By Rod Harmon
Knight Ridder Newspapers
He has dazzled television audiences on the "Today" show, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and the Academy of Country Music Awards. His debut album vaulted over Faith Hill and Shania Twain to hit No. 2 on Billboard's country charts. Tim McGraw was so overwhelmed by his voice that he jokingly said, "Put a gag on that kid until my career's over."
He's Billy Gilman. And he's only 12 years old.
"It's so overwhelming," the 4-foot, 7-inch child prodigy said recently from his home in Hope Valley, R.I. "It's going so fast, but it's so great. It's more than I ever dreamed and more. I just thought that I would make a record and blah blah blah, a couple of days, and that would be it. But the success has been so phenomenal. It's been so . . . so . . . awesome!"
Maybe it's because of his down-home upbringing, or maybe it's because the enormity of his success hasn't sunk in yet, or maybe it's just because Gilman is a good kid, but talking to him on the phone, he immediately hooks you with his politeness and infectious personality. He's serious about his music, sure -- but he's also a kid, and proud of it.
In between comments about his smash debut album on Epic, "One Voice," and the smash single of the same name, Gilman gushes about Harry Potter ("I have the first three, I love the characters and the funny sayings,") the new Sony PlayStation video game system ("Is it out yet?!! Ohhhh, I want one!") and his new tour bus ("It's so neat. The first time I was on it, it was so fun. I was opening all the doors, checking out the bathroom, making the windows go up and down and stuff. Finally, everybody told me to stop it because I was making them seasick!"). Then he laughs in a hearty, high-octave giggle, and you can just picture his toothy smile on the other end of the line.
Such an unassuming demeanor belies the fact that Billy Gilman is the hot topic of Nashville. At the root of it all is the sentimental ballad "One Voice." Written by David Malloy and Don Cook, co-producers of the album, the song is a lament for the days when being young didn't mean living in fear: "A house, a yard, a neighborhood/Where you can ride your new bike to school/A perfect world where Mom and Dad/Still believe in the golden rule
ife's not that simple down here on Earth."
In a time when metal detectors are being installed in schools and first-graders are killing their classmates, the song and its accompanying video of Gilman asking God for a better world while riding on a school bus are timely and heartwrenching.
"It's a very age-appropriate song. It can only be sung by a kid," said Phyllis Stark, Nashville bureau chief for Billboard magazine. "I don't know if it's because of the Columbine anniversary or for other reasons, but it's definitely touched a nerve with Americans."
"Hopefully, the song will get the kids together and work all the violence out of the schools," Gilman said. "It's hard to go to school and feel insecure and feel like you're going to die today."
Gilman began his singing career at the tender age of 3, when he crooned Pam Tillis' "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" for his family. He soon sang so much around the house that he earned the nickname "Big Mouth," a moniker that still persists to this day. His public debut came five years later at the Swamp Yankee Days Festival in Charleston, R.I.
At first, Gilman's family thought his singing and shimmying were just cute. Then they slowly began to realize that his talent could take him beyond local festivals.
The story that follows is only a few months old but already has the makings of musical folklore, like Elvis cutting "My Happiness" for his mother at Sun records or Paul McCartney checking out John Lennon's Quarrymen at a Liverpool fete.
Angela Bacari, a regular entertainer on the Rhode Island circuit, grudgingly agreed to listen to the youngster at the behest of his grandmother. Her skepticism quickly gave way to astonishment, and she became his vocal coach and manager. After catching a karaoke tape of Gilman doing "A Broken Wing," Ray Benson of Asleep At the Wheel agreed to produce a demo, which made its way to Tim McGraw's manager, Scott Siman.
Siman and Sony executive Blake Chancey flew to Rhode Island to check out the boy's act, and were so impressed that Siman became Gilman's co-manager. A recording contract was signed, and the youth was soon in the studio cutting his first album.
Produced by Nashville veterans Malloy, Cook and Blake Chancey (collectively, they've worked with Reba McEntire, Eddie Rabbitt, Brooks & Dunn and others), the songs on "One Voice" are all suited to someone of Gilman's age without being overtly cute.
