doing. For women cannot please men alone, we have to please God as well."
One female who is opposed to using sex to sell her music is Lady G. "I am not going to wear certain clothes on stage and I do not care who is not going to be pleased. I am a mother and I have my children to set good examples to," she said.
"I am just a modest person. I wouldn't say it is disgraceful for others to wear x-rated outfits. When I go on stage the point I want to bring across is the message of my song. Being x-rated is not a part of my act. So, one has to look further than saying being x-rated is a marketing strategy."
Mr. Donovan Germaine of Penthouse, who has been involved with artiste management, feels, female artistes may have a good reason for wanting to dress x-rated."So long as they (females) have on at least some clothes this is not a problem. But if they are nude that is something different. If a female artiste is doing a type of music that compliments the dress it might have been a strategy. If it wasn't working with these artistes they would not be doing it."
However, Germaine said, his wife or daughter could never chose to dress in that fashion. "I wouldn't want to see my wife that way," he added.
Tony Rebel is a rastafarian but he is not opposed to females who use sex appeal to sell their music. "I will not bun fire on my sisters because they dress x-rated."
He said at one stage Carla Marshall, a female deejay who was based in Canada and was signed to Columbia Records, was x-rated to the point where he had to intervene.
"She (Carla) used to do some of the slackest things. Coming on stage almost three-quarter naked she would do some of the most outrageous acts. I often talked to her about stopping this thing."
The deejay said while he likes to see 'his sisters' dressing well he realizes that some artistes need to use sex to sell their music. "Lady Saw's dress certainly matches whatever she is saying. She has studied the business and found out that most of the people who gravitate to her like her type of dressing. So, it is embedded in her that sex sells," she said.
"I have seen Lady Saw on stage doing cultural songs and people start requesting the raw lyrics."
Lady Saw told The Gleaner she had no problem with CeCile's sex-marketing technique. She said: "From the body is clean and you have the sex appeal, you can flaunt it."
See CeCile's revealing website shot in this
afternoon's WEEKEND STAR
