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"Remember Her Name" Aspiring country singer Amanda Pearce's appearance last week opening for Kenny Chesney At Sangamon Auditorium was both a homecoming and a beginning. It was a homecoming in that it was Springfield native Pearce's highest-profile performance in her hometown. It was a beginning because- if all goes as the 19 year old hopes- we may look back on it one day as the show that marked Pearce's entry into the country music big time. Early this year Pearce left Springfield for Nashville to pursue full time the dream she had been following since she was a youngster. Her move to Nashville did not come on a whim. Her father, Tom, had accompanied her there on several previous visits as the two tried to map out a somewhat logical plan to enter what often is an illogical business. The result was Pearce's obtaining a management contract with a Los Angeles company called ‘Lil Bit of Nashville & More. The company is a partnership between Ray and Wendy Armendariz, both of whom retired careers in television and marketing to start their management company. Ray was a news cameraman for 23 years, and Wendy worked as a morning show writer and producer at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and as Vice President for marketing at Long Beach Mortgage. "Public relations and marketing, it's all about selling a person. This is a natural progression," Wendy says. "The quality Ray and I bring to it is when you work for live television, you don't take no for an answer." Pearce came to the attention of the Armendarizes after someone saw her singing on Nashville's Music Row, where many country hopefuls perform on the street to attract the attention of the management, publishing and record companies located there. Impressed by Pearce's voice, spirit and looks, that person called the Armendarizes and advised them to contact Pearce. They were impressed and flew her to Las Vegas so she could perform at a trade convention. An impromptu performance at the famous Gilley's country music saloon sealed the deal, Wendy says. Since taking Pearce on as a client, the Armendariz have put considerable money, time and effort into mapping out her career route. They enlisted Pearce with respectable Nashville booking agent Al Embry International, and that company is putting together a tour that will start in January and run through summer. The tour will take Pearce around the country and into shows at college venues, fairs, rodeos and large country music clubs. The goal is to cast Pearce's name over as wide an area as possible, so that record companies will hear of her. "We don't want Amanda in bars. She's not a bar act," Wendy says. Pearce seems keenly aware that she is among a very few aspiring singers who get this kind of help. "I didn't think it would happen so fast," she says in her dressing room below the auditorium. "I've been so lucky to have awesome people put in my life." Pearce's managers are not looking only after the business aspects of her budding career. They enlisted her with Nashville vocal coach Rene Grant Williams, whose clients include Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. "I'm learning how to breathe a whole different way," Pearce says. "I've only been to three lessons and I can already tell it's helped. I've been singing the same way for 29 years, so it's gonna take a while to change." This week Pearce and the Armendarizes began remixing Pearce's independently released debut album, "Before I Fall." Pearce released the album in July. While the CD is a very good showcase of Pearce's singing talent, the Armendarizes thought it needed a little work to sound up to record label standards. "We want it to sound a little hotter," explains Wendy. Pearce already has hired a drummer and guitar player for her touring band(the played with her in Springfield), and this week continues auditioning players to fille her keyboard, bass and utility player positions. Pearce's managers brought her to Los Angeles to shot a video for her song "Made You Look" and arranged a photo shoot while she was there. They even flew the hair stylists who worked on the video and photo sets, Paul Del Castillo, to Springfield to do Pearce's hair before her performance. So far, the have paid for everything, banking heavily on their belief that Pearce will eventually will be signed to a record label and will become a star. "When she starts playing in the big venues, we will get a percentage." says Wendy. "If she's not huge, that's the risk we take." And if it does happen, those
at Friday's show will be able to say they saw it at the very beginning.
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