Born Sylvia Marie Owen, "Miss Marie", as she is known to her students, started her own career at the age of 6. Under vocal coach Helen Spahr, she studied Broadway, finally deciding on Country Music at age 10. By 11 she had her own band and a record contract with Chart Records in Nashville. At 12 she hosted her own T.V show in her hometown of Roanoke. At 13 she moved to Nashville and began touring Nationwide with such artists as Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, George Jones and others, all of whom she credits for her "on stage training". She signed with MCA records at 15 and had her first Billboard chart record at 16.
In her late teens, her drummer's little sister was competing in a beauty pageant and he asked if she would help her with her talent. When She won, Marie continued to help pageant kids in her spare time. After a couple of years, Marie found watching her "kids" on stage, the element of competition and the pride she felt when they won, to be even more rewarding than performing on stage herself. By age 30 she had quit the road and was completely devoted to being a vocal coach.
In 1991 her "kids", then known as "The Next Generation", recorded a song and made a music video titled "To Our Heroes" for the troops fighting in Iraq. This resulted in a personal invitation from First Lady Barbara Bush for the group to perform a Christmas Show at the White House.
In 1993 they recorded another song and video for St. Luke's Children's Hospital, which won an award from the Children's Miracle
Network and was shown on their nationally televised telethon
The year 2000 brought her biggest accomplishment to date. With the permission of the original songwriters, Marie re-wrote the lyrics to Anne Murray's "A Little Good News" to address the serious issue of school violence, which was rampant in the U.S., and the need for school prayer. The kids recorded it and mailed copies of it to radio stations across the country. It became an overnight sensation, becoming the number one most requested song at over 200 radio stations across the country. This was followed by a moving music video which was used in schools and was shown by the news media throughout he U.S. The "kids" recieved letters from Senators, Congressmen as well as both presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.
Over the last 37 years, her "kids" have varied from pageant kids to aspiring "Superstars". Many have gone on to perform on Broadway, Star Search, American Idol, America's Most Talented kid, while others are Recording Artists and Songwriters. But her biggest joy has been to see her students go on to college to be vocal coaches and music teachers.
Miss Marie loves her job and her kids and carries with her 37 years of happy memories.
Miss Marie's Kids
Memories