Caitlin Timmins
Madison, Wisconsin, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Meet Caitlin Timmins, a 16-year-old singer and songwriter from Wisconsin who is giving new meaning to the term “do-it-yourself.” Not only does Caitlin write all of her own music, she also records, mixes, edits and produces it, too! And all from the comfort of her bedroom. So just who is this multi-talented gal?
Caitlin started singing when she was tiny, and it’s all she has ever wanted to do. “Music has just always been there,” she explains. So when her mom came home one day two years ago with a new MacBook and the music creation software GarageBand, Caitlin was hooked. “I played around on it for hours,” she remembers. “I was so amazed that you could make and record music from home.”
And now? She’s become so tech-savvy that she has two recording software programs, a microphone and a sound box in her room. “I learned the programs the same way you learn anything else—practice,” she admits. “I didn’t have anyone I could ask for help, so I had to dive right in and learn on my own. It took a few months before I actually knew what I was doing, and it was frustrating, but it was definitely worth it.”
Caitlin’s hard work and perseverance are starting to pay off. She just launched her own website, www.caitlintimmins.com, and her single “Magazines” is available for purchase on iTunes. Plus, she’s got a solid crop of loyal fans who pop up all over her MySpace page. Pretty awesome for a girl who is still in high school.
But her favorite part about making music isn’t the prospect of a million dollar recording deal. Instead, Caitlin loves that she can share her music with friends and fans all over the country. “I want to reach as many people as possible with my music, because I believe that I was meant to share it with people,” she says. “I’ve realized that it’s not about me, it’s about what I give back to everyone else through my music.”
Plus, she’s also aware of the power she has to inspire other girls. After all, it’s not often that you find a teenager who can build such a successfully budding music career. “I want girls everywhere to know that anything really is possible,” she declares. “If you want it bad enough, you’ll get it. It takes hard work, big dreams and a little bit of luck, but if you have those things, I don’t think you can go wrong. I’m living proof that you don’t have to wait for somebody else to decide that you deserve success. You can go out there and get it yourself. So chase your dreams!”
Be sure to check out the links below (we recommend “Magazines,” her single on iTunes) if you’d like to learn more about Caitlin and her music, and let us know what you think!
—Amy Wilson - Girls' Life Magazine
Discography
"Firework" - Single (January 1st, 2011)
"On the Bright Side" (November 17th, 2009)
"Magazines" - Single (August 8th, 2008)
Photos
Bio
Well, I’m gonna be honest with you.
I thought about telling you about myself in a way that was all professional-sounding, and saying things like, “From a young age, Caitlin was already expressing a love for music...” blah, blah, blah. I also thought about telling you about the cookie-cutter version of the 18 year old singer/songwriter who just wanted to reach people with her music. You know, trying to make myself seem really awesome or something. But, I felt pretty strange writing about myself in the 3rd person.
I’m really just a normal Wisconsin teenager - who happens to have extremely big dreams. I’m 18, and frankly, I’d like to sound 18. Plain and simple. No need to fluff it up, right? So, I decided to tell you my story - or at least the start of it, in my own words.
I have loved music from an early age, but I was no Mozart. My love for music consisted of walking around singing the ABC’s for anyone who would listen, dancing in the living room lip-syncing to my favorite Britney Spears song, or playing the air-guitar and singing along to The Beach Boys with my Dad. Nobody expected back then that I’d ever have an album out by the time I was 17. Not even me. I did take piano lessons starting at age 5, but I quit at age 11 because I hated it, and never practiced. Figures. Now I play everyday and absolutely love it. Oh, and my best friend and I did plan to be in a pop-music singing girl group, just like the rest of the 7-year-old girl population in the 90’s, but as you can probably guess, that plan fell through.
I guess when I entered middle school, I decided to put my lip-syncing, wannabe pop-star, and air-guitar playing days behind me. I wanted to start doing the real thing. I joined my school choir, which eventually led me to my first love. Singing. I wanted to sing as much as I could - in talent shows, national anthem for sporting events, and I joined 3 different choirs.
Then, when I entered my freshman year of high school, my mom got a desktop Mac computer for her work. She was showing me all the cool features on it, one of them being GarageBand - a music recording program that comes on all Mac’s. I remember being so amazed that you could actually record songs right from your own computer. As you can imagine, I wanted to record songs of my own, which led me to my second love. Songwriting. As well as obviously sparking a lot of interest in recording, editing, and mixing music. So much that 3 years later as a senior in high school, I released my debut album - of which I wrote, recorded, edited, mixed, arranged, and produced every song from my own bedroom. I don’t have an agent or manager - I’m doing this all on my own. I even created this website myself.
I won’t lie. It gets to be extremely difficult and really frustrating, but the thing is - I don’t care. I’m so excited that I don’t have to wait for someone else to decide that I’m worth their time in order to start living my dreams. I get to show them myself. When it comes down to it, all the hard work is definitely worth it.
As for now, I’m just an 18 year old dreamer with a voice and a piano currently taking on my freshman year at Berklee College of Music.
So that’s the beginning of my story. I don’t know the rest, or how it ends yet. I guess I’ll let you know after I live it.
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