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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, September 22, 2016 | 46 John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com Artscene "Connected to your Community" by Nathan Howes Special to the Beaver I t's been a long journey for Oakville's Vanessa Marie Carter, but her music career is just beginning to take off. Carter, whose real last name is Schmalz, started dancing when she was three years old, singing when she was eight and recorded an unreleased album of original love songs when she was 12. Now, at age 26, the local singer/ songwriter has come out with her rst CD -- a ve-song, self-titled EP , which was released in July. To top it off, Carter won the 2016 Emerging Artist Showcase at the Boots & Hearts Music Festival last month. "I was shocked and really excited. They (organizers) let me know the day before everybody else. I cried a lot. I cried every time I told someone in my band or my family," said Carter, on winning the showcase. "I've worked so hard to get to where I'm at, so it's kind of a feeling of, ` nally, something awesome happened.' I was on a high the whole weekend." Performing in front of a crowd of approximately 40,000 people was something "I could completely get used to," Carter said, noting it was an amazing feeling. Prior to Boots & Hearts, the singer's largest crowd was about 12,000 spectators. "You kind of have to not focus on how many people there are. It goes by so fast when you're up there. It's great seeing so many people who want to be there, hear the music and sing along with you," she explained. For winning the contest, Carter received a yet-to-be publicly released It's all about the music for Carter "It's really a great experience to get to work with a label and test the waters, to see if you like it, if it likes you and if the team works well together. Just to have the backing of Universal Music Canada behind you is pretty special," noted Carter. The 26-year-old initially ventured into musical theatre when she was around seven years old, and by that age, she realized singing was not only what she loved to do, but she was the strongest at, she told the Oakville Beaver. "I danced from three to 18 (years of age). I was singing that whole time. It wasn't until I went to university, in my third year, that I really decided to make singing full time with all of my might," said Carter. The Oakville singer's in uences originate from her family, as some of her uncles and cousins are musicians in the country-folk genre. She grew up listening to them at family gatherings and camp res, Carter said. "(They played) a lot of Neil Young, Van Morrison and Johnny Cash. I remember the rst tape I ever had was Neil Young's Harvest Moon. I must have been six or seven years old. I used to listen to it all the time," she said. "It was a very natural progression for me to get into country music. I got into it by taking a folk-to-country route." see Carter on p.47 Vanessa Marie Carter, pictured in her Oakville home, recently won the 2016 Boots & Hearts Emerging Artist contest. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland acoustic guitar, plaque and a ninemonth contract with Universal Music Canada (UMC), which includes a radio release of a new song she will be recording. She also earned a spot on the main stage at the Boots & Hearts festival next year. "I'm going to be one of the headliners on the main stage... which is super exciting. I'm already excited for the Releasing albums as an artist is a cool thing, even for yourself... even if they don't really go anywhere, because you have a timeline of your musical evolution. Vanessa Marie Carter Oakville music artist festival because it was so much fun. The experience was awesome," said Carter. Although the UMC deal is only for one song, Carter said there's a possibility of getting signed to a longer-term contract after nine months. She noted the James Barker Band, who won the Emerging Artist Showcase last year, was recently signed by UMC. Big Movies, Small Prices! 171 Speers Road (at Kerr) Oakville General: $8.50 children (3-13): $6.50 Seniors (65+): $6.50 tuesdays: $5.00 905-338-6397 www.film.ca facebook.com/filmca @filmcacinemas Sully (pG) September 9 bridGet JoneS baby (14a) the maGnificent Seven (14a) September 16 September 23 StorkS (Stc) September 23 miSS pereGrine'S home ome for peculiar children (Stc) September 30