I have one of the most unique lives , Is there really such a thing as living a double life? Well not exactly the way your thinking. By double life , I’m referring to being a MOM, and continuing to pursue my life as an ARTIST and ENTERTAINER.
You see it all began at the ripe old age of 3. My Cousin used to baby sit my brother , sister and myself , when we were younger. She was often amazed at the way I pretended to Modern Dance every chance I got on the living room floor, with such intense emotion ! She would tell my mom ” This little girl is going to be a “Dancer “.
Wait ! it doesn’t stop there , at @ the age of 4 I started to experiment with sounds , and with the help of good old fashion radio, My Mom decided to take me to my first concert ever , the Jackson 5, and after seeing this short cute little kid named MICHAEL sing his heart out , and move like you wouldn’t believe , It struck something in me , and it changed my life ! So , I started SINGING….whether I was out of tune or not , you couldn’t tell me nothing , this is what I was born to do …yes this was it !
So any ways I would SING and DANCE until my little hearts desire, until one day I discovered …..yes you guest it , the art of ” PAINTING ” i loved making complete messes and it was something about it that just made me down right happy! Everything was a MASTERPIECE ! Ok well at least to me it was, I wasn’t that good at it but i’m pretty sure Young Picasso wasn’t either at age 4 come on!
Growing up , I was that cool yet corky kid , who didn’t really seem to fit in any where , thank goodness for TV, I tried to figure out who I was by watching actresses on t.v. One of my favorite shows of all time , well of course besides MTV, GOODTIMES, and the JEFFERSONS , was the COSBY show, I really could relate to DENISE HUXTABLE , she let me know that it was ok to be different, while showing off your UNIQUE sense of STYLE . 
Fast forward just a little , to my Highschool years , I was still into the ARTS ,so I had one goal in mind and that was to become the next Irene Cara, I mean what a triple threat , She had the Beauty ,an incredible voice 
not to mention her sassy dance moves. My High school Days were meant to focus on my Only Goal which was to Focus on the most important classes that there were in School , DANCE, MUSIC, THEATER CLASS, and of course ART. I tried to excel in all of them , especially dance, I wasn’t exactly Debbie Allen , but the fact that I believed I was , is all that mattered to me .
I won’t get into the details of my Highschool Drama Days , after all , I do intend to keep your interest , but as with anything in life all GOOD things must come to an end , it was time to focus on COLLEGE.
Sometimes our parents have DREAMS for us that we don’t exactly have for our selves, so that brings me to College . My Dad went to an Historical College , TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, and his vision was to have all of his kids graduate from there , so that is where I ended up , It wasn’t exactly a Performing Art School, but I somehow had a since of self just being there . The experience of being there was something that I can’t really explain to others , It was one of those things where you just ” had to be there ” (I say this with a proud smile). Even though Tuskegee was good for me in so many self discovering ways , I still felt a certain void in my life …you know the constant desire for THE ARTS?
So it was time to once again move on , so I moved back to my hometown SYRACUSE NY, and to make a long story short , I was in and out of school …trying to you know FIND MYSELF ..I’m sure you’ve heard that term before, and experimenting with jobs here and there until eventually I ended up working at this one job that became a little more significant than the others , I met this cute little shy boy named TERRY, and it bothered me that he was just too quiet, and didn’t pay me any attention lets face it, I was the hottest chic there ! So any ways to make a long story short, I used my sexy smile to reel him in little by little , he started talking , and the rest was HISTORY ,little did I know the shy part on his behalf was his secret , to reeling me in hook line and sinker….I didn’t find this out until later on in life ! We ended up leaving that job , and working others together, I think we had become attached at the hip, I know it sounds crazy , but it worked for us . We constantly talked about spending the rest of our lives together getting married and having kids , you know the usual things that you talk about in a relationship, but we knew in order for us to evolve , we eventually would have to leave the comfort of our nest, spread our wings , and move to ……………ATLANTA GA.
TERRY ended up at CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, and me well SPELLMAN COLLEGE was ideal but a bit pricey so In between jobs , I started to explore the Music venues, and came across a cute little joint called the Royal Peacock. I had heard about this place around town simply by word of mouth, so I had to venture out and see what it was all about.
The Legendary Royal Peacock sat on the Historic Auburn Ave in Atlanta . It was a place where the Local bands could do open mic nights , and increase their Fan base. As for me, I needed to do more than just visit the club, I had to some how talk the musicians into letting me on stage ! So I grabbed the local circular, and i searched for the classifieds looking for MUSICIANS , who were looking for VOCALIST. I noticed an ad for a Reggae Band , that frequently performed there and was looking for a FRESH Vocalist to sing Lead !
Ok so I told my boy friend (at the time , now Husband) about it , and we both agreed , I have to find this BAND.
So I put on my faded bell bottom Jeans , red Bohemian dress , don’t forget the Funky tall black BOOTS , and my hair in a pocahontas slash Hippie style, and was ready to hit the town . My hair was always kept in this style because I had very thick hair, and it was always such an easy protective style to do . I would wash it, slap some conditioner on , braid and go!
It was late Saturday night , I walked into the crowded smokey club, music booming ,with the best reggae music you ever heard , and up on stage , there was a Group that gave a performance of a life time ! I had to be apart of this band no matter what, so after the show , I bravely approached the Bass Player, and told him I was there to audition for the Band , and he gave me a location to come and audition for them , I song for them , and it was a match made in heaven !
We rehearsed week days and weekends until the AM ’s , my boyfriend understood , because he knew this was my DREAM, so he would go to sleep , while I would go to countless rehearsals , the plan was to sing Bob Marley Cover songs , while creating our own original songs in between and perform at various colleges throughout the southeast . We met an incredible young lady who auditioned for the group, she said she didn’t sing , but she was an incredible poet, so with her poetic creativity , 2 incredible bass players, a genius on keyboards and a drummer not to mention smooth vocals , we were well on our way!
Our first show was at a place called MJQ ’s at the time it was a great VENUE for local bands to showcase their talent and introduce themselves to the general public while increasing their Fan Base. 
Our first show , everyone had butterflies , the crowd was ready to hear something new, we started out with our traditional cover songs from Bob Marley , some additional reggae songs , and last our 2 songs that we wrote together as a Group ! The mood of the audience was intense , they loved the cover songs , and as we transitioned to our original songs , with an incredible Funky Hip Hop infused with Jazz beat, the BASS player began to play ,and the crowd went wild , Andito was her name , remember the poetic genious, well she started to recite her poetry lines as the music played , and me I song the incredible hook it was ELECTRIFYING ! At the end we all introduced one another , did our solo’s , and the night was a complete SUCCESS!
to be continued………