I Was Discovered By Mariah Carey's Producer

Singer and songwriter Lisa Lavie.

I couldn't believe that Mariah Carey's producer had discovered me. From the age of 10 to 17, I don't think I even listened to anybody else. Her voice and melodies captured me.

By Citizen Correspondent Lisa Lavie

Date Posted: 04/11/07

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I started singing when I was about 10 years old. It was in school. We were doing some little recital and our music teacher was going around the classroom asking everyone to sing. I really did not want to sing, so I was hiding in the back behind these guys. My teacher saw me hiding and he said, "Come on Lisa, it's your turn." I really didn't want to, but I started singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and when I was supposed to stop, he asked me to keep going. Afterwards, he said, "You got the part Lisa. You're it." I was so excited. I ran home and yelled, "Mom, I can sing!" I've come a long way since then. Things started to get interesting when the man who produced and co-wrote Mariah Carey's first album heard my demo tape and came calling.

I didn't always want to be a singer. There was a time when I used to want to be a pediatrician or a marine biologist, but then I realized I'd have to go through a lot of schooling, so I changed my mind. (laughs) I didn't really start getting into singing seriously until I was about 16 or 17 years old, when I started performing across Canada with the number one French Hip Hop group at the time, Dubmatique. After a couple years, when I was 19 years old, I opened up my own Karaoke company in Montreal. I did a few things to explore singing, but nothing really major until I moved to California, which is where I am now.

I've been in California for four years. After four long years my forthcoming album is finally coming to fruition. It all started when I got a phone call from this guy named Ben Marguiles, who co-wrote and produced most of Mariah Carey's first record. He had received a demo of my songs that I wrote and recorded when I was 16 years old, he liked what he heard and he called me. He wanted to fly me out to Santa Barbara to record a song with him. I just assumed it was a lie, because everyone knew I grew up listening to Mariah Carey. I thought it was probably just someone messing with me. I kept on ignoring the phone calls and messages and didn't take them seriously until a few months later.