Should i even continue to try?

I want to be a singer and i have the voice i write music very well im not ugly at all just my body its self not working with my dream what to do? Well i dont have a bad shape just could loose weight. i wonder will i be able to hide my disability? / Pull it off? Then again i want to also be a voice for those whom do have disabilities and have talent if i make it it will encourage others no matter their situation they can do it? What do you think?

 

Well Season 2 American Idol winner Ruben Studdard weighs nearly 400 lbs


Hotwater :hide:

 

Honestly, I don't care what you look like as long as you've got something to say. If you have nothing to say and you're going to sing about love and romance and scoring with the boys at a club.. and everything else in the mainstream world, it wouldn't matter if you were the stunningest chick in the universe, I just won't listen.
So that's something to consider. But by the sounds of it if you're already questioning your appearence then you're already going down that mainstream route, where your image is more important than what your soul says or what your voice sounds like.

 

I think you should not get caught up on such trivialities of 'this' or 'that' when you really want to do something you dream of doing. You and every other person defines their own set of standards and we can only measure ourselves. The Wright brothers could have died trying, Jesus Christ was ostracized and crucified, Socrates was imprisoned and sentenced to death, Martin Luther King jr. was assasinated. Regardless of what one does, if you really want to do something, then there is only one way to do it and that's your way. Ignore the trivial "what if's" in life as they will only ever hold you back.

If we are misunderstood as a whole, it is impossible completely to eradicate misunderstanding on any one individual point. We have to realize this if we are not to squander superfluous energy on our own defence.

 

Hey as a musician and an attendant for the disabled I say go for it. Think about it like this Heather Mills McCartney is missing one leg and is still a model. Vic Chessnut (I hope I spelled that right) was a partial mobility quadrapalegic who still played guitar and sang who had his songs covered by everyone from Widespread Panic and REM to Madonna. There is a charachter actor named Michael Berryman who was born with 26 different birth defects including Cloverleaf Syndrome who does alot of Horror Movies (See the original The Hills Have Eyes) and Comedies (Since he did so many horror movies he can play offrom).

Anyway here is something to think about. The music buisiness is about entertainment and gimmics. There are very popular singers out there (Justin Beber comes to mind) who can't even sing in tune but have a good gimmic. People love a feel good story it makes a good gimmic. Look at Susan Boyle. I joke with my fiancee "Only in England". In America if she went on American Idol or America's Got Talent before she opened her mouth the would have heared "Next". But she went up there with anxiety disorders etc. and did it. Sharon Jones is another great example. She was 41 when she started singing professionally. She tried out for a record company in the early '70s and was told "Your too big, and you're too black." I find her stuff refreshing because it is old school recorded the old way with old equipment and no autotune. Anyway go for it!

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

American Idol is the biggest scam in the world. Where is Ruben Studdard right now. You hear more about Clay Aiken the runner up. The reason breaks down to simple racism. The record industry is essentially run by 14 year old white girls from the suburbs. They are the one with the most disposable income to spend on CD's etc. It is easier to sell them a gay white dude than a fat black man.

The other half of the scam is this after they win American Idol they have to secure the details of a record contract, hire songwriters, studio musicians, management, record the album etc. That whole process takes about a year. By the time that record hits the streets there is a new American Idol plastered everywhere and you are old news. Your first album will probably fail to recoup even a third of the costs (trust me the record company will make sure of that) and there goes your second album. I've read my fair share on the record business.

If your goal is to be on American Idol and become a star aim for second place. The only one of them I can think of that won who still has a carreer is Kelly Clarkson. Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson were all runners up. You would probably be better off to record your own independant CD put up your own website to sell it from then go on American Idol. If you win you own that thing outright and will make all of the scratch on the backside as opposed to making 5 percent off a major record deal. On top of that you will have just used Fox for free publicity.

Just a thought.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

"Reach for the moon - and then if you fall, you're still among the stars."

Other people will try to limit you - but don't put limitations on yourself! Give your soul its expression! Or as Joseph Campbell said, "Follow your bliss!"

Here is another great Joseph Campbell quote I like - I got this from lillallyloukins, who also hangs out on Hipforums:

"It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure."

