Page Twelve

TODAY STARTS ME!

I've always had a passion for music. Art. Life in general. Growing up, I was inspired by my personal experiences as well as the experiences of those around me. I grew up in the small town of Hightstown, New Jersey. It was just me and my mother for the majority of my childhood, and as time went by, I had grown to appreciate our relationship. My mother and I struggled a lot when I was young. Somehow, she always managed to make miracles--a super-woman, if you will. Even with internal battles, she found her way through darkness blind. It amazed me, so she was my role model. To this day I look up to her as being the strongest person I know. Being young where I grew up was difficult at times, but I found tranquility in music. My mom played everything in our house, from Marvin Gaye to Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston to Nat King Cole. There was never a discrimination for the songs we would listen and jam to. In addition to this, music and art ran in my family. My mother was an artist and was also in a band. My Aunt was an actress. My Uncle Henry was a poet and writer, and my Uncle Jeff was a fantastic drummer. There was no direction I could turn where music and art did not exist. This has a lot to do with me as a person. A majority of the things I do and say vacillated around music. I sang in my first talent show when I was 9-year-old, singing Mariah Carey's "My All" and attended my first studio session when I was 11. I knew in my heart that music was all I would want to do, but I approached a period in my teenage life where I became discouraged about whether I was good enough to make it happen. I eventually learned it was all my head and couldn't let the fear of failure keep me from fighting to succeed.

Nowadays, I work with Final Kauz Entertainment, an independent company that is helping to mold me into an artist as well as a more well-rounded individual. I wrote my very first song with them and it was absolutely horrible (laugh out loud). Since then, I have acquired the skills to write better, more memorable music. Working with other more established songwriters and learning from them gave me the tools I needed to confidently begin writing more and more of my own songs. For the couple of years I was in college, I was a poet. But for the longest time, I couldn't transform my words into song. It was just another obstacle and fear I had to overcome, and still I fight to do it. My music is a great reflection of who I am. It is a monumental manifestation of the people who have influenced my life. God has blessed me with a great amount of fantastic men and women, and so my songs are dedicated to them, as well as those who listen to my music and relate to it. Everyone in my life, especially my family, has had to struggle, so my music reflects that. It pays homage to those I never got the opportunity to meet and it all revolves around love.

Megan Nicolle

The Artist, her Music, her Style