O'Donnell Benefit, Kenn Hicks, NMS, & More!

Hey everyone!

I am so sorry for the immense gap in time between now and my last newsletter to you. Things have been happening at an extraordinary pace, and I finally have a second to catch my breath and fill you in! When I last wrote you, Underground had just been released, I had been nominated for three Jersey Acoustic Music (JAM) Awards, and I was planning a benefit show in honor of a friend of mine who had left this planet a bit too soon.

Underground has been extremely well received. (Thank you guys for that! If you have not already checked it out, please do so!) In fact, speaking of releases, I am super stoked to announce that this weekend Sofia and I went into the studio to record our upcoming single, Satisfied!! Yay!!!

The JAM Awards ceremony in early April was beautiful. It reminded me how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful local music community. New Jersey is full of so much love and talent. Aside from a newfound appreciation for those I play music with, I left that ceremony with the award for Top 18 and Under Female Act! Big thanks to everyone that voted!

Some of you may have heard that a friend of mine recently passed away at the young age of 17. Feeling compelled to do something in his honor, I threw together a benefit show in honor of his family at The Blue Room in Secaucus, NJ on March 24. I am pleased to say that we raised $1,000, and the ODonnell family donated it to Relay for Life in honor of John. Thank you so much to everyone that came out and supported such a meaningful cause! Recently, I started training with Kenn Hicks, an extremely talented vocal coach that has worked with HUGE stars (including Sting, JLo, and Mary J. Blige). Together, we are preparing me for my audition for NBCs The Voice in July!! I can already feel an incredible change in the way that I sing, and I am really excited to share it with you all!

A few months ago, I received an email saying that I was in the running for the New Music Seminar Artist on the Verge Class of 2013. After doing some research, I discovered that this huge honor is given to only 100 undiscovered acts across America. I am ecstatic to announce that I am among 99 other incredible talents on that list and will be performing at the NMS New York Music Festival on June 10th at The Living Room in NYC! Other upcoming shows are listed under the gigs tab at rachelmillermusic.com. Our new system of ticket sales allows you to buy tickets for all of my shows online at your home computer, your phone, or anywhere else that is convenient! (Yay!) For more information on buying tickets and attending shows (or anything else), please feel free to email me at rachelmillermusic@yahoo.com!

The final thing I would like to share with you in this update is something that I need a little Millertary assistance with. Sofia and I are in the running to perform at the PNC Holmdel, NJ stop of Warped Tour this summer. (That is right – THE Warped Tour!) In order for us to perform, we need your help in getting our buzz rating up to 100 (or as close as possible)! All you have to do is go to www.battleofthebands.com/u/rachelmillermusic, vote with as many email addresses as you have, listen to the streaming of my EP, Underground (for free!!), and leave some comments on the page using your Facebook account. Each of those things helps the buzz rating go up, which gives the Millertary a better chance to take over Warped! You can do all of these things once every day (and of course, spreading the word helps as well)!! And so, there are LOADS of exciting things coming up! As always, I will keep you posted between newsletters on Facebook (facebook.com/rachelmillermusic), Twitter (twitter.com/heyrachelmiller), and Tumblr (rachelmillermusic.tumblr.com). Also, you can check out youtube.com/rachelmillermusic for a new video every Sunday!

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for being a part of the Millertary, for being a part of this journey, and for the love and support that you show!!!

See you soon!

Rachel