This is what I've found in my own life to be true. The greatest treasures I've gotten out of life came to me by conquering my fears and going after my heart's desires in spite of them.

 

"The last time I followed my bliss I woke up in Tiajuana with no pants," Berry Bostwick.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Sounds like a happy ending to me...

 

Well my best guess would be going to or just returning from McDonald’s, Burger King, or KFC


Hotwater

 

Of course. Who deserves anything that they have not worked for?

"I’ve heard you say many times
That you’re better ’n no one
And no one is better ’n you
If you really believe that
You know you got
Nothing to win and nothing to lose
From fixtures and forces and friends
Your sorrow does stem
That hype you and type you
Making you feel
That you must be exactly like them"
Bob Dylan

 

To get anywhere in today's modern music industry, you have to be attractive. I'm sorry, I'm not saying it's right, that's just how it is. Unless you're like the miracle singer, you gotta have something else going for you. I'm not saying this to the OP, I'm saying this to the people saying the OP's a 'sellout' or 'mainstream' because they mentioned how they look.

 

I actually work in the industry and can tell you that the right look veries from genre to genre. Check these out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk"]YouTube- Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 - Saturday 11th April | HD High Quality

This is the first time that I've seen this but the crowd reactions even the hosts reactions just fucking kill me. Granted in some ways she is a fluke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ouI5KcyHfE"]YouTube- Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings "100 Days, 100 Nights"

She started her professional music carreer at age 41 well over the hill by industry standards and at 54 won her first Grammy. She tried to get into the industry when she was in her mid teens and was told "You are too fat and you are too black."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHmNEQYc3js"]YouTube- Ray Lamontagne - Shelter (Amazing Version)

He's a real looker. Put out his first album at 32 (old fucker). Was discovered while working in a shoe factory in Lewiston Maine. I heared Kelly Clarkson cover this song and wanted to hate it so bad since I knew the original it still made the hair on my arms stand up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCD_UmsmtSg"]YouTube- opie's eye - acoustic version of Soulshine by Warren Haynes

Dude looks like Sam Kennison but plays a mean guitar, has a fantastic wiskey and cigarettes voice and can write a great song.

All of these artists are signed to either major labels or major indy labels. A major signs very few artists that won't sell. It is all about knowing your target audience. And if you can't get work as a singer if you are a good writer you can get a job doing that. Just look at Linda Perry. Don't know who she is. Listen to 4 Non Blondes then pick up any album by Christina Agulerra, or Pink from the last 10 or so years and look at the songwriting credits.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

^So bottom line is: Everybody's different, and you don't know until you do it. If it's your soul's path then it doesn't matter what the "rules" are or what makes the most "sense."

 

I brought him up earlier and listened to a bunch of his stuff earlier here is a limited use quadrapalegic. Limited use means that unlike what we think of quadrapalegic we think of no use of arms limited use means that they can use their arms and hands a little bit. Here is a singer songwriter that has had his stuff covered by Widespread Panic, REM, and Madonna.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkE3JsWZCi8"]YouTube- Vic Chesnutt--Flirted With You All My Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rPyQFmGmb4"]YouTube- Vic Chesnutt - Everything I Say

I especially like the close up shots of his hands showing him working around his disability.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

If you believe in yourself nothing can stop you. If you don't nothing can help you. Sorry if that's a downer, it's just how I see it. You have the voice, and the lyrics, just do it.

Try coffee shops on open mic night. Make a disk sell it at the coffee shops when you play. Put a few cuts on youTube, My space, anywhere else you can. Send your disk to radio stations.

Check this out , it might help

 

A good voice, and more so a nicely written song or two can get you a far away in the music industry. The only people who tend to have to be good looking, are those who don't write any music themselves, those who have nothing else going for them.

 

^^The funny thing is that Amy Winehouse has the same backing band as Sharon Jones. I still think Amy Winehouse sucks. I think that Meatloaf is fat and ugly but has a great voice, and a great songwriter working for him and just the right hint of humanity.

Peace Out,
Rev j

 

I saw Sharon Jones on Austin City Limits. She kicks ass--big time.

 

Agreed.