Vocalist Nancy Burridge consoles and reminds us of what Feels Like Home

[caption id="attachment_16829" align="alignright" width="259"] Nancy Burridge[/caption]

Carol Forsloff — If a thing of beauty is a joy forever, than we can consider a recent piece of music on Fandalism will be with us for a long time.

Nancy Burridge has a voice that is recognized as special for its beauty. Combine that voice with the instrumental knowledge base of Sticky Sugar Hopkins, Remco Heemskerk,  Dave Rodrieguiz, Fred Jam and Grammy Award winning Master Audio Engineer offering information and support, and the song becomes a top favorite on the international music site, Fandalism. Burridge brings beauty through this song to new heights in a vocal range that stuns the listener.

The song is called Feels Like Home, a music masterpiece that can bring tears to the eyes of anyone who thinks of the essential things of beauty. The offering is especially poignant at a time when many people along the Eastern seaboard of the United States have lost their homes in the devastating Super Storm, Sandy.

The song is a special tapestry that weaves through the mind and gives the listener that moment of reflection, of what home is for each of us, that inside something or that place in our hopes, our dreams or are realities, that always helps us feel loved and safe. Randy Neuman, the writer of the song, gave the world a gift of this music, one that comes wrapped in infinite beauty with the lustrous voice of Nancy Burridge.

It is here for all those who a moment of beauty today, the kind that can be that joy forever.

Nancy Burridge: The hopeful "voice"of music

[caption id="attachment_14865" align="alignleft" width="120"] Nancy Burridge----[/caption]

Carol Forsloff — Years ago if a performer wanted to make it big on the stage or in film, he or she had to make a trip to Hollywood or New York and knock on many doors. This meant some talented people had to leave hearth and home, travel somewhere, and often work at a job with flexible hours in order to have the time and money to make the necessary contacts to have that one big chance. These days shows like The Voice provide performers this opportunity from the armchair of one's home. Nancy Burridge, one of the greatest singers in a community called Fandalism, hopes to be that person whose voice is selected for a great future in the music world.

Burridge, like other performers who vie for a chance to be seen and heard on The Voice, submitted her video to the show with two songs and an overview of her music background. This is in line with what others have done to be recognized on Americas Got Talent. Jackie Evancho, for example, was discovered on YouTube because many viewers had seen the young girl perform and the many thousands of views created enough of a sensation that the show's producers took notice. It is Burridge's hope that the same thing may occur with her performance on YouTube.

Fandalism is a music sharing site and also a community where people can present their music in a supportive place. Philip Kaplan, the developer and owner of the site, created the community in early 2012 with an eye to giving musicians that big chance. Burridge is just one of more than half a million individuals who are now members of the site.

America prides itself on giving people an opportunity to be successful, but in these days of economic travail it is much more difficult for musicians to have that big chance. Social media, however, can be of great value in catapulting a great performer to stardom. It is Burridge's hope to be one of those fortunate few who make it into the national spotlight.

The Voice is one of a number of television shows where America's talent can be seen and heard by millions. It is one of the dominant shows on the NBC network. To be selected, an applicant must submit a video for the judge's evaluation. Then the contestant goes through a number of rounds, while receiving coaching from the professionals associated with the show. This means performers have an opportunity, once chosen to perform live on television, to get professional advice and assistance they can use in their careers, even if they are not selected as a winner in the final round.

Today many people in the social media music community, Fandalism, have their hopes pinned on a performer from the community "family," a woman of a certain age of maturity, one of those mothers who put aside dreams of a great performing career to raise children. It is now time, Burridge says, to take that leap of faith. With her dazzling voice and shining personality, that leap may just land Burridge on national television to the delight of her Fandalism friends and others who have come to know this great performer as one who not only is a unique talent but who supports the music of others in a loving, giving way.

Those interested in watching Burridge's performance and offering their support can find her submission on YouTube at this site address:

http://youtu.be/4YPERCwgynk

Duo creating sensation in a world of music

[caption id="attachment_15963" align="alignleft" width="180"] Nancy Burridge, vocalist on Fandalism[/caption]

Carol Forsloff --If you're a musician, you have likely encountered times when you suddenly lose a key member of your group and need that vocalist, drummer, bass player or strong lead and can't find that special person.  Or you are a fan of music, and you hope to find folks from different walks of life performing together a song you particularly enjoy.  Fandalism is a music site that promotes cooperation, not competition; and a recent collaboration between a songwriter and performer from the United Kingdom and a great vocalist from Florida demonstrates how the best can be forged from relationships in social media translated into music.

