LA Girl: Tonya Watts

I’ll admit right off the bat: I’m biased. I have a girl crush on Tonya Watts. Why wouldn’t I? She’s got beauty and talent (and a savvy line of beauty products, too, but I’m saving that for another post.) I recently caught Tanya at our mutual Jonny Whiteside’s Messaround and it struck me that she’s a perfect LA Girl, and I don’t mean because she was formerly Pamela Anderson’s body double on Barb Wire. LA Girl is all about busting stereotypes and that’s what Alabama-born, Sherman Oaks-resident Tonya does. Dumb blonde? Not. Talented? You bet. Whether singing, acting, or working with her charity, B. Love for the Homeless Foundation to donate socks to the homeless, Tonya is always up to something good. And she has her own line of cruelty-free beauty products (I’ll save that for another post.)

On the big screen, she has appeared in major motion pictures including “Beautician and the Beast” with Fran Drescher to “Barb Wire” with Pamela Anderson Lee where Tonya acted as Pamela Anderson Lee’s photo and stunt double.  She also portrayed a young Dolly Parton in a made-for-TV movie called “Get To The Heart” In recent years Watts performed her Hit song “ Alabama Crimson” in the movie “Bloodworth” starring Val Kilmer, Kristofferson. Last summer she played Memphis Dane in movie called “Saving Harmony” starring Billy Zane and Alison Eastwood. Watts has a movie called “Hellfire County” in pre-production. A Screenplay she wrote that deals with a post Obama world dealing with sexual orientation in Alabama. You can also see her national ad for Epiphone in Sam Ash music stores. 

bikersmiling DSC_8248_tonya_watts_72 stacimqueencroppedblackandwhite

What’s your daily beauty routine like?

I wake up drink my one cup of coffee while I stalk my “real friends” on fb until I am awake. Then I splash my face with infused olive oil. However, I cannot tell you what it is infused with. I will leave that up to your imagination. Then I began my work day. Which  consist of so many different things. I would get dizzy if I tried to explain! Lately, I have been juicing and doing yoga. I also use my Dazey Hemp Skin Care Mineral Peel. The combination of Hemp Seed Oil and Dead Sea Minerals heal anything and everything. It works on bug bites, acne, scratches, razor burn, rashes,and fights aging  I love to start my day with” I AM” affirmations.  As for diet and staying healthy….. I thinking healthy living starts in the mind!

What’s your music life like here in LA?

I’m back! I left Los Angeles for a few years and I will never do that again! I finally came back to Sherman Oaks where I call home. This is where I love living and want to raise my daughter. I started playing and writing music in Los Angeles. I had moved here for acting in 1995. I’ve been in this magical entertainment carnival for a while now. I’ve done everything from extra work, modeling, bimbo roles, good roles, bad roles, and a hundred reality show shizzels. It was not until 1999 that I started writing songs. My entire life took on a new meaning. I’ve opened for Kid Rock, Hank III, Deana Carter, Alabama, Toby Keith and many more. I’ve had some songs in movies too, like “Blood Worth” and “Killer Movie,” to name two.  I feel blessed to be a country singer living in Los Angeles. I’m recording an acoustic album with Al Bonhomme. I also have a new single that will be released on Dazey Rock Records this summer. I’ve been hosting a night off and on since 2000 called “ It Came From Nashville”  I showcase some amazing writers. The next one is June 4th. 

Do you have any special beauty products or daily routines?

I’ve been using Dazey Hemp products for three years now. I have Rosacea and Dazey Hemp Mineral Peel has been the only thing that I have found that gets rid of the redness. I have sensitive dry skin. I really try and stay away from chemicals the best I can. I splash my face daily with cannabis infused olive oil. The results are amazing me. Lately, I’ve been juicing, hiking Fryman, lifting weights, and doing yoga. One thing each day of course! Healthy living starts in the mind!

Any tips you can pass on?

Juice raw cannabis ( you don’t get high- it’s highest antioxidant on the planet), take Milk Thistle for your liver, parasite cleanse twice a year, never allow negative thoughts to enter your mind and watch how great your life becomes! Never stop believing in Magic! 

Foods/exercise or supplements?

