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Family Conquers Nashville The rise to fame of the Canadian family group The Wilkinsons is truly a fairy tale. The singing trio of father Steve, 16-year-old daughter Amanda and 14-year-old son Tyler -- along with mom, Chris, and eight-year-old sister Kiaya -- moved to Nashville on Oct. 1 of last year. Their first CD, Nothing But Love, went on sale last Tuesday and their first single 26 Cents is already breaking records on its climb up the charts. It was the highest debuting single in Radio & Records history. They have played to crowds as big as 90,000 people and were invited to join Vince Gill on the legendary Grand Ole Opry stage. "It's one magic moment after another. We're really living the dream," says Steve, who writes many of the trio's songs. The tale of how they were discovered rivals Lana Turner's famed story of being approached in a drug store by a casting agent. About two weeks after arriving in the country music capital, the family from Belleville, Ont., decided to attend a Friday showcase of a friend at the Broken Spoke nightclub. At the club, they were asked if they wanted to open for their friend with a few songs. "We got up and sang three songs and never heard from a record rep that night, but on Monday the phone rang," says Steve. And, boy, did that phone ring! Within 10 days, they had sung for seven record companies and had offers from all (MCA, Dreamworks, Capitol, Lyric Street, Arista and Sony). "In spite of what people say, there wasn't really a bidding war. Nobody really wins those things. We were getting pulled in a lot of directions all at once, but it was a nice problem for an artist to have. "We decided after a lot of soul searching ... to go with Giant Records because they felt like family. It's important you feel comfortable because hopefully you'll be with them for a long time," adds the proud dad. And Calgary is an important piece of this dream-come-true. Steve and Chris decided to take advantage of the city's economic boom in 1980 and moved to Calgary for just over a year before the children were born. "Calgary was actually the first time I ever played before a live audience -- other than singing for relatives, which doesn't really count," recalls Steve. He doesn't remember the name of the club, but it was an open mike night and he was "trying to get my feet wet. I was pretty shy about being out in the public eye. "Thankfully, I got over that," he adds with a chuckle. And get over his shyness, he has. In the past few weeks, The Wilkinsons have been on Prime Time Country, CNN and have been interviewed by Country Weekly and People magazines. They've also zig-zagged the U.S. promoting their new CD. "It's been a great geography lesson for the kids." Steve and Chris are being careful and trying not to have their kids grow up too quickly. "The kids are really well grounded. Being a really tight family helps out a lot. "I'm sitting here at the kitchen table talking to you and Amanda is sitting here doing math. I'm probably more knocked out about all this -- they're takin' it all in stride. "They're allowed to be young people." He also says he knows that if anything happened to him and he wasn't around, "they'd stand up as mature adults." The family enjoys visiting Florida, as well as camping and fishing. To prove these kids are just like any other, Steve laughingly tells a story about Tyler when he was a boy of about four or five. The family was in their trailer at a campground, and though Steve had set the fishing rods aside with the hooks pulled right into the eye at the top, Tyler managed to get into them. A scream sent Steve running outside to find the youngster with a hook through his lip. "His top lip was white and, after I backed out the hook, I asked him why he had done that. He said, 'I wanted to know what the fish felt like.' I said to my wife: `He's not bad, he's just curious!' " He also confesses he doesn't want his daughter to be too curious. "Other young artists have come out and sung songs about 'make me feel like a woman.' I didn't want my 16-year-old daughter to feel like a woman at this point! "I'm sure a lot of fathers would sympathize with me on that." The youngest Wilkinson, Kiaya -- who Steve gushes looks just like Shirley Temple from the movie The Little Colonel -- is more interested in classical music and the idea of acting than joining her singing siblings. "The invitation is there. It was the same for the other two -- we let them make the choice. If she decides it's right for her, she's welcome," explains Steve. The Wilkinsons will return to Calgary next month for Country Music Week. They've been asked to present an award at the Terri Clark-hosted Canadian Country Music Association Awards Sept. 14 at the Jubilee Auditorium. "I've forgotten most of my good Edmontonian jokes, I'll have to brush up on them," teases Steve.
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