Collette McLafferty has been lead singer of edibleRed, a band that has been around for 10 years. There have been many ups and downs for this group. After years of touring, and almost (but not quite) getting signed, edibleRed was actually very close to calling it quits. But one night, Collette decided to attend a staged reading of a musical. Who she met there turned the tide for Collette and everyone in edibleRed.
It was around the holidays and everyone was in a festive mood. Collette attended alone and she happened to be sitting between Fred Munao, president of Select Records and Alan Merrill, who wrote "I Love Rock and Roll". They also came alone to the event. Networking was the furthest thing from her mind. Fred, Alan and Collette had a great conversation, exchanged business cards and everyone went their merry way.
But Collette wasn't going to fall down on followup. A couple pf months later, she got in touch with Fred to get feedback on edibleRed's latest CD. She knew that the bulk of Select Records successes were in the hip hop world, so it never occurred to her that she could actually be signed to the label. He said he liked the recordings and to keep sending him stuff. When she sent him their first music video, he asked if Collette could stop by the office so he could give her some feedback. At this point, it STILL hadn't dawned on Collette what was about to happen.
Collette never told Fred that edibleRed was considering calling it quits when she went to Fred's office. Instead, Fred offered her a record deal that day at his office and extended the deal to the entire band when he came to see them perform. They then released their "debut" album on Select Records titled "Welcome to My Bad Behavior" which received airplay on MTV Latino, X1FM, KROCK2, Maxim Radio,VH1.com, FUSE, Rollingstone.com, MTV.com, "The L Word", The Oxygen Network and over 120 radio stations world wide.
Beyond a label president, Fred became a mentor, a friend and family. In this crazy industry that is the music business, Collette feels so fortunate to be on a label that not only lets her stay true to her artistic identity, but having Fred be there to lend a sympathetic ear if she needs guidance or encouragement. She could not ask for a better record deal.
Collette's story has several messages: Successs requires persistence (How many people would stay committed to a dream for over 10 years?)
The right circles create the right opportunities,
You need to be courageous and willing to talk to the "right" strangers that have the influence and power to help you get heard.
Go to www.myspace.com/ediblered to hear edibleRed and here's the link to their bestseller "Hey Ya":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAkfoRYDEj0&feature=channel_page
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