Rainbow Glo

A personal Chakra Flow Reading that I wanted to share with you. https://www.gloriamiller.co.uk/

I think it's time for some of the rules to evolve.

I think it's okay to be in your head sometimes. Just do that shit in private!

To more information on Diabetes UK, visit my website: gloriamiller.co.uk.

On Monday of this week I posted these questions in my Facebook Group: How do you decide the right key for a song? Are all your songs in the same key? Does it depend on the mood of the song? The reason I reached out to my group for help on this is because I am writing songs in preparation for recording and releasing them next year. This year I released five singles and really didn’t give much thought to the keys they were in, they just kind of landed where they landed. The whole reason I started releasing my own music again after a 10-year break was to find my voice, which seemed to be disappearing into function singer oblivion. I believe an integral component for rediscovering my voice is through understanding where my sweet spot is. The members of my FB group are all brilliant in their own rights, and many of them are singers and songwriters, so I felt I would get some answers that I could apply to my process. Wow, was I right. Keith Simon, singer extraordinaire said, “For me I think it’s about being able to utilize your vocal range to its maximum potential ... every song is different and unique ... and you wanna be able to comfortably sing/perform a song that brings out the best parts of your range.” My very first vocal coach and piano teacher, Pat Tyson, had this to say: “I tend to write in keys that are comfortable for my voice, but I also write in keys that are easy. Transposing is a gift that I'm grateful for!” And then, Amba Tremaine, Singer, Songwriter, Vocal Coach, Choir Leader and Teacher took me to school. She dropped a word on me that I had never heard before, Tessitura. Thankfully, she broke it down for me: Tessitura is the range within which most notes of a vocal part fall. An area of your voice that is comfortable and most commonly used. Amba goes on to say, “I have discovered that being able to sing high or low is one thing, but being able to do it well and for it to sound good is another thing entirely. Reaching those high whistle tones may seem impressive but 9 out of 10 times it sounds bloody awful. Every now and then we’ll need to pull out some impressive height for certain songs but it really does make a huge difference when you know where your voice sounds the best. This is where Tessitura comes in.” Amba’s process is to go to the piano and start talking about everything and anything. She then finds the note (more)

I was speaking to a friend last week and she was saying how difficult it is to ask for things. This friend and I share many similarities. We are both singers, both songwriters and we both perform Tribute Shows to one of the most awesome women on the planet … Tina Turner! And, we have one more similarity ... I too find it difficult to ask for things. Before I had this conversation, I had already decided that 2020 would be the year of asking. Asking for what I want and asking for what I need. But it seems I am already feeling resolved to do this, so I’m not waiting until 2020. On Sunday, I was in London getting ready to perform Tina Turner Tribute Show for this wonderful group who put on events for very active seniors. I mean, wow, they party hard. I get there, and as always the staff are fabulous. They take me in to meet the soundman and then they take me to my dressing room. My fellow performers can attest to the fact that many of the venues we perform in are not geared up for entertainment, much less Tribute Shows. So it’s not unusual for the event organiser to try to stick you in a closet or handicapped loos, or any ole random place and call it a dressing room. I was put in one room that had rat traps all along the walls … I was like ‘Mickey’ don’t you show up tonight. I’ll be doing this gig from this table top!’ So, when I realised that said dressing room was the gents loos, at first I went in and had a look around and then I said 'no.' I looked at my host and asked for what I wanted. I wanted to be in a comfortable space, that was odour free so that I could prepare to do my 35-minute spot. I was polite, yet direct and said ‘this space is not suitable for me to get ready for my performance.’ And without any hesitation, I was ushered into another room, just next door that had a couple comfy chairs, had sandwiches for the talent, what?? And a lovely drag queen who turned out to be the host of the event. Said queen was happy to share his space with me and we had a lovely chat as we prepared for the show. Turns out he also had better legs then me and Tina put together, but that’s another story! I was so proud of myself for just asking for what I wanted. So often we suffer in silence or in passive aggressiveness instead of simply speaking up. I am not opposed to reading a self-help book, or ten, and two spring to mind as I write this: The first is ‘The Art of Asking’ by Amanda Palmer and the second is ‘Daring Greatly’ by Brene Brown. Amanda asks the question, 'are we just too embarrassed to ask?' Brene looks at how our fear of being vulnerable can keep us from getting what we want and need because we’re too proud to just ask. There are a lot of things I want to do next year and I’m going to need some help to do them. I have always been very independent and self-sufficient so asking for help has always been hard for me. But, I’m prepared to do it, because I won’t get to those ‘yeses’ until I do.

