Richie Skye: So, Kim I’m glad to be talking with you today. Tell us a little about yourself.
Kim Dean: Well, I am a singer, songwriter, and music producer. I’m also a divorced, single Mom with two children, ages 12 and 14. I 'm also an Information Technology consultant and I do technical analysis, technical writing, and develop software applications mostly for the government for government contracting companies.
Richie Skye: Very good---you are quite the busy woman (chuckling). Do you have musical talent in your background?
Kim Dean: Well, my mother has a beautiful operatic style singing voice, my father is a concert organist/pianist/composer, and my brother is jazz/classical pianist and music producer (chuckling), so I guess so.
Richie Skye: So, you come from a rich background of music. How long have you been writing music?
Kim Dean: Let’s see….I’ve been singing and writing music/songs since I was about 12. I used to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning with my brother, Garvin Dean (songwriter/piano maestro/producer) creating music in our home in Huntsville, Alabama. Really, it’s a wonder my Mom could ever put up with all the craziness at that hour of the morning or didn’t force us to go to sleep (thank God for that). We had the freedom to just create until we got tired and passed out (laughing softly).
Richie Skye: So, I’ve got a question for you. In all of this time, since you were 12, wouldn’t you say it’s taken a while for this music, your music to be made available to the public listening audience?
Kim Dean: Absolutely! Too Long! (laughing). Actually, I have lived several years of my life thus far singing and writing music for lots of other people, and over time, it did take a while to really get my music going. The thing is, after college, bumming around in Florida for a while, and then ultimately moving here to the DC-Metro area, I started working in my field, and then I got married in 1996. Crazily enough, we basically got pregnant quite early into our marriage with our first child--really in about the first two months of our new marriage. Soooo, that kind of wasn’t planned (laughing). But, me and my then husband, Robert, said to ourselves, “okay, well we’ve got 9 months to prepare for this”. But then, to our surprise, our daughter, Summer, was actually born 3 months early (at 1 pound 7 ounces). So, much of our previously discussed plans, private and professional plans, that is...kind of got changed as you would imagine.
Richie Skye: “Wow!”
Kim Dean: Yes, It really was quite earth shattering. Both my newborn daughter and I were considered “high risk”. Fortunately, the doctors were able to save her and me. I’ll never forgot the doctors that saved our lives. Dr. Chakart Sukachevin (Dr. Suki), he’s no longer with us, and Dr. Thomas Pinkert. I mean as everything started to unravel in November of 1996 (she was actually due in February 1997), it was really quite touch and go there for a minute. It took quite a bit to recover from that unexpected event and I would have to say, life altering experience.
Richie Skye: Yes, I imagine so...quite interesting. So, you have two children now though.
Kim Dean: Yes, I would say just about the time that we got right side up, I became pregnant again, with our second child, Robert, III, who I am happy to say we had with no complications and just some precautions the doctors took with us in the first couple of trimesters, but other than that a normal, non-emergency delivery experience. Well, after Robert’s birth, my husband and I were going along getting things together, he had finished school and was working. I was still trying to work on the music as I could, but you know life with two small children, working, daycare, preschool. It’s quite an undertaking.
Richie Skye: I know it must have been, but that brings me to a quick question. Was any of that inspiration for the music you have released?
Kim Dean: Oh absolutely! Especially the song “That’s How It Is”. Raising children, everything seeming to be crazy at times, going through marriage ups and downs, having jobs, losing jobs, trying not to lose sight of my dreams and goals with regard to creating and completing my music and other creative project goals. Those experiences most definitely inspired a lot of the lyrics. But, all of that kind of gets you, you know, “off track” too.
Richie Skye: So, Kim, tell me with all of this, how in the world did you get back to your music? How did you “get back on track” for lack of a better way to put it?
Kim Dean: Well, it wasn’t really until about the 3rd year of my marriage in 1999 that I made a decision to just start working on focusing only on getting my music alone produced and completed for licensing and use. My children were 2 and 4 at the time, but unfortunately my marriage was experiencing trouble, but I just decided I had to get that music in a form that the public could access.
Richie Skye: So, despite “life” as you would, you just made a decision to just dive in again.
Kim Dean: Yes. It was an itch I just had to scratch.
Richie Skye: (laughing) I understand. So, what did you do?
Kim Dean: Well, I started trying to pull together the music that I had previously written over the years. The music that I would say best represented me, and not other people. Additionally, I wrote more music. And of course, I always knew in my head what I wanted. So, basically, I started doing some research on trying to get equipment that I might need to just try to record some of my music myself, but mostly just to be able to let producers and musicians hear something.
Richie Skye: So, how did that work out for you?
Kim Dean: Well, honestly, I wasn’t that familiar with the equipment, and it was quite a struggle. First, I approached people that I already knew in the music business. I knew a lot of people. But, I don’t know, I guess back then, what I did get manage to get recorded at home didn’t seem to garner the kind of interest that I had wanted to from the people that I had hoped would be willing to help me with it. I had musicians who were willing to play, but I didn’t have a band, so I had to pay each one each time. It was expensive.
Richie Skye: That sounds very disappointing and trying. What happened next?
Kim Dean: You know it really was. I knew the music in my head was good, but I couldn’t get that across to anyone. It was very frustrating.
Richie Skye: What about your brother, couldn’t he have helped you? Didn’t you say the two of you did a lot together in the past?
Kim Dean: It’s funny you should ask that. Well, you know people kept saying that to me, “get your brother to help you”. But, you know he just told me really that what I was doing wasn’t his style and he didn’t really have time, plus we no longer lived in the same area. So, it kind of just didn’t work out for him to be able to work with me on the projects.
Richie Skye: So, you’re not getting the professional help that you were looking for. The music is still rolling around inside of you. You’re still working, still trying to raise your family; struggling with your marriage…That’s quite a lot.
Kim Dean: Yes, it was. I went through producer after producer—year after year, but I just couldn’t seem to get anyone to “buy into” my vision. Sometimes, it seemed I just wasn’t accomplishing anything for months at a time. The producers that I did find and had to pay, of course, that would give me some time….each one would put their own spin on what they thought the music should be. They couldn’t seem to comprehend the “signature sound” that I wanted to create, “the style” that I was hearing, and so for about 9 years, my music would not see itself through to fruition, and each composition, each production, each mix, and master ultimately just wasn’t what I wanted. Throughout this time, I was of course also trying to raise two small children, hold my marriage together, and work fulltime. It had to be the most trying time I have ever experienced in my life.
Richie Skye: Well, Kim, so far your story is very interesting, and I think this is a good spot to break for this first segment. So, nice to have this talk with you, and we’ll get more of your rise towards this accomplishment next time.
Kim Dean: Sounds great! Thank you!