Profile on Aunt Jaci
by Jessica
http://www.jacirae.com
Have you ever heard the name Jaci Rae? Well, my aunt is a country singer, radio talk show host, and an author. She is known as Jaci Rae to most people. Personally, I have always known her as just plain Aunt Jaci. Thus far, my aunt has written a wide variety of books, fourteen in all. She has written children's books, poetry books, a music industry book, and a book on relationships, among others. They are, from what I've heard, doing quite well. Of this large variety of books she has written, some are being sold at Borders, on the web, at Barnes and Nobles and through Amazon.com.
Her latest book, "Winning Points With the Woman in Your Life One Touchdown at a Time, " about men and their relationships with women, has been a great success. She has already re-written a lot of the book and has issued another release of the book. She has done hundreds of interviews and radio shows here in California, and in many other states as well, just for this book alone. She is currently hosting a radio show once a week. Not only has she been on hundreds of radio shows, but also a variety syndicated TV shows as well. My Aunt seems really excited about this book and its' success.
Another of her books, "The Indie Guide to Music, Marketing and Money," is also very important among many people interested in the music business. Some have said, "To many new singers, it is the only missing piece in their music career." In fact, singer Justin Timestin, says that Jaci Rae's book, "The Indie Guide to Music, Marketing and Money, "is what he has been looking for all along. Reginald Owens and his partner, with the help of this book, got college bookings, radio and Internet airplay. They also got the number nine spot in the College Music Journal, otherwise known as CMJ. My Aunt really enjoys it when there is something she has learned that she can pass on to others. It is a good quality about her.
My Aunt Jaci won the Golden Music Awards's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award in Nashville, TN, the prestigious Levi Strauss award, and a bunch of other industry awards. There's no telling what they all were. She has her own website, and some of her many awards are listed there. The name of her website is www.jacirae.com, and you can check out some of her awards and some of the things she has done there for yourself.
Jaci has two CD's that are official, and one that isn't, so she doesn't consider it a CD. Her CD's are being sold and played all over the world, internationally, that is. A few of the many stores where her CD's are being sold are Sam Goody's, Tower Records, FYE, Barnes and Nobles, Borders, and Music Land. There is a listing of more stores where you can buy her CD's on her website. Her website has been posted on the Internet since 1998. When she first went online, she designed the website herself. Since then she has had help from others, but it's nice that she isn't afraid to try anything new.
She has made four or five good friends that she considers "insiders" in her world in the entertainment industry since she became a singer, and several friends that she just "hangs out" with. (She is not always certain of someone's directive when it comes to getting to know who she really is. That's why she relies heavily on her close knit group of friends outside of the industry). My aunt has wanted to sing since she was three, and has done it professionally since she was ten. As you can probably tell, my aunt is also self-employed. She says being self-employed is lots of fun, lots of work, and sometimes nerve-racking. Jaci says that touring is sometimes lots of fun, sometimes exhausting, and not always quite as great as it seems.
According to my aunt, when you go on tour, your day can start at about three o' clock in the morning, and doesn't end until about two o' clock in the morning the next day. So, with sometimes as little as an hour of sleep, it can be extremely tiring. My Aunt's favorite part about touring is meeting new and exciting, and sometimes just normal people, and her least favorite part is being on planes: rumbly, tumbly, turbulent, layover, delayed, stuffy, thrown-up in, planes. Her favorite tour was one she went on throughout Denmark and Belgium. She said the people were "just the funnest".
Her least favorite tour was throughout Germany. Promoters there ripped her off. Well, being in a foreign country, and being her own representative, didn't work out very well on this trip. Since she was her own business agent and this happened in another country, she couldn't do anything in the United States. Somehow this incident fell between the legal cracks of countries. Someone was supposed to pay her fifteen thousand dollars, but when he showed up, he only gave her seventy-five dollars. She didn't even finish the sixty-day tour she had agreed to. She just got on another rumbly, tumbly, turbulent, layover, and wouldn't you know it, delayed plane and went back home.
Because of her many, many trips, she has experienced many incidents to tell about. One of the incidents she had was when she was in a different country. A lady got past the security and cut off a lock of my aunt's hair. Some things just sound more exciting than they are. This wasn't a wonderful experience. She feels her greatest accomplishment through all of this, has been her family and friends.
There have been many times when she was just tired and wanted to quit, but she is glad she didn't. When thinking about everything she's been through she wishes that she could have learned the business part of her job faster. Some of the advice she gives is not to become a singer until you are eighteen years or older. You can really get messed over in this business if you're not careful. She really stresses the importance of the business. Even with a manager or someone looking out for the business part of everything, you have to be really careful. It's best if you understand things yourself. You shouldn't do what you know is wrong just because it is "part of the job".
I have always enjoyed the company of my Aunt, as she is a great person to be around. She giggles and laughs a lot, just like me. She has a lot of funny stories to tell, and she always has fun, and tries to make everything more fun for others.
