Stacy Clark has heart

by Joshua Maloni
Grand Island Dispatch, September 29, 2006
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, September 30, 2006

Stacy Clark

A little makeup and the right clothes go a long way in the music business.

Just ask Lukas Rossi, the Toronto singer plucked from obscurity to front Rock Star Supernova, the made-for-television super group comprised of Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe), Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses) and Jason Newsted (Metallica). His bandmates, admitting he is a lesser singer than several of his CBS reality contest peers, chose him based on his glam-grunge look.

Jessica Simpson couldn’t sell records to her family until she “aw shucks”-ed her way through an MTV reality show and donned a mini pink bathing suit in “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Now, she has a wall full of platinum records.

It’s for that reason that Grand Island’s Stacy Clark signed an endorsement deal with Fillmore Jeans, and OK’d her songs for use on MTV’s “My Super Sweet Sixteen” and in Renoir Cinemas in Spain. No stranger to touring, she realizes that, to make it as a mainstream artist, it will take more than meet and greets with her fans back stage or at the bar.

“Perception is everything. Touring is not enough; it needs to be done to connect with the audience, but marketing gets your name out there,” she said during a phone interview. “I’m always trying to think out of the box to get my music out there.”

The fact that she’s an accomplished singer/songwriter and guitar wizard will only get her so far. The Empire Music and Southern California Music awards on her mantle only amount to paperweights if she can’t sell herself to the public.

“You need to have a product. I need to make my music as good as I can get it,” she said. “Labels, they’re not going to put money into developing you. They want you to have a product.

“It’s a business … the labels are already looking for you to have the system in place.”

While Clark understands the business, that doesn’t mean she’s a slave to it. Her image may be music television polished, but her music comes from within.

“There’s a method to songwriting … but the best songs are written from your heart,” she said. “As cheesy as that sounds, the most powerful songs come (from the heart).”

Close to Stacy’s heart is using her music to promote life-saving blood drives administered through the American Red Cross. Clark, 26, suffered from idiopathic thrombocytopenia, an extremely low blood platelet count, when she was 18. Thanks to blood donations, she recovered. Today, she is a spokesperson for Music Saves Lives, an initiative she co-founded with her manager, Russel Hornbeek.

As blood fuels the body, so too, collecting it drives Clark to motivate others to give of themselves.

“So many people need it,” she said. “It could be your best friend, your mother, your father, your boyfriend, your girlfriend.”

Music Saves Lives promotes a positive, youth-oriented blood-giving experience. At select sites, donors will receive a compilation CD with rare tracks from top indie-rock acts such as Panic! At the Disco, Jacks Mannequin, Plain White Tee’s, The All American Rejects and Fall Out Boy. They are also eligible to win backstage passes to the Vans Warped Tour and autographed Gibson guitars.

“It’s not painful,” Clark says of the donation process. “People think it’s painful, but it’s not.

“How many people have earrings? If you can handle that, you can handle this.”

Stacy Clark performs at the Toronto Independent Music Awards at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne St., Toronto, Ontario, on Thursday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. She’s at the Tudor Lounge, 335 Franklin St., Buffalo, on Saturday, Oct. 7, at 9:45 p.m.

For more information on how to make a difference, visit www.musicsaveslives.org

Grand Island’s Clark nominated for ‘Best USA’

Grand Island Dispatch, October 6, 2006

Grand Island native Stacy Clark was nominated for “Best USA” singer at the second annual Toronto Independent Music Awards, held last week at The Phoenix. Though she didn’t win, Clark was afforded the opportunity to perform live for the standing-room-only crowd and present an award. For more information on Clark – who is now enjoying a residency at the prestigious Viper Room in West Hollywood, Calif., – visit www.wnypapers.com/entertainment/entertainment.htm or www.myspace.com/ilovestacyclark. (photo by Joshua Maloni)