If you ask alicia what she believes to be her driving force and the key to her success in the entertainment industry, she will tell you the following three things:
“Music is not what I DO…it’s who I AM.”
“It has to be more than just music!”
“You have to FEEL it!”
She was born in Montgomery, AL and grew up in the small nearby community of Millbrook.
She learned to love music by listening to her mother sing and describes her saying, “Mama was THE best”! She relates, “Mama would sing and have me learn her songs so that she could sing the ‘alto’ parts. I had no idea what ‘alto’ was, but when she sang harmony there was magic! From that point forward I could FEEL it!” Her mother also bought her a used upright piano and alicia began to play “by ear” at age 13.
Years later, alicia played piano and sang in gospel groups from the early 1980s until the mid-80s, at which point she began to play and sing with multi-genre bands performing throughout the Southeast.
A local gentleman who had ties to the music industry in Nashville saw her perform and made arrangements for her to sing for what he called “the right people”. As a result, alicia was sponsored into the CMA (Country Music Association) by Henry Strzelecki, Willie Ackerman, and Howard Earnest in 1987. However, at that time her children were young and her life revolved around her family. She says, “I didn’t recognize the need to submit the CMA application at that time, a decision I would later regret! Nor did I desire to leave my family for a life on the road just to try and climb that proverbial ladder to success in the music industry, a decision I still feel was the right one. Instead, I returned home to be with my family … but I never stopped loving music!”
Once her children were grown, alicia spent several years playing mostly one-nighters throughout the southeastern US with bands. She then landed a solo “gig” with Holiday Inn that lasted eighteen years. She describes it as “simply heavenly”!
Some of her accomplishments include hosting her own television show, “alicia’s Music Room”, showcasing local area talent. She has been the co-host of “The Show-Columbus” based in Columbus, GA. She is a member of the original Tennessee Country Music Alliance, a founding member of MAMA (Montgomery Area Musicians Association), a member of R.O.P.E (Reunion of Professional Entertainers), and a member of CMN (Country Music Networking). She has also received several commendations and awards.
Throughout her musical career she has organized, hosted, and been a part of numerous musical charity fund-raising events.
Her recent release, “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again”, was written by the acclaimed multi-hit country music composer, Sonny Throckmorton, and was recorded on May 18, 2020. Her 11-song album, For Cryin’ Out Loud, was completed in September of 2020. Her first single from that album, “Mama, I’m Glad You’re Not Here”, has gotten worldwide airplay and climbed to #11 on the Indie Express chart.
In discussing her personal life, alicia says, “My mother was my mentor, constantly encouraging me and telling me I could be anything I wanted to be. I have always appreciated a challenge and never minded being a bit non-conformist. Much of my youth was spend competing in horse shows and rodeos and backroads drag racing. Now, I spend as much time as possible with my family including my three precious great-granddaughters! My Shih Tzu fur-babies accompany me almost everywhere I go and are my ‘forever babies in blankets’! I am young at heart and most comfortable on a stage making music. My priorities are God, family, and music….in that order.”
