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EBONY TAY

Ebony Tay is a guitarist, songstress, composer and film producer. She was discovered by music icon Les Garland (founder of MTV, VH1, The Box) and later signed by Chris Blackwell of Island Records/Palm Pictures (Bob Marley, U2, Melissa Etheridge, PJ Harvey;) and Don Rubin of Edel/Red (Tracy Chapman, Marcy Playground). She has opened for India Arie, Mobb Deep, Brian McKnight, Gypsy Kings and the indy rock band Transport.

Ebony Tay is also the first woman of color to score a feature film to theatrical release ("Hate Crime," Image Entertainment). Ebony also served as one of the film's producers where she leveraged her unique combination of artistry and entrepreneurialism. She is currently studying composition and music theory at The Juilliard School for continuing eductation, and is developing a sound she calls "Global Soul," rooted in old-school soul with a fusion of rock, Flamenco, African, and jazz; and "Soulmenco" - a marriage of soul music and Flamenco techniques using hands feet and guitar. Olé!

Her latest single, "You're My Revolution," is a tribute to the people that change you.

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MY ROOTS

There have been many times in my life when I thought about quitting. I lost loved ones, I lost my ability to run, I even lost my sight. But I never lost my voice.

My dad would have the lap steel guitar across his legs. I was the youngest of 11 children, a Chinese-Jamaican girl adopted by Scottish-Finnish parents. Everyone in my family loved music, singing and dancing while my dad played. We lived in a small Northern Canadian town. I was the gold-miner's daughter. We didn't have a lot of money. But we had music.

As I got older, I would long for those evenings with my family when guitars and voices were celebrated. In high school, my voice didn't belong; it was different, a lower register than the other girls. When the list of students who had made choir was posted, I ran my finger down the sheet, searching for my name, devastated to find that I wasn't on it.

I had played the guitar for my audition. I had sung "Against the Wind" [Bob Seger]. My best friends were there to cheer me on. But I was told that I sounded too ethnic, as if this were a liability.

So I ran. Not away. I just ran. I was a natural athlete. While others might dispute my singing talent, there was no disputing my speed and especially my endurance. I competed at the provincial and Canadian national level and in the Pan American Junior Games.

But all along, it was the music that truly kept me going. The day I broke the 5-minute mile, I remember hearing "Every Breath You Take" [The Police] playing in my head, the words moving through me with each stride.

Who needed choir?

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MY GUITAR, MY GUIDE

The doctor told me I needed to rehabilitate myself. I was told my paralysis would be temporary. But how temporary? Months earlier, I had lost my sight and then my hearing from an infection. I thought I was back to normal. Now this. "If I can just strum," I remember thinking, the guitar laid across my limp body. "If I can just strum."

I spent months dragging my numb hand across the guitar while immersing myself in Bob Marley's music, waiting for the feeling to come back. For so long I had put my running first, but in that bed I found my compass: My guitar. Then a friend turned me on to "A Course in Miracles." It gave me the will and strength to keep going; my exploration began.

I started studying the guitar greats — Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Wes Montgomery. Never would I have imagined I'd eventually be signed by music industry mogul Chris Blackwell.

The guitar was supposed to rehabilitate my motor skills; I had no idea it would rehabilitate my soul.