Jaci Velasquez
After she saw Top Gun, what Jaci Velasquez really wanted to do was join the Air Force. But now she has a different goal. "I want to go and reach people my age that maybe even a youth minister couldn't reach."
Describing herself as intense, dramatic, romantic and corny, Velasquez quips, "I'm kind of a dork -- I tell really corny jokes and get really dramatic and exaggerated when I'm telling a story to somebody. But I'm also a romantic, and a pretty sensitive person who can get her feelings hurt a bit too easily." Pretty typical qualities for a teenager, but unlike 16-year old Velasquez, the typical teen cannot claim the title of newest and youngest artist on the Myrrh Records roster. Growing up in a family that was heavily involved in music and ministry, Velasquez has actually been recording and performing since she was 10, recording some independent albums with her family's ministry and even performing at the White House before she turned 13, an answered prayer. But she says her latest release Heavenly Place, produced by Mark Heimermann, is her most focused work. "My older records had every kind of music -- pop, rap, country, mariachi, everything -- this record is much more focused on adult contemporary/pop music. Mark and I just clicked from the first."
Many of the songs on Heavenly Place have a certain dreamlike quality, such as "Un Lugar Celestial" and "Baptize Me," and were penned by notable writers including Chris Eaton, Ronnie Brookshire, Reggie Hamm and Bob Farrell. Velasquez performs a duet with Chris Rodriguez on "Shelter," a jazzy number with a somewhat smoky feel.
Because her brothers loved Petra and Whiteheart, Velasquez has been listening to them since she was five, but they weren't her biggest influence. "The artist who has made the biggest impression on me is my dad. He's taught me almost everything I know about singing."
