Jo Scaife

Her Music

SHE REMEMBERS IT ALL WELL. Barely out of the toddler years, her mother having passed away when she was three, little Jo Scaife would peek around the curtain to watch her father, Willie Lee Scaife and his Mellowtone Gospel singers launch into another round of How Far Is Heaven? Soon enough, hed look down, and there shed be, onstage, hugging his leg and singing along. She loved the music and possessed a booming jazz-tinged, R&B voice that even her father wasnt sure what to do with. But even then, the question of that one some intrigued her most. She would learn the answer soon enough.

Jo grew up on the road, traveling with her fathers group and listening to gospel standards. Early on, she felt, the tug of God on her heart, a call that would take years of prayer and pain to fully realize. There have been seasons of unbelievable loss punctuated with joyful, affirming accomplishments. At every turn, it was evident that God had a big, complex purpose for her.

In high school, Jo entered and won the Miss Black Fort Walton Beach pageant. She went on to compete in the Miss Teen World Pageant, as well as in the Miss Black Florida pageant. In 1991, Jo moved to Nashville to pursue a degree at Belmont University, where she was the first Black student and female to graduate with a Bachelors of Liberal Arts degree in Religion. She had many opportunities to model, write songs and eventually landing the top 50 of the nationwide John Lennon songwriting contest in 1998, with her song tilted, Hold On. She became known for her background vocal work for various artists in Christian and country music. Outside music, Jos involvement as a community volunteer and advocate grew. She is active in several volunteer ministries today.

In 1992, Jos father died, an event that allowed her, for the first time, to experience the sum of all the loss and grief in her life. The loss of her father was the beginning of discovery the person God had created her to be. When we rolled away from the gravesite, Jo says, It really hit me that all of those people were gone. My mother, my brother, my father. I had never allowed myself to feel it, but when he died, I not only realized how much pain Id been through but also what kind of person I really am. With each death, you begin again, you get a new perspective on life.

As more and more performance opportunities opened up, years of journaling and prayer grew into songs that express Jos experiences of love and loss. The process starting over again, of holding on despite the raging storms outside and inside, has shown her how to be still and know that God is, even in her suffering. And in that, she has learned to embrace her struggles. Its hard to believe, I know, but suffering has become my friend. It has helped me to see who I really am. It has kept me on the right path, Jo says. With each loss, each situation that has come into my life, Ive searched myself and drawn closer to God. Suffering has made me search

After a debut recording, HOLD ON, an expression of what God created in her life, the lessons learned through loss. Now entering a new season with a new project due to release in fall 2007 entitled, Welcome to Eden, shes even more determined to walk in the truth of who shes become. To say what she knows about life, what she believes is true, and to speak peace that will clam raging, questioning hearts. My music is not only about style. I say its R&B with a little jazz, pop and gospel thrown in, but its not about that. Its about not about color, although I am a black woman. My songs connect people through experience, by looking at the hearts of suffering people who long for God, and saying having been there, You can hold on, and God is present in your suffering.

To listen to Jo Scaife is to hear a powerful joy forged in the fire of grief. Every line out of her mouth has been lived to its fullest, the result of her resolve to leave behind a lasting legacy of one who has been constantly sheltered by His grace. As one who knows how far heaven can seem and yet how near God is when needed most, Jos powerful delivery from the depths of grief rings true musically-a rare feat by any measurement and a definite gift of God. For Jo, and for all of those who will hear her.