Always singing from her heart, Judy Welden wrings so much feeling from the lyrics of her song that her audience can identify with whatever emotion she's projecting at that moment. The next minute she'll have them roaring with laughter at her quips betweens songs! Born in PA, later moving to WV, MO, FL and more recently settling in GA, Judy's natural harmony ability comes easily, having started to sing both lead and harmony with her family in church at age seven. She has always given the Lord all the glory for the gifts of singing and songwriting He has given her.
After she moved to GA Judy began to have breathing problems and found it difficult to sing. Just like in the bridge of the title song of her last album
(Chasing a Dream), when things don't work out, she sings
she'll pursue something new! That is exactly what she did. Twelve years ago she realized that she was most likely not the only one who couldn't wear a bandana on her head. It kept slipping off. She wondered why no one had ever created one with a headband. With no time to do it back then, she decided in April, 2004 to create this herself, has applied for a patent and registered the name, Bandana Hat.
They are seen in magazines and TV
( Bandana Hats)
Now having been in GA
long that the climate doesn't bother her as much, Judy finds she can
sing again and has formed a duo called
FIRESONG. Singing with friend,
CATHY SQUIRES, they
perform at various events locally. Click
here
As concerns her recording
career, with the help of talented promoters,
RHONBOB
and
GARY BRADSHAW (WHP RECORDS),
she has been continually on the
ROOTS GOSPEL
and TOP 100
charts all of 2007 until the
present. Being # 1
for a record 18 weeks,
Judy has gone as high as
# 10 on the TOP 100 chart.
Other charts she's been on during this time is ECMA (European Country
Music Assn) and NY's MUSIC REVIEW chart.
Judy has sung from numerous stages, with her favorite being the
Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, original home of the
Grand Ole Opry,
where she sang on the same show as Kitty
Wells in the mid 90's.
In
June 2006
Judy released
PAIN SHY, BLUES &
TRIBULATION, an 18
song basically blues CD, with every type of blues you could think of:
country blues, rock
blues, gospel blues, jazz blues, and even a few ac/pop blues.
With 3 new songs, it
also includes 6 songs from her first album,
SHADES OF BLUE
(which had never been released) and 9 songs from previously released
CDs, all of which fit a bluesy concept.
GET LOST (MR. BAD NEWS),
co-written with Siuberto Socarras,
is the first single release (Jan, 2007). Ending with the beloved
PEACE IN THE VALLEY, there is truly something for everyone in this special
album.
For her 9 1/2 weeks overseas tour the summer of '98, Judy put together an album of sixteen (16) of her most played songs in an album called
JUDY WELDEN COUNTRY HITS - '92 to '98. She performed at the
Zevenbergen Festival in Holland and went on to tour in six (6) other countries. Her albums and songs stayed on the European charts, that included mostly major artists all summer.
Judy released a Christian album titled "GRACE"
in January 2001. The first song on that album, a patriotic duet
(ONE NATION), co-written and sung with Phil Coley, from Bowden, GA. was dedicated to the new President of the US and the new Millennium. She received a thank-you note from the White House, signed by President George W. Bush. It became another #1 song for her in March, 2001.
In Dec., 2006, ABSTAIN, DON'T PLAY THE GAME
was released again as a single. Her country album
(CHASING A DREAM), released in the spring of 2001, also includes
ONE NATION and 16 other original songs. The songs continue to get lots of airplay, especially in Europe, and each of them will be released as singles over the next five years or so.
Previous albums Ms Welden released were SHADES OF BLUE, WOMAN OF THE 90'S (both on Treasure Coast Records) and
FOREVER GRATEFUL on her Christian label, Heartfelt Records.
Over the years Judy has received many awards and nominations. A few of them are:
"Colorado Country Music Assn." Hall of
Fame, 2006, "International Female
Recording Artist of the Year", 1999, "Album
of the Year" (New Country Music), "Song of
the Year" (FISHING FOR A NEW LOVE, co-written with Tom Littleby), "American Horizon Award"
and "Co-Writer of the Year" with her co-writers DJ Mia Heylen and Terrance Alan.
She was awarded the
"CAMEO" WOMAN OF THE YEAR award
in '96. In addition Judy was nominated for six (6) awards in 2001, including
"Artist of the 20th Century" and
"Artist/Songwriter of the Year".
With over 350 original songs to her credit, Judy has recorded
82 of them and many have been in the Top 10 on the Independent charts, with
thirteen (13) of them reaching # 1. Those were:
I'M HITTIN' THE ROAD,
LOVE CONQUERS ALL, SHELTER IN THE RAIN,
ONE NATION, ABSTAIN, DON'T PLAY THE GAME (with co-writers, Tina Billias, Tom Littleby, Phil Coley and Rhonnie Scheuerman
respectively), CHURCH CALLED THE RISEN
SON (Judy's lyrics to the public domain
tune, HOUSE OF THE RISEN SUN),
I'M PAIN SHY
(co-written with Marc Rabins),
YOU ARE THERE FOR ME
(co-written with Roy Crabb), AMAZING GRACE
(public domain), CONFUSION (WHAT'S THE
SOLUTION (co-written with Mia Heylen),
I'M A SURVIVOR
(co-written with Tina Billias) and WHEN I'M
CHASING A DREAM &
WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
( both solely written by Judy).
Dozens of Judy's original songs have been included in the Top 10 on the Indie charts of America.
Fourteen (14) artists have recorded 32 of her songs.
Dubbed "WONDER WOMAN OF THE 90'S"
by her then PR man, the late Gene Bear, (after Judy released 10 compilation CDs with multiple artists/songwriters in a 12 month period, she has since stopped releasing the compilations. Her focus now is on publishing songs written by herself and the other songwriters she publishes in order to find suitable songs for talented artists. Like all independent artists, she would love to have a major 'hit' herself, thus the title of
one of her albums, CHASING A DREAM!
Starting the TCSA (Treasure Coast Songwriters Assn) in 1993, Judy was the director for 4 years, and later served as Advisor. She has judged the
SOWI (Songwriters of Wisconsin International)
songwriting contest for more than a decade.
In 1995 Judy started FIRP (Fairness in Royalty Payments)
to appeal to BMI
and ASCAP
concerning equality in royalty payments, requesting that their radio
monitoring be updated to modern technology to assure that all
songwriters be paid fairly, not just the major ones. She is known for
her quote: "We Indies plow a big
field to reap half a peanut every other year".
She is pleased, though, that in recent years, Independent artists and
songwriters can get the exposure they deserve, thanks to the Internet.
In time they may even be paid as fairly as the major stars.
With a successful career
that spans several dozen years and having been nominated and accepted
for inclusion in
"International Who's
Who in Music", "Marquis Who's Who in Entertainment" and
"Who's Who Worldwide", Judy Welden's musical star continues to shine!
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