Nancy Burridge is that Susan Boyle-type singer, the kind that comes from a relatively small US  town, where she sings at various community events, and then suddenly springs forth dramatically with a  voice particularly special.  Fandalism has other musicians who make the site a wonderful place to find good music, and singers like Nancy, rather than being threatened by competition, are instead embracing each other in a world where love is the answer in the threads of musical notes.

Patrick Collard has a dimension reminiscent of John Denver, as both a songwriter and performer.  He plays the guitar eloquently, composes with style and is able to touch hearts with his musical masterpieces.  Add one of his songs to a vocal of Nancy Burridge, and you have the dessert you can savor and dream about for days.

Great artists sometimes spend a lifetime trying to be discovered and realize their dreams.  In a world where anybody can, there are those who go far beyond the ordinary.  Yet they too struggle like others, in spite of great talent.  But Fandalism is a stage where all the world may come, but not a place where everyone can immediately shine.  These two have reached that place, a place of shining in the group.

Have a listen, and like this reporter immerse yourself in something wonderful to begin your day.  And end it on the same note, for it will make your dreams so much sweeter.

http://fandalism.com/patrick7/biC8

http://fandalism.com/nancyburridge

Nancy Burridge talents sadly overlooked by social media

[caption id="attachment_14865" align="alignleft" width="120"] Nancy Burridge[/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Yesterday, after wandering onto You Tube, a woman’s beautiful voice stood out among many others.  What makes this noteworthy is that during the months Nancy Burridge has been singing on the site, relatively few people have listened to her material.   Is this a small part of the Jackie Evancho – Susan Boyle social media phenomenon, just to a lesser degree?

Neither Susan Boyle  nor Jackie Evancho won the top prize of the talent competition called Britains Got Talent or Americas Got Talent, despite the great notoriety both achieved by their spectacular performances.  Boyle had been singing for many years in her Scottish region with a voice as beautiful then as now.  Evancho, a child prodigy, had been demonstrating her amazing singing of classical music for years, despite the fact she was a very young child at the time of her presentation at Americas Got Talent.  But when both of these great talents were eventually “discovered,” they did not win the ultimate prize because of an attitude that appears to pervade our culture coupled with millions of people with a cynicism that says either “I could do better” or the kind of statement made about Jackie Evancho that “she is too young to have that talent and that’s weird.”

In other words, if you are too good, there must be something wrong with either you or the formal judges.  Or there is that other reason, of the democratization of everything driven by social media and popularity polls that does not seek the quality but the number of friends and others available to put someone at the front of the line.

Who has heard regularly about the young man, Michael Grimm, the “white soul singer who won the contest over Jackie Evancho?   Is he frequently in the entertainment news front and center like Evancho, talented though he surely is but less unique than the classical voice of a child?  Fortunately, there are those, who when discovered, sometimes quite accidentally as I found the woman’s talented singing yesterday, get noticed by music executives and get the recognition they deserve.  Still too many languish on the back benches because of those two phenomena of social media popularity and the cynical attitude of a throw-away culture where 15 minutes of fame is driven by impulse.

Erika Van Peldt, who was interviewed on the Today show on March 27, had won accolades from the judges of the national competition.  Yet she was screened out before being among the top few contestants for the first prize.  Again she did not win the social media vote of American Idol.  She was “discovered” after a fashion, and one can always point to a Jennifer Hudson as an example of a winner whose talent continues to charm.  But again who wins may not be the most talented but the one with the most friends or viewers who get in to cast their vote.

It continues to be the vote patterns coupled with the attitudes that drive them that reduces art, and many artists, to the dust bin of entertainment.  What is true of music is also true of visual art and writing, although the television presentations make the problems in music far more pronounced.

Nancy Burridge sings across a spectrum of music that displays her eloquent soprano, phrasing and expression.  She takes the standards of today and expresses them originally.  As a woman of mature years, she retains the youthful sounds that often leave singers bereft of their upper ranges.    Hers is a voice that deserves attention, and her attractive appearance simply adds luster to the performances.

Have a listen.  Discover the magic of that someone new and special, that undiscovered talent, the kind many people yearn for but are unable to find in the wilderness that has become entertainment.  Discover Nancy Burridge.