Brittany Howard on Prince, breakup songs and giving 'everything and leaving nothing'

From the time she was a kid, former Alabama Shakes frontperson Brittany Howard knew she wanted to be in a band. She remembers seeing some kids from the local high school performing, and it was like a door opened in her mind: “I said, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ “

Today, Howard is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer. But at the time, she was a poor, biracial kid in a small Alabama town. When she began seeking out musicians to play with, she was told repeatedly that she didn’t look like a lead singer.

“It made me sing harder and sing louder and perform just as hard as I could perform,” she says of the rejections. “Because no matter what, there’s one thing you can’t deny … that I am giving it everything and leaving nothing.”

Howard’s new solo album is What Now. She talks with Terry Gross about the album, growing up in a haunted house and playing with Prince at his Paisley Park. Click the audio link above to hear the full interview.

Therese Madden and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for the web.