(Source: stellaablu)
Since I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was music. I had no idea that I’d ever end up being a singer/songwriter, but I knew I wanted to create emotion and feeling through sound. I grew up in New York City, home of big dreams and even bigger aspirations. I was a Staten Island borough child. I loved everything that New York had to offer. I loved the buzzing city sounds, the fire hydrants in the summer time, the food, the culture… I even loved that little lion on my library card. Lol. But most of all, I loved the music and the feeling it gave me.
My life has always been painted in melodies. I used to go with my parents to The Basement in Staten Island, and watch the grown ups play dominoes and drink beers while I danced with my daddy to Soca and Calypso, eating chicharone and pastelitos. =) I remember sitting in the living room, listening to my mothers vinyls. I remember hearing Rose Royce “Wishing On A Star” and Donna Summers and Barbra Streisand’s “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)”so vividly, and listening to my mother sing along, varying her falsetto, climbing octaves. Every moment in our living room like a mini-concert.
I wasn’t allowed to listen to Hot 97, (my mother hated rap music… She’s Italian. lol) but I remember hearing Groove Theory’s “Tell Me” for the first time ever on that station and falling in love. (To this day, that is still one of my all time favorite songs!). Hot 97 introduced me to Hip Hop. Black Sheep “This or That”, MC Lyte “Paper Thin”, Foxy Brown and Jay-Z “I’ll Be”, Jay-Z “Can’t Knock The Hustle”, Biggie “One More Chance”, Nas “NY State Of Mind”, Lil Kim and Lil Cease “Crush On You”, Junior Mafia “Need You Tonight”… All of those songs are tied to a memory.*sigh*. =) And anybody who grew up on the East Coast remembers The Box! I remember seeing Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time” and Nas’ “Nas is Like” music videos on The Box. Those are the first two music videos I remember ever seeing. I remember when my cousin Patty came home with the new 112 cd “Room 112” screaming with excitement… =) That became one of my favorite projects of all time. =)
I was only allowed to listen to jazz or Kiss FM. Lol. I remember hearing Duke Ellington and John Coltrane “In A Sentimental Mood” and wanting to be a jazz musician, so I picked up alto saxophone at school and decided I would learn to play. And I practiced my little heart away. I learned about music from a very early age, studying theory and dynamics. I loved it! I was going to be a jazz musician.
Just like Duke, Thelonious, John, and Miles. Unfortunately, due to the hectic nature of my household and the unstable nature of my life at that time, I wasn’t able to go as far as I wanted to with the instrument I’d fallen madly in love with.
Around 8/9 years old, I ended up in foster care. I’d lost my family, my saxophone, my everything. But in the midst of it all, music never ceased to find me. I had a Puerto Rican foster mother who used to have house parties all the time. Those house parties only introduced me to more music. “Things You Do” by Gina Thompson, “Guallando” by Fulanito, and “Y Hubo Algien” by Marc Anthony. I was exposed to Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, more Hip Hop and more R&B. I remember going to another foster home and being introduced to DMX, Fat Joe, Big Pun, Total, Maxwell, 702, SWV… Music had its way of always finding me, no matter where I went.
I didn’t discover I could sing until around the 5th/6th grade. I loved Mariah Carey and used to walk around singing the whole Butterfly album all the time, and everybody used to tell me I could sing.
So with the encouragement of friends, I entered into a talent show and I sang “My All” by Mariah Carey and won first place. I liked singing, but I still wanted to play saxophone. But my foster mother at the time and my biological mother didn’t want me to be in band (as they agreed it was “boyish”) and so I went into choir. So it was singing, or bust. Lol. I guess that 6th grade choir was my first real bit of vocal instruction… And from then, I grew to love it.
I wrote my first full song at 12. My Aunt Margie would say that I’ve been writing songs longer than that though. Lol. I made my first beat at 14, and I recorded in a studio for the first time ever at 16. Since then it’s never stopped for me. I live and I breathe for music. There’s nothing else like it. I haven’t stopped discovering music. Daft Punk, J.U.S.T.I.C.E., The Foreign Exchange, Muhsinah, Yahzarah, Telepopmusik, Aya… The collection just grows and grows. And as a result, I haven’t stopped creating music.
Today I’m 23 years old, and I’m working harder than ever to pursue the career I always knew I would have. I’ve fallen deeper in love with music than anything or anyone I’ve ever known, and with every passing day I, I fall deeper and deeper in. =) There’s nothing I love more than singing, songwriting and performing other than God. Music is my salvation here on this earth. =) Music is the first and last stop for me. I’ve never been the type who was able to stay stagnant. I don’t think I’ll ever be content, and certainly never complacent. I was born to fly, and I’m gonna go as far as these wings are able to take me. And if these wings ever fail me, I’ll just go buy me a rocket ship and take this party to the rest of the galaxy. And of course that party will be the most jumping party the universe has ever known. ;-)
XoXo ~ SahLence aka The Uber Awesome Socialite Rockstar B-)
Sometimes I wonder if I’m really built this, and then I remember this is all I’ve ever known. So I’m gonna go as far as God’s gonna take me…
hegm:
Você nunca pode cometer o mesmo erro duas vezes. A segunda vez que você fizer isso, ele não é mais um erro, é uma escolha.
English translation: “You can never make the same mistake twice. The second time you do this, it’s no longer an error, it’s a choice.”
Just let yourself go. God will always catch you. =)
(Source: andrewharlow)
*sings*
“Mushrooms and roses is the place to be
(Smells like love to me)
Where all the lonely droids and lovers have their wildest dreams
The golden door of our emotions opens here
We’re all virgins to the joys of loving without fear”
(via friedgold9)
(via susansaywhat)
Nice. =)
(Source: beautifulurself)