Vanessa Birchfield has sung for the Carroll County community for years, but now she’s working to expand her musical career.
Vanessa is a graduate of Carroll County High School who spent several years after graduation trying to break into the music industry. She had some good and bad experiences, ultimately deciding to pursue a career in skincare and put music on the back burner.
She has a powerful, smooth, throaty voice reminiscent of soul performers like Etta James. She can range from a jazzy deep sound to the ballads of Whitney Houston. Vanessa said her love for soul started when she was a young girl listening to Etta James on 45 records at her grandmother’s.
She took that sound to the Coke Classic at the Kentucky State Fair and came in second. “Here I am singing an Etta James song. I wasn’t like the rest of them,” she said with a laugh, noting most of the performers sang country music.
“It was one of the best competitions I had done because everybody had the same passion,” she said. “I promised myself I’d always drink Coke because they gave me a chance.”
During her years in Carroll County Schools, Vanessa sang in the elementary school chorus with veteran music teacher Mary Ellis Coombs. “I never really knew if I could sing, I just knew I liked to sing.” Ironically, Vanessa said she was too shy at that time to sing a solo even though her teacher tried.
Vanessa went through a rocky patch with her singing as well, getting duped by a guy who claimed he had a music studio and discovering how staged the American Idol experience can be.
So, she set the music aside for a bit.
Until another CCHS grad, Brandon Stewart, asked her to compete in Carrollton Idol. Brandon created the competition several years ago for locals who loved to sing and perform.
“He’s so persistent,” Vanessa said with a smile. She won the first Carrollton Idol and went on to be a vocal coach for the competition and now works with Brandon TV’s web production of SHINE as a vocal coach.
“Singing, for me, is just a natural high,” Vanessa said. “Everything else just fades away and it’s just you and that music.”
Vanessa will be performing this Saturday at the Out of the Darkness Walk in the pavilion at Point Park in downtown Carrollton. You can follow her on Facebook at Vanessa Birchfield (Vanessa B), on Instagram and X at VanessaB_Music as well as TheRealVanessaB on YouTube.