Mariahvision Song Contest Winner 2000
Lucie Jaquez!
Anderz: Hi! You won the songcontest! You got the most votes as winner, congratulations.
I wonder if you can tell a bit about your singing, how you started, if you sing much, if you wanna
do this for a living and what you think of Mariah.
Hi Anderz!
I'm not sure if you remember me at all, we met online a few
years back. Anyway, I'm so thrilled to hear that I won your
contest. It makes me feel great to see that people actually
care about these kinds of things! Thanks for putting on the
contest in the first place, you rock!
As far as my singing goes, I've been singing since I was
about four. My twin sister (who played guitar on the mp3)
and I watched TONS of Disney movies and cartoons, and we
would constantly duet and I knew I had a passion in me for
music. I'd sing along with my parents and my grandmother
also. My parents put me in piano lessons when I was still
four, and that's when I began to learn about music notation
and so forth. I also play violin, guitar, and percussion.
I didn't start singing in front of people until I was
fourteen, when I joined my church choir. Suddenly one of my
friends in the choir pointed out that I could sing. We were
at a pizza joint, and she forced me to sing "Stay" by Lisa
Loeb, one of the top songs at the time. I started singing
it, and before I knew it, there were tons of people around
me listening. I was overwhelmed and I thought, "Wow...I
actually sound good or something...".
After that little incident I joined a rock band called
ButterGirl (I was sixteen), and we were a big hit in my
town. We auditioned to be on a compilation CD with other
local bands, and we made it right away. That totally opened
the door for me, and even though we broke up a year later,
I still get recognized for it. I gained so much experience
in that band. I've been in various other bands and choirs
since then.
Now, I'm director of the choir that I joined almost 9 years
ago (I'm 22). I also started a children's Christmas choir
there. I'm a music/voice major in college, and I also teach
classes at my church. I'm currently putting together a demo
of my songs that I'm actually recording on my own...which
is pretty hard but worth the work!
Where does Mariah come in? She's totally what brought out a
change in my life. I first heard her when I was twelve
years old, cruising with my parents in their old van. The
song was "Vision of Love" and I practically started crying
because I knew she was special. Her hits began to pile up
after that, and I found myself suddenly buying all her
albums and singles.
The big turning point came when I started looking at her
album sleeves and I noticed something: Mariah writes all
her own songs! That's so cool to me because I grew up with
a deep rock influence, and rock bands/artists always write
their own music. I was brought up with the notion that pop
and R&B groups/singers had their music produced for them.
But not Mariah...she had something to do with ALL of her
songs. That totally inspired me to write my own songs. If
you actually listen closely to my songs, they've got the
rock factor combined with the whole bittersweet poetry you
often find in Mariah's songs. You can tell that I'm
completely influenced by her. I've done pretty crazy things
to try and meet her in person.
As I began to learn about her personal life, I realized
that she's a lot like me; misunderstood. Despite her talent
and all she had, she felt like she never fit in, and I
really started to identify with her. I feel like she would
probably understand me if I ever met her. Her songs explain
completely what I feel, as if she's singing about me. It's
so beautiful when music touches people like that, that's
what music is for. I deeply appreciate Mariah for that,
she's one of best artists in music history.
Thanks again,
Lucie
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