L.A. BASED SINGER SONGWRITER MISTY GONZALES
TEAMS WITH BROADCAST INDUSTRY VET TOM
WILSON TO CREATE FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT,
A MULTI-FACETED COMPANY WITH
EDUCATIONAL AND PHILANTHROPIC AIMS
***
The Indie Company’s First Project Is
Hummingbird, A 3-Song EP Teaser For
Misty’s Upcoming Full Length Debut
‘Rock & Roll Freedom Show,’ Produced
By Warren Huart (The Fray, James
Blunt, Daniel Powter)
While many artists in the digital era form independent labels to release their recordings, L.A. based singer/songwriter Misty Gonzales and her partner, Tom Wilson, Cleveland based owner of radio and television stations across the country, have higher goals for their recently formed company FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT (FCE).
The two are currently gearing up for the release of Hummingbird, her 3-song EP that is a teaser for her full length recording Rock & Roll Freedom Show, due in April 2011. Highlighted by its first single “Freedom Child,” an emotionally moving song about post-war stress experienced by soldiers and the freedom they fight for which allows us as Americans to pursue our dreams, was produced by Grammy nominee Warren Huart, who has produced such names as The Fray, James Blunt and Daniel Powter. The songstress is shooting a music video for “Freedom Child,” complete with dramatic combat scenes, out in the California desert in mid-January.
The “hippie rock queen”–as she has been described by Music Connection magazine, which chose her as one of their Top 100 artists of both 2009 and 2010—will be performing at the Key Club on Sunset Strip February 2 and 23, which is also the official release date of Hummingbird from FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT. The show’s live stage performance, which carries the same title as the full-length album Rock & Roll Freedom Show, is inspired, in part, by the Beatles ‘Love’ Cirque du Soleil. The singer’s exciting visual stage show created around the album collection is an extension of the contemporary flair she brings to this nostalgic vibe. As she segues seamlessly from song to song, the singer is surrounded onstage by dynamic lighting, compelling visuals, aerialists, unicyclists, hula hoop dancers, pole dancers, stilt walkers and much more. Interesting enough, the final admission of the show is “Can’t Find My Way Alone” very emblematic of the FCE partnership between Misty and Wilson. They bring different strengths to the table and lean on those differences in launching this vision. Misty often jokes that her living in PST and Tom living in EST allows FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT to work “around-the-clock”.
“While we’re both very excited about the release of our label debut and doing more recordings in the future, we developed FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT to reach people not only through music, but also through philanthropy,” says Misty.
Wilson adds, “Besides being an amazing music writer and performer, Misty has a passion for music, people, success and giving back. What a partner to have who is focused and fun! She’s focused on the work that has to go into achieving our goals and fun with a fabulous sense of humor and appreciation for life.”
FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT recently teamed with Wing and a Prayer Foundation, whose mission is to rebuild and expand efforts of Bethany Baptist Christian Church and School in Jacmel, Haiti. The foundation has donated building materials, toys, and computers, plus, provided financial resources to keep the school (which has 300 children, from ages 3-14) running and to further develop its curriculum during the post-earthquake crisis period.
One of FREEDOM CHILD’s major domestic goals is building The Dream Ranch, a facility that would house a summer program bringing in kids from 12 to 16 years-old to help them learn life and workplace skills from professionals in various fields, music and otherwise. The Dream Ranch would identify the career ambitions of the young participants and invite people working successfully in those careers to help them develop plans of action to move them towards achieving those dreams. Misty and Tom have been looking for potential property for the ranch everywhere from Ocala, Florida to North Carolina.
“I met Tom a few years back at a KIIS-FM event in Los Angeles; I was promoting one of my first projects. We had an equal passion for great music and a desire to reach people through music and philanthropy,” she says. “I had just started my label, but the more we talked about the charitable side of the equation, the more we realized it would be a great idea to form FREEDOM CHILD ENTERTAINMENT as an umbrella to house all of our dreams and goals, musical and otherwise.”
