Serita's Black Rose

SERITA: The Black Rose Comes To Cheboygan
Rate it - Add commentBy Rick Coates

Serita Crowley has one goal in life. She wants to do it all.

“You know that student who says I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up? That is still me. I know it is not possible, but there is so much that I want to do with my life,” said Serita (like many singers she is known by her first name). “I want to sing, write songs, paint, act, cook, and that is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Serita will bring her vocal talents to the Hack-Ma-Tack Inn on Saturday September 29. Located at the mouth of the Cheboygan River at Mullet Lake (just south of Cheboygan) the Hack-Ma-Tack has become a haven for musical talent. Serita will perform at 9 p.m. right after the Rock and Wine Tasting (see Bottoms Up).

Her visit to Cheboygan this weekend won’t be her first.

“I have performed there several times. I remember my first time was about 15 years ago when a band I was doing backing and lead vocals with and we did a lot of Grateful Dead stuff. Rob Redding who owns the place was like, ‘wow, what are you doing with these guys? You need to get your own thing going.’ So I went back to Grand Rapids and started my own band.

‘BLEW ME AWAY’

Rob Redding, who along with his wife, now owns the Hack-Ma-Tack Inn (his parents owned it when he was growing up), remembers the first time he met Serita.

“The first time I heard her sing she just blew me away. “I feel that Serita is one of these great singers that has fallen through the cracks, a musical oversight by the industry,” said Redding. “I think we are catching her as a rising star.”

Serita’s musical tastes are very diverse. “To put it simply I like just about every musical style,” she said. “Pretty much my music draws from all genres. I don’t think it is definable; I can be funky, bluesy, even a little hip-hoppy and then rock out when the time calls. I don’t think I can classify my music as one style.”

For as long as she can remember she has been singing, starting with the church choir as a child. When she was in school she had dreams of being a painter or actress and singing was more of a hobby.

“I just sang all the time, in the shower, when I went for walks,” said Serita. “Then in college I did the karaoke thing and open mic nights. When I watched my friends’ bands play they would call me up on stage, and before I knew it I was in a band.”

MOVING ON

Band life wore on Serita, however, and she now takes a different approach.

“My band, Serita’s Black Rose, is just myself and my other half, Jon Hayes, who plays guitar and sings. He co-writes with me at times, and he also produced the new EP,” said Serita. “We both have gone through the band thing and found that it really never works out, this whole ‘we are going to be one big happy family’ doesn’t work. So what we have is several sets of players who know our material inside and out and when we play as a full band we bring them in.”

She opted for the acoustic version of her music this Saturday versus her full band. Since Hayes has a prior engagement, she will be performing with another guitarist, Jim Prang.

The Hack-Ma-Tack wanted Serita to perform Friday but her other career will keep her from performing both nights.

“I am attending an Art Prize reception on Friday in Grand Rapids. This is my second year entering and I have done quite well with my paintings, selling several. So this is important to me just as my music is. Someday I hope to mix all my passions together.”

Serita performs at the Hack-Ma-Tack Inn at the mouth of the Cheboygan River at Mullet Lake (just south of Cheboygan) on Saturday September 29 at 9 p.m. Info: seritasblackrose. com & hackmatackinn.com.
- Rick Coates