Singing History
These pics are from Christmas 1992 at North Peace Secondary School in Fort St. John, BC. Rebekah Bell (in the red), Nadra Burns and myself sang Silent Night acapella to our school audience. Then, Rebekah Bell and I tried to sing O Holy Night... I say tried because we kind of soured on one high note. Oops.
People could say I was probably influenced by my parents when I was younger. My mother sang before Queen Elizabeth and Prince Edward with the Hay River Centennial Choir in Toronto, Ontario before I was born. My dad was a performer for twenty-some years, with his biggest show as an opening act for Sonny and Cher in the late sixties in Toronto or Montreal, Quebec. Regardless of their musical past, my mom loved singing Christmas Carols and my dad started a few bands when I was very young. There always seemed to be some kind of music in our house.
Of course, I started singing in my school choir in grade two. I really don't remember how we sounded, but for some reason when we were in grade three singing for the choir, I remember the music as being almost ethereal. It seemed to make us even better than we were. To me it wasn't just a bunch of kids croaking some tunes... it was young boys and girls singing their souls for everyone to see. It sounds corny I know.
In grades four, five and six choirs, I was repeatedly kicked out for not doing my schoolwork. They took away the one thing I loved to do the most... so I just stopped. I didn't bother to try out for grade seven choir and I never sang in front of anyone ever again.
It wasn't until the summer of 1992, when I was rehearsing for "Alcan Craze of '42," that I was bored backstage of the Cue to Cue. I started singing a song, "Sea of Love." I loved the way my voice sounded in the alcove behind the stage... Performing for myself I never thought much of it until my co-star Jaqueline Ainsworth said I had a lovely voice. I didn't know anyone was listening.
Jana Makar and myself singing Karaoke tunes on her birthday. Do you like my shirt???
After that I started to sing along (never solo) whenever someone was singing some tunes... this happened a lot during our cast parties.
During that summer my buddy Jason Brekkaas and I would do a lot of singing together, but mostly when we were drunk. But at the end of the summer we coth had heard of the musical theatre class being held at the high school. We both decided to go for it.
The first time I actually sang solo in front of an audience was during the audition and I was very nervous, but I got the part. During the constant rehearsals for the play, I had no fear of singing on stage. I didn't fear the audiences that came with the play either. And I got quite a few compliments from the older crowd as well as some of the students from the school which meant a lot to me because they were my peers and (I thought) more honest.
I remember entering a talent show during the K'amba Carnival in Hay River, NWT. I wasn't sure that the band would know the very few selected country songs that I knew. And I was right... they didn't. But I only knew "The Thunder Rolls," by Garth Brooks, and the band didn't know it.
So I went out on a limb and decided to sing "After The Rain," by Blue Rodeo. Blue Rodeo has had a much debated classing in the music scene. Some said they were country, others, rock, other blues, others jazz, but whenever they were classified in one group, they would be denied that they were exactly that group. It was a weird situation, and I swear that Hay River had barely heard of the group.
Singing at the K'amba Carnival Talent Show. This time I placed second.
Anyways, they didn't know the song, so I decided to sing it acapella, much to the enthusiasm of the Carriere sisters... I still remember them cheering me before I started the song. I sang it, and I lost. No big deal. It doesn't hurt as much when people say to you that they think you should have won.
The next year I entered the contest, I sang "Just Call Me Lonesome," by Radney Foster. But when I sang it, I gibbled up a few words. I also heard the competition, and came to the conclusion that I lost. There were 22 males that I was competing against... the odds didn't look good. I thought that I maybe had a chance for third, possibly second place.
So my friend, Malcolm Walsh and I were waiting in the room where the contestants would wait before going onstage. We both thought we weren't going to win and were going to play pool. When they announced the third place winnner, I started to put on my jacket. When they announced the second place winner, Malcolm and I started to walk out the door. When they announced the first place winner, I stopped in my tracks. They had announced my name!
I threw my jacket to Malcolm asking him to hold on to it, while I quickly ran back to the stage, hearing them call my name another time. And when I came back onstage the audience cheered... that was quite the feeling.
I've entered a few other talent shows in western Canada (all small competitions), mostly in BC and the NWT. Once I placed second in another K'amba Carnival Talent Show, and I also placed second in a Karaoke Talent Show held in Fort St. John, BC.
Some really awesome news! I had recorded quite a few Karaoke songs that I was selling locally here in Hay River. One of the songs was recorded singing with my friend, and Karaoke host, Lorn Wolf. We sang "I saw her standing there," together. Anyways, a couple of years ago he went away to Nashville, Tennessee, to make it big in the country music industry. Before he left I told him that if he ever makes it big, I would hope that he would remember me. Turns out he had independently recorded a single that has been playing here in Canada on country music stations. He's real close to signing with RCA records. When he was last visiting in Fort St. John, BC, he had asked a common aquaintence where I was and how was I doing. I'm not expecting miracles here, but maybe just a shot at something.
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