“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength. Whomever loves much, performs much and can accomplish much. And what is done in love is done well.” — Vincent vanGogh
As a girl, I was always singing. I loved the transcendent feeling it gave me. Belting out “Can’t Help Loving That Man of Mine” in the fourth grade play (thank you Ms. Alrutz) gave me a rightful place in the world. Music has always been the truest reflection of me. It cuts to the chase, is at the very root of feeling, and singing fulfilled my desire to express all kinds of emotions. It sustained me through many lonely days, and as a sensitive, shy and awkward girl with thick glasses, it was my best friend.
With the encouragement of many music teachers prying me out of my shell, I got serious about it in my school years, studied classical voice, competed in recitals, sang the lead roles in musicals (never learned to tap dance though), sang with the jazz band, and grew to be a confident soloist with a coloratura soprano range. My parents were free-spirited schoolteachers, both with good voices, and there was always music around our house. When I wasn't learning Mozart arias or broadway show tunes, I absorbed every type of music on the airwaves in the 70s and 80s as well as stuff my music friends introduced me to, and of course the Beatles and the Stones. I especially loved the music from the 60s and always felt born in the wrong decade.
I always listened to what the singer was doing and see if I could do it like that or my own way. In my bedroom I sang with Etta, Billie, Janis, Joni, Linda, Aretha and Barbra at the same time as Beverly Sills and Mirella Freni. Then on Sundays, it was country music and I sang with Patsy, Willie, Johnny, Loretta and Dolly in my grandpa’s barn. I was a cluttered mess of influences -- classical, disco, rock, pop, country, blues, soul, folk, torch songs and Gilbert & Sullivan. If someone asked me my favorite song or artist, it was usually the one I just listened to. Everything turned me on in a different way. But no matter the genre, what appealed to me the most were singers unafraid to show raw emotion and vulnerability.
Following my mother’s wishes (you’re going to college, young lady), I went to Indiana University Music School during the Big 80s, but that decade was not big for me. Having learned music mostly by ear, I struggled in a competitive school, unsure about becoming an opera singer or music teacher. I just didn’t know what to do with my voice and I sadly lost my love for it. Luckily I could also write a little, so I got a journalism degree and got the heck out of there. Then at the ripe old age of 21, I took “one last crack” at a music career, and sang in a piano bar in southern France in the summer of 1988. But when that didn’t pan out as hoped, I came back home, broke and down-trodden, got a job as a newspaper reporter, fell in love, got married and became a mom of 3 beautiful boys.
Fast forward 20 years later, and with the support and patience of my husband and kids, I’m doing today what I always dreamed, yet richer for the time in-between. You can only sing who you are and what you have lived, and my voice today is a mix of people I’ve met and loved, heartbreaks endured, foolish things I’ve done, pain and losses outweighed by the sweetness of time spent with family and friends. While working and raising kids, I sang for a lot of weddings and funerals, but it wasn’t until 2005 that I was really able to focus on music more. I joined a Rochester country/rock band called Blue Sky, and sang with them at many local venues for two years, having a ball, learning and growing as a vocalist and performer.
My time with Blue Sky made me realize how much I need music in my life, and how strong my desire is to make and explore other kinds of music. and keep evolving. That desire would not be quieted so I decided to follow its lead. Never having started a band before, I kind of stumbled in blindly on this project, just following my love for it, and trying to trust my gut instincts -- a technique I’ve used with varying degrees of success in my life -- but one that seems to be working.
Inspired by artists like Susan Tedeschi, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Francine Reed, Joe Cocker and others, this type of blues/rock is where my voice wants to go and feels natural. So much of it is because I had the good fortune to find some extremely talented and like-minded musicians in Chuck, Dana, Doug and Phil. Passionate about music, good-humored, honest and hard-working, they bring out the best in me musically and in each other. That’s a rare kind of chemistry to find. And having this opportunity now to play music that we really love and share it with others...is a gift.
