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By Kelly Dunn
I met Sarah about six months ago at one of her concerts. I was introduced through some mutual friends. When I first saw her I could tell she was just a ball of fire. I said to myself that this girl hit the ground running! Truly you can see a star in the making. She's made it here on her God-given talent and her amazing personality. This isn't some girl trying to buy her way to success with a rich daddy's money. Folks, this girl is the real deal and she'll soon be on your music collection list and must-see live shows. She's done more in her 17 years than most can hope to accomplish! I drove over to one of her shows and do this interview. After the show we went backstage for a quick chat. She's wearing a slick pair of pink high-heeled shoes. Her hair is blond and tied back. She smiles at you with her twinkling blue eyes. She has on a T-shirt knotted in the middle and and wearing some well-worn blue jeans.
Kelly Dunn: That was a fantastic show!
Sarah Lenore: Thanks! And thanks for coming down tonight for the show. It goes so fast! I never want to get off that stage! (laughter)
Kelly Dunn: Well let's get started...how long have been involved with music…
Sarah Lenore: I've been singing since the age of five. I've been songwriting for the past two years. I've been singing professionally for four years now.
Kelly Dunn: What other venues and concerts have you performed.
Sarah Lenore: I've sung at the grand opening of the new Ford Field in Detroit . They brought in
Deborah Gibson and Gladys Knight to perform as the big stars but they wanted two singers from the Detroit area.
I was picked as one of the two local singers to perform. It was great!
I was invited to sing the National Anthem for Vice-President Dick Cheney at a private event. I was really nervous.
He could tell I was really nervous. Mr. Cheney patted me on the back and told me to go up and sing.
Afterwards I was so overcome with emotion that I fainted! (laughs) It was funny!
Kelly Dunn: The song you wrote that I really like is, “I Want A Boy Like That”. How did that song come about.
Sarah Lenore: (Laughing) Well, I turned seventeen in June! I have had many boy experiences that I just wanted to talk about it.
I was thinking, you can't find the right guy ever! So I said, “Where's all the good ones!” I said all I wanted was a good guy,
someone cute, someone nice and sweet. Someone who'll support my singing. I want a boy like that.
So the song happened right then and there! So I took this to the studio and my producer,
Eric Morgeson and Blue Miller, helped me polish on the song. He's great!
Kelly Dunn: I think that's a stand out song for you.
Sarah Lenore: It's more of a Country/Rock song but I like it.
Kelly Dunn: What instrument do you play.
Sarah Lenore: I play piano and guitar. Although right now I play piano better than I play guitar.
But I practice everyday on both instruments to get better. When I play out I play piano and sing.
But once I get better on the guitar I want to use that in my shows too.
Kelly Dunn: What guitar do you own.
Sarah Lenore: I have an Ibanez acoustic guitar. It's black with pearl trim.
Kelly Dunn: So I hear you are headed back to Nashville soon?
Sarah Lenore: Yes! I am going back there soon to begin working with some producers in Nashville.
Kelly Dunn: Well, things move fast when it's hot.
Sarah Lenore: I know! Oh! I'm going to be in a Disney movie next year! We begin shooting the film in August. It's an independent film shot at Martha's Vineyards.
Kelly Dunn: What's the name of the movie.
Sarah Lenore: The title is, “Black Dog”. It's a movie about a teenage rock band and I play myself, Sarah Lenore.
Kelly Dunn: You're going to play yourself in a movie?
Sarah Lenore: I am! We have a lot of big people behind it. It's be released in March, 2006. The producer of the movie told me to fasten my seat belt because it's going to start going fast now. I said, “Ok, I'm ready, I've been working so hard to make this happen!”
Kelly Dunn: Are you studying for the movie now?
Sarah Lenore: I am reading the script right now and getting ready for it.
Kelly Dunn: What part are you doing in the movie, do you sing, dance?
Sarah Lenore: When I was eight years old I was in the touring Broadway production of, “Showboat”, which starred Tom Bosley, and he played my grandpa. So with that acting and singing experience I will bring a lot of that background with me to the movie. But I'll probably sing and do a little acting the movie. But really I want to be known as a singer/songwriter.
Kelly Dunn: I'm sure this is going to be fun.
Sarah Lenore: I can't wait! We'll be in Martha's Vineyards for a month.
Kelly Dunn: Are you writing all the songs on your next cd?
Sarah Lenore: Half of the songs will be mine. I am also seeking songs that best suit me. It's going to be a long process but I have to do it!
Kelly Dunn: What songs do you prefer.
Sarah Lenore: I like the Southern, Rock, Bluesy, Country stuff. That's the type of songs I'm looking to sing.
Kelly Dunn: Do you think you'll be moving to Nashville in the future?
Sarah Lenore: My producer said there's not reason to move there. He said it's not necessary to make that move. He said that hundred's and hundred's of singers come there to make it.
Kelly Dunn: That's cool. It's a long drive!
Sarah Lenore: Really I'm a home person. I like to stick around the house and hang out in my room and be entertained all day.
Kelly Dunn: I guess with the Internet today you could keep busy…
Sarah Lenore: Yeah! I went to Interlocken Music camp when I was eleven years old. I got so homesick. I'm getting better being away from home but not just yet. My mom's my manager and she goes everywhere with me so that makes it easier to travel.
Kelly Dunn: How many songs have you written so far.
