Albuquerque Journal Article (August 9, 1996)

       Jaci Velasquez steps out of the motor home stretched on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 84 just outside Abiquiu. She's treading lightly so she won't wrinkle her white suit. It's already been pressed three times today. She dons gleaming white sunglasses that cover most of her face -- glasses she'll take off when the cameras start to roll for her first music video shoot.
       "Eyes tell the story of your life," she says, bottled watter in hand.
       As the 16-year-old Christian pop singer walks on the dirt path to the Santa Rosa de Lima Church ruins, a car zooms by and a passenger yells, "Go home!"
       Trailing Jaci, Andrew Tempest, vice president of marketing for Myrrh Records, who grew up in Grants, says to no one in particular, "We are home."
       "Yeah, we are home," Jaci says.
       The former Albuquerque resident chose the church and roadside attractions in northern New Mexico to make her first major Christian music label video.
       Jaci's debut compact disc, A Heavenly Place, hit No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Music Charts when the album was released in May. The young singer's album has steadily climbed on other charts according to her manager, Pamela Muse.
       Muse predicts that Jaci's music will cross over from Christian audiences to mainstream pop charts.
       Jaci's lucky break came more than a year ago when she was performing at a Texas youth camp. There, the music group Point of Grace recognized her talent and asked her to be the opening act at a Columbus, Texas concert. POG sent a videotape of Jaci's performance to their manager, Muse, and "the rest is history," Jaci says.
       She says she couldn't have chosen a more heavenly location for the video shoot.
       Under a big blue sky with white smeared clouds and surrounded by the mountainous terrain of Abiquiu, a glamorous 16-year-old Jaci Velasquez lip-synched to her "Un Lugar Celestial" (A Heavenly Place). But, the day was not without snags. At one point, angry Abiquiu residents approached the film crew demanding that they leave the sacred ruins. But the crew had permission from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to be there. One woman literally pulled the plug on the cameras just as the crew had finished shooting at Santa Rosa de Lima.

Big message
       Ironically, it's Jaci's songs about God and spirituality that have propelled her career.
       Through all the success and attention, Jaci, whose voice and style have been compared to Whitney Houston and Gloria Estefan, remains grounded.
       As a make-up artist applies finishing touches on the teen's pretty face, she'll tell you her work is not glamorous. No. It's the Lord's work she's doing, she says.
       Her music is a major part of her life, but not quite as big as the message she carries through her ministry: Stay pure until you marry. Respect your parents. Be good.
       That's not to say the Houston-born singer is not a teenager.
       "I don't always love it when Mom says no," Jaci says. "I understand and I respect her opinions and I think that's what a lot of us are missing out on, but what can you do?"
       And no, she doesn't have a boyfriend. That's not to say she doesn't want one.
       "I don't date yet," she says during a short interview in the back seat of the family's Suburban en-route to the next shooting location. "I don't have enough time to date. I mean sure, I like guys. I've been telling my mom I like guys, things like, 'He's really cute.' But there's no room in my life. I'm a teenager. I would like to date. There is a guy I like now. He just doesn't know I exist."
       Much of the ministry encourages teenagers to take the route of abstinence. "You make a promise between you and your parents and God to refrain from sex," Jaci says.
       It's something Jaci's done and she encourages her peers to do the same. If every teenager vowed to refrain from premarital sex, the world would be free of pregnant girls and widespread sexually transmitted diseases, she says.
       "Life is too short to mess up your life that way," she says.

Natural performer
       Now, clad in her luminous white pants suit she's managed to keep nearly wrinkle-free, she's perched on a hidden ladder. All you can see is Jaci's face through the remains of a window pane at an adobe church.
       She looks into the camera and croons. At least a dozen people stand by - coaching her on expression, touching up powder and lipstick, fussing over her suit and fluffing her hair. She looks up to the sky as if praying and lip syncs the catchy ... "Un lugar celestial, just a little bit of heaven sent from up above..." No, she didn't practice singing in front of the mirror. She's a natural performer. Just ask her mom, Diana Velasquez.
       "She works very hard," Diana Velasquez says. She deserves it. She started with her father (David) and I singing as a family."
       Her parents beamed with pride as they watched their daughter perform for the video shoot.
       Jaci says she didn't have to do much in preparation for the video.
       "I just came here and made sure I didn't have any zits," Jaci says.
       Her grandfather, Eduardo Velasquez, 86, stands by on the sidelines with Jaci's grandmother. The couple drove from Utah to witness the making of the video which includes a cameo by Eduardo Velasquez.
       Musical talent runs in the family. Eduardo Velasquez made sure his children learned to play an instrument, which is why Jaci's dad plays the guitar and piano.
       "If my dad wouldn't have gotten into music, I wouldn't have gotten into music," she says.