"I Think She Likes Me" is pure puppy love. "The Snake Song" is silly, but fits the personality of a rambunctious adolescent. One of the best songs on the album, a cover of Thurston Harris' 1957 hit "Little Bitty Pretty One," allows Gilman to, in his own words, "get raucous."
"My manager's husband thought that would be a good song for me, one that I could really kick butt on," he said. "So I tried it, and it's become one of my favorite songs, because it's so raucous, it's really rockin."'
Other than a short summer stint on the George Strait Country Music Festival, Gilman has been steered away from the long and arduous life of the road in favor of a massive media blitz targeting magazines, newspapers and especially television. Almost a week doesn't go by that Gilman's face isn't gracing the stage of a talk show or morning news program.
It appears to have paid off. Gilman's May 3 appearance on the ACM awards, where he performed "Roly Poly" backed by Asleep At the Wheel, drew a standing ovation and made him a household word overnight. A few weeks later, the "One Voice" single hit the country charts, making Gilman the youngest solo artist to ever accomplish that feat.
"When I saw him perform (at the ACM awards), my jaw just hit the floor," Stark said. "Here was this pee-wee kid in leather pants just nailing that song. And when he got a standing ovation from all those industry types, that was astonishing, because they are the most jaded professionals. They're not easily impressed."
Gilman remembers the first time he heard "One Voice" on the radio. It was about two months after the album had been recorded, and he was going to the grocery store with his mother.
"The radio was on, and I heard myself, and was like, `Wait a second, who is this kid? Oh, it's me!' " he said, giggling. "I was jumping up and down in the seat, I was so excited. I just freaked out. Then by the time the second verse came on, I was like, `OK, you can turn it off now.' Because I had recorded it so many times, I was kind of sick of it.
"Now, every time I have to sing it, I tell myself, `Billy, remember when you first sang this song. Sing it like you did then, like you've never sang it before.' That's how I keep from getting bored."
There's another aspect of stardom Gilman hadn't considered: girls.
"It's funny, because they stare and they point, and I'm like, `Uh . . . hi.' It's really funny -- they smile, they wave and they say, `Oh, we love you!' And I smile back at them, and they take pictures, and I'm just like, `Hi.' "
"I had a girlfriend, but we broke up," he says, prompting a few consoling words. "Oh, no, I'm happy about it," he responds. "My girlfriend was fun, but she was sooo uptight. I didn't want a girlfriend at such a young age, anyway, and my parents really didn't want me to have one, either. I'm doing more stuff now that I couldn't have before, and really, I want to concentrate on my career right now. But yes, I'm sooo happy!"
The obvious question is how long will Gilman last? The music industry is littered with one-hit wonders, especially those who rise to the top quickly. It's an even tougher road for young stars. Witness Tanya Tucker, who battled drug and alcohol addiction, and LeAnn Rimes, who recently sued her father-manager for allegedly mishandling her finances. Not to mention the inevitable, like Gilman's voice changing.
"There's a danger in him not being taken seriously by radio," said Jay Roberts, music director for country radio stations WQYK and WRBQ in Tampa. "If radio sees him as a novelty act, that can really put a damper on his career. The follow-up single to `One Voice' is going to be very crucial."
Gilman and his management seem to be cognizant of that fact. They've been holding back on a second single until "One Voice" runs out of steam, but they're also taking every precaution to ensure he doesn't fall off the public's radar screen. Another couple of albums' worth of material is already in the can, a Christmas album is due out in October and the onslaught of live performances and television appearances shows so sign of slowing down.
As for Gilman, he's enjoying every minute of the ride. Two of his four "musical dream goals" listed in his record-company bio -- performing at the Grand Ole Opry and having his own tour bus -- have already come true. The other two -- to build his own recording studio and to win a Grammy -- are very distinct possibilities.
"It would be an honor just to be nominated, just to sit there and watch all those talented people," he said. "I would probably cry my eyes out if I won."
And if it all ended tomorrow?
"I would just hope that people would remember that I was pleasing on stage, and that my songs were good," he said. "I hope they remember that I loved to sing. Because I really do. I really love to sing."
2000, Bradenton Herald (Bradenton, Fla.).
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