At a very young age,
singer/songwriter Winifred Adams, knew that if you put your mind
to something it could really happen! Born in Auburn NY, a tiny
town in upstate NY, home to 35,000, Adams began her pursuit of
the impossible at a young age. Never one to step down from an opportunity
to break the mould, Winifred was the first female ice hockey player
on an all boys team in NY state. Tired of standing in
the cold watching her brothers play she declared that she wanted
to play too! Only, little girls at age 6-7 weren’t allowed
to play. “Why not?” she asked her father. Silence… why
not?
Growing up the youngest of five,
Winifred, was a quiet child with a big voice. And even bigger dreams. “I
always loved music and loved to sing and dance. I would sing and
sing all sorts of albums. I dreamed of singing or expressing myself
but I never ever thought I would be someone doing this now. I never
ever thought this could or would happen,” Adams says of her
early years.
However, at a young age, the singing
would be replaced for a time with lots of athletics as tragedy
struck the family. Her second oldest brother committed suicide
after an arduous struggle with depression
and a failing body. He was 26. Winifred was 11. “He was
my buddy. My big buddy. We laughed and hugged and played! We shared
some kind of odd common bond. We even shared the same dream, up
until the night before he passed. I miss him.”
Though the
family took it as well as anyone could, the healing would take
years and singing took a back seat to athletics. “I
swam, I ran, I played tennis. I did just about anything I could
physically which
helped to diffuse the energy in me and the pain in watching my
parents suffer.” But time would heal the pain and singing
would again take the forefront of Winifred’s expression.
“I sang everywhere, all the
time, just, not in front of people unless it was in a show or a
play. In fact, most people I grew up with had no idea I sang that
much until just recently. Music of all kinds has always moved me,
deeply.”
Out of highschool Winifred was offered
a modeling contract in Europe but schooling would move that focus
west—far west to the
University of Colorado at Boulder. However, instead of using her
French degree to
teach or translate, she gravitated toward the world of healing
and health, something that apparently was a natural fit.
“Becoming a personal trainer
and herbalist was really not what I planned, but in hindsight,
it was the best thing that ever happened to me! I love athletics;
I was always into fitness and health; and I had this weird nerdy
fascination with body system health. So, for me, it was perfect.
I loved it and still do today, to whatever degree I can help people
or share information.”
It was while running her own corporation
for wellness that Winifred began her music career. She was up in
Toronto, Canada shooting an exercise video when she was introduced
to a music producer, Jack
Lenz. Jack has worked with the likes of Celine Dion, Mariah Carey
and Boyz To Men, among many other people. He heard Winifred sing
three songs and told her on the spot that she “needed to
do this as a career.”
As fate would have it, the audio
for the exercise video was ruined! However, what was left was the
audio tape from the singing session. Soon she landed her first
sponsor and went on to complete her first
demo. Singing in front of 50,000 people at the Rockies baseball
game
was her opening gig!
Winifred went on to sing on the WB2Today
program statewide and had a series of shows. She was quickly picked
up by Best Buy and her “demo” cd sold in Barnes and
Noble, Borders, and a variety of online stores as well. She managed
to do it all herself. She even dared to shoot her first cd cover
with live tigers—no photoshop there!
A move soon landed her in CA where
she began to pursue her music with a new focus and new tunes. Given
the advent of Itunes, her second “demo,” turned out
to be good enough for radio play worldwide and is now sold on every
online digital download media venue. Her version of Santa Baby
plays on radio around the world each holiday season.
Winner of the
Ascaplus Award and nominated for best country song, folk song,
and pop honorable mention, Winifred is not only crossing genres,
but covering ground with her insightful pop/country sound.
With the release of new music and
the first in a series of music videos, Winifred is poised to make
a mark. Leaning toward music with consciousness, this tiger-loving
alternative singer/songwriter with a flavor for country/pop is
sure to bring inspiration and sweet songs for time to come.
|