Drawn to the stage at an early age!
As a child, I would spend some summers at my mother's school - and it was fun! Going to my mother's school meant that I was at a predominately African American school. Coles was still fairly integrated then. My group of friends were the original rainbow coalition. Lynn was German, Lupe was Mexican and Salvador was Filipino. \
This school had a talent contest and I was determined to audition. I sang one of the songs in the classic music book and then I sang a contemporary song. All I can recall is how I grabbed the mic like a super diva and belted out "Stop! In the Name of Love" The teacher was very surprised to see that I knew almost all of the words. When I was little, many of my aunts and uncles were teen-agers. I knew the words to every song by the Supremes, Temptations, Sly and the Family Stone, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. Elaine and I watched them on TV, listened to them on the radio, played their records, and danced and sang around the house all the time. I was a natural as a miniature Diana Ross. I even had back up singers.
My mother taught me the words to the song and the steps that we had for the performance and I was a willing pupil. She kept me from having too much shimmy in my shake. It was an incredible amount of work. In looking back at it, you have to marvel at what the Jackson Five achieved. I had two songs to memorize and perform, learn how to sing without closing my eyes like George Strait singing "And The Race Is On" (another of my favorite songs when I was a kid - yes, I like country music), and smile continuously. I had a lot of bad habits to break. I rehearsed so much I lost my voice the day before the show, but I was a trooper - I recovered in time to meet my public.
This was no "Toddlers and Tiaras" talent show. We were three little girls in press and curls in pink tights and paper dresses decorated with balloons. There was no make-up, wigs, or false teeth involved. We hit the stage with the latest hit from Diana Ross and the Supremes and the Temptations - "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". We finished the set with "Up, Up, and Away" by the Fifth Dimension, blew kisses to the audience and then went backstage to sign autographs (on the show programs). I had been on stage before - but only to act or dance. Now that I had added singing to my repertoire, I was officially a triple threat.
What happened to talent shows, dance class, and music instruction? The strict curriculum in most public schools is adding to the sense of disengagement and the drop-out rate for present day school students - maybe an infusion of non-traditional fare would be advantageous to keep children in school.
