“ There is nothing I would rather do, even if I had a
choice.” She sits on the couch in her living room and tells me about how music
picked her from when she was a child.
Growing up in a suburb town of Houston, Texas, Alicia found music at an
early age to be the one place she could always fit in. Sitting in her room creating her own
radio sows into her tape recorder, Alicia would sing every song she could think
of to be in her rotation. From
there, she took every chance she could to sing in choirs and perform, be it for
members of her community, or the family one more time. As she got into high school her parents
enrolled her in voice lessons, where she dove feet first into a career in
classical music. At a young age,
she made a name for herself in the classical world, as a soloist with the
National High School Honor Choir, a 2 time member of the SWACDA Honor Choir, a
member of the Texas All-State Choir, and a charter member of The Houston Grand
Opera, high school program.
Continuing along this path, she achieved a scholarship to attend
Southern Methodist University, working in the Meadows School o the Arts. While in Dallas, Alicia performed
regularly with both the school, and the Dallas Opera. “ Opera just was not a passion for me. I looked around at the other students I
was with, and often found myself bored talking about opera. Sure, I could sing it, but my heart was
far from it. I wanted to sing the stories that anyone in the room could relate
to.” This being the case, Alicia returned to Houston to save toward a move to
Los Angeles, where she was going to pursue a career in singing.
Once in Los Angeles, Alicia began studying voice with Dave
Stroud of the Seth Riggs Studio, songwriting with Rob Seals, and dug into over
30 books about the music business and what she would need to do to find her
home in it. Things were going
great. Her songwriting was
improving, and her vocals were getting better. She worked a nice, stable 9 to 5 job in real state, and felt
safe with where she was. Then it
happened. Life slapped her upside the head at the age of 24 when she was
hospitalized with pancreatitus.
A week and a gallbladder later she felt great, but it was then the
nightmare started. Cancer was
found in her gallbladder, and more testing was needed to ensure that it had not
spread. “ It felt like waking
up. I realized that nothing else
mattered. All I wanted to do was
music. It was all I could think
about. I dove in so deep, began writing like crazy, and had an instrument in my
hand every second I could.”
Shortly after she abandoned her security, her day job, and the thought
that all there was, was time.
Now you can find Alicia playing all over the country selling
her CD’s in the lines for concerts, and performing as often as possible. Her newest work, an LP titled “My own
Way,” released in November 2007 has not only been received well by her musical
peers, but has been put into rotation with over 120 college and satellite radio
stations. “ I love my life.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing the way my music, my craft, and my
passion can affect those around me.
Music has chosen me. What more could I ask for?”
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