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Quick Q and A with Chelsea Berry, November 2011
 by Meg Griffin, SiriusXM Radio  ·  10 November 2011

Chelsea Berry
What was the first record you can remember hearing that mattered to you as a kid?
Dan Fogelberg’s “The Innocent Age”
What was the first record you ever bought?
Vance Gilbert’s “Edgewise” (he came to Alaska to teach a songwriting camp when I was fourteen)
How did you acquire your first instrument? What was it?
We were given a Fun Machine electric organ by our church.. There were mice living in it so my parents had it cleaned and refurbished and moved to my bedroom. I had played violin for a couple of years but the violin was borrowed. This was the first instrument that I got to keep! I loved playing it.
What took you from Alaska to the contiguous US?
I went to Montana for undergrad
Where did you study?
Bozeman MT (MSU)
What did you study?
Classical voice
What other job (if any) did you ever willingly consider?
I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was 13. But doesn’t everybody?
What other job did you ever endure?
Every job I ever had that wasn’t music became a job I endured. I was a landscaper, a sea kayaking guide, a ski instructor, a piano salesman. But all I really wanted to do was play music.
How/why did you settle in New England for the time being?
Gloucester MA felt like a safe place to try new things and became an incubator for me.. Lots to learn, lots to rehearse, lots of easy and supportive venues. (and lots of music lovers . . . That certainly doesn’t hurt)
How did you and your mentor Livingston Taylor first cross paths?
I took his Stage Performance class at Berklee a few years ago
What 3 albums would you take to a desert island?
Again. . . “The Innocent Age” (Dan Fogelberg), “Live As I’ll Ever Be” (Chris Smither), and “Raising Sand” (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss)
What artist would you like never to hear again?
Hmm . . . I don’t know!! If something comes up on the radio that I don’t like, I generally don’t stick around long enough to find out who it is. Admittedly, I have the attention span of a gnat when I hear bad music.
What one artist would it be a dream come true for you to collaborate with?
Chris Smither
Favorite female singer?
Carole King
What hopes do you have for your music to be part of some philanthropy? Why?
I want to either join forces with or create a program that empowers young women and at the core of it helps them along the way to loving the body they were born with. I struggled for many years with body image issues and know that I wasted a lot of time that I could have spent making my community a better place.

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