25 years after she appeared on a DIVA cover, we caught up with composer and activist Jennifer John
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY JOHN JOHNSON
Turn back the clock to May 1999 – The Phantom Menace was in cinemas, SpongeBob was making his screen debut and Bill Clinton had just been impeached. Over at DIVA, which was just five years old, Jennifer John was on our cover. 25 years later, we caught up with Jennifer…
Your 1999 cover looked fabulous! What was it like to do that?
It was amazing. Actually, it was a bit overwhelming. Walking into train stations and seeing it on the top shelf, walking into W. H. Smiths and seeing it everywhere was incredible and a bit overwhelming but in a good way.
It’s been 25 years since then. What’s life been like in that time?
My life is just non-stop creativity. I do so many different things – singing is at the heart of everything that I do and I use my creativity to create social change, so it’s an intrinsic part of who I am. Activism is tied into my creativity. Multiculturalism and the elevation of women’s profiles are the two main things that I’m focused on. I manage a choir that I’ve had for 20 years called Sense Of Sound and that was one of the first multicultural non-secular choirs. I’m a composer and all of the work that I compose has a social agenda. It’s always about trying to find equity and equality between people. In fact the reason that everything I do is around multiculturalism is because I think that’s a message in and of itself.
These are such important topics. How has it all changed in the last 25 years?
So much has changed. When I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I went on every gay pride march, I appeared at the Stonewall gigs at the Royal Albert Hall and we were always advocating for equality. I was around when Section 28 was at the peak of its visibility and the powers that be were saying that it was detrimental to talk about lesbian and gay rights. I fought alongside thousands and thousands of other people for that to change and it did.
There’s still more to do – non-binary activism and trans activism are really necessary. It always astounds me that when I look back and I think, “Wow, this is how far it’s come and all of that work that was done in my youth and before has led to this.” It gives me hope. There’s still a long way to go because there’s still a lot of prejudice and transphobia. I’m also seeing anti-gay activism rise, especially with conservative governments and the election of Trump. But the fact that a magazine like DIVA has withstood the test of time is heartening.
What would you say to those who are scared about the future?
I am an optimistic person and I do look at the positives in life. I look at the activism that’s paid off, especially in England. Let’s keep fighting, let’s keep joining forces and let’s keep waving the banner of equality for all people at every available opportunity. The levels of intersectionality that we’re now seeing that weren’t talked about 25 years ago mean people understand intersectionality in a way that’s new. Without that understanding of those perspectives we can’t make progress. We need to live in worlds where people accept each other’s differences and celebrate our similarities. For me, that’s really important. I think we need to just keep at the things that we’ve got right and keep mirroring them. We need human rights for all people. That’s what I firmly believe in.
How do you use music to do this?
Music is an incredible tool because it’s one of those mediums where artists can stand on stages and don’t have the pressure of having to have a religious point of view or having a political point of view. We have the power to share humanitarian views out loud to captive audiences. I think that’s a really powerful position to be in. We know that, historically, music has changed so many things. We can talk about whatever we believe in through the work through our lyrics through our collaborations and it’s a really powerful place to bring about social change.
This year, we’ve had what some have called a “lesbian pop renaissance”…
I think it’s amazing and about time that we were more visible. It’s about time we see women represented in ways that are empowering and diverse. We have a chance to say what we want to without having to dilute who we are. Our power is in our collective voices so the fact that there’s a rebirth of that is very exciting. I’m working on two compositions at the moment and have some exciting collaborations coming up so I’m very excited for what 2025 brings.
Jennifer John is a mentor, vocal coach and composer. You can get in touch with her via her website.
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