One of the things I miss most since moving to the UK is Thanksgiving. When I first moved to England 10 years ago, for the first two years I hosted a big Thanksgiving meal for my UK family and friends. The third year my good friend and fellow American, Marlene put on a Thanksgiving spread, but since then neither of us have had the time nor energy to do it, and I am truly missing it this year. I have so much to be Thankful for this year, well every year, to be honest. But I’m feeling especially thankful this year because I am at a lovely place of peace with myself. I am happy exactly where I am in life. Around this same time last year I was totally burned out. Gloria Miller Entertainment, my entertainment company, had a stellar year. Business was good, but I was not. I was about to go into the very busy Christmas season, and I realized that I didn’t want 2019 to be a repeat of the year I was having, so I made the decision to close my office at Langstone Tech Park, and to go back to working from home. I was already making the journey to my current peaceful place by freeing my creative side, and writing songs again felt like a lifeline. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the songs I was writing, I was just happy to be back in the creative flow. So, when January of this year rolled around, I was back working from home. I took a break from performing my Tribute Shows opting for performing Motown Nights instead, because at least I could be myself during those gigs, and not have to step into someone else’s persona. I was feeling so lost, and honestly, I no longer knew who I was as an artist. In fact, the artistry was gone, and I needed to get it back. I allowed GME to tick along, and I spent more time working on my music. I setup a new website and started blogging and podcasting, along with releasing singles, all in an effort to find my own voice. I performed my first fully originals gig back in September and I was like a fish out of water. I was so scared and had no confidence going into the performance. But, thankfully Lola (my alter ego) showed up, and I did it. I was thrilled at how well my songs were received by the audience. I’ve now put a band together for my original music and have a couple dates booked in for 2020, so I am slowly getting back out there as an artist! But it feels different this time around. I have no agenda for the music, I‘m not hoping to be ‘discovered.’ I’m just making music because it brings me joy. I’m simply feeding my passion and living in and sharing my truth. I am so thankful to be approaching my days differently. I used to be married to my to do list, and to regular ‘office’ hours ... now I’m not. I still have my list, and it’s full of things that I’d like to get to, and I know I will eventually get to all of these things. But I’m not a slave to the list or to time anymore. I am finding that if I focus 100% on the task at hand, it all seems to gets done. Admittedly, I have a really giant list of mundane things that need doing, and it’s constantly growing, but I just let the list grow and will get to it when I get to it. This allows me to focus on what matters and leaves me with time to live! I think it has boiled down to finding that work, life balance and in the balance, I have found peace. I still have loads that I want to and will do in the coming year, but in my own time. So, I am thankful today. Thankful for my husband, my family, my friends, my career and my passions. As I write this, I’m still in bed, drinking the coffee the hubs brought up to me and the sun is shining through my window. There’s a few things on the to do list, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll get to them. We’ll see what the day brings.  At this moment, the only thing I feel compelled to do is to be thankful!

