Haley Pharo

Though her name may be new to the public, for PHARO -- who is just 25, having been onstage since she was 8, writing songs since she was 11 and recording since she was 13--it’s been quite the Journey.  “I was waiting for ’that moment', where I knew who I was, and what I wanted to say as an artist…you know that ‘light blub’ moment we all hope to come too in anything we strive to achieve.’” says PHARO about beginning work on her debut album, produced by the multi-Grammy Award winning Andrew Dawson (Kanye West, John Legend, Beyoncé).  “The moment” came when she was in the studio with King Logan (of Timbaland’s production crew) working on the preview track “Con Artist.” PHARO recalls thinking: “I want my record to have this kind of feel.”  The song is indeed characteristic of the powerful, confessional, and infectious pop presented on PHARO’s forthcoming disc, which finds the artist unabashedly vulnerable and endearingly sassy. “In that song, I was saying what I wanted to say exactly how I wanted to say it,” she reveals, “I could never have done when I was a teenager”

Nonetheless, HALEY PHARO has been pursuing her muse with precocious focus for some time.  At seven, she saw a fellow camper sing “My Favorite Things” at a talent show, then reasoned, “If she can do that here, I want to do that everywhere.” There weren’t many professional singing opportunities for children in Dallas, however, PHARO found some like minded teens and developed her chops singing with various Dallas’ites like Ryan Cabrera, Kevin McHale, Hunter Parrish and Demi Lovato the group would perform around the local malls, and pass the time with them seeing the latest movies and just hanging out.

PHARO’S ambition next asserted itself in her choice of vocal coaches: “I loved Michael Jackson’s singing, so I decided I had to work with his vocal coach.  I went online and found out that his name was Seth Riggs.  I begged my father to call him, I was just like 13 years old, most parents would be like…whatever, but my dad called and set up an audition”. Auditioning over the phone.  Impressed by what he’d heard, Riggs said, “If you can get to Los Angeles, I’ll train you.”  “So, we went to L.A.,” PHARO reports, noting, “I have the most supportive parents in the world.” PHARO would return to Los Angeles frequently thereafter and eventually make her home there.  On one visit, she was recruited by a family friend to sing in a choir Michael Jackson was forming to entertain fans at Neverland Ranch.  While she was in the studio recording with the group, Jackson was video-chatting with the producer.  “Michael happened to hear my voice,” she says, “and pulled me out to layer some vocals.  I just kept saying to myself, ‘This is not happening.’ ‘This is not happening.’”  It did happen, though, on the song “From the Bottom of My Heart,” which remains in the treasure trove of unreleased Jackson tracks.
 
Beginning to set roots in Los Angeles, PHARO met a young backup singer for Justin Timberlake, who became a friend and later invited her to record some of her material.  “It was at a makeshift pre-production studio, nothing fancy,” she says.  “But that didn’t make it any less exciting.”  If she needed further confirmation of her direction in life, cutting those three songs was it because from there, PHARO would go on to befriend and collaborate with a who’s who of musical talent, including will.i.am, whom she met backstage when the Black Eyed Peas were touring with Timberlake.  “I just stumbled onto a really cool path and ended up getting to know some great people along the way,” she says. 
 
PHARO now comfortably settled in the Los Angeles world of music decided it was time to find a producer to combine all these years of work into her first record. Threw friend she found industry support if the form of management who would help her define her years of work into a debut, guidance that would bring Andrew Dawson on board to finally craft her songs into a cohesive first effort. Once recording was finished with recording with Andrew Dawson, there were still some styles of tracks that PHARO felt were needed to round out her sound. So she enlisted long-time music veterans David Palmer and Chuck Kentis, to add a cinematic and sparsely emotional side to the record, by the end of 2013, three new tracks were born and the record was complete.