Out Of The Ashes………
Charlotte Doreen Small
More, Charlotte Doreen Small’s first full length CD recently became available for sale online at CD Baby and www.mindniteenterprises.com.. Produced by V. Jeffrey Smith and Peter Lord, who have received more than thirty gold records in their combined experience said ""Only Charlotte Doreen Small could do justice to this song. ""She has astonishing vocals whether performing Pop, Jazz, R&B or Gospel; Working with her is precious.”
Each song takes the listener on a journey of life and love, sometimes resulting in euphoria, sometimes in pain. Take My Hand and Goodbye were a collaboration with the words written by Danielle Sibarium-Tsapp, and Charlotte Doreen Small and Gil Small contributing the vocal and musical arrangements and production. While Take My Hand speaks of the joy and excitement of new love, Goodbye was written to describe the heartbreak of tragically losing someone, a very young someone, and never having expressed her true feelings.
When industry Legend Win Wilford, who’s worked with Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Ocean, Earth, Wind and Fire, The O’Jays, The Jackson’s, New Kids on the Block, Tupac Shakur and many more heard the album he said: “I haven’t heard this many good songs on one CD in many, many years and this lady could really sing”.
Charlotte was born in Brooklyn and has lived in the NYC Metropolitan area her entire life. She was born with music in her blood. With a pianist mother and a family of musicians, she was raised with an appreciation of classical music as well as the soulful standards. Her first love was the violin.
At age 8, her school teacher told her that she would never make it as a musician. With determination and an unyielding spirit she refused to quit, and practiced eight hours a day, every day transforming the screeching on her strings into Beautiful Music.
As a teenager she became an accomplished violinist winning the ACTSO competition sponsored by NAACP. As an all-state concert mistress, she traveled the world with the Long Island Youth Orchestra under the direction of Martin Dreiwitz.
Armed with a burning passion and an unrelenting desire to succeed, Charlotte studied violin at the Crane School of Music at Potsdam University. Required to take voice as one of her classes, her professor was astonished at the sound coming from Charlotte and asked why she hadn’t majored in voice. Charlotte answered: “I never though it was challenging. Everyone I know can sing.”
He replied, “Not like what I’ve just heard coming from you.”
With her father, as a successful executive in the corporate world, Charlotte believed she would follow in his footsteps after graduation, with music as a secondary career.
Shortly thereafter, she went to work at the World Trade Center and almost immediately found herself a victim during the first terrorist attack on February 26th, 1993. Trapped for eight hours she sat in a corner on the floor 44 stories above the ground watching and waiting as the room filled with smoke.
Charlotte thought that day was to be the end of her very young life. She later said, “I realized there were things that I never experienced: true love, passion and the excitement of living.
At that moment I wished I could have sent a message to everyone I knew stressing the significance of our values and not the superficial issues we tend to make so important.” Fortunately she was rescued, but that day changed her life forever.
When constructing the music for More, she wanted to capture those feelings; the laughter, the love, the passion as well as the disappointments, heartaches and challenges.
As she continued to climb the corporate ladder, Charlotte found herself in a very comfortable but challenging Managerial position with a Fortune 100 company. Her life was once again disrupted.
As she was about to board the lobby elevator at One WTC, on September 11th 2001 to proceed to her office on the 89th floor, terrorists crashed a passenger Jetliner into the building. Charlotte lost many friends and co-workers that day.
After making significant contributions to her firms rebuilding process Charlotte decided in early 2005 that she wanted to pursue her gift for music to help inspire others.
She later wrote When I Found You after finally experiencing those feelings that previously passed her by. She said, “God placed that special someone in my life who showed me what it means to love.” It is a song with great passion and Charlotte sings it with emotion like no one else can.
Charlotte has led an accomplished choir, acting as musical arranger, conductor and songwriter for as many as fifty vocalists. She has graced the Off Broadway stage in Rock-a-my-Soul…, Sweet Blessings, Going Back Home, The Bosom of Abraham and Sweet Dreams. Charlotte has appeared with Neil Diamond, Mona Lisa, Ruff Endz, Ultra Nate and Barbara Tucker, as well as Grammy Award winning “Speech from Arrested Development” She has done various recordings and live performances both as the lead and background vocalist for Eric Morillo (Strictly Rhythm Records), Tony Humphries (Yellow Orange Records), Ruff Endz (Sony/Epic Records), Grammy Winner Louie Vega, Kenny “Dope” Gonzales (Masters at Work Records) and more.
Charlotte has performed at Madison Square Garden with the International Churches of Christ and has also performed corporate events for The Bloomberg Organization, American Express, MetLife, Pepsi, MasterCard and other major corporations. She was chosen to select the musical pieces, arrange, conduct and perform as the featured artist for the John F. Kennedy, Jr. Funeral service.
Now a valued faculty member of New York’s New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Charlotte has been quoted as saying, “I believe that an artist must have more than one talent, like those in the 1950’s who were not only able to sing, but are also able to dance, entertain and act! An artist must be able to connect with their audience.”
Charlotte has always had a desire to help others. As a very young women she participated in many of her churches and community activities whether it involved raising money to help those in need or organizing and training the choir to bring joy to the congregation.
In the past, Charlotte encouraged all of the organizations she was affiliated with to participate in giving back to the community. She would help organize fund raisers, produce shows , do research and along with the leaders of these firms made significant contributions to lots of worth while causes, especially those involving children. Some of those included “The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Make a Wish Foundation, Can’t Be silenced, Broadway cares, Fore Others Foundation, and many more.
When she began to visit Children with HIV and AIDS at the hospitals in New York City with “Can’t Be Silenced,” founder Maria Davis Charlotte was convinced that she needed to make a difference in the lives of the less privileged young people in the community.
So many of these youngsters wake up in the morning and have a sense of hopelessness.
Charlotte realized that they had become prisoners of their environment.
She felt that if she could get involved with these children at a very young age she could help turn things around by helping them build their self esteem and confidence through music.
She realizes that love and caring begins in the home, but for so many of them, they’ve been cheated out of what should have been a nurturing childhood and thrust into a perilous world.
It is Charlotte’s goal to partner with The Midnite Companies to form a foundation to help to introduce these children to the arts and to begin to elevate their spirit and self esteem through Education and the Appreciation of Music. She’s said, “If I could put a smile on their face through our music, WOW!. I know you’ve heard it before but there is no greater gift one can receive than the gift of giving.”
This goal is about to become a reality.
Robb Sibarium, CEO of the Midnite Companies has joined with Charlotte to form the foundation, “It’s About the Children”. Robb has had extensive experience working with many Charitable organizations both as a board member and/or special committee member.
Both Charlotte and Robb are eager and excited about the foundation and have begun to recruit other well known, experienced and philanthropic executives
She realizes it wont be easy, but she feels God spared her life Twice and she must make a difference in this world.
In a recent review of the CD, Kate Stephenson said” Charlotte’s powerful voice is reminiscent of classic divas- Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan and Anita Baker- but she has a style and flair all her own” “so why hold back, MORE will make you want to get lost in Ms Charlotte Doreen Small. Her Rain will make you want to take her hand, to reach out and touch her while you’re dancing and never say goodbye. You will fall for her as she sings” Right NOW” and she’ll always leave you Wanting MORE.{ for the entire review and others see the review section}
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