Introducing Amber Joy Poulton
A note from Kerrie – Amber and I were total strangers who started chatting in an airport lounge a few years ago and have kept in touch. Amber shares great insights from her adventures that I believe you’ll appreciate if you’re passionately pursuing the life you want.
Enjoy!
Amber Joy Poulton
Amber Joy Poulton is a passionate and dedicated country music artist. She has recently recorded an album in Nashville entitled “Foolish Things” with the first song “Rosalie” due for release in June. She completed her diploma in Massage Therapy in 2008, was a top 10 grand finalist in the Toyota Starmaker 2009 and recorded her first album “Taking Goodbye” soon after. She is the recipient of a 2012 TIARA award, two song writing awards & has had 5 songs reach the top 30 on the Australian Country Music Charts. She also toured the country with her touching tribute to the first Queen Of Country, called “Honky Tonk Angels – the story of Loretta Lynn & friends”. A highlight of her career has been performing with Kenny Rogers.
How do you love to explain what you do to others?
I’m a country music singer/songwriter who gets to travel all over Australia doing what she loves. How lucky am I?
How did you become a singer?
I have always loved to sing and over the years have sung in all sorts of corporate party bands. During that time I confess that I saw it more as an income and never as a love. Then I was asked to sing June Carter songs in a Johnny Cash Tribute. Wow. Turns out it wasn’t singing itself that I didn’t enjoy it was purely that I hadn’t been singing songs I could connect to until I started to sing country music. That was the moment that I realised I was going to have a career in country music. Since then I have recorded 4 albums (the fourth recorded in Nashville this year), have happily toured the country with my own band and performed in country music festivals alongside artists like: Beccy Cole, Troy Cassar-Daley and even supported Kenny Rogers on his South Australian tour.
How is it that you’re now a Massage Therapist AND singer?
Turns out I can’t sit still for very long. I like to keep busy and when I was pregnant with my second child I took that opportunity (when I wasn’t singing as much) to study. I completed my Diploma in Massage Therapy in 2008. I sat on it for a while because at that same time I entered a competition in Tamworth called the Toyota Starmaker 2009 and became very busy with singing. Since 2010 I have been working two or more days a week as a Massage Therapist and can work my trips away for singing around my massage hours. It’s a perfect combination.
Who are your greatest supporters?
Without a doubt my husband is my greatest supporter. I don’t know too many partners who would hold the fort while I’m away and to encourage me the whole time. Four albums and four years of touring on and off and he’s still fully supportive. He’s the greatest. I have also always had the support of my parents and also the help of my in-laws. Both sets of grandparents are very hands on at helping with the kids, which makes life easier.
How does your business contribute to your community?
In my opinion, there’s nothing like country music to lift the spirits and to relay a story of sorrow or hardships that many other people in the community have also been through. Stories of life on the land, lost love and of course love that has been found again. Each year there are country music festivals or country music clubs on every weekend somewhere in the country that either raises the community’s spirit and more often than not, raising money for a local charity.
How do you move from dreamer to achiever?
Gosh such a great question. I always dreamed of being a singer. I remember wrapping my dads’ old microphone to the broom handle and leaning it against a coffee table so it was on an angle, and using my tennis racquet as a guitar. So that was “dreaming”. To make it achievable, I guess it was saying, “yes” to all opportunities. To learn to preserve your voice by singing correctly is important otherwise it’s a very short career. It’s important to always be thinking outside the box, learning from the people around you who are making it in the industry. That is a golden lesson. Oh and to learn that playing the tennis racquet is a lot easier than learning the guitar!
What do you believe are essential qualities of a successful person?
I can only speak on what I believe are essential qualities needed for what I do so here goes;
Drive: Never give up. It’s constant. If I have a week or two where I slacken off then it will show up 6 months down the road when I have no gigs booked.
Thick Skin: I can’t please everyone. It’s impossible. Some will love what I do and others not so much but I can only go out there and present what I love and what I do and if I get some fans from that, then that’s great. I can’t change what I love just to please others, then I’d lose my “drive” to do what I need to become successful in my field.
Grace: I think in my industry ego can be a destructive characteristic because you have to be open to criticism and compliments without it becoming an issue, but to also accept compliments when people love what you do.
Describe a significant business (or other) challenge you have faced. How did you approach it?
Airtime. The only way to take this industry to the next level is to get airtime, both radio and TV. So the most recent significant business challenge was to make connections and follow up with all radio announcers across the country and overseas and to ensure that if I’m going to outlay my own money to put together a film clip, that I need to do all I can to ensure it gets played as much as possible to make it a smart business decision. If it doesn’t get viewed, then it’s a bad business decision. With each video release and single release I need to make sure those key players know its on it’s way. To make sure they not only received it but ensure they listened to it or viewed it. I then followed up until it hits the airwaves. It’s just a constant thing, which goes back to the question above where “drive” is essential.
What did you learn?
I learned that sometimes you have to outlay money and you may not necessarily receive a monetary return from that outlay. I’ve had to change my way of viewing things by seeing the return may be in other ways i.e.: more exposure, more bookings, more people at my shows – which in the long run would in fact return the money spent, but not directly.
How has the increasing success of your business impacted your personal/family life?
It’s brought about an increase in income which has been lovely and my family and friends are very happy for me and proud of me. The negative side would be missing a few things here and there on the home front that would be nice to attend but I’m sure that happens in all careers.
What does success mean to you personally?
Mainly for me, success means that I am succeeding in doing something that I love and something that I choose to do. I’ve had jobs in the past that I didn’t necessarily enjoy or relate to or feel invested in and this career as a singer/songwriter is the most gratifying thing I could ever do.
What are the most important things you’ve done to grow your business?
Recording. To record is a very expensive thing and once I have that CD in my hand I have to go out there and sell it. Sell, sell, sell until I’ve been repaid and can then make a profit. The profit from that recording then goes towards my next recording. I recently returned from Nashville fresh from recording my songs with the best musicians in the world and I feel 100% invested in this new product of mine and it’s now my focus to promote and sell that album and be sure that it achieves as much as it can in the next 3-4 years. However the beautiful thing about recordings is that they are forever. They remain in the world forever. People will hear those songs for as long as they want and that outlives all live performances etc. It’s a pretty powerful tool. It will absolutely grow my business and get the word out there.
Here’s to country music!
Amber Joy Poulton
TIARA Award 2012
SA Achiever Award 2009
Starmaker Top 10 Grand Finalist 2009
SA APRA Best Traditional Country Song Of The Year 2009 & 2010
Top 30 Hits – Rising Star, Break Even, Taking Goodbye,
Close Enough, The Lovin’ Is The Easy Part
0411 230 822