Lola is to me as Sasha Fierce is to Beyonce … my alter ego! Lola is the part of me that allows me to feel the fear and do it anyway. Lola is confident and unapologetic. I couldn’t be in the entertainment business without her. The hubs and I celebrated ten years of marriage this past weekend and the day before we were due to fly to Paris to celebrate, I woke up in a blue funk. This doesn’t happen often, but more often lately as menopause and I get more acquainted. I knew I would have to snap out of this funk because I had a Motown show to do that night. I had no energy, my brain felt foggy and the idea of jollying my audience along for two hours was torture. I didn’t even have the energy to pack my sound gear in the car and drive the 45 minutes to the gig. So I begged the hubs to be my roadie, and being the wonderful man that he is, he acquiesced. We arrived at the venue but Lola hasn’t made her appearance yet, so I force a smile unto my face and I drag myself into the venue. I greet the event organizers, shake hands with the DJ and then grab a cup of coffee and leave Neal to unpacking the car and setting up my gear. After a few sips of Java, I guiltily start to help with setting up. Sound check done, guests arriving and I’m in my dressing room still in a funk. Lola, where the eff are you? I’ve got less than an hour ‘til the start of my first set and there’s no signs of Lola … just the Blue Funk. Now it’s showtime. I’m in my sparkly dress and stilettos, wig is fluffed to maximum height, and still no Lola. Just tired ole me. Now the DJ is introducing me, I am walking to the mic and there she is. It’s like I felt Lola step inside my shoes. Lola showed up and showed out with all her fierceness and confidence! Two sets and two encores later, Lola left the building but her energy was still pulsing through me. There was a pep in my step as I headed back to the dressing room to change, leaving my roadie to pack up. Lola again saved me from myself by being the part of me that is unstoppable. I am always in awe of Lola and I will always need and be thankful for her because whatever Lola wants … well, you know the rest!

In this world of smart devices, we are used to clicking to make things happen. One of my favourite films of all-time is The Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t seen this film, you should. The first few times I watched the film was on a black & white TV, okay, so I’m truly giving away how ancient I am. But anyway, all we had in my early life was a black and white TV, so a lot of the magic of the movie was lost to me during those early viewings. I will never forget the first time I saw the film in its full glory. I always thought the full film was in black and white, so when Dorothy opened the door to Oz and all that glorious technicolor hit me, I couldn’t believe it! I was like, ‘when did this film get colourised,’ which was a thing back in the day. That was the day the slippers truly became Ruby. I didn’t have to imagine it. The power of those Ruby slippers brings with it a wonderful life lesson. So without giving away any spoilers, Dorothy and her dog Toto get caught in a storm, and are thrown over the rainbow and find themselves lost in Oz. There’s an unfortunate accident involving a wicked witch wearing fabulous Ruby slippers, and said slippers were given to Dorothy by a good witch who instructs her to follow the yellow brick road to see the Wizard in the Emerald City. Glinda, the good witch, is sure that the Wizard can help Dorothy get back home to Kansas. So Dorothy and Toto set off to see the wizard, she meets three lovely companions along the way who are also in need of the wizard’s help, all while being hunted by the dead witches sister, who is also a wicked witch and she wants those Ruby slippers. They get to the Emerald City and face the great and powerful Wizard, who turns out to just be an ordinary man. Though he’s ordinary, he’s quite savvy and is able to help Dorothy’s three companions, but there was nothing in his bag of tricks for Dorothy. Enter, Glinda the good witch who says this to Dorothy: ‘You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.’ Say what?? One of Dorothy’s companion on this seemingly unnecessary journey asks why Glinda didn’t tell her before, and Glinda says, ‘Because she wouldn’t have believed me, she had to learn it for herself!’ Bam, there's the life lesson! Dorothy already had everything she needed to get back home. She actually didn’t need to look any further than her feet and those gorgeous Ruby slippers. The surviving wicked witch was desperate to get those slippers because they were magic. So now that Dorothy understood the power she had all along, she took action … she clicked her heels, repeated her mantra, ‘there’s no place like home,’ and poof, her dream because her reality. She did it. She was home. It boiled down to what Dorothy believed, and that got her to her goal. Had she not taken the journey to Oz, she would have never realized her full potential. The same is true for you. The power lies within all of us to shape our own destiny. We possess all the tools we need. The journey to our destiny serves to reveal who we are and what we’re capable of through the lessons we learn along the way. So take that journey within. See yourself as the powerful force that you are. Then take action … get to clickin’!

