Jo Scaife

Her Music

SHE REMEBERS IT ALL WELL. Barely out of the toddler years, her mother having passed away when she was three, little Jo Scaife would peek around the curtain to watch her father, Willie Lee Scaife and his Mellowtone Gospel Singers launch into another round of "How Far Is Heaven?" Soon enough, he’d look down, and there she’d be, onstage, hugging his leg and singing along. She loved the music and possessed a booming jazz-tinged, R&B voice that even her father wasn’t sure what to do with. But even then, the question of that one some intrigued her most. She would learn the answer soon enough.

Jo grew up on the road, traveling with her father’s group and listening to gospel standards. Early on, she felt, the tug of God on her heart, a call that would take years of prayer and pain to fully realize. There have been seasons of unbelievable loss punctuated with joyful, affirming accomplishments. At every turn, it was evident that God had a big, complex purpose for her.

In high school, Jo entered and won the Miss Black Fort Walton Beach pageant. She went on to compete in the Miss Teen World Pageant, as well as in the Miss Black Florida pageant. In 1982, her step-brother Nathan lost his life in a drowning accident. In 1991, Jo moved to Nashville to pursue a degree at Belmont University, where she was the first Black student and female to graduate with a Bachelor’s of Liberal Arts degree in Religion. She had many opportunities to model, write songs and eventually landing the top 50 of the nationwide John Lennon songwriting contest in 1998, with her song tilted, "Hold On". She became known for her background vocal work for various artists in Christian and country music. Outside music, Jo’s involvement as a community volunteer and advocate grew. She is active in several volunteer ministries today.

In 1992, Jo’s father died, an event that allowed her, for the first time, to experience the sum of all the loss and grief in her life. The loss of her father was the beginning of discovery the person God had created her to be. "When we rolled away from the gravesite," Jo says, "It really hit me that all of those people were gone. My mother, my brother, my father. I had never allowed myself to feel it, but when he died, I not only realized how much pain I’d been through but also what kind of person I really am. With each death, you begin again, you get a new perspective on life."

As more and more performance opportunities opened up, years of journaling and prayer grew into songs that express Jo’s experiences of love and loss. The process starting over again, of holding on despite the raging storms outside and inside, has shown her how to "be still and know that God is," even in her suffering. And in that, she has learned to embrace her struggles. "It’s hard to believe, I know, but suffering has become my friend. It has helped me to see who I really am. It has kept me on the right path," Jo says. "With each loss, each situation that has come into my life, I’ve searched myself and drawn closer to God. Suffering has made me search…"

After a debut recording, HOLD ON, an expression of what God created in her life, the lessons learned through loss. Now entering a new season with a new project due to release in fall 2008 entitled, "WELCOME TO EDEN", she’s even more determined to walk in the truth of who she’s become. To say what she knows about life, what she believes is true, and to speak peace that will "clam raging, questioning hearts." "My music is not only about style. I say its Inspirational with a little jazz, pop and gospel thrown in, but it’s not about that. It’s about not about color, although I am a black woman. My songs connect people through experience, by looking at the hearts of suffering people who long for God, and saying having been there, "You can hold on, and God is present in your suffering."

To listen to Jo Scaife is to hear a powerful joy forged in the fire of grief. Every line out of her mouth has been lived to its fullest, the result of her resolve to leave behind a lasting legacy of one who has been constantly sheltered by His grace. As one who knows how far heaven can seem and yet how near God is when needed most, Jo’s powerful delivery from the depths of grief rings true musically-a rare feat by any measurement and a definite gift of God. For Jo, and for all of those who will hear her.

The music industry is in a time of change. There are more and more ways to access music besides through CD audio form. This truth opens the door for more and more small innovative businesses to appear in the ever-changing music marketplace.

In October 2006 music industry global consultant and publisher Jo Scaife launched at BReleasedradio.com internet radio station, M.E. – The Music Entrepreneur radio talk show focused solely on some of the best music professionals globally. The show hosted by Scaife, features through live interviews and performances artists, record execs, publicists, producers, educators, authors, film makers, and any professional individual that make up the music business industry as a whole.

Yes! The first music business talk show focused on the music entrepreneur niche market.

The goal of M.E. – The Music Entrepreneurs Radio Talk Show is to expose, celebrate, and embrace the ever-exploding market of music entrepreneurs and to recognize the wide variety of businesses and the faces behind the businesses that make up this market. It’s simply the show about music entrepreneurs. The show airs weekly, Monday through Friday from 11:00am – 12 noon on BReleasedradio.com, allowing the listening audience to listen on their lunch break and also aired in the evening at 6:00pm. The show has already featured music moguls businessman such as Mathew Knowles (Beyounce), Max Seigel (Nascar Global), Michael Omartian (Mogul Producer), Christopher "Play" Martin (actor/hip hop music icon from "Kid n Play"), Don Jackson (TV Prodcuer/Stellar Awards CEO), Kirk Franklin (Urban Christian Music mogul music), Buster "Louis" Brown (Mogul producer and multi-product CEO) and more nationally and internationally known personalities over the last three months. M.E. will also focus on the business as a whole researching ways to better your small business by featuring topics that focus on finance, investing, statistics, market share, and special professionals who present quarterly tips, and columns related to music business, such as our "Ask the Expert" monthly expert with Mo Headley (A&R at Zomba). The program has taken the time to spotlight bestselling authors books on entrepreneurship such as, Guy Kawasaki, "Art of the Start", Michael E. Gerbert, "The E-Myth" and more.

M.E. seeks to integrate music and business on a whole new level culturally, professionally, and artistically. Taking the artists, songwriters, distributors, record labels, publicists, digital music creators and more beyond the product and into the makeup of who they are and at the same time inspiring, educating, and informing the reader more about the unique impact of music business.

Overall, M.E. is intended to help support the new thinkers through music by focusing on today’s savvy music entrepreneurs.

To submit a guest send information to info@themusicentrepreneur.com or

contact us at 615-216-7334.