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Camey's Story

"Christian Singer Makes Debut CD"

© 2003 by Daniel García Ordaz All rights reserved.

Originally Published in the Valley Town Crier, Circulation 200,000
November 2001


Camey Thompson, a singer from Donna, has just released her self-titled debut CD. The ten-track album features southern gospel plus contemporary music.

When she was five, during a road trip, Camey was singing and her mom asked, “‘Camey, what are you doing?’ I said, ‘Oh, nothing, just talking to the Lord,'” said Camey. “She said, ‘What did the Lord tell you?’ And I said, ‘Oh, he told me that I was going to sing all over the world.’”

The artist’s journey from a Guatemalan hospital to a U.S. recording studio is nothing short of miraculous. Thompson was born with bilateral cleft palate and cleft lip. “The way I describe it to people is, like a hole in your mouth and a hole where the lip is,” she said.

“For my mom to support me, it’s a miracle because people couldn’t understand me,” she said. “Before I had my surgeries, a lot of doctors said my speech was going to be horrendous. There was no way I would be able to sing.”

When Camey was born, her parents feared she would die since she could not nurse. So her biological father, Jesus, walked down a mountain barefooted carrying Camey a long distance to Guatemala City. At the hospital, doctors told him he lacked money and they lacked knowledge on such surgery, so the baby was going to die.

“Well, he was sitting on the side of the road and he began to cry because he didn’t know what to do,” Camey said. “There was no hope left. And out of nowhere, two guys came up and they said, ‘Sir, what’s wrong?’ Well, he pulled back my blanket and when the two guys looked upon my face they realized the problem.”

The strangers told Jesus about Casa Guatemala, an orphanage. They would send children with medical needs abroad for care then bring them back. Jesus gave Camey to Casa “out of love,” and she was flown to Washington to stay with Rea and Judi Thompson. The foster parents helped kids with special needs. From a list of ten, they chose Camey and a boy.

In time, the Thompsons fell in love with her and asked to adopt Camey. Her parents in Guatemala agreed.

Due to the severity of the birth defects, Camey has had more than twenty major and minor surgeries—most of them performed at Children’s Hospital in Dallas. Each time she has a surgery, she has to learn to adjust her speech and singing voice.

Last summer, two months before recording her CD, surgeons rotated her jaw and put coral reef in her cheekbones. Even now when she talks it sounds “nasal,” she said, “but when I sing, it’s a different voice.”

Camey said her family’s love and her own faith has given her the strength to follow her dream. Other artists have previously released all of the songs in her debut CD, but she is working on original songs for future albums. The message of the album is inspirational.

“I really like the song, ‘He’ll Do It Again,’ because I guess it’s my theme song,” Camey said. “I like the style and they really stretched my capacities doing that song.”

“They always say your first CD is never the best,” Camey said. “Mine’s alright!”

The CD was recorded in summer 2001 in Oklahoma in just two days.

“It was a long process,” she said. “Ten to 15 hours a day.”

Camey said she mostly selected songs she’s performed for years. A new song in her repertoire is “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” an old hymn which highlights her six-octave range.

Another fun song on the album is “It’ll Be Alright.” Camey said it took a while to get the beat, but “it’s fun and groovy—kind of a 60s funky sound.”

“I really think that they’ll enjoy [the CD],” Camey said. “All the songs are not necessarily Christian or pertaining to God. Some songs you can consider them a love song. There are some songs that are upbeat and some other songs that are definitely more soothing.”

The singer has been asked to audition to sing the National Anthem at a Dallas Cowboys game, and says she would love to perform it locally if asked.

“It’s one of my favorite songs,” Camey said. “I think I’m a very patriotic girl.”

Camey began singing in front of audiences during a talent show for a third grade class in front of 300 people. When her family moved to Dallas, she sang with “TKO,” a young children’s singing and performing group at malls and even for the Cowboys.

“I love to perform,” she said. “I love to sing in front of an audience.”

Since moving to the Valley in 1997, she has appeared on TV, at a McAllen music festival, and performed in front of thousands during a trip to Australia in 1996 to sing with an evangelist.

The singer will be featured in an upcoming segment on Katie Decker’s show on KRGV TV Channel 5 and will be singing in local churches as well as in Dallas.

Camey is a student at STCC and hopes to earn a BS in Nursing. She also likes running, volleyball, and animals, and enjoys spending time with her family.

“They all are very special to me,” she said.

Last summer, Camey and Rea returned to Guatemala to visit her birth parents.

Camey wants to keep some of the scars on her face because it is one way for her to tell her story and be understood.

“I kind of feel like it’s good for me to have something visually that I can look back at and realize where I’ve come from,” Camey said. “Even though I have scars it’s okay.”

Vocally, Camey has been compared to Christian singer Crystal Lewis. She also enjoys Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Rachel Lampa and Natalie Grant, as far as vocal talent.

“I actually sing a couple of [Grant’s] songs in my CD,” she said. “But there’s no comparison because the things they did to her voice they didn’t do to mine.”

Camey said God has blessed her with the gift of singing in order to communicate with people and maybe help others out. She is often approached regarding her birth defect. “They can relate with me,” she said. “I’m not afraid at all for people to inquire about it.”

People who want to book dates with Camey or buy a CD may phone her at (956) 461-3020. She also hopes to make the CD available in local bookstores.

“It’s something that I love,” she said.” “I want for people to come to my concerts and, when they leave, to feel better about themselves or to reach a better relationship with the Lord. My goal is to sing around the world, which I already have.”

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