To this day Traci has no idea what it was the inspired her to want to be a singer, but since the age of 5 all she has ever done was sing. By the age of 8, she was already writing her first songs, and taking tap and jazz dance classes. Dancing and singing seem to come very natural to Traci, if there was a beat, she was dancing to it. Her major influence was of course, Michael Jackson, but others include Elvis Presley, Elton John, Cher, Bette, and Jim Steinman (Meatloaf).

Following her passions was something she never thought about, she just did. When she was a kid, she would dance around trying to imitate Michael Jackson, or sing in local contests. Her Dad used to take her to local bars so that she could sing with the bands, of course they were normally country bands because her Dad believed there were only two kinds of music: Country and Western. Therefore, her repertoire usually included Ricky Skaggs, EmmyLou Harris, Kenny Rogers and “Old Time Rock & Roll”. Her Dad was always telling her to get up and sing wherever she can, because you never know who is in the audience. A rule she ALWAYS, to this day, follows.

The dancing that she really felt inside of her and wanted to do, she never thought existed. She had never seen it anywhere on TV, movies, or videos. Except that, her brother used to dance with a friend of his lifting her over his head and twirling her around. “I thought he was the greatest dancer I’d ever seen, and wishing beyond all hope that he would dance with me.” She also used to watch her Mom & Dad dance together with exceptional timing and charisma, wishing that one-day her Dad would ask her to dance. Although she was born and mostly raised in Vermilion, Ohio, from the age of 12 she knew she wanted to be in Los Angeles. At 17, she packed her bags and headed to California. Three weeks after she got there, she met the man that would change her life.

“I remember I was working at a nightclub and I had been very busy all night. Around 11pm, I finally had a chance to take a break. I looked out on the dance floor and saw all these people dancing together, as partners. One particular couple stood out among the others. This man was holding his partners’ hand, let it go, spun on one-foot with his knee up, catching the girl’s hand, then started dancing together again. I think my mouth just dropped to the floor. The dancing that I never thought existed was right in front of me. I remember saying aloud “I am going to learn that dance!” I went up to the guy that did the one-foot spin and found out that his name was Sonny Watson and the teacher of this dance – West Coast Swing.”

She spent the next 3 years devoting her life to the dance and becoming partners with Sonny, competing in dance competitions and teaching. However, her true calling could not wait any longer and she needed to sing again, but she knew her dancing would be a part of her singing. From the departure of Sonny, she started playing with bands and touring from Alaska to Greenland, at the same time working on her style of music and writing songs. However, it was not until she arrived in Nashville that she fully developed her own Pop-A-Billy style of music. She knew that this style was not only all hers and would make people’s toes tap, but it would fuse with her West Coast Swing dancing to give a complete musical visual.

Hitting the songwriter’s nights around Nashville, she found that playing an instrument was pertinent in this town. Guitar became her instrument of choice. For the next year, all she did was play the guitar and write songs. It had gotten to the point where she now had enough material to do a night of gigs, so she started singing her original material fulltime. Finding that she wanted to sing more than a few nights a week, she started hitting the streets of Nashville to sing her own original songs – LITERALLY. For a couple of years, you could have seen her singing right there on Broadway playing for anyone who would listen, and some who would not.

At present, she is residing in Marietta, Georgia. She is still trying to get her music heard and her dancing seen. Though a lot of people do not understand the vision that she sees, at this point, she believes, if it’s meant to happen, it will.