My student, Torey, and I were talking about age, and the business of getting too old to be marketable. To a degree, a lot of record execs do like them young. But I know of a 29 year old who just showcased in Los Angeles and the label is courting her to join them.

There  are the tween markets, for the 13 year old buyer, but there are other markets for more mature artists in their twenties and yes, even thirties.

I remember K T Oslin, a great country songwriter and singer. She didn’t have her first hit til she was 45. This was in the eighties, and I bought and sang many of her songs. A lot of songwriters don’t intend to become singers, like Carole King and Neil Sedaka, to mention a couple. they somehow wound up singing their own songs.  I noticed on American Idol that Kara DioGuardi is a much better singer than Paula Abdul was, but Kara is known for her great songwriting. Paula was a great dancer who got lucky with material they could tweak in the studio.

When my song in 1964 only went to 75 on the Billboard charts, I was pretty much finished with the label. They wouldn’t spend anymore money on me. But, did I stop? No, I had a great  time singing my way through my life and getting paid well for it. It is a long career that continues, today.

Sometimes things aren’t meant to be, you need to get some life experience and stage experience before you have the pressure of hitting it big. What if you don’t hit big? It isn’t the end the world. In every town in every place of the world, someone is looking for good music.

You won’t have a publicist, a manager, and a makeup artist, you will have more… the control of where you work, hat you wear, and what your pictures look like, you can shape your own image and be your own boss. As someone who did it my way for my entire life, I am living proof, that a has been at 14 can be on top again at 16 and be opening for Steppenwolf!

Jessica Marciel
Las Vegas Vocal Training

Share on Facebook