Bryan White In Free Concert
Bryan White may have grown up on stage, but in he’s still a rookie in music business terms. And what a rookie year he’s having.
The Oklahoma native will appear at the Opera House Wednesday in a free concert sponsored by radio station KDRK.
Just 21, White released his self-titled debut CD last year, then stood back and watched as two of its four singles went to the top of the country-music charts.
Late last summer, “Someone Else’s Star” made it to the No. 1 spot and “Rebecca Lynn” made it just this month.
“I can’t believe it,” he told Close Up magazine last fall. “I can’t believe it’s happening to me.”
White grew up in a musical family. His dad played country music and his mother led an R&B band. He took up drums when he was 5 and made his singing debut while backing his mother.
“She came over and put the microphone in front of my face,” White said. “I guess I was nervous because I kept trying to move my head away from the microphone until my mom told me, ‘You better sing, boy.’ Finally, I got to the mic and when I finished she was crying.”
That song was Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” which White still sings in concert.
Still, he says, his heart is in country music.
“I’ve always had that frame of mind. I branched out as far as music goes - there isn’t any kind of music I don’t like - but I grew up in the country, loving country music, and it’s what I keep coming back to.”
White knew what he wanted when he graduated from high school in 1992 - he drove to Nashville, met the right people and signed a deal with Glen Campbell Music and became one of the most in-demand demo singers in town.
The next year, he inked a contract with Asylum Records.
Now, his fans are going to have wait a month to hear his next effort, a song called “I’m Not Supposed to Love You Anymore.” It’s from his upcoming second CD, “Now and Forever,” due out March 26.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BRYAN WHITE Location and time: Opera House, Wednesday, 8 p.m. Tickets: Free and available only from KDRK radio station