My current obsession is Space. There is so much I don’t know about space and it’s vastness, so I might be here a while. It started with watching a documentary about The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft that are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-40-year journey since their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto. ... Their primary mission was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. Then the mission was extended and Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and now both spacecraft are in interstellar space. Voyager 1, which had completed its primary mission and was leaving the Solar System, was commanded by NASA to turn its camera around and take one last photograph of Earth across a great expanse of space, at the request of astronomer and author Carl Sagan. The term "Pale Blue Dot" was coined by Carl Sagan in his reflections of the photograph's significance, documented in his book of the same name, Pale Blue Dot. When I saw this image of earth looking no larger than a blue pixel suspended in a sunbeam, it changed me. From this perspective which was 3.7 billion miles away, the earth was just this pale blue dot. So small against the expanse of the universe making us and our life’s pursuits even smaller. Seeing this picture made me want to stop the pursuit and just be who I am, and do the things that bring me joy and happiness, because when time is measured in light years, our average life-span is truly like the blink of an eye.  I’m 53 now and I have been pursuing one thing or the other for as long as I can remember. If life is a four-act play, then I’m in the third act and I don’t want to get so caught up in the pursuit that I miss my life … the good, the bad and the ugly of it! So I am doing more doing. I am listening more intently, I am loving harder and connecting more with the people in my life who matter. I am an artist doing my art. I am doing more of the things I love. I am allowing my true self to be seen and heard. I am doing me …

This past Sunday morning I woke up in a beautifully exhausted state and was still in the afterglow of having had two nights of fantastic gigs. Sundays are usually my day to totally veg and that pursuit was the extent of my day. On pops the telly and I start my day by watching reruns of Modern Family, my favourite sit-com. After the three episodes finished on regular TV, I was still in need to my ‘Phil’ fix so I went over to Amazon Prime and binge-watched an entire series, all 24 episodes. I was laughing out loud at the funny stuff and teary eyed during the tender stuff and found myself experiencing true moments of Joy. I genuinely felt happy, which was immediately followed by feeling terrified. I was terrified that something bad was going to happen to destroy this amazing feeling of happiness I was experiencing. WT actual F? Why couldn’t I allow myself to just be happy? I wanted to know why most of us feel that happiness comes with strings attached. So I googled ‘fear of being happy’ and found that there is an actual term for this … Cherophobia. I have never heard this word before, have you? Cherophobia is a phobia where a person has an irrational aversion to being happy. The term comes from the Greek word “chero,” which means “to rejoice.” After taking a few happiness quizzes, I am thankful to report that I’m not quite at phobia levels of happiness aversion, but many people are. According to an article I read by Calvin Holbrook, The fact that our brain is hardwired to focus on the negative rather than the positive comes into play when exploring aversion to happiness. Maybe this is why feeling happy often brings with it memories of when previous happy moments were followed by tragedy. The pursuit of happiness is a basic human right and a noble pursuit. Happiness is a human desire that we often look outside of ourselves to find. Money, power, possessions and substance use and abuse are often seen as a gateway to happiness, but we see the falicy of this thinking far too much with headlines announcing the self-destruction of so many, who by all appearances have it all, including happiness. There’s a Gospel song by Larnell Harris called ‘I Choose Joy’ and sometimes when I find myself feeling unhappy, I think about this song and it reminds me that I have the power to choose how I’m feeling. Sometimes that choice is a battle and the outcome is not always happiness, but often it is. So, while I was enjoying my lazy Sunday, I didn’t allow my mind to rob me of the joy I was feeling. I fought to stay in my happy place, and thankfully, it has spilled over into my week. It’s Wednesday and I’m still there. Find your happy place today and if fear shows up, just let that fear pass over you and then be happy anyway!

