Many people I know have asked me exactly when it was that I realized that I wanted to sing, more than anything else in the world. Most of you know that I had my first singing debut in Kindergarten, singing the lead in a Grade 1 Play. That was definitely a memorable experience for me – hearing the applause after my song, and it made me feel happy that people liked it when I did something I really enjoyed. After that, I was in school and church choirs, got involved in Drama, played flute in school, and piano at home , and basically performed whenever an opportunity presented itself. Oh to be a child again, before we learned to become self – conscious and shy, and doubt ourselves…
Many years went by, and it was 1997 when a lot of things changed for me. I had just moved back from Ontario again, had started a new job, and was taking Acting Classes out in White Rock, from my good friend Scott Wheeler. Scott mentioned this great new young singer to our class – Michael Bublé, and said he was playing at a cool club downtown Vancouver, called Babalu. It just so happened that our Acting Class was on a Sunday night, and Michael played at Babalu on Sunday and Monday nights, pretty much every week. So, a few of us piled into Scott’s car the next week after class, and drove downtown to see what this Michael Bublé kid was like, and took our first step into the magical place called Babalu.
First off, it was clear this young man could sing. Scott knew him, and his Manager, and his family, so he introduced all of us to all of them, right from the start. Babalu became like a second home to many of us. Michael was quite young then, but he captured the audience’s attention, right from the 19 year old girls, to the 85 year olds … and we all danced the nights away together, in our evening gowns, long gloves, jewels, sipping our martinis, and loving every minute of that beautiful voice. The best part was, Michael and his family were just regular people, good people, kind, decent people, and they always made time for a hug and a chat. We all knew that it was just a matter of time until he outgrew Babalu , since he just kept getting better and better, and the crowds got bigger each week, but we enjoyed every minute of it for those couple of years.
I used to look up at Michael on that stage ( back then you could get a couple of feet away every week ) and see how incredibly happy he was to be doing what he truly loved. Then, I would turn around and look at the smiles on all the faces, swingin’ and jivin’ to his music … and it truly was magical. It really was at that moment that I thought to myself, “I want to do that, I want to sing, and make people want to get up and dance while I’m doing it”. The way I saw it, that would be the most incredible feeling in the world, to be up on stage singing, doing what you enjoy most, and to have people run up onto the dancefloor, and just let loose, and have fun.
That was when I knew what I wanted to do, and it all began with Michael and Babalu …
