Expert: Peter Messaline - 11/24/2007

Question
well i am only 13 and i have wanted to be a famous singer since i eas 7. Um i am pretty good but i need to know how to start off. Right know i live in Oregon my family doesn't have much money. I really want to be a R&B singer please help????

Answer
You won't get famous unless you get work.
You won't get work until you have experience.
The only way of starting to get experience is by putting yourself out there with other beginners.

All you can do now is to get as much experience as you can in your own area. You'll need to start with a group of friends, musicians and singers, and work at becoming known. Start with your families, then your school, and finally you might get booked for a party or two! If there is a music store or a musical instrument store in town, that would be a good place to find out about people starting out like you -- a band wanting a singer, another singer wanting a band (to have a a work buddy).

If this sounds difficult, I have to say that it is.
If you can get a copy of Working Musicians by Bruce Pollock, I think you'll learn from the stories told there by popular musicians.

This is a huge thing you're taking on.

Talk to your parents and find out ways to move your dream along towards reality.
Take their advice about what's safe and what's not. There are some extremely creepy people in the popular music world, ready to promise the stars and the moon, and waiting to take advantage of anyone who falls for their line.
The next few years will feed the rest of your life. Fill them with as much new experience as you can. Don't get so focussed on singing that you forget about the five hundred and thirty two other new things you can find out about every day.