Rychael: Hi Rainere! It's so nice to meet you! I'm Rychael.
Rainere Martin: Hi Rychael! It's nice to meet you as well.
Rychael: Thank you for your submission to Belle Vie Magazine and agreeing to do this interview. Can you tell me a little about yourself and your musical background?
Rainere Martin: My name is Rainere Martin and I'm forty eight years old. I've been singing all my life. In my twenties I tried really hard to make it in my own light and get a contract. But I just wasn't in the right place at the right time. So I gave up on my dream and settled down and got married and had two beautiful girls. Twenty years went by and I was forty two years old when I began to get the urge to sing again. My family and I use to vacation in Atlantic City, so we were staying at Bally's and I saw all of these signs stating "Legends In Concert" which is the biggest in the business in tribute to artists.
I ended up going to inquire and knew one of the lead dancers. I showed her some of my past footage of me singing. I always sounded like Donna Summer, that was actually the first forty five my mother ever bought me. My tone was just like Donna Summer, there wasn't any kind of altering to my voice. Every time I would go out singing people would double look. So my friend forwarded my footage to the Las Vegas headquarters and she got an email back from the lead person saying "thanks but no thanks" they already had a Donna Summer on their roster. I was crushed all over again.
But that same day I got another email from the same lady and she asked me could I come to Atlantic City the next day for an audition and I said sure. I never wanted to be a tribute artist ever. But I figured I'm not going to make it in my own light so I grabbed the sequin dress out of my closet and went to Atlantic City the next day. I got to the theater and I went to the lady that was supposed to report to and asked her if she wanted me to get changed for my audition and she says "Oh no here's your schedule" and BAM! just like that I was hired. If that's not God I don't know what is.
"I went from not singing for twenty whole years to performing on a major, major stage." -Rainere Martin
Legends is like the next step down from Broadway. So many people try to break ground with them and never get in. So that's how my journey started. I knew God didn't give me this talent just to sit on it. Like people say "He may not come when you want Him to but He's right on time." I did a straight run with Legends at that time. I was working a full-time job so I was leaving Philadelphia and driving over an hour to Atlantic city for like two months. After my run ended with Legends my name started spreading, then I got hooked up with some agencies, and I started working non-stop. I'm going on fifty now and just recently lost my full-time job of ten years last summer.
Rychael: Wow that's incredible Rainere! Have you always known you wanted to be a singer?
Rainere Martin: Always. I started out as a little girl singing. Once I became a teenager I realized I really wanted to do this. Who would've known twenty years after giving up on my dreams that I would be performing on a major stage.
Rychael: Amazing! Do you see yourself continuing on as Donna Summer or maybe branching off at some point?
Rainere Martin: I definitely want to sing until my retirement. But my ulterior motive would be branching into Rainere. My main goal is to ultimately sing as myself.
Rainere
Martin
I felt like it was a blessing in disguise because my shows were picking up and God had given me a second chance
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