It was time. Tasha was nervous. There were so many people out there. This was a bad idea. She never should have signed up for this. She loved to sing, but most of her singing was in the shower, and around the house. She had never sung in front of anyone before. She had never sang in any choirs, or anything like that. It was all Sandi’s fault. She’s the one who convinced Tasha to sign up for the talent show.
A month before, Sandi told Tasha about a talent show that would be taking place at Anna Mae’s Soul Food Restaurant. It was actually a Karaoke talent show. Usually on Friday and Saturday evenings there would either be a band playing live music, or a DJ playing the oldies. This time though, the DJ was hosting a karaoke talent show for the singers, or wannabe singers. Tasha had told Sandi, there was no way she would ever try to sing in front of people. She would get too nervous. Sandi had heard her sing once, and knew that Tasha had a very nice voice. After much persuasion, she finally convinced Tasha to sign up to sing in the talent show.
The next thing was to choose a song to sing. After much contemplation, she decided on an old Phyllis Hyman song, “Be Careful How You Treat My Love.” She had always loved that song, and Phyllis Hyman had been one of her favorite singers.
At first, Tasha was very excited about the talent show, and the song she would be singing. She practiced the song over, and over, and over, and over again. She was really going to nail this song. The closer it got to the date of the show though, the more nervous she got. It had gotten to the point where she wished she had never even signed up.
Sandi kept telling Tasha that she just needed to relax. God had blessed her with a beautiful singing voice, and she knew the song backward and forward. All she had to do was to go up there, and belt it out. “Just go up there, close your eyes, if you need to, and just belt that song out.”
Well, now it was time. They had just called her name to come up to the stage. Tasha legs were shaking as she walked on the stage. She hoped no one will notice. The DJ started her music. Tasha took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and the rest is history.
Now Tasha sings all the time. She sings in her church choir, she sings in a community gospel choir, and she even has her own singing group called “A New Song.” Oh yeah, and she still sings in the shower too.