Laurie’s Bio
It’s a long way from the noise and excitement of a rock and roll band to the stirring and sometimes painful original music of Heal the Child. After more than twenty years of performing to shouting, foot stomping audiences, Laurie is now bringing her original songs and her own personal story to a wide variety of audiences nationwide to raise awareness for the prevention of child abuse and deliver a spirit of hope and healing from addiction and abuse through music.
Laurie grew up in upstate New York and began performing right out of high school in Vermont ski lodges as an acoustic guitarist playing original and traditional folk music. In 1980, the rock band, “ Lady Fire” was born. The group enjoyed considerable local success, winning awards as a Top 40’s band in Buffalo where Laurie was chosen the Top Female Vocalist in 1987. The band received national attention performing on The Late Show, hosted by Mel Brooks, a song they recorded for his major motion picture, “Spaceballs.”
While leading and managing “ Lady Fire,” Laurie produced and directed “Power of Love”, a joyful Christmas album by contemporary music group “Simon’s Angels”.
After leaving “ Lady Fire” in 1989, Laurie went back to school and earned her degree in music, continuing to direct church groups, children’s groups, write and arrange music, pursue training in the areas of technical engineering, lighting and sound systems.
She moved to Florida in 1992. Laurie continued her music career and her ministry with Simon’s Angels South. The group ministers to the elderly and to sick children. Simon’s Angels South was invited by Children’s Miracle Network, to perform their program, “Bring Joy to the Children,” at Shand’s Children’s Hospital in 1996 and has become a yearly Christmas event. Simon’s Angels North met South when the group was invited to The White House in 1997 to perform “Bring Joy to the Children” for their private Mobility Tour. The social secretary was quite pleased with their performance and sensitivity to their guests – they were invited back in December of 1999.
During this time, Laurie’s original music changed direction. The songs on the CD, Heal the Child, were written from her personal experience of recovery from childhood abuse. In 1996, while performing as a solo artist in a local bookstore, a representative from the Department of Children and Families was inspired by her original music and encouraged her to develop an innovative program for the awareness of child abuse prevention.
By 1997, fifteen local organizations and a Marriage and Family/Certified Addictions Professional, Dolores Schafer, partnered with Laurie to bring Heal The Child to Volusia and Flagler Counties, funded by the Department of Children and Families and the United Way.
In this series of presentations, Laurie performed for guidance counselors, parent groups, child development students, churches and community organizations. In every case, as witnessed by requested surveys from the Department Of Children and Families, the response was overwhelmingly positive and it was suggested she record a CD to reach a wider audience.
Her child abuse prevention project had expanded into a music therapy tool and a therapist education program. In 1998, Laurie took her Heal the Child presentation to Clearwater, Florida to the Florida NAADAC conference for mental health professionals working with adult survivors of childhood trauma. The audience evaluation forms were so enthusiastic that she was invited to repeat at the 1999 conference in Fort Lauderdale. Since then, she has continued to educate therapists and students in training at several Universities, Hospitals, and Treatment Centers throughout the country.
Currently Laurie teaches private music lessons, and continues to share her program Heal The Child with a wide variety of audiences. She is working on her next CD release, a compilation of her healing music, which will also include a therapy guide for counselors and a parenting education workbook. Her web site, healthechild.com is presently under construction.