Day 13, Level 1: Grace Kelly - 17yo singer with a future!

I saw Grace Kelly perform today! I'm a big fan!  Read on ...

Up at Omaha, it rained all morning. No reason to get up early! A leisurely lie-in was just the thing. It wasn't cold, just dreary and drizzly - and good for the gardens and tanks and staying inside!

Brett got busy in the kitchen and cooked up his latest specialty dish - a kind of scrambled eggs with onion, chili, tomato, coriander and various things. Yummy brunch on a gloomy wet day. Matched with an equally good brew of coffee from our most excellent machine.

It cleared up enough for Brett to get out and mow the lawns while the rain held off. It's a big section and takes a while to do. But they did needed doing. Job done, he then headed home - to be sure he got back in time to watch the Super Rugby match!

I stayed a while longer; pottered around, cleaned up, sorted stuff. I actually had a whole entire complete day OFF work today - didn't do any work work. Now that's a rarity.

The rain made it an "it's okay to mooch around" kind of day and I took up the suggestion. Nice!

I would have stayed at Omaha - but had a very important concert to go to (Grace Kelly!) So I left around 3.30pm to head home to Auckland. Rained most of the way but the traffic flowed and the weather did clear up as I approached the city. Definitely brighter the further south I got.

Unpacked and then headed straight out to Pinchos Bar in Orakei (about 5 mins from home) where the lovely GRACE KELLY was performing tonight. (Brett still watching rugby ...)

Grace Kelly

SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:

Grace Kelly ...

I mentioned Grace in a post much earlier in this blog - she was doing an online performance during lockdown.

Grace is a wonderful young girl who was a member of "Enchanted" - a group of four girls I coached in performance back in 2012/2013 when they were 10/11 years old.

I and a musician friend Paul with this group every week for two years, mostly at my house. They sang a diverse range of songs; they learnt, practised, rehearsed, performed, recorded and we had a great deal of fun - and some angst - along the way.

What a journey it was! They shone, they tripped up, they learnt, got tangled up in emotions and growing up. There was laughter, there were tears, there were nerves and anticipation. There were lots of achievements and celebrations. Paul and I were always so proud of the girls. We helped guide them through the dynamics of being in a band, while nurturing their individual talents - Paul on the musical side, me on the emotional, life skills and performance side of things. It was challenging and it was fabulous.

Paul and I had also done a similar programme with a group of nine 6-year-olds back in 2002 (including our own sons), some of who have gone on to shine in performance, singing, speaking etc.

Grace, now 17, is living her dream of being a singer/songwriter. How wonderful! She showed natural talent back then, along with an engaging and enthusiastic personality that I knew would take her far. Seeing her tonight, for the first time since 2013, I know my faith in her was justified - she's grown into a standout young woman, retaining her freshness and unpretentious charm and having built on her intrinsic musical talent.

It was great to meet up with her mum and dad again tonight, and chat and catch up. They thanked me for my input in helping Grace get to where she is today. I was her first coach and it was so heartening to know I'd made a difference all those years ago. Grace's mum's comment that she so loved that I guided the girls to be who they were, true to themselves, with a firm/fair approach made my night!

All those four girls were so very different. Understanding and acceptance of others was one of my main messages, along with being confident about your ability, knowing your shortcomings, working hard and shining through with encouragement. Love it, that all these years later, it was noticed, appreciated and has helped a young girl on her path to passion. One of the other girls is also playing starring roles, more in musicals and the like. Am feeling proud and happy! These girls are still schoolgirls!

To see Grace perform so amazingly was just brilliant.

She has put in so much work to get to where she is now, and I am so pleased for her and her family - and so very proud of her.

Enchanted performed at my 50th birthday and guests were blown away - particularly with Grace's confidence and ability. A couple of friends who were at my party popped into the bar tonight and were so impressed.

When Grace finished her first set, and learnt I was in the bar, she came racing over with a huge scream and arms flung wide, as though I was the star! We hugged and laughed and remembered. It was poignant and beautiful. She gave me a copy of her new EP, about to be launched, and autographed it. I'm her oldest and most authentic fan, haha!! And I'm invited to the launch of her EP in a couple of weeks. I feel privileged and excited.

Grace's first set was mostly country songs, which she loves to write, sing, perform.

During her second set, she sang several songs that we had done back in those Enchanted days! Including "What's Up" by Four Non Blondes - her rendition of it tonight was one of the best I've ever heard. The girls hadn't been keen to sing this song back then (of course, they didn't know it, it's an oldie, well before their time). But Paul and I thought it would suit their various vocal ranges and whatnot. So we "made" them sing it. They never performed it publicly, as they didn't do it with too much passion, resisting all the way (even though they did sound good when they got in the zone).

Well, tonight, hearing Grace sing it - OMG, it made me cry!

We used to sing a few Adele songs back then too - they're tricky. Grace sang Set Fire to the Rain tonight - and nailed it.

And she also sang Lorde's "Royals". This was a song the girls desperately wanted to sing back then, it had just been released (in 2013). Sorry girls, this song is complex, we won't be giving it a go as a group. Sing it at home as much as you want, but it's too tough to tackle in this group. It was a "one day ..." thing - but definitely not for back then!

So to hear Grace sing it tonight, so beautifully, blew me away. Her "one day" had come. Such a difficult song - especially with just guitar and voice, which is what Grace did tonight.

Her final song was Mercy (by Duffy) - and what a great rendition of that she did, to great applause.

Grace mostly sings country, and has spent time in Nashville (and been noticed). She spent time in San Jose California and wrote a song about the place which was taken up as a song to promote the city and area, and this really put Grace on the road to singing stardom.

Grace's dad says she's dabbling in bluegrass - wow, I love bluegrass (saw that band at the Matakana market the other weekend and lingered a long time). The girl has talent - her famous namesake was a movie star - and this Grace Kelly is a star in the making in her own right. Go Grace!

Here are some short video clips - sorry, a bit dark but you can hear her and get the flavour ...

Grace Kelly - What's Up

Grace Kelly - Mercy

And here's a video clip from back in the old days of Enchanted - Grace on guitar - singing at a fundraiser event.

Am having trouble uploading some of the old videos of Grace singing Hallelujah, Taylor Swift songs and various others - will work on video format to upload in a future post as a blast from the past - and how talent shines early on!

Hopefully another vintage video or two to post tomorrow!