Being an avid music lover, I am thrilled to discover a new
artist with a dynamic voice that stands out from the rest; and mystified when I
realize they are not new…they just didn’t cross my radar.
During the days of Star Search I remember watching a little
girl with a big voice singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and rooting for
her to win (which she did); didn’t recall her name and like most of us little
kids with big voices slip into the background of our listening experiences.
Mainly because what type of music would appeal to adults from a little kid with
a big voice. I am also a lover of ice skating, so when Disney on Ice graced my screen
back in the day, I was transfixed. In the Wizard of Oz segment there was a young
woman singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow with the most dynamic vocals a
music lover’s ears want to hear. I didn’t know who she was but was enthralled with her rendition of the song. Had the internet been then what it is today, I would
have googled her and found out who she was.
Fast forward to today I am watching an Unsung segment featuring
the husband of one of my favorite gospel singers. He is a Grammy award winning
producer and started producing music at a young age. They showcased several
artists he produced; one was a young lady with vocals that matched Whitney Houston
and dance moves on par with Janet Jackson. When they showed her interview
talking about working with him, I didn’t recognize her, she was much older in
the interview than she was in the video. I did take note of her name, Shanice.
Now that google is around, I could find out who this dynamic singer was(is). To
my surprise she turned out to be the little girl from Star Search and the young
woman from Disney on Ice. I was floored and wondered why she didn’t cross my
radar in the 90s when she was at the height of her career. Assessing my musical
life during that time I was totally into music that fed my deep desire to grow
closer to God. Unfortunately, Shanice was not singing in that genre; and
because the music industry is fickle and cutthroat, she received a raw deal and
did not gain the same notoriety as Whitney and Janet, resulting in a dynamic vocalist
fading into obscurity (creating a loss for music listeners in my opinion).
As I learned more about her, I discovered she was married to
an actor whose tv show I watched every week, and that was her singing the theme
song to his show called One on One. The two of them had their ups and
downs in the industry and created a reality show called Flex and Shanice to
tell their story of how they survived the storm together giving God the glory.
They have a fascinating love story and marriage.
Why is Shanice significant to me? When you watch videos on YouTube, they track what you watch, and you get similar vids in your feed. On the day I received a cancer diagnosis a video of Shanice pops up…not the usual music related content I normally get but an interview of her appearing on Good Morning America the day before I saw this one; she was there not to sing but to share her survival with breast cancer surgery in May and June of this year. When she revealed the type of cancer she had I realized I did not know what type I was diagnosed with. I read the report I received from the imaging center, and it was the same type she had. Unfortunately, I share her skirmish with mammograms and her reason for not getting regular checkups. Hearing her story of mammogram struggles and survival with the same type of cancer I am going to survive, and on the same day I receive the news, with an admonition that it is not a death sentence gave me my first ray of hope.
How many of you know discovering her and that video popping up in my
feed was not a coincidence…
Nov 11, 2024 at 4:24PM
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