Back in 2003 two things happened that changed the course of my life... First, I met the man that I would eventually marry and spend the rest of my life with. And second, I lost confidence in myself as a singer. Music has been my constant companion for as long as I can remember and sometimes we have a falling out. I recently discovered that what drives me in life is my need to be heard and my voice is the vehicle. In 1997, I landed a very well-paid job at a marketing firm, and for the two years that I worked at that company, I put my music on the back burner. Prior to that I had put so much time and energy into the pursuit, and music was always letting me down. I rehearsed endlessly. I sent demos everywhere. I went to music conferences. It was just countless investment with no return. So, I surrendered to the real world and to making money. Those two years were like a slow death. My boss was demanding beyond reason, and the job was stressful. Soon I was plagued with migraine headaches and weight loss. I was literally shrinking under the pressure. It turns out, I needed my love affair with music, and the chase was part of the allure. I needed to get back to it. So I did. In 1999 I made my escape into a full-time contract with Disney working as a production singer on one of their cruise ships. I was singing and getting paid for it. Finally, music and I were in a reciprocal relationship. I breezed through my Disney contract and after a few years working on dry land, I started working for Royal Caribbean in 2003. I was hired into the coveted ‘Girl 1’ position and I arrived at rehearsals confident and ready to take on the challenge of learning three new shows. I found myself surrounded by some incredible talent, many of whom had worked on Broadway or in touring companies, and I started to feel completely out of my depth. I was hired for Disney mainly to sing The Circle of Life, for which my Gospel roots served me well. That was really the only song I was featured in, the rest of the time I was just part of the production cast. At Royal, I was the featured girl singer, and the shows were musical-theatre based. I was sitting in rehearsals listening to my fellow singers and thinking, 'I can’t sing like that! I’m not good enough to be a featured singer.' I did audition for this role, mind you, and the show producers obviously thought I was good enough to be given the role, but I couldn’t see it. Once the poison of doubt got in my mind, there was no stopping its effects, and it began to chip away at my confidence and lead to a very rough contract. I went from singing with heart and passion, to being completely self-conscience about every performance. I couldn’t get out of my head, and now I was letting music down. I stopped being able to let it freely flow through me. Something got damaged back in 2003, and to this day, I am still struggling with not feeling good enough. I left Royal after two contracts and went on to work for Celebrity Cruise Line for three contracts, with the last contract finishing in 2007. I moved to Milwaukee and formed my own Jazz quartet and we performed all over the city. In 2009, I release my debut CD, and that same year moved to the UK. The 10 years I’ve lived in the UK I have been consistently working as a pro singer, but I have never fully regained the confidence I had before that Royal contract. In 2018, I got serious about finding my voice. But I think it runs deeper than just finding my voice. I think it’s more about freeing my voice. I’ve been singing for a living since 2003, so my voice is working. But I haven’t always enjoyed singing. I have had many magical moments over the years, glimpses of the singer I used to be, but the joy of singing has been fleeting. (more)

My idea of success is not having to wake up to an alarm clock. In my twenties I worked in corporate America and I hated having to be awakened by an alarm clock. In those days, I was a true night owl and rarely made it to bed before midnight. So when six am rolled around the snooze button and I became intimately acquainted. I commuted by train from the suburbs to work in downtown Chicago for most of my corporate career and there were three train options that would get me to work on time, and about 80% of the time I barely made that third option. Many mornings I’d be running down the actual train tracks, which ran behind my studio apartment, trying to get to the station before the train arrived. Sometimes, I cut it so close that I could see the lights of the train coming towards me from the opposite direction. When the weekend rolled around and I could wake up whenever I wanted, it was bliss. My time was my own to do what I pleased. I loved the work I was doing, for the most part, I just couldn’t stand having to get up early in the morning. Over the course of the fifteen years that I worked a ‘day’ job I longed to be at a place in my life where I was in control of my own time. In 1998, I was pretty fed up with working my very good full-time job because for all of the 15 years that I work my day jobs, I was also pursuing a music career. Something had to give. So I quite impulsively decided I was relocating to Florida to live in the warmth of the sunshine state and leaving the cold windy city of Chicago behind me. I made this decision in December of 1998 and by May of 1999 I was living in Orlando. Because I hadn’t really planned on this move, I didn’t have much money saved so a month after moving to Orlando, I had to get a job. I did get a job, and this job was the beginning of my working a schedule that was more conducive to how my body naturally functioned. I didn’t have to be at work until 3pm for this job. OMG, this was fabulous and there was no need for an alarm clock! The sunshine became my alarm clock, because most mornings I awakened to sunshine streaming into my bedroom. Every morning I thought to myself, why hadn’t I moved to Florida years ago. I loved it! Now, because I run my own business I have full control of my schedule and I try not to do any work before 11 am. I leisurely wake up, have some coffee, do a bit of writing and spend an hour or so doing yoga and meditation. Then, I’m ready to face my day. For the 10 years I’ve lived in the UK, I’ve had the freedom to do what I want with my time. For me, this is success! But lately, I have noticed a bit of anxiety around time. Maybe it’s due to getting older that I feel this mad rush to get things done. There’s so much I still want to do and sometimes it feels like time has sped up. Birthdays seem to be rolling around faster. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the birthdays. The anxiety around time, though, was something I knew I needed to get a handle on. I’d be working on a task and would feel knots in my stomach thinking about all the other tasks I needed to get to. Because of this, very little was actually getting done. And then the universe started sending me the answer. Take Your Time. This message was coming from everywhere … Take Your Time. Take ownership of your time. So I starting slowing down. I no longer multi-task. I work on one thing until it’s finished and then move on to the next, and if while doing that task I start thinking about something else I need to do, I add it to my to do list and then I get to it when I get to it. I’m taking more time with my songwriting. I am also saying ‘no’ a bit more … limiting my ‘yes’s’ to the things I really want to do. I like how Derek Sivers puts it, it should either be ‘hell yeah, or no.’ Another nugget I picked up from Derek is to ‘use the future.’ Not everything has to be done right now. Focus 100% on the (more)

