Re: [Harp-L] Sunny girl

[icemanle@xxxxxxx]

The Sunny Girl story is a great one. 
 
Her father brought her to me, at age 6, at a SPAH in 1996, a pure talent in search of a teacher.
 
Colleen is a very mature old soul in a new child's body, so teaching her was very easy and rewarding, as she responded directly to the sounds and music without the need to intellectually explain what was going on. We quickly got into MUSIC, blues being a sub-catagory, as well as stage presence and professionalism.
 
Her star rose quickly over the next few years and her performances at SPAH (on a main stage or just going head-to-head w/Annie Raines during an afternoon clinic - it was great, as Annie tried to "bury" her, but Colleen rose to the occasion and threw it right back in Annie's face) were always a highlight of the convention. As I mentioned before, the attendees also had the opportunity to watch Colleen grow and mature, a real magical experience. Sunny Girl played blues on Thur Night, played jazz and traditional on the Sat night banquet show, and even shared the stage with Douglas Tate revealing her natural star talent in her ability to keep up with Doug's sense of humor.
 
Colleen also was featured in a few public TV "after school" specials that were the most requested segments on public/cable TV. She had a few different back up bands over the years and performed around the Detroit area, at clubs and festivals. Sunny Girl was also invited on stage by many local and national performers.
 
We began to work on her vocal abilities, giving her a wonderfully mature sense of timing and delivery for such a young girl.
 
Unfortunately, when I left Detroit in 2000, Colleen was left without a teacher able to challange her abilities and her career lost momentum as she was thrust into the "blues girl" image by her father rather than an overall talented musician. Her vocals improved, however, as she found a good vocal coach at Marygrove College. After playing at a local Dearborn club as a once-a-month featured act, the club folded and Sunny Girl spends most of her time these days as a very talented 15 year old high school student.
 
I hope to re-connect with her again, bringing her to the public - perhaps at Augusta Heritage Blues Week. At the very least, I'm hoping to get her to come to FL for an extended visit. We still stay in touch by phone and miss each other very much.
 
I'm imagining pairing Sunny Girl with my other major talented student, RJ Harman. It would be very exciting, to be sure.
 
The Iceman
 
-----Original Message-----
From: John Kerkhoven <solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 01:10:34 -0400
Subject: [Harp-L] Sunny girl


I'm surprised that no one responded to the Sunny Girl web link posted a few
days ago.

No doubt many of you know about her. I didn't. Quite amazing ... and
humbling. At fifteen she's played with James Cotton and Buddy Guy, plus a
host of others. She's got some music clips available on her site.  The
girl's got talent, and already a ton of experience. I expect we'll hear more
of her before long.

John


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