I spent a year as an understudy in Alabama with a Shaman/herbal Doctor. I learned more from this man that I have anywhere else in my life. Whenever we get sick in our house we treat it with herbal extracts. I have extracts for everything. We actually don’t get sick because of the preventive herbs I take. If I could promise one thing to make the entire world feel better. It would be to Parasite cleanse twice a year end of story! If you are on any kind of synthetics take Milk Thistle.  These are just some of the the things I learned from the Herbal Doctor who taught me. I love helping people naturally!

What’s a typical day like for you?

My typical day is insane. I’m a full time single mother so my day starts very early. Luckily I have a cool daughter. She goes to rehearsals with me, watches movies while I record my new record. She even goes to gigs with me when they allow kids. I recently played a George Jones tribute show in Burbank at Viva. She was able to go and it was so much fun for us both.  I work around the clock on my skincare line. As a start up it takes alot of work. I’m on lock down lately trying to finish a writing project for a production company. I am having a hard time with discipline but I will get there. I recently booked a role in a great movie. What’s a typical day in Carnival land? Especially when you live in a Bing Crosby tree house!

And anything else you want to add?

I might not be from LA but I fucking love LA!  xoxo

To crib from our mutual pal Jonny Whiteside: “For the past couple of years, Watts organized the “It Came from Nashville” night at West Hollywood’s Genghis Cohen on the second Tuesday of every month. The shows are built around Watts and like-minded Southeners Levi Kreis, Austin HanksTravis Howard and others who came West to avoid the stifling factory conditions of Music City.”

itcamefromnashville5-17-13

 
You can catch Tonya this coming Tuesday night, June 4th at Genghis Cohen for the next “It Came From Nashville” series.  Tonya says: “It’s Kevin Fisher, Michael Anderson, Bliss Bowen and Al Bonhomme.  If you bring a pack of socks you get in for $5 dollars. I have a NON PROFIT Homeless organization called “B Love for the Homeless”  so you can come to ICFN and hear great music, eat great chinese food, and help supply socks for people who walk everywhere they go.” $10 cover.
 

Here’s a love song I wrote to Los Angeles while living in Nashville:

Man I Miss LA

Man, I Miss L.A.

Tonya Watts/Kevin Fisher

I sure miss cheap trendy clothes
That live on the avenue of Melrose
Tattoo parlors, freaks and dirt
Vintage shops and rock and roll shirts
Crowded freeways, underpasses
Beaches, mountains, big sunglasses

California bring me back home
Your sunshine makes me stoned
This Alabama girl is lonesome
And wants some
Of the things I used to hate
All the folks I thought were fake
Man, I miss LA

I came back to Alabama to tie up some loose ends
Take care of some family matters, visit some old
friends
Two weeks turned to two years, loose ends got tied
back up
Too much rain man, I’m fucked
I love my southern small town roots
But I’d rather wear my cowboy boots in

CHORUS

Wrap your fake smile around my twisted country heart
I’m coming back to walk all over your stars

Donna Lethal

About Donna Lethal

Donna Lethal is the author of "Milk of Amnesia" and writes for her own blog (Lethal Dose), Hair Hall of Fame, Dowager Quarterly, Find A Death, & the Valhalla Cemetery chapter in "Weird Hollywood." A native of Lowell, Mass., she's lived in Boston, NY and London before settling here. When not writing, she's hiking, soaking in a Korean salt room or in the high desert with her pit bull.
This entry was posted in Miscellanious. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to LA Girl: Tonya Watts

  1. tim mcgrath says:

    Tonya Watts has the talent as a songwriter to be massive all over the world .she needs the backing of a record label and booking agents in australia her music and her look would be selling out gigs here there is no doubt in my mind that she would be a hit with the crowd ..kix fm should start to look at Tonya Watts and start to play her music on high rotation instaed of the same old country they have been playing foever .wake up kix fm ..larry can grow a brain,,,Tonya Watts always has time for her mob and she is very kind and generous with her work as a life coach ..rock on Tonya ,,tim from yeppoon queensland australia

  2. JoAnn Alexander says:

    ALWAYS TONYA LOVE…

Leave a Reply to tim mcgrath Cancel reply