Sarah Lenore: I write everyday and then I rely on my producers to help me finish the ideas. It's great. They help me so much. I love it because they really know what they are doing and I'm still learning. It seems out of ten songs I write I get one good one. When I first started out two years ago I thought, “Oh I'll just write it and it's a hit!” But it doesn't work that way. It takes a lot of work to write a great song.
Kelly Dunn: Will you touring soon?
Sarah Lenore: Not so much touring but I am opening shows for major acts. In April I opened for Sammy Kershaw at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. Two weeks ago I opened a show for Joe Nichols. He's really good. And next week I'll be opening for Travis Tritt. To me Travis Tritt is a Country legend. I am so excited.
Kelly Dunn: Where is this show?
Sarah Lenore: Travis Tritt will be at the Freedom Hill Theatre. It's an outdoors theatre with about 10,000 seats. I'll be playing mostly songs from my first cd. Probably about seven or eight tunes. I really want to finish my set with Elvis's, “Burning Love”. I think that would be really cool.
Kelly Dunn: How was it meet Joe Nichols.
Sarah Lenore: He was the first artist all of his songs. We meet at the sound check during the afternoon. He invited me and my guitarist to his dressing room. He had his crew there with two guitars. He was making up songs from the top of his head and we were all laughing. This was a Joe Nichols that most people don't get to see. He took my cd and was very impressed with it. He said he'd be seeing back in Nashville. We got to stay back stage for his entire show. At one point in the show he came over and winked at me! Even my mom say it! (laughs).
Kelly Dunn: What musical memories do you cherish over the years.
Sarah Lenore: I have to tell you I love LeeAnn Rhymes. I know every song she ever sang. So two years ago I was at one of her concerts. We were in the seventh row and I made this crappy sign that said, “I want to sing with you!”. There's 25,000 people and a lot of them had signs. But when she came over to our side of the stage I stood up and held up my sign. She saw me and told me to come up on stage. Two huge security guards helped me up onto the stage. The crowd went insane! My heart was racing, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I just worshiped her since I was 8 years old. We sang her hit single, “How Do I Love”. Her band is incredible. Then, two weeks later I'm at another theatre to see the group, Lonestar. This time we were about ten rows back. My brother brought one of my CD's. He gave it me and I flung up on stage. The sing picked it up and said, “Where is Sarah Lenore!”. My brother started screaming, “Here, here, she's over hear!” So the singer says come on up here and I sang a song and Lonestar was my backup band! (Laughing). I'm just out there trying to do whatever I can to make it in my career.
Kelly Dunn: Well that's quite impressive!
Sarah Lenore: Oh I want to tell you, I also was second runner-up for the Colgate Country Showdown. After I won they flew us down to Florida for the final show. After fours years of entering the competition I made it to second place!
Kelly Dunn: What happened in Florida .
Sarah Lenore: The contest started with 100,000 people and then they get it down to six people. Those six people get flown to Florida for the final showdown.
Kelly Dunn: Second place is not bad at all.
Sarah Lenore: This is what I learned. LeeAnn Rhymes, Martina McBride and Garth Brooks each finished second in the Colgate contest. So people said I have to keep up the tradition to be a star because I finished second (laughing).
Kelly Dunn: How do you all this with school…
Sarah Lenore: I finished high school a year early. I got straight A's.
Kelly Dunn: Are you going to college?
Sarah Lenore: Not this year but this worked out perfect. I want to record in Nashville and see what happens. School always came first for me. I love school! I never got a “B” in my life!
Kelly Dunn: You never had a grade below an A?
Sarah Lenore: No! (laughs) You know how many times people say that! But I work really hard. I studied a lot. I don't have that natural smartness. I have to sit down and study but my brother, he can just walk into a test and ace it! We both get A's but I have to work harder at it.
Kelly Dunn: Well, I can't say that, school was tough once that music got into me, that was hard…
Sarah Lenore: I know! You know, I went to an all-girl Catholic high school.
Kelly Dunn: That explains it! They still have those?
Sarah Lenore: Oh yeah, the uniforms and everything. You might think all Catholic girls are nice but it's not so.
Kelly Dunn: So that means there are all-Catholic boys schools?
Sarah Lenore: Yes! Who do you think we were dancing with! (laughing)
Kelly Dunn: Are you serious?
Sarah Lenore: Yes! After my sophomore year things got really hard. I was in the studio and the school work was getting harder. And girls can be so mean!
Kelly Dunn: All-girl school, no wonder you got straight A's!
Sarah Lenore: (Laughing) Girls can be so cruel. So I was home-schooled for my Junior year of high school.
Kelly Dunn: My daughter is turning ten soon and I am beginning see what you mean. The cliques…
Sarah Lenore: The cliques were hard! In the lunchroom there are these circular tables and each one had a clique. I could never find a clique that would fit me.
Kelly Dunn: This is great song material!
Sarah Lenore: That's what my producer says to me all the time!
Kelly Dunn: It's like your, “Boy” song, the best songs will come from your personal experience.
Sarah Lenore: Exactly, and I hope that comes through in the song!
Kelly Dunn: You are going to do something big, I am sure of it! Are you planning on playing some of the clubs while your are in Nashville?
Sarah Lenore: I am going to play at the Bluebird when I'm there. I can't wait!
Kelly Dunn: I see you have to go, everthing is packed up! I really want to thank you for your time today. I know I am going to see you alot more on that big stage very soon.
Sarah Lenore: Thanks you so much! And be sure tell everyone at SongwriterPro that I said hello!
For more info on Sara Lenore go to: www.SarahLenore.com
Article: © SongwriterPro.com Kelly Dunn - All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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