Listen to the Track Blog Post

For as long as I can remember, I have loved words. As a kid, in all my report cards the consistent note from my teachers was ‘Gloria’s a good student, but she loves to talk ... she talks too much!’ My sisters always say I have the gift of gab! In high school my favourite subject was English and one teacher in particular, Mr. Tryba, made me love words even more because watching him speak was a delight. He articulated every word. When he spoke, it was like music. So fluid and full of passion. It’s no surprise that I also love reading. So far this year I have read twenty-one books and counting. Most of my Amazon.com purchases are books. My kindle is filled with history, mystery and fantasy, with a bit of self-help thrown in for mental health! Last year I started reading autobiographies and that’s a whole other level of awesome. With autobiographies, I like to pair the audio book with the e-book because it’s usually the author reading the audio book. That was the case with Becoming, by Michelle Obama and We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union. I also read biographies by Taraji P. Henson, Tina Turner and one of my favourites that had me both laughing out loud and crying was by Tiffany Haddish. These are all people I admire and hearing their stories in their own voices felt like having a conversation with these people right in my living room. By the end of their stories, I felt like I knew them in a completely different way. My favourite type of story is the psychological thriller. I love a good whodunit, and Dean Koontz is the master of this genre, in my opinion! I’m in the middle of one now called Holy Island by L. J. Ross set on Lindisfarne in the UK, but yesterday I was in need of some inspiration and turned to Oprah! I finished the audio book version of her book The Path Made Clear, Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose, and in it, Oprah along with experts from the worlds of music, movies, literature plus several spiritual leaders talked about knowing what their life’s purpose was even when they were young kids. They were naturally drawn to it. Most of the experts in the book simply followed the path of doing what they loved and the successes (and failures) were just a natural part of the journey. Reading this book made me want to know what’s behind my life’s pursuits. Why am I a singer and songwriter? Why am I releasing my own music? Why am I blogging and podcasting? Why do I present a weekly radio show? I went to bed last night with these questions on my mind, and this morning I had the answer. I want to be heard. So when I was running my mouth in class as a kid, I just wanted to be heard. It seems that my purpose is to communicate be it spoken or sung, and this purpose is fueled by my desire to be heard. I am living my purpose. I believe that life naturally moves in a forward direction, and a clear sense of purpose will guide us on our individual journeys. So keep moving forward, follow your heart and know your purpose.

