A Real Teen Sensation

R&B; singer Tracie Spencer, the 13-year-old phenom, pondered a very silly question: What would happen if heartthrob Al B. Sure! walked through the door of the Hollywood record-company office?

She looked at the door and started giggling, burying her face in her hands. “I’d probably die,” she replied.

That was the first indication that there was a real teen-ager under that aloof, low-key facade.

“In these situations, I can’t act like a typical teen-ager, like I am with my friends,” explained Spencer, who signed with Capitol Records in the summer of ‘87, about six months after a spectacular triumph--at age 11--on the TV talent-hunt show “Star Search.” “I have to be professional--mature and all that.”

Though never bubbly and outgoing during the interview, she did loosen up a bit after that.

Because her vocals sound so mature and because she’s tall for her age and much older-looking than 13, it’s easy to forget her real age. “People may forget that I’m so young but I don’t,” she said.

Inspired by her father, a former singer, Spencer starting singing as a toddler back in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. She had other aspirations too. “When I was 5, I wanted to be a nurse and a professional basketball player,” she recalled. “You know how kids are.”

While developing her singing skills doing amateur engagements in preparation for a professional career, Spencer had only one fear: “I thought if I became a celebrity, my friends might treat me differently and not like me anymore. So far that hasn’t happened.”

How does she deal with the rigors and demands of the pop-music business?

“My father watches out for me,” she replied. “But I watch out for myself too. I get frustrated sometimes when I’m around a lot of older people all the time and I’m working real hard. Sometimes I want to run off and be lazy but I can’t. I have to remember I’m not a kid anymore.”