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Pamela Dillon: Teen singing to success
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Three seconds ... that's the approximate time Springboro High School junior Kelsey Skaggs said she was allotted to impress two "American Idol" judges in Charleston, S.C., in June.
And that was after walking a milelong line, and then waiting more than eight hours to get her shot. Those few seconds were like a blip on the screen, but the judges had 15,000 hopefuls to process that day.
Extras
"Inside the stadium, there were 14 tables down the center, with two judges at each one. They would call four people down at a time to get in one of the lines," said Kelsey's mom, Lisa Skaggs.
"It was like a cattle call — you sing, you're done. Then they quickly escorted her to the door and the security guard snipped off her red plastic bracelet, so she couldn't come back in."
Kelsey Skaggs had rotten luck. She and her mother were there from 6 a.m. to
2:30 p.m., and they said that only judges from three tables that were putting a few singers through.
Unfortunately, Table 7 wasn't one of them. Those were the judges that Kelsey Skaggs had to face. They never gave her much of a chance when she started singing "Break it to me Gently" by Brenda Lee.
But her luck has had a turn for the better recently.
Paul King, publisher of Nashville Hype magazine, was impressed when he heard Skaggs' songs on her MySpace site.
She's written "a ton" of lyrics and has put music to about eight songs. King e-mailed her last year and asked her to write a second verse for one of her songs, "Facebook Admirer."
Skaggs was asked to play at a Toys for Tots benefit at the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, Tenn., two weeks before Christmas. There were an estimated 80,000 people Christmas shopping at the mall that day. She played a one-hour set that included five original songs.
"I had played a few days earlier, so I was comfortable with what I was singing," said Skaggs, who prefers Christian/alternative music.
"But it was nervewracking because of all the people. It turned out well, though, and they asked me to close the show."
That gig was so successful that Skaggs was invited to play at an American Red Cross benefit on Feb. 28 for tornado victims at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, Tenn.
Aaron Tippin was one of the headliners at that show.
"Kelsey's older brother, Kyle, came home for a visit after a year at the University of Louisiana and said to me, 'Do you realize how much has happened for Kelsey since I left for school? I've never seen anything explode like that,' " Lisa Skaggs said.
"That's when I first realized how talented she was."
Kelsey Skaggs has had local triumphs, as well. She was tapped to write a song to benefit a Springboro school library, and sang "Pick Up a Book" at Barnes & Noble in November.
She also sings for the praise band at Springboro Baptist Church, sang at Common Grounds in Lebanon recently, and will sing at Joe's Java in Wilmington on April 12.
"I would love to be a music missionary, playing worship songs in other countries," said Skaggs, who had used Kyle's old guitar before buying her own this past year. "If I go to college, I'll major in music and minor in missions."
Contact this reporter at (937) 748-3487 or PamDillon@woh.rr.com.
