Road to Fame

                                 Okay. So this is a story about how I, Joanne Lennon, rode and walked my way to fame. How I met my band, my manager, and a guy. But, let me tell you this: This is not a LOVE STORY, okay? I admit that there are some romantic things happened in this story but believe me. This is neither about him, nor the butterflies in my stomach.

                                     First off, let me introduce myself. I’m Joanne Lennon Roel. I’m 17 years old and I love to sing and to play guitar. In short, I love making music. I got my name obviously from John Lennon, the vocalist of the band, The Beatles. My mom and dad love him so they decided to name me after him. My mom and dad are both fan of music. I also got two siblings. And just like me, mom and dad named them after their other favorite band vocalist and singer: my big brother, Freddy Mercury Roel from Freddy Mercury of Queen and my little sister, Michelle Jackson Roel from Michael Jackson. So those are facts about my private life. Another thing, I love eating pizza.

                                           I live at Fresno, California ever since I was born. I grew up just like other kids do. At the age of six, me and my brother, Freddy, was playing hide and seek. I hid inside mom and dad’s cabinet and there I found some tapes and CDs. I played some of those tapes on my brother’s mixtape and completely forgot our game. That’s when I got interested on making music. So that’s where it all started. I tried joining competitions but then, I lose. I volunteered to perform a song infront of a crowd on our school program. And I even started to learn how to play the guitar using my dad’s old Guitar. When I was at the age of 8, I decided that my dream is to be famous.

                                      I wasn’t born on a silver spoon, so every day was a little hard for me. There are times that we ran out of budget because of our daily needs. There was a time where my big brother, Freddy got injured from playing basketball with his friends that mom and dad worked 2-3 shifts a day to pay his hospital bills. It was the time where most of their money was used for Freddy that they even forgot to pay the electricity bill. So we were using candles as lights for a month. But this doesn’t stop me from dreaming. “No matter what my state in life is, I won’t stop”. That’s my motto.

                                 The day I turned 13, Freddy got his first job at the café found at our neighborhood. He earned his first salary a week after and he used it to buy me a new guitar as a gift. I was so happy but when I found out that he sacrificed his salary for my guitar, I felt a little guilty. But he said that he wanted to buy a new guitar because dad’s guitar was so old that the strings are about to cut off. He said it was okay.  I owe my brother one. I promised myself to work hard so that when I become famous, I’ll buy him, Michelle, mom and dad everything they want. I was even more encouraged and tried singing in a couple of competitions but still, there was no luck. But I never lost hope because I believe that I am destined to be famous.

                                       One night, I was composing my first song on my room. I was so focused on my song and was vigorously jotting down everything that comes out from my mind. Suddenly, mom came in. She sat at my bed and was excited of something. I acknowledge her presence without looking at her. I was still focused on my song. She then tapped my shoulder and came close to my ear and whispered that a lady named Zia wanted me to perform at a certain event. For a moment there, I was stunned. Unable to continue my piece, I stood up, and went to hug mom. We were both happy. When mom broke the news to the whole family, everybody’s happy. In that moment, I thought that this is it. I am finally being acknowledged.