Most parents would be concerned to find their young daughter hanging out in honkytonks. But if the honkytonk is Nashville’s World Famous Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, and the young girl isn’t bellied up to the bar but belting it out on one of country music’s most famous stages, what’s a parent to do? If you’re Correna Ann's parents, you cheer your girl on with the rest of the crowd.
“It was so exciting just to be there,” says Correna Ann who is 16 years old, remembering the day she was invited by the house band’s guitarist to grab the mike and sing a number. “He was playing on my record, and after we finished in the studio one day he invited us down to Tootsie’s to see him play. When we got there he asked me if I wanted to do a song, and I just said, ‘Yes, please!’ I sang Broken Wing, and people came down from the second floor to listen. I was so thrilled!”
Correna Ann’s home town is Avon, a suburb of Rochester in northern New York. Correna was still a toddler when she started entertaining, though her early passion was dance and not singing. “I started dancing when I was two, all kinds----ballet, tap, modern, jazz, even hip-hop. I loved it all. Dancing was my life until I was about ten.”
In fourth grade, a four-line solo during a choir performance was a revelation, to young Correna and to the audience. “Afterwards, people were coming up to me and telling me that I was really good, that I could really sing. That was such a big moment.”
So much so, that she began taking vocal lessons, joined the Bach Children’s Choir in Rochester, and started entering competitions. One of her first took her from the county fair, to a state contest, then to regional, and ultimately to the finals in New York City, wowing judges all the way with her rendition of Martina McBride’s arrangement of the classic Over The Rainbow. She was one of the youngest competing in the 10-14 year-old Junior Division, and came in third. It was affirmation that she was on the right path.
Back home, she recorded a karaoke disc of cover songs, then a few months later a three-song demo with her first producer, Kim Bullard (Poco, Elton John). In middle school, she immersed herself in school plays and community theatre, creating an impressive resume for any age that includes roles in nearly 20 plays and musicals. Her work was recognized by the Rochester Broadway Theatre League who named her one of their “2007 Young Stars of Tomorrow.”
She knew she loved being on stage, but at an age when most girls are thinking of which club to join or school sport to participate in, she found herself at a professional crossroads. “I needed to decide if I wanted to pursue a career on Broadway or singing. I decided to focus on singing.”
She left public school for home schooling to allow herself the time and flexibility she knew she would need to achieve her goals. In 2007, she came to Nashville, met with producer Terry Wendt (The Wendt Brothers, Peggy and Patsy Lynn, Shania Twain) and recorded 9 songs. In July 2009, Correna Ann returned to the studio to record 4 new songs with Grammy Award winning studio engineer and producer, Julian King (Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and additional hot acts such as Sugarland, Rodney Atkins and Kellie Pickler.)
Though she has no plans now to leave her parents, younger brother Cameron, and her many friends, she says she would like to move to Nashville eventually, knowing that it is the creative center of the country music world. “It is so inspirational to be in that community, there are incredible artists and singers and writers everywhere you turn and it’s an honor to be among them. I have been writing and co-writing, I really love it. I know it will help me develop as a complete artist, to be able to sing the songs that I have written.”
