The lovely Julie Mae Hales is an American soprano who has just released her debut album, “Light a Candle.” We set out to get to know Julie better with 5 questions!
Natasha: Where did the inspiration for Light a Candle come from?
Julie Mae: For the longest time I thought I would just train my instrument to go as far as it could. I am a dramatic coloratura which is a hard instrument to control with a lot of power. I knew it would take a long time to control my instrument. I had always wanted to create an album. I thought it would stay a dream and that I would continue to train. When my Grandma passed away, I sang at her funeral the song Goin Home. After I was done singing this song everyone in the church was in tears and came up to me and said I needed to be a professional singer. To this day I don’t know how I was able to sing through that since I had tears streaming down my face the whole time this was eight years ago.
At first, it started out with just cover songs. Originally, I was going to call the album Love Never Dies. My voice teacher encouraged me to write my own songs which was very healing for me because during this time my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. That is when my journey of being a songwriter began. I think what shapes this album is all of the songs are about finding inner strength and finding light in the darkness.
Natasha: “Wanted” is quite a special track written for suicide prevention week. Your social media also is very positive and encouraging. Is there a specific message you want to leave with your listeners?
Julie Mae: “Wanted” was written after I heard the news that one of my accountancies had committed suicide. It brought back the memory of others in my life who took their lives. I wrote this song in just a few hours. The only thing that changed is we repeated you are loved over again. This song is about what you would say to someone who was about to end their life. The thing that comes back to me is that we are all wanted and loved by our creator. No matter what you believe there is someone who loves you.
I was bullied a lot growing up. So, for me, I always try to treat people with kindness and love. This life is so hard why make it harder for someone else. I think that is why I care so much for people since I know what it feels like to be treated poorly. When I was trying to figure out what to call my fan page, I was prompted to call it love and light. My goal in life is to emulate that with who I am as a person and the music I create or cover.
I would like to tell my listeners that they are wanted and loved. I think in our society we don’t hear that enough. With everything that has been happening in are world it can be hard for those who struggle with mental health and life in general. I truly and deeply from my heart want people to know that we will get through this time and that they are loved. To keep going we got this!
Natasha: What does music mean to you?
Julie Mae: I love music and the effect it has on me. I think it so important to listen to music that uplifts and heals your soul. I can’t imagine not being able to sing and have music in my life. Growing up music was always playing in our house. All of my siblings play an instrument and my Dad was my accompanist. Music brings me so much joy and peace. For me, it is like breathing I need it!
Natasha: Tell us a little bit about the team who created your album
Julie Mae: I was super blessed to work with my producer Phillip Peterson who is a Grammy-nominated arranger. My album was the first classical crossover album he has done. He arranged all of the strings and also mixed all of the vocals and instruments. He also played the cello on all of the tracks with the strings. What is unique about the way we did the strings is that he overdubbed them over many times to make it sound like a full orchestra. He had his sister Victoria Parker and his mom Sharyn Peterson play the violins on the album. I love how he made the music come to life.
My voice teacher Jordan Corbin was amazing at putting the piano arrangements to all of my original songs. She also encouraged me to start writing my own songs and would guide me on what changes I needed to make for the songs I wrote.
Natasha: Why did you choose to do classical crossover music?
Julie Mae: I have always loved this genre of music. I will never forget when my parents came home from their date night to give me the album Time to say goodbye by Sarah Brightman. I also love the idea of mixing different types of songs together in an album. I feel like some of my original songs kind of have a blues and classical crossover twist to them. With being a dramatic soprano my voice naturally works well with more classical songs. I also find the type of music very healing and it really touches your soul.
You can keep up with Julie on her Facebook page: she has also created a wonderful welcoming community for crossover fans 
Stream the album now on Spotify!
Hi Very Dear Julie, my name is Rupert I live in Norwich, Norfolk in the Wider region of East Anglia, I Have Been Trying to follow Your Really Wonderful musical journey on Face Book and Since joining Your journey I Have Been Really Happy to Have Found you and Your music Because I AM Unemployed and Have Had to Be My Dear Mother’s Carer which Has Been Very Hard at Times, she is 86 year’s Old But things ARE Now getting Easier for me in That Way, But I Too Have Had to deal with my Own health Problems along the way and that IS Where Your Really Wonderful music comes in as I Really DO Find it Helps my Stress and I Have Always found it Very Hard to Relax, I Too Lost my Very Dear Father to Dementia a Few Year’s Ago which Was Very Hard to deal with and Just Sometimes I DO Feel What IS the Point of Everything.I Would Love to Be Able to Have One of Your CD’S But I DO Have to Be SO Careful about finances, But I Did Just Want to write this to you Because of the way Your music Helps Me. Yours Sincerely Rupert Clarke XXX.