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Even though she’s lent her musical talents to such legendary artists as Chaka Khan, Roberta Flack and Al Green, it is Katreese Barnes’ collaboration on a comedy sketch that earned the musician her first major award.

Barnes, the musical director for “Saturday Night Live,” earned an Emmy Award for her role in the now infamous skit with Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg singing “D*** in a Box.” She admits that she didn’t think the song would take off like it did, much less nab the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.

“I figured it’d become one of those ‘SNL’ skits that people would always remember, but I can honestly say I didn’t think all of this would come of it,” she recalls. “They just said they wanted to spoof a ‘90s band so I wrote the music. I’m not even sure they had the end result in mind then.”

Although the Emmy is Barnes’ first major award, it isn’t the North Carolina native’s first taste of musical success. At the tender age of 13, Barnes and her brother, Jerry, inked a deal with Epic Records. By 1986, the duo, called Juicy, climbed to No. 13 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart with their song, “Sugar Free.” Since then, she’s penned songs for Diana Ross and toured alongside D’Angelo and Mariah Carey, before joining the “SNL” staff in 2000.

While a typical day for Barnes would normally include pitch meetings, songwriting and rehearsals for each new “SNL” show, the recent writer’s strike has given the classically trained pianist time to catch up on some much-needed R & R. “This is as close to a vacation that I’ve had in a long time,” she says. “And I plan on enjoying it.” –ivory m. jones

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