Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle photo

“Sometimes, you just gotta do things on your own,” Támar Davis coos at the beginning of her new album. “No more excuses. Just do it.”

It’s a sentiment the Houston-bred singer now takes to heart after a series of almost-famous moments. Her debut album, My Name is Támar, is out Thursday, a self-financed hybrid of rock, sultry R&B and dance-pop. Davis recorded it while on the road in a pair of Tyler Perry plays, The Marriage Counselor (as the lead) and Madea’s Big Happy Family.

(Listen to a full stream of the album below.)

“It’s all me,” Davis says between wardrobe changes inside Klar Boutique, a chic retail space in the Westchase shopping center (off Westheimer). She zips rapidly through black leather dresses, busy white tops and colorful earrings during a photo shoot. (Davis moved back to Houston in 2006 after spending time in Los Angeles.)

“Whatever city we were in, we would record, from Philly to D.C. to New York. We would do it after the show. We would come in at like three in the morning.”

Davis collaborated with a rotating cast of musicians and says she recorded more than 200 songs. The final cut has 14 diverse tracks, including slick singles Heartbeat and Static. Davis even references a popular Perry play film on standout slow-burner All By Myself.

“I definitely did not want it to be a genre-specific album,” she says. “When you start to look at artists like Amy Winehouse, Gnarls Barkley, you hear them everywhere, but they aren’t a specific genre.”

My Name is Támar is a long-time coming for the singer who made a big splash in 2006 — as Prince’s duet partner, no less, on Beautiful, Loved and Blessed. Davis co-wrote the song for Prince’s 3121 disc, and it earned a Grammy nomination for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals. She also toured with the Purple One and appeared alongside him on Saturday Night Live.

Davis signed a solo deal and recorded an album, Milk & Honey, but she was dropped from the label, and the disc was never released. She’s spent the last few years working as an independent artist and refocusing her career.

“You never know how those dots are going to connect. Now, it makes sense why I had to do the Prince situation and the Tyler (plays),” she says.

Prior to Prince, Davis was in kiddie outfit Girls Tyme alongside Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and LeToya Luckett. (She left for a solo career, and the group eventually became Destiny’s Child.) Davis graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and earned a music degree from the University of Southern California.)

“Sometimes, we get complacent and we stop because we don’t have certain things. In my heart, something told me, ‘Use what you have and work with that.’ That’s what helped me keep going,” she says.

“The situation with Prince got terminated from Universal Republic, so I was on the road and had nothing but time. I’d see some of my (Perry) castmates go shopping, and I’d think, ‘What do I need to do with my time vs. just sitting around in the hotel until 5 o’clock every day?’”

Davis says she’s spoken to Prince “several times” over the course of the album and still values his input.

I actually sent him the single, (Heartbeat). He immediately responded back and was like, ‘Tamar, this is why I call you my favorite singer,’” she says. “On a scale from 1 to 10, how important it is to get his feedback, I would have to say it’s 10.

“I would say my mom’s is 9, and his is 10.”

My Name Is Támar by joeyguerra