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Cheyenne Kimball Biography
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Biography from Cheyenne's official site:
In more ways than one, being grounded continues to be
an important part of teenage singer-songwriter, Cheyenne
Kimball's life.
When she was eight, she wrote her first song - entitled "All
I Want Is You" - after being sent to her room for saying
something mean to her older sister. "I remember writing it
and hoping it would get me out of trouble," she recalls. "I
haven't stopped writing songs or getting into trouble
since."
Growing up in Frisco, Texas in a tight-knit family,
Cheyenne's natural music ability was harnessed to her
determined personality. When she was nine she entered
herself into a talent night at a club without her parent's
permission. "My mom and dad weren't happy, but in the end
they figured it might be a good thing because if I got on
stage and hated it, I would stop asking for permission to
busk on street corners in town."
Much to her parent's surprise, Cheyenne blossomed under the
spotlight. "I turned and looked at my husband and we both
knew that she was born for this," says Cheyenne's mother and
co-manager, Shannon. "Since then our biggest priority has
been keeping her emotionally grounded and giving her the
time she needs to mature as a person and an artist. She's
grown up so fast, but I don't think it's ever fast enough
when you're a teenager."
By the time Cheyenne was 12 she had developed into a musical
prodigy, writing nearly 200 songs and performing anywhere
her mother would drive her. The same year, in 2003, Cheyenne
gained national attention when she won the title of
"America's Most Talented Kid" on the NBC show. Later that
year, Sony/Epic Records signed her to a multi-record deal.
For more than three years after signing with Epic Records,
Cheyenne nurtured her passion for songwriting by traveling
to different cities to work with and learn from some of
rock's most successful songsmiths. "I feel like I just
graduated from songwriting school so maybe this album is my
diploma," Cheyenne says of her 12-song debut, The Day Has
Come. "I hear a lot of people say that albums are like
snapshots in time, but I think my album feels more like a
movie because I see myself growing up in these songs."
Driven by distorted guitars and the shout-along refrain,
"Nothing's gonna stop me anyway," Cheyenne says the first
single, "Hanging On," became her anthem in the studio. "It's
a song about following your dreams and never letting things
stand in your way; basically what I've been doing all my
life," she says. "The song was really important to me
because it kept reminding me to be patient, which is
something that I'm not very good at."
The album's mix of insistent rock, acoustic roots jangle and
bluesy tones reveal Cheyenne's left-handed guitar prowess
while her natural vocal delivery takes center stage on
tender ballads such as "Four Walls." The poignant track is
colored by Cheyenne's very real feelings of helplessness.
"My dad almost died from a serious infection when I was away
recording that song," she recalls. "The day I was flying
home to see him in the hospital, I went into the studio and
sang what's on the record. What you hear on that song is not
a performance; the emotion is coming from a very real and
honest place."
But not all of Cheyenne's experiences in the studio were as
emotionally draining. One of the happiest times of her life
was spending six months recording in California with bassist
Brad Smith and guitarist Christopher Thorn - both former
members of Cheyenne's favorite band, Blind Melon. It was the
quintet's self-titled debut that first inspired a seven-year
old Cheyenne to pick up a guitar. "I remember very clearly
the first time I heard 'No Rain.' It came on the radio - it
had to be a few years after the record was out - and I was
hooked," she says. "I just had to learn how to make those
sounds. A friend gave me a guitar a few months later and I
was on my way."
The sessions with Smith and Thorn, Cheyenne says, became a
turning point for her songwriting. "When I was working on
'Everything To Lose' with the guys, I started to feel more
confident than I ever had," she recalls. "I can never thank
them enough for helping me open up as a songwriter and
teaching me how to let the music flow organically. I cried
the day I left their studio because it felt like I was
leaving home."
The biggest challenge of making The Day Has Come, Cheyenne
says, was choosing 12 songs from the more than 50 she'd
recorded. "I didn't stop writing for three years because the
songs were getting better and better," she says. "I wanted
to make this album as good as it could be and I'm truly
thankful that Epic gave me the time to develop as an artist
and allowed me to make the record I wanted to make."
After finishing The Day Has Come this spring, Cheyenne and
her family left behind their longtime home in Frisco and
moved to Los Angeles to make it easier for Cheyenne to
rehearse for her summer tour. "Everyone in my family has
always been supportive of what I do," she says. "The funny
thing is a lot of people assume that my parents are the ones
pushing me to make music. The truth is that I'm the one
dragging them along on this crazy ride. They'd much rather
have a normal life, but it doesn't look like that's in the
cards."
To capture the surreal reality behind Cheyenne's drive to
succeed as a singer and songwriter, MTV cameras began
documenting her life for a program called, "Cheyenne." "It's
a little awkward to know that the world is going to see you
and your mom argue about stupid things and watch me get
grounded...again," she says laughing. "But it's cool that
people will also get to see how much this family loves each
other too."
The series opens as the Kimball family prepares to relocate
to L.A. "I'd been so busy writing and recording that I
didn't have time to think about what it really meant to
leave home," Cheyenne says. "When the day finally came it
caught me off guard emotionally. All the dreams I'd been
working toward my whole life were coming true. All the hard
work and patience were finally paying off. Driving around
town with my sister for the last time, the title of the
album - The Day Has Come - took on a very real meaning for
me."
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