Brandi Valentine

Growing up in small towns in Washington and Missouri, Brandi Valentine listened to a lot of country music but there was so much more that excited her. Valentine’s earliest musical memory was at age 5, when she received a microphone from her mom at Christmas. She began singing along to holiday music on the radio and rummaged through her mom’s closet to dig out all her old LPs. A short list of influences that helped define her later development as an artist includes country greats Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, The Judds, Reba McEntire, Lynn Anderson and Kenny Rogers (“I wore out ‘The Gambler,’” she laughs), along with pop stars Pat Benatar, Dr. Hook, The Eagles and Amy Grant. Valentine sang in a lot of church and school choirs, but recalls her first public solo number being “Fool Such As I” (recorded by many artists, including Elvis) at her sixth grade talent show.

“When I’d listen to most country songs, I’d love them because they’d make me feel happy or sad, but sometimes I felt like they weren’t going quite deep enough,” states Brandi. “That’s where the songs we worked on in my debut album Deeper come in, tunes that combine all the different styles I loved since I was a little girl. I love classical, so there are strings. I love classic R&B, so there are grooves and brass that touch on that. And ‘Blue Train’ is a fun, Atlanta styled blues number. It’s a little bit of everything, but in the end, it’s who I am. The same way all of these styles I’m drawing from connected with me, I believe they will connect with listeners who hear the album.”

Valentine’s fortuitous meeting with her future musical soul mate and the producer of Deeper, Michael Wayne Edging came about through a fascinating series of events that bring to mind the phrase, “only in the music industry.” In 2000, when she was living in Crescent City, California (near the Oregon border), a promoter came to town and held a battle of the bands contest; first prize was an opening slot for country singer Mindy McCready at the local fairgrounds. She hadn’t planned on entering the contest, but happened by the bar and sang to some tracks—and won!

Her performance before McCready’s show caught the ear of her road manager (who heard Valentine sing via cell phone), and asked for a demo. The concert promoter Jim Vining also invited her to come to Las Vegas, where she started doing various gigs. One night when she was singing at the Idle Spurs Tavern, Bobby Howard—who had been in the legendary group The Coasters and for whom Edging played sax at one time—heard her and told her that Edging was looking for a female demo singer. Valentine and Edging hit it off immediately, and it was clear from the start that their future collaborations would involve much more than recording demos. In fact, Edging originally decided to launch Alive Records for the very purpose of releasing Brandi’s music to the world.

“The minute he heard me, he asked, what do you want to do? Make an album?” she recalls. “It was that obvious that something big was going to happen with us. I started recording songs for him, put Brandi Valentine & Company together for business purposes, and we got rolling. Mike instinctively knew what kind of music I liked and he loved all the same things I grew up with. It’s almost like meeting him was an answer from God and his songs were meant for me to record all along.”

Edging says of his protégée, “Brandi is the most naturally talented female singer I have ever met. It’s like an old soul in a young body because she has a depth of musical styles she brings to the Country format. I like to call it Sade meets country. It’s a sultry tone and a dynamic presentation with special attention to lyrical detail—Brandi has it all and gives it all onstage or in the studio at every performance.”

While Valentine is only at the beginning of what will no doubt be an inspiring career in country music, she sees the release of Deeper as a powerful dream come true. “Making my own album was my only goal when I was growing up,” she says, “and I am so happy to now be able to get out there and connect emotionally with people the way my favorite singers connected with me. Most people won’t even try going after a dream, so I feel a great sense of satisfaction that things are coming together this way. I knew I wanted to do this from the time I was a little girl. I could talk to you and tell you how I feel about something, but I couldn’t communicate as well as I do when I’m singing. The feelings I put out with music are far more powerful than anything I could say.”

Valentine, who was born in Kennewick, Washington, now lives in Northern California and Las Vegas.