Have you ever met a singer with an incredible career and wondered how they did it? The road to a singing career can be full of twists and turns, and every journey is vastly different. Meet Windy Wagner, who early on even with a full time day job, always sang. She had a band, wrote songs and even had a record deal, but like many singers, reached the point where she had to take the leap and make singing her full time career.
Just 18 months after leaving her full time job, Windy was working with the likes of Barbara Streisand and David Foster just to name a few. Windy has gone on to tour as a background singer for K.D. Lang and Joe Walsh of the Eagles. She is one of the most in demand session singers, vocal contractors, vocal arrangers and songwriters in Los Angeles with her work appearing in tv shows (Glee, Pretty Little Liars), commercials (Barbie, Lexus, Macy’s), and films (Legally Blonde, Pitch Perfect). She shares how she built her successful singing career, discusses her ‘Art of Pop Vocal Production’ workshop, and her advice on creating thriving singing career.
MENTIONS:
SINGING LESSONS:
- Keep your reel updated and send it to your clients, colleagues, and friends to keep yourself top of mind. Do this when you have a new video or song as well.
- Be observant when you step into a new professional situation. Take the temperature of the room, figure out who’s in charge, and gauge the vibe. Every job, live gig, session, room has a temperature you have to take.
- Do what you can to set yourself up so that you have as few financial obligations as possible while you’re pursuing your singing career.
- Take the steps toward what you want and follow through. There is a big difference between being a great singer and having a career. The through line amongst the career singers is that they follow up and follow through.
- Take a workshop to sharpen you skills and gain new ones. It’s also a great way to build your singer community and get in the room with someone who might someday hire you!
- We have to be willing to be vulnerable to hearing the not so great things in addition to the great things.
- You have to be flexible. Be able to receive criticism and fix things (pitch, tone, enunciation, etc.) on the spot.
- What’s great for working for yourself is that you can choose who you work for.
- Always keep in mind that you’re providing a service.
- Have a small network of singers you can rely on to step in for you if need be. You want them to be reliable, take care of their voices, show up on time, and have a flexible attitude.
- Don’t give up. If you give up, you will never know what might have happened!
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Special thanks to Windy for joining me this week!