Valerie Borman

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Valerie Borman:

In Range of Stardom

By PHIL SWEETLAND Music+Radio contributor, The New York Times NASHVILLE – Pennsylvania native Valerie Borman has the kind of powerhouse voice that we hear only once in a great while, perhaps when we first encounter the music of Charlotte Church, Rebecca Lynn Howard, or Celine Dion.
Three octaves. Twenty-four white keys on the piano. Borman, a lovely blonde with a degree in marketing from Penn State, can easily sing in a three-octave range, with a few notes to spare – but unlike some opera singers or others with a similar range, Valerie interprets a lyric in a simple and straightforward manner.
She’s not a writer. She’s an artist, and her first Nashville project – a 10-song 2003 CD called It’s Good to be Loved – led a top Christian music executive to say of Valerie that, like Reba, Martina, and LeAnn, “Valerie set a precedent that caused all other female vocalists to aspire to.”
She is humble about her gifts, and loves singing benefits. “I got this talent for a reason,” says Borman, who grew up in the tiny town of New Tripoli, PA – a Pennsylvania Dutch hamlet pronounced new tri-POLE-ee.
At Penn State, she worked in a singalong band who, insanely, felt she could not sing. “It was devastating,” she says now. She then joined a cover band called the Starlites in the Philadelphia suburb of Quakertown. The Starlites have been a fixture on the club, casino, and wedding circuit for years. But that was not the dream Valerie had.
A phone call from the veteran Nashville producer Art Ward, the result of a Web posting of some of her music, changed Valerie’s life.
She began coming here in 2000, and thru the influence of Ward met the gifted singer and songwriter Lee Gibson. Lee had a record deal with GarageBand, an indy label out of San Francisco whose Country operations were headed by Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam producer and guitarist Pete Anderson, and Byron Gallimore. Gibson has written songs for Borman, and is one of her leading fans.
“Valerie gravitates kind of towards the Pop side, and finding those songs in Nashville can be like pulling teeth,” Gibson says. “But she’s definitely easy to work with. She’s an amazing singer.”
It’s just matter of time before Valerie Borman will find the ideal songs to launch her at Radio, likely Adult Contemporary or Pop Radio. Or maybe her debut will come in a film soundtrack, where voices of her dramatic range are often ideally suited.
In any case, the name – and the voice – of Valerie Borman figures to become very familiar within the next few months and years.
Updated June 11, 2007 I created my layout at KillerKiwi.net