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1970's, courage, cover band, date night, dreams, fears, goals, Inspiration, karaoke, live music, Love, morris county, music, new jersey, passion, rock music, singing, wine
Everyone has that outlet in their life, something they do to replenish the energy of their soul. For some it can be gardening, biking, painting, etc…. for me, it’s singing.
At every single point in my chaotic and sometimes crazy path, music has always found its way into my world. I have listened to music from a very young age. I had a vast collection of 45’s and a decent collection of LP’s. I also always walked around with a radio. Two of my favorite artists to listen to when I was younger were Olivia Newton John and The Partridge Family but I loved pretty much everything on the radio back then. 70’s music was fabulous! Music was always there for me and has always been a factor in my life.
A passion for singing usually takes root in early childhood. For me that spark was ignited on the evening of November 4, 2022 at 9:43 p.m.
Weeks prior to that evening, my husband and I were in our kitchen having wine and playing cards, with the music blasting. I was singing along quietly to the music and my husband looked me in the eyes and said “One of these days, I’m going to get you a microphone.” I replied with something like “Yeah right! You’ll never hear me sing!”
Fast forward a couple of weeks ahead. It was a Friday night and my husband, my friend and I were having some wine at my home, again with the music blasting. A few drinks later, my husband brings out a karaoke machine and he was the first one to use it. He sang “Runaways” by The Killers. Now my husband is a drummer, not a singer and it wasn’t his best but he had a blast. We all did. I thought to myself “Wow, if he can do that sounding like he does, I can too!” Remember, I was a few drinks in. I got up and sang “Top of the World” by The Carpenters.
The rest of the evening we sang, laughed and had a great time and when I woke up the next morning, I watched the videos and the reel I posted on Facebook. I received so many nice comments on the reel that I immediately knew that I wanted to do it again the following weekend. So we did. Weekend after weekend we’d have wine, blast music and sing karaoke. I was absolutely loving it and decided to take this newfound passion to the next level.
On December 27, 2022, I had my first singing lesson. I was very nervous going and my son Joshua came with me for moral support. It was time. It was 4:00 and my vocal coach, Mike, came out to get me. It was all or nothing at this point. I could flee or I could face my fear and conquer it.
I followed him into this little room with a piano. I remember quite vividly asking him if the walls were soundproof and he told me they weren’t. My thoughts were racing. “How am I going to do this?” “I should just forget it.” “Should I run out of this room?” After talking for a few minutes and making me feel a little more relaxed, Mike played a single note on the piano and said “Ok, sing that.” Excuse me? What? Sing that? I looked at him like he had a unicorn horn sticking out of his forehead. You mean there’s no loud music to sing to? (And there is no wine involved?) How on earth will I do this?
With every ounce of passion deep within me and with every drop of courage I could find, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and sang that single, ever-so-important note. I did it! Next we worked on scales to find my range, which I must say was quite impressive. I thought to myself “This isn’t bad at all” and I left there feeling so damn proud of myself and I couldn’t wait for the following week’s lesson to do it again!
Well I’m an all-or-nothing kind of person. I bought all kinds of music equipment: speakers, a microphone, a mixer. I purchased an app to practice vocals with, where you remove the vocals from tracks. I recorded myself daily and practiced every single day. I purchased and surrounded myself with music decor. I even had things custom made. I made a beautiful music room for myself.
In May of 2023, I decided I wanted to start a cover band to play live music out in bars, clubs, festivals… wherever I could. After auditioning many musicians and dealing with so many disappointments, the vision and dream has become an amazing reality.
I am now a lead singer and my band’s name is Daze of Dari. I have the absolute greatest bandmates. We have become family and great friends. We rehearse at a rehearsal studio every week. Our setlist is full, unique and fun and we have played out a few times and have more gigs scheduled. We play mostly in Morris County, New Jersey but we don’t limit ourselves to any single area.
If you want to take anything away from this, it is this. Never, ever, ever give up on your dreams. I am living proof that perseverance and passion will take you wherever it is that you want to go!
Darielle Brooklyn 