I had the great fortune to work with the legendary Norm Amadio who helped usher in the jazz scene starting in the early 50s into Toronto. Not only was he a great mentor and accompanist but he was a close and reliable friend. He always made me laugh with his wit and quirky sense of humour. He never let anything bother him too much. We worked together for several years until he retired at 86 and he is now in a nursing home at 91. Many times I wanted to pack it in but he told me to 'never to give up'. I took his advice and I am still performing and doing music. Norm is proud of me. The gigs are getting better even though the journey has been, to put it nicely, not easy but thankfully one of discovery. I have sung for corporate events like Facebook, Samsung and many other big name companies. I have been writing and composing my own songs. So my success I am finding is not so much about money nor fame, definitely not glamour but for me, it's about being an artist and doing what I love doing. That means expressing myself through music and art. It has been a journey finding my voice and opening up my heart. To quote the words of Carl Spackler (Bill Murray in Caddyshack): So I got that going for me which is nice.*
I had taken a leap of faith to follow my heart's desire to become a singer when I was 35 and at the time, I thought that was too old. Too old to learn music, jazz music that is. The thought was entirely daunting but I was driven ...or just plain crazy. So at the same time, I worked hard designing wallpaper for licences like Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren, Matel and Disney. My designs were top-sellers around the world in 82 countries. Yes I was a wallpaper designer. Before that I was a restaurant manager/bartender and waitress in a hotel in Brampton. I had waitressed quite a bit to support my painting, art and acting since my early 20s. I once begged a postman to buy one of my paintings so I could pay my rent while going to art college full-time. I worked the late evening shifts full-time as well to put myself through school at OCA now called OCAD in which I was given advanced standing but not before being turned down twice to get in. I ended my fifth year with independent study in Tuscany and working for a 90 room castle as their in-house artist painting oil paintings for their Italian Renaissance castle for my rent. I weighed 92 lbs when I came back to Canada after spending a year in the Tuscan countryside.
Today, I work with some of the best jazz musicians around, still working toward that next level, whatever that might be. I guess what I am getting at is that if your heart is telling you to be creative in some way, do it. Just start doing it. Don't think about the how's or why's or where's or all the tiny details. Just start living your dream. Start enjoying your journey by taking action or a step toward what it is that is calling you. Feel it, breathe it, taste it! You don't have to quit your day job right away. No, it most likely won't happen over night but you never know. If you want to express yourself, get busy. Write that book and don't listen to the nay-sayers. What do they know really?! It's your life, listen to your intuition. Paint the beauty you see, sing your songs or remake old ones into yours. It's about finding your own voice, facing fear, gaining confidence by experience, making mistakes and learning from them. It's about having fun, playing, making friends and most importantly, it is about the journey. It's the people you meet along the way, it's not taking life too seriously, it's how you handle yourself, learning the technology and business end of it too. Oh, and it's about being yourself, self-expression and being creative. What's your dream? Trust yourself, only you know what that is. All is going to be OK.
https://soundcloud.com/indie-jazz/christmas-time-is-here
Julie McGregor with Norm Amadio on piano