Used with permission of CMA Closeup News Service
By Crystal Caviness
The name and the voice are the same, but most everything else about Jamie O'Neal has changed since No. 1 hits "There Is No Arizona" and "When I Think About Angels" were standard radio fare in 2001.
"It kind of feels like I'm starting over, in a way. It all feels really new and exciting," O'Neal said about the activity surrounding her new album, Brave, released March 1 on Capitol Records Nashville.
The album's first single "Trying To Find Atlantis," written by Zach Turner and Chris Waters, made its way to the Top 15 of the Country charts and you can watch her perform it live on the "Emeril Live" show on May 22 on the Food Network. Her second single, "Somebody's Hero," written by O'Neal, Ed Hill and Shaye Smith, is on the airwaves now and the video is set to world premiere on CMT on April 28. O'Neal is also featured on the May covers of Woman's World magazine and Nashville Lifestyles. Also, O'Neal and her mom will be featured in the May 9 issue of Country Weekly and the May/June issue of CMT Country Music Today.
O'Neal was indeed a new Country Music artist when Mercury Nashville released her debut project Shiver in 2001. The Australian-born singer who had been singing professionally with her parents since she was 8 - including a stint singing back up with Australian singer Kylie Minogue - quickly carved out a niche with cleverly written songs and an ever-growing fan base.
Shiver sold more than 500,000 copies and "There Is No Arizona" and "When I Think About Angels" garnered GRAMMY nominations for O'Neal in 2002 and 2001 CMA Music Video of the Year and Horizon Award nominations.
Accolades and awards ensued as O'Neal found her career building with a momentum enviable to any new artist. Life was good and about to get better.
O'Neal, who had married singer-songwriter Rodney Good in 2000 while recording Shiver, gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Aliyah, in 2003.