"In 2003, I suddenly felt inspired to write a song for my first wedding anniversary, as a gift to my husband. I was pretty pleased with it and then the tunes just began to flow again. After much encouragement by an “angel” (Bill Gilliland was his name actually) at a gym where I worked, I sought out the help of a seasoned voice teacher, Mark Carroll, to help me get my voice and my confidence built back up. Over the course of a year we developed a wonderful working relationship. Mark helped arrange some of my songs and then produced my EP Insatiable in early 2004."

I was born in 1972 and grew up in Albany, Georgia . My musical influences began early as my grandmother would dance around and sing old songs such as “Delta Dawn” and “Ballin' The Jack” with me from the age of two. My father was a band director and sometimes church music director, so over the years growing up he taught me to play many instruments including bass guitar, trumpet and trombone. My mother taught piano lessons out of our home, so she taught me piano.

I began singing in public at churches with my father, sometimes playing a simple bass line on an electric bass while he played guitar. At eight years old I began my jaunt into musical theatre, playing the role of Brigitta in The Sound of Music. From that age forward through high school I performed regularly at church, in musical theatre and in various ensembles. I wrote poetry in high school as a way to express my teen angst; poems began to evolve into songs, and I first performed an original song live at my high school graduation.

I continued to write songs while in college at Middle Tennessee State University, many of them as a collaboration with my college boyfriend under the guise of “Mr. & Ms. Know-It-All.” We recorded song after song on our 4-track recorder and released our cassette debut Smarty Pants in the early 90's. My song “Madman” was recorded in an on-campus studio and was included on the yearly Recording Industry Department CD. It was then chosen for the 20th year Retrospective CD released a few years ago.

After graduation, I worked at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville, TN. I thought that having the inside view of the industry would help me to break into music with my own songs. However, I became disenchanted with the entire music industry and the way that it churned out artists more like a product than treating them like talented musicians. I quit writing and singing altogether around 1995, dropped out of the music biz and moved to Dallas, TX .

From 1995 to 2003 I wrote a few songs here and there, but always just stuffed them into a drawer. In 2003, I suddenly felt inspired to write a song for my first wedding anniversary, as a gift to my husband. I was pretty pleased with it and then the tunes just began to flow again. After much encouragement by an “angel” (Bill Gilliland was his name actually) at a gym where I worked, I sought out the help of a seasoned voice teacher, Mark Carroll, to help me get my voice and my confidence built back up. Over the course of a year we developed a wonderful working relationship. Mark helped arrange some of my songs and then produced my EP Insatiable in early 2004.

My current highs involve finally having recorded music that I am totally satisfied and proud of, and finding the nerve to jump back on this wild horse that is the music biz.

When I first started answering questions for this interview I had not experienced any recent lows, but “ask and ye shall receive.” My first solo gig in Dallas at jazz club/restaurant this summer will probably go down as one of the lows. I was so excited about the gig and ignored all of the negative comments I heard from multiple keyboardists regarding this restaurant owners' attitude towards musicians. I thought they were all being curmudgeons. Well…I should've listened to them. The guy interrupted the first two sets constantly to ask if we could play more upbeat music, different music, etc… It was just me and a keyboardist, but he wanted us to sound like a full band. Our final showdown (after just 2 of 4 sets that we were to perform) involved him telling me that I had deceived him by giving him a CD with a full band but then only performing songs with a keyboardist that were more laid-back (The stage there is about 4 ft by 3 ft…he actually wanted me to use a drum machine, with jazz music! I found this out AFTER the fact). His analogy was this: “You showed me a steak and you gave me chopped beef! You showed me a beautiful fish but only gave me skin and bones!”

Well, we left the gig early and my renewed faith in performing was crushed, but I will not let that low erase all of the highs! I wrote at least 3 songs the week after that event, one of which is my current fave.

As much as I try not to regret it or dwell on it, I do wish that I had not put aside music for so long before coming back to it (I quit writing, singing, etc…in 1994). I was so critical of myself at that point and when I listen back to my old demos I go “Wow! That wasn't bad.”

I finished my Insatiable EP a few months ago, and since then have written songs that are much more pop/rock than jazzy. I have written lyrics and added vocals to two songs by artists whose music I found online through soundclick.com. Both songs were dance/house/techno style music and the artists both live in a country other than the US . That was a fun experiment and I hope to do some more of those kinds of collaborations.

I am working with a producer locally on some dance songs, collaborating on the songwriting and recording in his private studio. I continue to write, write, write and need to break down and get home recording equipment for my computer.

Mark Carroll was my vocal instructor for a year and he arranged, played piano and produced my EP Insatiable. I consider him my most recent mentor. Mark assembled a stellar crew of studio musicians for this recording. James Gilyard played bass on all of the songs except for “Fragile,” providing that fantastic bass solo in “I'm No Fool.” Gerry Beaver played drums and percussion on every song, and Jason Bucklin played guitar on “Madman” and “Sway.” The wonderful sound of the songs is partially thanks to the engineering and mixing of Kent Stump at Crystal Clear Sound in Dallas, TX .

I'm really happy with every song on the CD, but I'm thrilled with Madman. I wrote that song while in college and recorded it in one of MTSU's studios. I was never happy with the arrangement which included an 80s synth sound and a drum machine. The new version fits the way I heard it in my head when it was written.

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I love the piano and admire any person who can really play the piano. Keyboards have never compared for me as far as the feel or the sound.

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Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes; Sarah McLachlan – Fumbling Towards Ecstasy ; Moby – Everything is Wrong ; Depeche Mode – Music For The Masses ; Fiona Apple - Tidal

Omen I, II & III (Halloween week special on AMC television); the original silent version of Metropolis by Fritz Lang; Something's Gotta Give (entertaining and cute, a little too mushy-ushy for me); Bend it Like Beckham (fantastic!); The Dreamers (I had to see it since it was basically censored in the US with an NC-17 rating for nudity and sexual content)

Well, my number one wish would be that I could be queen of the world, cause then I could have as many wishes as I wanted. Number two would be that people quit fighting and killing each other and learned how to get along despite their many differences. Thirdly, I would have the ability to find a home for every stray animal and child in the world.

Nothing cause I had taken Benadryl….zzzz. However, I have been having repetitive nightmares lately of two men breaking into my house and shooting my husband. It is horrifying and reminds me of when I was a child and would have horrible nightmares over and over.

My day job is working as a personal fitness trainer, so I basically drive to a gym, make someone work out really hard, drive to someone's house and train them there, go back to the gym and workout really hard myself and continue this cycle. At night I play tennis, work on music or go out to sing or listen to bands locally.

The calendar year is almost up, but in the next solar year I would like to connect with a producer who really “gets” my music and can help me create a full album that represents where I am right now musically. It has already changed from where I was six months ago. I want to get a band together and start playing out. I want to move out of Dallas, which will hopefully happen!