Last year a friend sent me a text asking if I would be interested in auditioning for an amateur production of Sister Act and my immediate answer was ’no.’ I could feel the word bubbling up to my lips, but before I let that tiny word stop me from stepping outside my comfort zone, I thought about why I wanted to say no. I was scared. Some years ago I read this amazing book, and to be honest, the title of the book has been enough to get me to go past my fears. ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,’ by Susan Jeffers. This book title has become a mantra for me when I feel afraid of doing something. And those were the words I spoke out loud to myself as I responded ‘yes’ to my friends text. That one little ‘yes’ lead me to the most amazing experience of taking on the lead role of Deloris and discovering some elements of myself and my voice that I didn’t know I had. The production schedule for Sister Act was brutal, two rehearsals a week for four months, and in the weeks leading up to the show, I saw my fellow cast members more than I did my husband. It was the hardest I had worked on anything in years, and it was unpaid. What?? But, the rewards have been priceless! On opening night and was very close to hyperventilating. I was on the stage in place for the opening scene, I could hear the audience beyond the curtain, and I was looking into the wings thinking ‘I could make a run for it!’ Then the orchestra started playing the overture and I was at the place of no return. So, I closed my eyes, repeated my mantra, Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway, and when that curtain went up, baby I was Deloris! For six performances I put on my habit, belted notes I didn’t think I could hit and discovered that I’ve got pretty good comic timing. Doing that show was like a shot of adrenaline to the system, and it got me thinking about other things I wanted to do … just for me. Before moving to the UK ten years ago, I wrote and self-released my debut CD and just as it was being released, I got engaged, moved to England and got married. The release had a little bit of traction when it first came out in May of 2009, but needless to say, I was a bit distracted with all the changes in my life and that release fell through the cracks. Fast forward 10 years and I now run an entertainment company booking entertainment for corporate and private events, I’m a professional singer who performs shows all around the UK and I present a weekly radio show in Portsmouth, UK and that takes up the majority of my time and all of my energy. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished in those 10 years, but I also lost a lot of myself in the process. I stopped knowing my own voice. I was stepping into the personas performing various tribute shows and singing other people’s music, I didn’t really know my own voice. So, I did Sister Act for me. It had nothing to do with my business, nothing to do with my career as a singer, it was just something to do. In the process of doing that show, I heard it again. I heard my own voice. And I started to feel the passion for singing again. (more)

This past Halloween weekend I attended a 3-day music conference in London. When I first signed up for the conference, I was so excited because I know I have a lot to learn about the new music business, especially since it’s been a minute since I’ve released my own music. Ten years, in fact. As it got closer to the event, I was feeling less enthusiastic about going because as an older person in a young person’s game, I wasn’t sure there would be any information that would apply to me. On the first day, I arrived at the conference around 4pm and when I saw the other attendees, I immediately regretted being there. I felt 100 years old in the middle of all that glorious youth and hunger. I could smell the desperation to be seen and heard by anyone perceived to be in a position of influence. I was both terrified and invigorated by this environment, and strangely felt outside of my comfort zone. I was jealous of the youth swirling around me and wished I had the type of burning desire that I could see in the eyes of my fellow attendees. After day one, I wasn’t sure if that conference was for me and after day two of sitting through a full day of seminars, I realized that I’m at a place in my creative life where I’m going to have to figure this music business out for myself, because there are no experts sharing golden nuggets on how to navigate the music business when you’re an emerging artist, but in your 50s! I didn’t even bother going to the third day of the seminar because at the end of day two, I knew I had received what I needed from that conference. And that came from attending the DIY Seminar on day one. That seminar had the most impact, and the panel shared information that felt applicable to where I am in my journey. My current music is a bit experimental with one foot in today’s music and the other in yesterday’s music. The music that informs who I am as an artist has come from the 60s and 70s mostly, and the music that I’m currently drawn to is electronic based. So I’m pairing the music I love, old school Soul, Funk & Jazz with nu school electronic loops and trying to find my place in the broad spectrum of today’s music. Being a DIY artist gives me the freedom to create without the worry of fitting into any mould … to experiment with different genres and approaches without the concern of being commercial … to speak directly to my fan base in a real and honest way. Now, almost a month later and after taking a bit of a step back to evaluate where I am and where I want to be, I’m confident to stay in the game, but I’ll have to play it by my own rules and set my own benchmark for success. To Learn more about me and my music, go to gloriamiller.co.uk.

Listen to Who Do You Love Transcript Do People Still Sing About Love? Well, according to American Country Singer Dottsy, at least they still do in Texas. But is the subject of Love still celebrated in today's hit music? I did a bit of digging and here are some interesting statistics; it estimated that between 2017 and 2020 65% of songs will be about love. According to a University of Florida, "the subject of love still dominates pop song lyrics, but with raunchier language." I recently discovered the Artist Lizzo and I have to say she is taking raunchy lyrics to new heights and she sings about loving the skin you're in, which I see as a modern-day take on the 'love' song! I'm impressed with her swag, and she is bathing in her truth and allowing us to go along for the ride. It's taken me nearly 53 years to stop trying to be who people want me to be. So I applaud Lizzo and her honesty, candor and self-acceptance. My second single of the year was Who Do You Love, and you guessed it, this song is about love. Lasting love. Love as the foundation, weathered by storms with the cracks starting to show. But love is still there. Its roots running deep. I write and sing about love because music is universal and transcends boundaries to unify. Love has so many colours and you have to be brave to truly embrace its wonders. Though out the ages, the subject of love has dominated Music and Literature, and we all seek love in our lives and that desire propels us to open our hearts and minds to the possibilities that true love affords us. Learn more about me and my music!

