WINNER
International Songwriting Competition

International Acoustic Music Awards

John Lennon Songwriting Contest

Independent Singer/Songwriter Awards

LOGO Channel - Best of 2008

Out Music Awards

Stand Out Awards

USA Songwriting Contest

Nashville Song & Lyric Contest

 

ORIGINAL MUSIC FEATURED IN:

MTV's "The Hills"
ABC's "All My Children"

"American Pie - Beta House" movie

HBO short film "Happenstance"

"Girlplay" movie

 

BIO

Ever since I was a little girl, growing up in a suburban neighborhood in Houston, TX, I've always had a vivid imagination. Movie scenes played out in my head, and I was always in the leading role. I remember sneaking into my parents' closets and putting on mismatched items of clothes and creating characters. The family dog, Spot, became my sidekick, and it seemed he needed a real, respectable name. So I called him Spot Raymond Foster.

I never lost that imagination. When I began playing guitar at age 8, music became the soundtrack for the movies in my head. I absorbed all the music I could, mostly from the radio and from the records my brothers played. I loved pop, rock, and singer/songwriter music. I was instantly attracted to catchy melodies, and by the time I wrote my first song at 16, I was a fan of thought-provoking lyrics. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Brown, and Bob Dylan were just some of the artists that inspired me.

I began winning talent contests at the Catholic all-girls high school I attended, and I decided I was going to be a rock star. (That imagination was still hard at work!). I loved the attention I was getting, but even more than that, I felt like I had something important to say. You see, I was having an experience that I was quite certain nobody else in the whole world was having: I was falling in love with another girl. It was the eighties, and since nobody I knew spoke openly about such things, I felt isolated with my feelings.

Broken hearts, constant turmoil, people's judgmental stares, my parents' rejection. These are just some of the things that colored my world at this point and gave me material to write about. The theme of feeling like an outsider permeates my music, largely because of that struggle in those early years. I always related intensely to the people everyone else made fun of . "The Underdogs" project that I released in 2006 is about that, and that theme will always live on in my music, because it's such a part of who I am.

I went to Los Angeles for college (and mainly to become a rock star). But alas, my dreams were to be crushed. The much-coveted Major Record Label Deal was always elusive. I played coffee-houses and even well-known rock clubs like the Whiskey-A-Go-Go and the Troubadour, but nothing panned out and I ended up working as a receptionist at a luggage company called Ricardo of Beverly Hills. (You probably have one of their duffel bags). I quickly decided that when it came to becoming a rock star, LA was a big city and I was a little fish. That imagination of mine was longing for more. So I had a yard sale and moved to Nashville, where I had the sneaking suspicion I could possibly grow into a big fish in that relatively little pond. I felt that I had some great music inside of me and that my calling was to share that with as many people as possible.

Nashville was exactly where I needed to land. It was a little big town. Small enough to make a name for myself and big enough to keep me interested and connected. It has a tight-knit network of songwriters and business people. It was somehow familiar to me, being a Texan and relating well to country folk :). In 2003, I recorded my first official cd release, "Everybody's Girl". With the help of an investor and a small team of industry pros, I put together the first incarnation of my record label, called American Garage Records, and I began to tour all over the country. I played colleges, clubs, and radio stations to promote my music, and I got a really nice "buzz" going. We incorporated a street team, mobilizing my fans to help promote my music in all kinds of ways. I've always felt that without the fans, I don't have a career, so it's always been important to me to be give them their due respect. My fan base has always been largely centered in the gay community, and when this community embraces an artist, they will spread the word about you to the ends of the earth. I feel a sense of indebtedness to them for the help they've given me along the way.

In 2006, "The Underdogs" cd came out, and was even more well-received than the first one. On that project, I had worked with Jeff Trott, who is best known for his extensive work with Sheryl Crow, as her guitar player, co-writer, and co-producer. Several songs on that project won some respectable songwriting awards (you can see the full list of my awards below), and opportunities for Film/TV placements (also below) were coming in as well. I continued to tour and nurture my fan base.

In 2008, I put together a slimmer and trimmer version of my label. There had been a lot of overhead expenses with American Garage, and I knew that to really keep going, we had to spend far less. I was on my own now - no investor. I named the label Fosterchild Records, as it felt more personal and meaningful to me and also signified a new beginning. I released an EP, featuring the single "Closer To Nowhere", and filmed the video for the song, which quickly went to #1 on the LOGO channel and stayed on their Top 10 list for nearly 6 months. I've been finishing up the full project on that EP (produced by Greg Droman) for quite a while, because my mother's battle with cancer over the last few years called me to spend a lot of time with her and my family. I wouldn't have missed that experience for the world, since my career means nothing without my family, but this is why it's taken a long time to finish the "Thirty-Nine" project. But I am proud of this project. It features some of my favorite musicians: Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow's guitar player), Rami Jaffee (Keyboard player for the Foo Fighters and The Wallflowers), Sean Hurley (Bass for John Mayer, Vertical Horizon), and Fred Eltringham (The Wallflowers, Dixie Chicks, Wreckers).

In the meantime, I've been writing and co-writing songs like crazy, and I am recording some of those new songs as well. I am demo-ing country songs in Nashville to pitch to other artists, and I just went to LA to record a few new songs for Film/TV. While there, I also ended up recording a song I wrote in response to Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" - and I think something amazing is around the corner for that song. One other thing I'm excited about is the quarterly songwriters' series I'm launching, called "The Writer's Share", to benefit the TJ Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer, and AIDS Research. This event will be at the Bluebird Cafe, and the first one is on June 18. It will feature Richard Marx, and also Mike Reid, Chuck Cannon, and Lari White. If you Google these writers, you will see all the amazing songs among them. I am honored to be hosting these writers for a cause that is dear to my heart.

I am deeply grateful to be at this point in my life. It was not an easy journey to get here, but I wouldn't trade it. I had to find my own way, mobilize the people along the way who believed in me (and who wanted to help), and just keep pushing and prying doors open. That experience made me stronger and built my character and got me prepared for what is happening now. My initial dream was simply to be a rock star on a major label. As it is now, I have managed to hold on to nearly all of my publishing (with the exception of one single-song deal), thus giving me complete creative independence and freedom. I've also managed to build a large and loyal fan base through touring and online marketing. And I am now writing with writers I have admired for years. Maybe NOT getting that deal I always wanted was not such a bad thing. As wild as an imagination as I have, I never imagined my life would turn out quite like this.