LW-Central Grad Performs on ABC

For recent graduate Jayme Doyle, music is life, and life is full of depth and wonder.

The 19-year-old Manhattan native has been involved with music nearly her entire life, and today she’s performing on ABC/Channel 7’s Windy City Live from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

She's a strong vocalist who also plays various instruments, writes songs with meaning and a professionally recorded song and music video. It’s a big step to increase exposure as she takes on the tough task of pursuing a career in music.

A music career is one thing; a life in music is another. Doyle said she’s been singing as long as she can remember, going back to when she’d annoy her sisters by singing during dinner or in the car. One sister played trumpet in the school band, and Doyle wanted to play an instrument so she picked up the piano in second grade and guitar in third grade. She eventually quit piano lessons, tired of all the rigid practice.

“After a while the piano lessons seemed like a chore,” she said. “But I like sitting there and doing my own thing, so once I quit lessons it became an outlet.”

Doyle was a standout singer throughout her schooling, doing the Madrigals and musicals at Lincoln-Way Central and choir since elementary school. She also made the All-State choir team her junior year and All-State honor choir her senior year.

But in college, she’s forging her own path and trying to thrive as a solo artist. She’s studying marketing and music technology at , both areas that could help her music career.

She also has the opportunity to work on the inaugural internship program between Lewis University and SOS Children’s Villages in Lockport, where she'll help foster children make music. They can come with lyrics or music to share, and Doyle will contribute the music or vocals to complete their song. If they've already got a song in mind, she’ll help them record it.

“I’m really excited to get going over there,” Doyle said.

It’s a great cause, and Doyle’s willingness to put meaning behind her music is what can help her stand out. She’s written songs about materialism and rebuilding after disaster, which was inspired by the earthquake in Japan earlier this year. The song, Rebuild, is one she’ll sing on ABC, and once it’s on iTunes all the proceeds will go to the Red Cross. She’s also performing at an education fundraiser next month.

“I try to write about things that really connect with people,” she said. “No partying in the club songs.”

Her songs are typically upbeat and offer positive messages. When she was just a third grader, Doyle was already writing songs that told stories and reflected on life. Her first song was called That Girl, a story about a mother looking back on her daughter growing up, culminating at her wedding. She performed it at the wedding of a family friend when they asked her to sing.

During the ABC show today, she’ll also sing Everyday, a song for which she’s had a professional recording and music video made. But that can get expensive, and Doyle is hoping her music technology minor can help her learn all the tricks to recording and mixing all the instruments and vocals.

To succeed in this industry, she’ll need exposure, and her marketing major should help her in that regard and serve as a nice fallback option. She said her website has helped the most because it has all her information in one place: a bio, songs, video and a link to her Facebook fan page. Her music video for Everyday is also available on YouTube, and some of her songs can be purchased on iTunes.

“The Internet has changed the way the whole music world works,” she said, noting that she’s on YouTube and iTunes. “It makes it easier that I don’t have to be in LA for people in LA to notice me. But the bad part is anyone can post videos, so it’s harder sometimes.”

For now, she’s exploring the depth of her talent and the positive messages in her music, hoping it will translate into a career.

“I want people to know my songs and sing them in their cars at the top of their lungs,” she writes on her website. “I want to use the gifts I have for goodness in the world.”