HEDITEDI'S BIOGRAPHY

BACK IN THE DAY

I performed in church and school, but most of my live appearances were in my living room or den. It was during this time that I discovered a wonderful new medium called by the name of MTV. I was strongly influenced by the dawning of the music video revolution. I had no exposure to 'real' Rock music at all until MTV invaded the airwaves. I was also influenced by my dad's love of anything Motown or R&B.

As soon as I was old enough to travel, I headed to New York, New York - big city of dreams. Arriving in New York was my opportunity to get an education in the music business first hand. It was my chance to network and meet with new and interesting people. I became a regular at the Vibe Music Seminar and spent a lot of time entering contests under the name "Teddy". I figured that no one would know if I bombed at a competition if I used a fake name. I received an award in Michigan for performing addressed to "Teddy", and I quickly gave up the practice.

One of the people I met while networking in New York referred me to Sound Sages Jams in Baltimore, MD. I met the Sound Sages crew and co-produced my first official demo. It was a terrific project, but undercurrents doomed the release to failure. Undaunted, I continued to pursue my dreams. In the interim, Billboard recognized what would become the title track to The American Sampler with a Certificate of Achievement for Songwriting on American Woman.

Working with Sound Sages left a nasty taste in my mouth, so I decided that it was time to give my dad's advice a shot. I went to college. I learned volumes about computers, but I still had a yearning to do something - anything musical. That's when I had my eureka moment. I realized that I could do music web sites. I quickly built HediTedi.com. Soon after, Genxeffect.com would follow - leading me into a completely new direction within the business.

Quite honestly, I was happy with my websites. I had given up on the CD release rat race until fate intervened. A friend of a merchandising friend convinced me to attend a Vanilla Ice show in Springfield, VA. I met Vanilla Ice that evening, and the man who made him one of the most famous people in America - Faith Management CEO John Bush (JB). Within 2 weeks of meeting JB, I was flown to Dallas, TX to record my second demo - The American Sampler.

The people I worked with at Audio Dallas Recording Studios made me believe in music again. JB and they literally are responsible for rekindling my love for music. I was honored to work with one of Kirk Franklin's musical directors - Grammy Award Winning Artist and drummer Robert Searight. Latin sensation David "Paco" Cruz played guitar on 2 of the 4 tracks I recorded in Dallas. He was truly the most amazing guitarist I'd ever seen.

Those 4 tracks became known as The American Sampler, and it sold briskly upon release. It was never sold in stores or on the Internet. There was no marketing campaign to push the product, but the sampler sold like hotcakes. It was all word-of-mouth advertising, and it made me realize that my music was worth more than I'd previously realized.

THESE DAYS

I am currently working on my 3rd CD release called 'OTBP'. The songs are from the heart, and the music is trademark HediTedi. It is important to me that this release embody all of the lessons I've learned over the years both musically and otherwise. Indeed the 3rd time is the charm, and I look forward to bringing my dreams to life and sharing them with you.