Singer and
songwriter Mica has finally found her voice, which probably
comes as a shock to the many A-list recording artists and
producers who have come to rely on her well-regarded vocal
ability. The issue, however, has nothing to do with being
able to carry a tune, with her range, power or remarkable
skill and timbre. For it is that golden instrument that has
shaped her entire life, from childhood in her own private
recording studio to international touring in her teens and
performances with huge stars on the world’s biggest stages.
Instead, Mica’s discovery is metaphoric in nature. Her
almost lifelong aspiration to be a recording artist has been
realized primarily because she has rejected every external
definition of what that goal looks like. Her journey is a
grand adventure and at times a cautionary tale, but it is,
ultimately, a journey of hope. Mica honed her craft behind
music’s most familiar names and traveled around the globe
and back, only to find that she carried the answer to her
biggest question inside her all along.
Raised from a young age, and eventually adopted, by her
maternal grandparents, Mica grew up in Locust Grove in the
southeastern corner of Oklahoma. Piano lessons started at
five, and she participated in the school band, choir and
related activities. But high school is where her story
departs from the well-worn path of would-be professional
singers.
"I
wrote my first song at 13," Mica says, "and by 14 decided to
quit all my extracurricular commitments to focus on studio
work and writing. My uncle built a studio in an old cabin on
our property and I spent almost every night there--splicing
tape with razor blades, the whole bit. There was no doubt in
my mind what I wanted to do."
At
15 she was singing and playing piano in the stage show of an
Arkansas amusement park. By her junior year, Mica was taking
classes at the junior college so she could sing in the Tulsa
Opera choir. As graduation drew near, she found herself with
five full music scholarship offers at prominent
universities. She had a decision to make.
"I
left home, bought a 27-foot Holiday Rambler trailer and
gypsied for three years," she smiles. "I played restaurants,
clubs, campgrounds—just passing the hat a lot of times.
Maybe I should have gotten the education, but I didn't want
to learn more English and math. I wanted to sing and see the
world."
And
see the world she did when a tip from a fellow musician
landed her a cruise ship gig. "At 19 I flew to Los Angeles,
stood in line all day for a passport and flew to Hong Kong
the next day," she says. China, Japan, Indonesia and other
cruise stops had their allure, but her father's failing
health found Mica looking for a venue closer to home.
Still driven to pursue
music, Mica relocated to Nashville over New York or L.A. for
purely geographic reasons. She worked as a waitress and demo
singer, building a reputation as a phenomenal vocalist and
working odd jobs in between. In 1997 she got a call from Faith
Hill's band leader to audition as a background vocalist.
"This was at the end of the Spontaneous Combustion
tour and she was still doing really country material," Mica
explains. "I told the band leader, I don't sing very country so
I don't think I'm who you're looking for." What she didn't know
was that Hill was in the process of cutting her hit "This Kiss"
and looking for a more expansive sound. Mica got the gig.
"I ended up loving it," she says. "I toured with her
for four years until she came off the road, and Faith has
remained one of my dearest friends." That association led to
work and performances with artists across the gamut from Billy
Bob Thornton to Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Sammy
Hagar and Willie Nelson. "I've been on every TV show you can
imagine," she adds. "The Grammy's, Letterman, Leno, even the
Super Bowl."She even performed at Super Bowl XXXVIII behind Toby
Keith and Willie Nelson.
With her credentials as a world-class vocalist
certified, success as a recording artist would seem a logical
next step. But in many ways, her skill and versatility became a
hindrance.
"I was singing 'Misty' in south Texas retirement
homes at 18," she says. "For the cruise ship gig I had to sing
all the Fifties stuff, show tunes, the theme from Cats.
So when I did my first solo project in 1993, it was country
because I was in Nashville and that's what I thought I was
supposed to do."
Other setbacks included getting entwined in bad
production and management contracts with characters of
questionable integrity. "There's not an avenue I've been down
where I didn't have a head-on collision with a stop sign," she
says. "And I've done everything imaginable to stay in this town
and keep the dream alive--waited tables, worked in publishing, a
flower shop, a file clerk, cleaned planes, cleaned leather,
cleaned cars. You name it, I've done it."
The turning point came during recording
sessions for Journey pianist Jonathan Cain's solo album. "I told
him how I'd been writing for years without a significant cut,"
Mica says. "He asked, 'Are you picking people to write for and
trying to write songs you think they'd cut?' Well, that's what
everybody--at least everybody I wrote with--did. He was like,
'That's your first mistake. You've got to stop that. Write and
sing what you want. If you get cuts, fine. But if not your soul
is gratified knowing you're doing what you love.' That's the
best advice anyone ever gave me."
Mica applied that lesson to every facet of her
career, erasing her previous propensity for trying to meet
others expectations for her music and instead looking inward to
record the music she's always loved. Music with an edge and
energy all her own. "I just want my music to be honest," she
says. "I draw inspiration from the people I'm around and from my
life. I believe in the music I'm making, and I know people will
connect with it, too, if given the opportunity."