Bajan Sun Magazine - Caribbean Entrepreneurs Vol1 Issue 8 | Page 27

What was your greatest achievement in music? My greatest achievement thus far is winning the top prize for my songwriting in Nashville and hearing my song “Don’t Leave Us Stranded” playing on Y103.3 and being appreciated by the people here in my hometown of Barbados. It is very encouraging and reassuring to know that you are accepted by your own, especially when you’re doing something that’s different. I thank my fans for that. What was your greatest challenges and how you overcame it? I would say my shyness. When I first started, I wouldn’t even open my eyes on stage and I barely spoke - I would just sing every song with my eyes shut. Once I met up with Mr. Headley through my manager, Barry Knight, we worked on some techniques to develop my performance craft and awareness. I feel I have improved a lot since I first started performing in 2009. I regularly watch performance DVD’s and read books with live methods for performing, but it is always a work in progress. Recently, Corey Applewhaite, who was the drummer for the duo Alex & Corey, decided to quit so it has been quite a task restructuring the show to compensate for the lack of drums and still be impactful. The response to the new show seems to be very good so far though. What would you say to young persons interested in getting into music and performing? The music industry is very demanding but it can also be a fun and fulfilling adventure. If you want to take it seriously, you have to go at it hard and with the right motives. You need to dedicate all of your passion, enthusiasm and time to it and ensure your energy is focused in the right direction. Build a team of people who are committed to your vision and success and who understand the changing trends and are not afraid to take risks to get you noticed. Be true to who you are, determine what separates you from other artists and capitalize on it. Listen to advice and remained open to criticism. Most importantly, have fun and love what you do! For more information on Alex and to keep up to date with his progress, please visit YouTube and Soundcloud, to view his videos. See links: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cdXd-l3gjc http://m.soundcloud.com/alexander_millz1/alex-corey -pyrite-mountain as well as Facebook.com/ alexmillz99 and Twitter: @mills_alexander