My Dad used to say, "Anyone can be a quitter, but it takes strength and perseverance to see it through."
(From Dad's Down Home Homilies)
When I was growing up, my mother, Middi, was my teacher and mentor teaching me what I would need for a future in music. I always looked up to her and admired her in so many ways. She learned to sing and play the guitar at a very young age, and began touring at 16 years of age with a country band much to my grandmother's dismay.
One important lesson I learned from her was that the show must go on. It didn't matter if you were tired, didn't feel good, had a cold, or anything. If you could walk, you were expected to give your performance. No whiny babies here and no excuses! I definitely learned to be disciplined and probably took it a step too far when rehearsing with my sisters as teens. No nonsense!
I was told that I had my first performance at age 3 years old in church when we lived in Maine, however, I don't recall it. My earliest memories are performances at around age 5 years for various community events. As I got older, it would include talent shows of which there were many, and other larger events.
I was known as "The little girl with the big voice!" I think that started when in the 2nd grade, the mics stopped working just before I was to take the stage, and my teacher, Mrs. Tucker, said not to worry about it. My voice was big enough to be easily heard throughout our auditorium.
I suffered from many sore throats and colds during a period of my childhood and Mom thought perhaps I should have my tonsils removed. Back then, it was like a swinging pendulum. Some years it was popular and other years it wasn't. I hit the year when it wasn't and my Dad feared it would do something to my voice in a negative way, so I kept them. Still have them! But colds or sore throats never stopped my performances. Somehow, I just sang through it. It was most likely very bad for my vocal cords, but that was "back in the day."
One time I recall traveling with my band, Freedom, and we on our way to New Orleans for a performance. But, as luck would have it, our rickety old bus broke down on the way. Lucky for us, our good friends the Carters were also traveling in the area and came and picked us up while our bus was being repaired and drove us to the venue so we would make it on time. The show must go on!
The best example I recall occurred while we were living in Nashville. I was scheduled to do a performance on local TV for a corporation. This was being filmed in a very large studio with an audience which made it much easier to perform. We had two songs prepared: I am a Fighter which was one of my recordings and God Bless the USA (Lee Greenwood's song.)
The stage was all set with a large beautiful American Flag hanging as a backdrop and we were ready to go. The first song, I am a Fighter, went off without a hitch and the studio audience loved it. Then, we began the second song, God Bless the USA, and my husband, Gary, whispered that Lee Greenwood was in attendance. I gave a heads up to the band as we wanted this performance to be particularly good.
We began the song and people began to applaud right off the bat. Sure made us feel good! About halfway into the song, the sound system quit! Oh, no.... but we all just moved forward a bit, the guitar player immediately switched from his electric guitar to his acoustic. The bass player grabbed his upright bass and the other players also went acoustic. We did all of this without missing a beat. That's what professionals do. Just as we were getting to the last chorus, the large flag in the background fell off on one side! We kept going right to the big finish..."God Bless the U.S.A......" And the audience went wild!
Mr. Greenwood immediately approached the stage and congratulated all of us for our performance and said he was surprised we didn't stop when the sound quit. I replied, "Well, Mr. Greenwood, (Call me Lee, he said.), Lee, my mother always taught me that "The show must go on, no matter what!" And he replied, "It sure did!"
A shot from Zinger's show room where we had the American Flag waving on a movie screen in the background when we performed the song,
God Bless the USA