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Olathe Singer Builds Fan Base with Fourth CD
by Katie Weeks The Kansas City Star A 20-year-old Olathe singer says she won't give up on getting a record contract. After releasing her fourth self-produced CD, Corinna Fugate is now in New York City setting up concerts and talking with record executives. A contract would allow her to bring her music to a wider audience and to sell it in stores. She performs mostly in the Kansas City area and sells CDs from her Web site, www.corinnafugate.com. The fourth album -- released this month -- is called "The Other Side of the Sky." Fugate said some listeners have compared her to Jewel. Others call her music alternative or folk. Fugate sings and plays guitar with accompaniment from other musicians who play instruments such as piano and violin. Most songs on the new album are slow, and many mention abstract ideas and faeries. Fugate said fans sometimes come to her concerts wearing fairy wings. Fugate said her music is a release of emotions about several challenges in her life: the death of her father when she was 12 and alcoholism in her early teens. "As I was coming out of that, I struggled to find something to help me heal," she said. "I knew it when I found it." Fugate said music is the only career she can see herself in, and said her music is her work. "I could see so many wonderful artists out there," Fugate said. "I could see them using the music to free themselves. I needed to do that to be whole again. I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for music." The latest album features a song sung with her late father, Michael Fugate. Corinna said he played trumpet with Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder. The song, "Song For Two ladies," was written and sung by her father, with Corinna's voice recorded later. "It was really beautiful," said Corinna's mother, Virginia Fugate. "I got teary." Virginia said she thinks her daughter's early alcohol problems were related to her husband's death. "She reminds me a lot of Mike when he was her age," Virginia said. "They're both talented." Except for the song by her father, Corinna has written all of the songs on her CDs. She said that when she writes, she can feel her father near her. "I think he helps me write songs," Corinna said. Virginia said that when her daughter first began to reject school, "it didn't look good at all." But now, she says, "I support this. You gotta give her credit for getting aggressive." Corinna has a steady base of listeners in the Kansas City area, and has received Internet play on more than 100 MP3 stations. "They are very supportive," she said of fans and friends who showed up for her recent CD release party at a Westport coffee house. "They even brought balloons and a cake." |
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