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Native of Fort Hood gets vocal By Erin Steele Killeen Daily Herald From the time she was a child, Jennie Walker always felt that music was a connection to something larger than herself. She would listen to the songs of Karen Carpenter, Barbra Streisand and Carole King and sense that something special rose from the lyrics. That idea of embracing the unique to reach a greater good led her to explore what eventually became her two primary loves: music and fundraising. “Music has always been a part of my life,” Walker said. “It was the passion and emotion in those songs I heard as a child.” Walker was born on Fort Hood and attended Belton Junior High School before moving to Georgia as a teenager. Her father, retired Col. Homer Lee Walker, and sister Becky Lee Hilliard still live in Belton. Walker currently lives in New York City, where she operates a fundraising consultancy specializing in entertainment-related charities. In addition, she is recording her first album with Grammy-nominated producer Tommy Faragher, which is expected to be released in 2006. “It’s an amazing process, working with a professional producer — someone who is seasoned, who I can connect with and has been able to figure out what to do with my voice,” Walker said. “In order to be commercially successful, you have to have someone who understands what you’re trying to do.” The singer said she is busy right now booking live shows in New York City, which will serve as benefit concerts for World Hunger Year this fall. World Hunger Year was founded by artist/advocate Harry Chapin in 1975 and is Walker’s main fundraising client. Walker said that like Chapin, she considers herself both an artist and advocate. She has worked for such organizations as the Synergos Institute — founded by David Rockefeller’s daughter Peggy Dulany — and the Carter Center in Atlanta, founded by former President Jimmy Carter. “I would say that my life really changed in 1990, the year I started working for Jimmy Carter. On a really deep level, I understood what giving back is all about,” Walker said. “It was a real blessing to be able to work for him. The message really came through that there are issues in this world so much bigger than ourselves. It was a permanent internal change.” Her work has afforded Walker the opportunity to meet major world figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mexican President Vicente Fox, David Rockefeller and Nelson Mandela. “Meeting Nelson Mandela was awesome, humbling; it was a very special moment,” Walker said. “I had to keep pinching myself. He’s a spiritual leader in so many ways and to be able to meet someone like that — it’s a privilege. I don’t take it lightly.” On a tour of South Africa in conjunction with the Global Philanthropists Cir-cle, Walker was asked to sing for a group of people that included Mandela’s wife, Gracia Machel, on the beaches of Mozambique. “It was an honor, Walker said. “The music is actually such a connecting force. We went to see some villagers while we were there, to study their community.” A group of women greeted us with song. I was asked to sing one of my original songs acapella in English, and I was stunned by their response. They didn’t understand what I was saying, but by the second verse, they started chanting in appreciation. “It was stunning to me. They recognized that I was trying to communicate with them the way they were communicating with me,” she said. “It’s proof that music connects everyone. In a world where we have war and all kinds of disagreements, every culture can turn to music.” Walker said that, ultimately, her fundraising work has helped her become a better musician. “I think this kind of work helps me tune into myself, the issues within me. It gives me things to think about on a larger scale,” Walker said. “You have your internal world you live in, but the external world puts it in perspective. “The type of work I’ve been doing has given me the courage to look within my-self, to say what I’m thinking and feeling. “As a musician, you have to reveal yourself and be vulnerable.” For more information on Jennie Walker, visit: >> www.jenniewalker.com (music) and >> www.jwalkerinc.com (fundraising). Contact Erin Steele at esteele@kdhnews.com |