Even though I couldn't read a note, I was nine years old when I sat at the church piano to play my first song. It was the boogie-woogie, and you would have thought that I was Little Richard!  The huge sanctuary was dark and cold so I thought I was alone until I heard that single, most profound applause descending on me from the darkness. I was frozen with fear, not daring to turn around because I knew who it was.  This is GOD I thought, and HE'S come to send me straight to hell for what I've done. I was wrong.  It was Reverend Thomas H. Rankin (my church pastor; God #3) who encouraged me first. I can only imagine how I must have appeared to him. To me He was a pillar of a man (over six feet tall) with a voice I'd compare to Barry White. He flipped on some lights and without missing a beat, told me I had a lot of talent, and that the church was gonna have to find a way to put it to good use. 

Being the youngest of six children, my upbringing was very strict so, my social life closely revolved around the church.  While my mother was soft spoken and nurturing, my father (God # 2) was a stern, no-nonsense man who seldom spoke and whose reply was mostly "no" unless it involved church.  So, church became my home of homes, and, that first (unintended) audition for Reverend  Rankin, led to my being allowed to assist our Jr. Choir Director, Ms. Thelma Phillips.

Ms. Phillips was so much more than a choir director to me.  To this date, I'm still amazed and inspired by her.  She was my "fun" in a serious place. Through her, I camped, cooked, took trips on planes, did music and most importantly, made my Father very proud of me. I will always love and  bless her for the way she nurtured me and many others.  However, by age sixteen, I was yearning to expand my boogie beyond church songs.

I'd heard about an upcoming talent contest where the competition would be from three different cities (East Chicago, Gary and Hammond, Indiana). The auditions and rehearsals were being held at the sponsor's home in Gary, so, I secretly got three other girls from church to join me in forming a singing group.  We called ourselves the Delmoniques, signed up for the show and snuck to rehearsals.  Needless to say, I was surprised when we won first place in the female group category. We shared that honor with the male group winners, Michael Jackson and his brothers (by the way, the rehearsals were also held at Michael Jackson's house; his father, Joe Jackson, sponsored the contest).

Our first place prize was a trophy, and a recording studio session in Chicago, Illinois.   I changed back into my regular clothes and went home without the trophy, but there was no way I was gonna miss a recording studio experience in "The Windy City!" So, on a weekend night, we (along with an older sister of one of the girls) caught the South Shore Train to a recording studio on Chicago's south side. We did back-up on two songs, for the Duke of Earl, Recording Artist, Gene Chandler.  I'll never forget that experience nor my arriving home around midnight to find my worried parents who had the police out looking for me...

By age eighteen, I was writing, arranging and performing in as many musical genres as possible.  One of the arrangements was a boogie spin to an old gospel hymn entitled Father Along We'll Know All About It.  This arrangement was selected by Musical Director, Lucius "Skip" Bell, of Chicago (pictured with me on the left), as the grand finale for a two-act musical (Second Coming Last Chance), which ran for two years. One of my original scores (Slow Down World) was also featured in the musical.

Thousands of performances later, I was introduced to a new genre, voice-overs (commercials for radio and TV.) by Producer, Butch Stewart (who now does music for the Oprah Winfrey show). He hired me to do leads and some backups on a few spots.  When I received my first residual paycheck, I was hooked.

Life being life, I became married with children.  But as my career blew up, my marriage fell apart so I chose to take a "time-out" for something more important than working voice, (my two girls: Sky and Beannie).  I looked for work that offered stability and consistency and found it as a Clerk in my girl's school district. That way, I was always around and could keep a bead on everything they did. Can you feel the love I received with that twelve-year decision? 

From home, I still needed a creative outlet so I began working on the draft for a musical production entitled Maranatha!  On completion of the draft, I began auditioning musical talents (from my school district) to make a demonstration video. Most of these talents were young, raw and/or inexperienced.  They had unrealistic dreams, unprofessional presentations and unbelievable expectations. After a couple of months, they began to wear on my nerves, that is, until I began to realize how much of myself I saw in them. Through many of these "wanna-bees" I began to hear and see that sixteen-year-old girl who'd snuck off to be in that talent show with Michael Jackson.  The auditions began to evolve into talk sessions where I shared my experiences and encouraged their questions. Two years later, I published and sold these sessions in a book entitled "Sound Advice."

About five years ago, I could see the writing on the wall; I knew my daughters would be graduating school and heading off to college. So, I began taking voice-over workshops to prepare for now. I studied with Bud Barth (one of the animated voices of Fred Flintstone). Through Mr. Barth, I received a scholarship to study voice animation. I also studied with Gordon Jump (the Maytag Man on T.V.) and other talented coaches at Voice Trax West in Century City, California.

Fast forward:

Sky and Beannie graduated high school and took off to pursue their educations in far away places (the nerve). In the mean time, I have left my nest for the Emerald City of Seattle to return to my voice and my Sound Advice.

"Hi, I'm Christina Henderson...
welcome to my world of voices, enjoy!"