I've been doing the singing thing for a long time ... like performing with a live band since I was 8 years old. Just like many artists, my dream was to make it big and achieve fame. Just when it seemed like that dream was on the brink of fruition, I read something that totally put things into perspective for me. Let me give ya a little history first though ... since this is supposed to be my bio and all ... ;)Over the years I have done some pretty cool things ... things that I will never forget like being one of the back-up vocalists for the Grammy Award winning Tejano band, LaMafia. I got to sing background vocals on a few songs on their Latin Grammy nominated album "Contigo" and over the course of 9 months got to sing back-up for them when they'd go on tour. There were a couple of tv contests too, like Channel 13's Deborah Duncan's Star Search and Houston's Gimme the Mike contest. These shows were great exposure and lead to other things like singing at Houston's Six Flags Astroworld Theme Park, doing a couple of radio commercials, and getting to be one of the National Anthem singers for the Houston Rockets and Comets.One of my prizes from one of those shows was 6 hours of studio time. So, I made a new demo and it got the attention of an established country music songwriter from Texas, Kevin Brandt. I teamed up with him and a rising producer from Nashville, Bobby Terry. I wasn't pursuing country music (which was where they had their pull), but they believed in me enough to step out of their comfort zone to try and make something happen for me in the "comtemporary" genre.This is where "the dream on the brink of fruition" part starts. I had just signed a demo deal with Mercury Records/Universal by CEO Luke Lewis. I was pretty excited ... this was a dream come true and a record deal was actually within my reach. During the shopping period of my demo deal I read a book called "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren (yall read it fo real). It really made me reconsider my musical direction. I realized that I had been given such a beautiful gift ... to be used for God's glory, not my own. It was from this moment that I knew that I was supposed to sing Christian music.Well, this really didn't fit into the deal I was in at the time and when I mentioned singing Christian music ... my peeps didn't really know how to help me break into that arena ... so I just kind of ended up having to do things on my own. My demo deal didn't turn into a full record deal after the shopping period either ... but I knew that it just wasn't God's will.Pursuing Christian music is a whole different ball game. In secular music, it's all about you, the artist ... and accumulating more and more attention to yourself for your own success. In Christian music, it's all about God ... and bringing all the attention to Him and to His glory. To me, singing isn't the main event at a show ... it's just the ice breaker to open people up to be able to talk to them and to allow them to share their heart with you. You share your heart through your music and they share theirs' back through relating with you ... and this opens doors to talk to others about God: Who He is, how He's worked in your life, how He's helped you through your tough times, and how He can do the same for them.So, this is me. I'm a singer/songwriter/(semi-musician lol) just trying to serve with the gifts, talents, and life experiences that I have. God has allowed me to walk through many, many trials in my life and I'm eager to tell others how He got me through them and taught me so much through enduring and overcoming them. Ask me about it anytime. I'll be totally real with you. I hope to meet whoever reads this. God bless!
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