Many of you have heard me tell stories about Beverley over the years. God has been so good to us. Beverley has been like a little sister to me. I've loved watching God take hold of her heart and watching her tremendous success. We watch her faithfully each week on Dancing With the Stars and the kids always wait for her to wave. I remember when I first heard Beverley sing...what a voice! And now, with the way God has captured her heart...that soul is Soul! We love Beverley. We love Jeremy! I praise God for the witness they both are to our world. Thanks, Bev, for being a part of this series.
My name is Beverley Chitwood, also known as Beverley Staunton in my music circle (I kept my maiden name for work purposes). I am a professional singer, most known these days as one of the singers on Dancing With The Stars but I’ve also appeared with Nelly Furtado, Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor and many more great artists through the years.
I met Brandon when I was 18 when we both worked for Norwegian Cruise Lines as two singers in a couple of the ship’s entertainment shows. We wore ridiculous costumes, wigs and makeup but hey, it was a gig, we were happy and we made lifelong friends.
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| Backstage before one of our shows |
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| Some of our Jean Ann Ryan Cast (this was a Norwegian Cruise Line ship) L-R: Audra, me, Bev, Matt, Dominique, Ernie, and Vanessa |
How to sum up my career so far as a singer, my journey to becoming a Christian and now the blessing of being a wife and mommy is difficult. So I’ll start at the point when I was living in Canada last (that’s where I’m from) and was about to make my move to the States. That was almost 7 years ago now. I had been working with Nelly Furtado as her backup singer for a month, mostly doing television appearances like Jay Leno and Regis & Kelly. I was offered to go on tour with her after that but I turned it down for various reasons but mainly because I wasn’t happy as a backup singer and also because I knew I wanted to make my move to the States. I figured I finally had enough “credentials” to get a work visa and move to Los Angeles. It is a difficult, costly and time consuming process doing this “visa thing”, but somehow I knew with all my heart that I would get it. And I did.
Looking back, it’s amazing that I had so much confidence and just “knew” that I would be ok, given the fact that hundreds of people come here every day with the same dream I had. Perhaps it was my years of experience that I thought would set me apart. The first few months were actually good. I got singing jobs and things were looking up and then BAM! – Nothing. I entered into a dry spell that at the time felt like an eternity but really it was only about 6-8 weeks. I mean, the rent wasn’t going to pay itself, and I certainly wasn’t going to ask family to bail me out, that’s just not “me”. I started looking into becoming a personal trainer. But I only got as far as “looking into” because I figured at some point the phone just HAD to start ringing again, right? I had been sending out demos left and right and cold calling studios and Producers on a daily basis. Then came the call to audition for some new show called Dancing With The Stars. It seemed cheesy but hey, a gig’s a gig, especially when you’re starving. I left that audition thinking I didn’t do a good enough job and by the end of that weekend never got another call. The show started that following week so surely they picked someone else, after all, there was only one “white girl” position. Monday came and so did the call. I must’ve cried in my kitchen for an hour.
So there it was, my career in the U.S. was starting to take off, the first summer season of the show turned out to be a huge success and my name was getting out there. So, what else do we all look for when everything else in our life seems to be falling into place?....LOVE.
One day I decided to put one measly little photo and short blurb about myself on match.com. Yes, you read that right ;) I’ll spare you all the warm, fuzzy details but I will say that yes it is possible to find true love on the internet! Jeremy works for the L.A. City Fire Department and is all I could have ever hoped for and more. And he is a Christian. I thank the Lord daily for bringing me a man with a strong faith. Our courtship was short and the engagement was spectacular. A couple months later we were married and a few months after that I was pregnant with our first child…and a couple months after that I decided to get baptized at our church on Christmas Eve. That was of course the best decision I’ve ever made. Never mind the career and the this, that and the other. I would be nothing if it wasn’t for Him. Jeremy and I have been married for almost 5 years and been blessed with two little boys, Jesse who is 3 ½ and Kelly 2 ½. They are little miracles indeed and make me want to be a better person and better mother every minute of every day. When I fail, it hurts, but as it says in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things with Christ who gives me strength”. I know He’ll never deal me more than I can handle.
These days it’s all about finding balance in my life between being mommy, wife and provider. I constantly pray for an open heart and mind so that I may see and hear what He would have me do. I’ve been helping the worship team at our church periodically and nothing brings me more joy than to have a stranger seek me out after service to tell me how much the worship moved them. I am using the gift He gave me to bring glory to Him. THAT is awesome.
I was recently driving with my 2 ½ year old in the car and when I looked at him through the rear view mirror, I caught him looking out the window, completely silent, with a look on his face as if he was in deep thought about something important. I knew that was a “picture” that the Lord wanted me to see because in that moment my heart became so full with complete faith and trust in the Lord. Perhaps I hadn’t given it all up to the Lord yet and that was the moment. It was freeing!
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| Bev and Jeremy came to town and I got to introduce her to our buddy Brad Crisler who ended up producing her record. It was a great match! We had a nice reunion at Panera with the fam. |
In line with today's top country artists's, Beverley Staunton has just just released a new record, produced by Nashville Producer Brad Crisler. It can be purchased at www.cdbaby.com/cd/beverleystaunton and also on iTunes!You can also hear and see Beverley each week on ABC's Dancing With the Stars. Dancing With the Stars
The video clip below is the first video from Bev's new CD...check it out!