Listen to Me Too Transcript: THE MAKING OF ME TOO – PART 1 When I dropped my first single of the year, Me Too, back in March of this year, after 40+ years of silence, I was speaking about sexual abuse that I experienced twice in my young life. Me Too would be my first self-released music in 10 years, so I was scared. And an added layer of discomfort was starting with a song that demands vulnerability from me, which is something I don't enjoy feeling. One night I was working on the song that is now Me Too, and the melody or top line started to form as I played the track over and over again. I grabbed my headphones and went to my computer to record the melody and then went off to bed. In the wee hours of the next morning I woke up thinking about what happened to me when I was 7 or 8 years old, and there was the first line of the song ... 'That night I remember, at my age so tender.' That night, I was sitting on the front porch with my sister who was in high school and her boyfriend who was also in high school, and on the football team. My sister went into the house, I can't remember why, and during the few minutes she was gone, her boyfriend pushed his middle finger up to my panties and then push his finger and my panties into my vagina. Honestly, I can barely type this. I immediately shrank back from him and then I put my head down on my lap. There it was. The feeling of shame, which gave birth to the lyric 'with just your finger, you left your shame, was I to blame?' As my sister was returning to to the porch, I jumped up and ran into the house. Even as young as I was, I knew that what he had done was wrong. I can't even remember his name. Fast forward to now. Immediately after I wrote the song, I started doubting whether I should even release it. I wondered if I should tell my story, when so many others have suffered worse abuse than I have. But then I thought, if what happened to me was so minor, why haven't I ever told a soul about it? Not my sister, who I used to tell practically everything to. Not my best friend who I tell everything to. Why was it time to tell this story now?

Download and Stream Me Too Blog Post Transcript: Last year I started working on an album project, quite by mistake to be honest. I started playing around with Apple Loops in Garage Band and ended up writing a song that I thought sounded pretty good. So, I kept playing around with these loops. Now, it’s 10 songs later and as of the 25th of October I have released five singles. The first single, Me Too, was released on the 29th of March, and of the 10 songs, Me Too is the most personal. This song took me completely outside of my comfort zone. So much so that I couldn’t sleep at night after I sent the finished song to the distributor. Here’s why. I haven’t self-released any music in 10 years. I’m singing about a subject that seems to both unify and divide. I’m finally telling my story of being sexually assaulted when I was a kid. This is some scary sh**. To be honest, right now is the first time I’ve truly spoken about it. Writing and recording the story was hard, but what I’m feeling right now is off the charts. I let my husband hear the track, and while he was listening I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Vulnerability sucks. In his very British way he asks, very slowly mind you, ‘is this about what they’re talking about in the news?’ My answer was it is and it isn’t. After writing the song I did some research on #metoo and discovered that Tarana Burke, a social activist and community organizer in the US, was the founder of this movement that started back in 2006. Tarana said she was inspired to use the phrase after being unable to respond to a 13-year-old girl who confided to her that she had been sexually assaulted. Burke said she later wished she had simply told the girl, “Me too.” After the songs release I received emails and messages from people saying, ‘Me Too’ and thanking me for being brave and sharing my story. But I didn’t feel brave. I felt scared and worried about what people will think. Is the song good enough. Am I good enough. In telling my truth I have realised that not feeling good enough is directly related to the shame that was left by what I experienced. This idea has permeated my teens and my adult life, but knowledge is power. Now that I know where this feeling was born, I can begin the work of growing past it. I’m already noticing that I’m worrying less about what people think. Maybe owning ones truth is the cure to the disease to please. I’m getting back to the me I was before the shame.