Today we’d like to introduce you to Juliet Lyons.
Hi Juliet, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Everyone’s path is truly unique, right?!
I grew up performing in Albuquerque, New Mexico with the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera. The music bug bit early, and it bit hard. I was very much into musical theater, then segued to classical and opera when I attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
I moved out to LA for the first time fresh out of college in the early 2000s with a vocal performance degree. I immediately got signed up with Central Casting and discovered the joys and woes of being a background extra – a quintessential part of the LA entertainment biz journey – while auditioning for musical theater work. My first professional jobs were on cruise ships, which was my absolute dream job at the time – singing for a living, no living expenses, traveling the world, and making friends from across the globe. I started writing songs in my spare time on the cruise ships and found my new passion.
I left musical theater and ended up in the Caribbean for almost a decade in St. Lucia and the Bahamas (that’s a whole other story!) and started writing and producing songs and instrumental cues from my very basic, very modest home studios in the islands. Eventually, my music started getting signed with publishers (music libraries) and started getting placed on television shows and films. As much as I loved island life, my heart was always in the heart of the music industry – LA – and I moved back three years ago. I continue to do what I love, singing and writing music for sync, back in the city with the energy I feel so plugged into.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggle is real, and it never ends, lol! It is a business of rejection, and it is a MARATHON! It is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of disappointment, a lot of aggravating, painful “so close!” moments, a lot of hustle, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of good music with bits of your soul in it that just slips through the cracks unnoticed. And that’s just Monday, haha. Just keeping it real here! The only reason I never gave up along the way is because music is my life, and even on the most bitter, hard, low days, I just can’t imagine a life without it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Every day I am writing or recording music. I sing on my own projects, I am hired to sing on projects, I write and co-write songs for music libraries, and I write instrumental cues for music libraries. My music cues are on TV just about every day, on shows ranging from The Voice to The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I am one of what is still, sadly, few female writers/producers in the world of music for sync. But we are here, we are in it, and we are determined.
With my years of musical theater and classical training, I’d say my singing specialty is cinematic, ethereal vocals, the kind used in film scores and trailers, and also Disney-style vocals. I was honored to have sung on the trailer for Disney’s live-action Cinderella. That was the first time I heard my voice in a movie theater. That moment, with my family all sitting next to me, is a memory I’ll always cherish.
As a recording artist, I also create New Age music, which allows me to use that same style of singing. I’m proud to say my album, “The Light Within,” charted #3 on Billboard.
I also have my own online vocal coaching business, Your Online Singing Coach. Through a lifetime of learning, I am passionate about sharing knowledge and fostering the mindset that is very much part of the skillset a singer, artist, or composer in the music business needs.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I think you have to be a bit smart, and a bit sensible…but I think risk-taking is VITAL to finding success. I had a quote on my bulletin board for a long time (now internalized) that said, “Whatever scares you, do it.” I think that might have been Derek Sivers. Risk-taking, getting out of the comfort zone – it can be big things, and it can be little things. I don’t consider myself overly bold or extroverted, but I do love a challenge. And so I try to challenge myself often. I actually keep a list running (I’m nerdy like that) with the question at the top: “What big, bold actions did I take this week?” Here’s one thing I have learned: Life is short. Go for it!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.julietlyons.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourOnlineSingingCoach
- Other: https://www.youronlinesingingcoach.com
Image Credits
Yiota Salpadimos for main photo Tim Garcia for live performance photo
