Let's see...I have been performing Spoken Word since 2000. I have traveled all over the U.S. performing and I have traveled with the LivePoets (Abyss, Cocktails & the rest of the folks) and with Goode Stuff Entertainment (Jon Goode). I was a part of the 2001 Atlanta SLAM Team and traveled to Seattle with GA ME, Malik Salaam, Yohannas Sharif, Alexis & Don Carlos. I performed on Season Four of Def Poetry Jam. I did the first five Passion and Poetry Shows with the Live Poets Society and Joyce Littel...a few times as one of the Queens of Poetry (with Andrea Mills, Pam Best and Chezon Jackson) and a couple of times solo...I have been a writer since about eight years old. The first poem I ever wrote was entitled 'As I watch you go by'. (Thinking of LOVE at an early age:) My poetry/spoken word is all about relationships...the good, the bad and the not so pretty. It reflects what I have seen, done, felt, heard, dreamed, lived, desired, etc. I first started performing on a dare from a close friend. Found out that I loved it and was great at it, so I continued to do it for fun and professionally. After a few performances I decided to add 'something different' to the way I did my thing. I started adding vocal hooks to my poetry. People loved it and that became something of a 'signature' for me. In 2002 I released my debut Spoken Word CD entitled RAW BEGINNINGS. Much of it was done live and all of it was accupella. It was recorded at Goode Stuff Studios and at different spoken word venues around Atlanta...A little over a year ago I decided I wanted to get back into performing vocally (with a band). I love singing and have been singing since I first opened my mouth. My father sang the blues and my mother woke us up almost every morning singing those old Negro Spirituals while she and my father prepared breakfast. So I grew up on Jimmy Reed, Mahalia Jackson, the Caravans, B. B. King, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Taylor, Clarence Carter, Ann Peebles, William Bell, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Candi Staton, Shirley Brown, Denise LaSalle, Betty Wright, Millie Jackson, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert King, Mighty Clouds of Joy, Shirley Caesar and a host of other legendary greats. Back in the day I sang in talent shows in school and in college. My sister and I always sang togetherand growing up in the country we did not sing on street corners, but every Friday we would get on our front porch and sing every song we knew (they were many). Whenever I get back home (Roberta, GA is my hometown) we still do the same thing. I love it!...Anywee...I joined the Dee Robinson's Black Pearl's Performance Troupe during the early part of 2005 and we recorded our first CD "the Voyage" in August 2005. It was released in November 2005. I sang Blues and Gospel on that CD...and had a lot of fun doing both. Since that time we have traveled all over the place performing and are becoming well known at home (Atlanta). The CD is on cdbaby.com and it showcases several genres of music...Blues/Gospel/Jazz/R&B/Hip-Hop/Southern Soul/Opera...I am currently working on my next CD which will be a Neo-Blues Tribute to the souls of my folks. I am very excited about this project, but I am taking my time to give it the best. After I left the Black Pearls Troupe I began singing in The Trinity Trio with two other former members of the Pearls. We still perform together from time to time, but most of my singing performances are with a very talented group of men known as Herman Mitchell & The Allstars. They have been in the business for a long time and I feel that I have grown a lot since I began performing with them.Also, I now write a column for a site called apoeticlife.com. My column is entitled Pieces of my soul. I am doing all the things that I love right now so I feel that life is truly Grand (Closer to my Dreams)!!!! Well, that's it for right now...but I cannot leave without saying that the true love of my life and my greatest inspiration is my twelve-year-old son, Trey. He is my pride and my joy...a true stage baby.
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