Music is as much a part of me as the blood pulsating through my veins. I need it for survival in a world so consumed with pain, disappointments and unpredictability. I've been singing for as long as I can remember. To be exact, I remember my first solo as if it were yesterday. I have what some would call a LONG memory. I remember standing in front of my grandfather's church. I was about 3 years old and I sang the same two lines over and over again, "I'm just a nobody, tryna tell everybody about somebody who can save your soul. I tell you he can save...save...save your soul."
I always loved music. I always loved to sing. I never wanted to be a singer.
By the time I got to middle school I knew I had a gift. Unfortunately, shyness and insecurity would plague me for many years to come. I held back in choir classes because I couldn't find the nerve to tell the teachers that I WANTED THAT SOLO. So I sang alto in the choir and I watched form the sidelines as my classmates took the solos.
Fast forward to my freshmen year of college. I started singing around campus and decided that I was ready to record an album. LOL. I worked with a few of my classmates from the now defunct groups Not To Be Forgotten...NTBF. LOL...again. Asaf Fulks, who has gone on to be an incredible producer out in LA and Franklin Grace who is making his rounds as an actor were there every step of the way. GOD I hope that project never resurfaces! WHEW! I wrote the whole thing and I was proud of myself BUT my new found dream of becoming a singer were sidelined by my chronic and mind numbing stage fright. I tabled that aspiration and eventually went on to write a couple books.
Eight years later I found myself at home, bored and ready to record a few songs. Thanks to the encouragement of my friend Dewayne Johnston....okay more like harassment, I started to work on my first mixtape "DOPE". "DOPE" was a collection of cover songs such as "Unthinkable", "Ready For Love" and "Moment For Life". It is available for free download at www.reverbnation.com/Qamil. I recorded it for fun with NO intention of starting a music career. I honestly believed that ship had sailed. I was wrong.
In August of 2012, I was literally put on the spot at the now closed Suite 143 when I was TOLD I would be singing and the band already had my song. (S/O to Jhade Barnes of Renaissance Events in Columbus, Oh). I stood on that stage singing "Rolling In The Deep" having an internal panic attack but I made it through! That night set off a chain of events that I didn't see coming.
Here I am, ONE year later and I am a month away from releasing my first (sort of) album, SOUL DOPE. I have performed all over Columbus and have dates booked in other cities. I shot my first music video and I host my own radio show. My current project "THE PREVIEW" is doing very well (also available for free download @ www.reverbnation.com/Qamil). (S/O to my producer Lee "s7" Martin for working magic on that project). My songs have been added to rotation on various stations here in the US and overseas in the UK and Australia.
If anybody had come up to me a year ago and told me that all of these amazing things would happen in such a short time I would have laughed in their face. Although, I didn't plan for any of this to happen I am so GRATEFUL and BLESSED for everything that has happened. I am beyond ready for what's next and I have an incredible of team of people by my side who are supporting me.
FULL SPEED AHEAD!
~Qamil
LINKS:
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/user/qamilsmusic/videos
REVERBNATION- www.reverbnation.com/Qamil
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