Unstoppable—when she sings, she puts her heart out there.
Sheridan Blair, age 17, a Red Mountain High School senior from Las Sendas, brought some of her musical compositions together in a six-pack to be released this July.
Sheridan has been singing for as long as she can remember. “I started taking voice lessons when I was 7 years old,” she recalled. She wrote her first lyrics at age 13, when her mother, Wendy Skarda, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent rigorous treatment.
As many neighbors and friends may remember, one heartfelt song, titled Still Standing, became the battle hymn for the Hit for the Cure Red Mountain Ranch breast cancer fund-raiser. Later on, Sheridan wrote the song Not Alone for the Relay for Life, and presented it during the event at the candlelight vigil.
Sheridan has competed in talent searches and songwriting competitions across the Valley. She takes pop music, an easy listening genre, rather seriously. This girl “… basically sings all the time,” Wendy stated.
For the last five years, Sheridan has written scores of new songs. One of her pop music idols is Demi Lovato. She emulates this pop star, because she feels connected to a similar vision of providing useful lessons to young girls through her music.
“I want to be a role model with good morals,” Sheridan said. “Somebody who doesn’t drink, who uses common sense, offers compassion—somebody to look up to.”
Vying for possibly a music career and definitely a lot of ambitious training, Sheridan has refined her voice skills under the exacting tutelage of maestro Stëv Skye. Before her teacher was moving to California, the singer grabbed the opportunity to put her bests out on the market.
“A good testing of waters,” said Wendy. That’s where she feels in tune with the singing coach. Sheridan’s career aspirations also are pulling her toward California, however. Singer, songwriter and recording artist—all these sound good to her.
Yet, she has one other talent to fall back on, her big knack for writing.
“My music coach wanted me to write songs to fit what young people are listening to,” Sheridan said. “He wanted me to draw on my own experience. Naturally, there was plenty of high school material to reach back to.”
As high school often presents young people with conflicted messages, Sheridan chose to offer teenagers a boost through her music. “Don’t give up on yourself, keep learning who you really are,” she encourages her peers.
“It took almost a year to bring all the components together,” Wendy reported. “Sheridan has only been writing lyrics for the CD for the last six months.”
The selection was neatly whittled down to six thematically aligned tunes. “Quite an amazing process,” this proud mom conceded. Music coach Stëv composed the arrangements and generated the instrumental tracks.
The thematic aspect for the mini-album revolves around teenage pains and gains, identity search, heartbreak and many familiar struggles. Sheridan presents her songs with a strong voice and skilled interpretation. Some of these titles for inspiration are called Dangerous, Up
and Beautiful.
One big fun part of producing the album was the cover shoot. Renowned photographer Mimi Hershey directed the singer’s image quest. While Sheridan contributed ideas for hair, clothing and accessories, the photographer factored together her skin type and face shape, and matched the backdrop to the mood.
This was a meaningful experience for the photographer, as well. Mimi has 30 years of experience in photography, and watched Sheridan grow up as her mother’s best friend. Sheridan used to call her Aunt Mim.
The photographs turned out beautifully, and endorsed Sheridan’s aspirations. Yes, the girl and her music are beautiful.
Now, watch for Sheridan’s musical debut on iTunes. You will find her tunes under Sheridan Blair. Find Sheridan Blair on YouTube at youtube.com/itssheridanblair. And like the Sheridan Blair fan page on Facebook under Sheridan Blair.