Life on the road
       The youngest of five, Jaci spends "close to 80 percent" of the year on the road, traveling from concert to concert. From church to church -- no matter what denomination.
       "We don't follow a religion," says the singer clad in a Jesus Freak T-shirt. "We just do what the Bible says."
       The whirlwind scheduling began when she was 10 and living in Houston. Her parents took their ministering to the road and that's also when she began singing.
       By the time Jaci was 14, her singing career was in full swing and she was performing at concerts all over the United States on her own.
       "God just called us up to do this," Jaci says. "It's what He had in store. I didn't know I wanted to be a singer. I always thought, 'Oh, I'll grow up one day, get married, have kids.' But I'm doing something different."
       In Albuquerque, while she was enrolled at Westside Christian School, Jaci says she performed at First Family Assembly of God and "tons of other churches in Albuquerque." Now, she is home-schooled and says it isn't easy to keep up with her studies.
       "It's fun at times, but it's difficult to keep up with my studies," Jaci says.
       Since her career has soared, she hasn't had time for professional voice lessons. "That's not something I'm proud to say."
       But when she gets back to Nashville, she's getting a choreographer to coach her along for concerts. "I have no rhythm," she says. "I cannot dance."
       So who are her inspirations?
       "My dad is the one I've patterned after vocally. He's one of the greatest singers that's ever lived."
       After she quickly explains her love of oldies, especially '50s music and Patsy Cline, she belts out a line from Cline's "Sweet Dreams." [click here to hear it (midi)]
       "This is me like you see me here," she says with open arms. "I don't usually wear makeup because I don't like to."
       And she doesn't need it.
       "It's part of the territory," Jaci says. "You have to be grounded. This is me, I wear shorts. I wear T-shirts. Shooting a video is fun and glamorous. But you can't base your life on that.
       "I want to continue doing what I'm doing. God put me here for some reason. I just want to continue doing whatever He wants me to."

Video to hit screen in a month        The catchy "Un Lugar Celestial" video, filmed in black-and-white, is now in the editing room. It's scheduled to hit Christian music video programs in about a month, said video director Chuck Shanlever of Word Incorporated. Word Incorporated, the largest Christian music label in the industry, was first to sign singer/songwriter Amy Grant onto Word's Myrrh label when she was 15. In 1985, Grant cracked the Top 40 on the album charts, crossing over from Christian to pop music.        Pamela Muse, Jaci's manager, recently said that "Un Lugar" hit No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Music Charts when the album was released in May.        Two weeks ago, the album hit No. 7 on the Contemporary Christian Charts, the highest ranking she's received.        "If This World," the first single off her debut, remained on the charts for two weeks, then dropped off. Her latest release, "Flower in the Rain" made its debut at No. 39 on the Contemporary Christian Music charts, and Muse expects it to climb.

[Photo Captions:]

JUST A TOUCH: Make-up artist Shelly Batt applies black lipstick on Jaci's lips for a contrasting effect for the black-and-white video shoot.

LIGHTS, CAMERA: Director Chuck Shanlever films Jaci Velasquez for her Christian music video at the Santa Rosa de Lima ruins near Abiquiu.

FOLLOWING DIRECTION: Director Chuck Shanlever talks with Jaci during a break in filming.

SECRETS WITH GRANDPA: Jaci whispers something to her grandfather, Eduardo Velasquez, after completion of filming a portion of her video in which he will appear.

ON TOP OF THE WORLD: A film crew shoots footage of Jaci on the Red Rocks near Abiquiu Lake for her music video.

AN OPEN WINDOW: Jaci Velasquez lip-syncs for her video, "Un Lugar Celestial," at Santa Rosa de Lima Church ruins near Abiquiu.