Myrtle Beach Music: Gabbie Rae will perform Saturday at Riverfest in ConwayYou can take Gabbie Rae out of the Grand Strand, but you can’t take the Grand Strand out of the girl. It’s evident from a quick talk with the 12-year-old signing phenom that no matter how much she’s accomplished since moving to Atlanta last fall — a list which includes releasing her first single and signing a record deal with the newly-launched Purple Ribbon Kidz label — she still thinks of the Myrtle Beach area as home.
With many of her closest friends and fans waiting in the wings Gabbie Rae will return home this weekeend to headline the Family Stage during Conway’s 31st annual Riverfest. Her performance will take place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday amidst a day full of entertainment.
She will also make appearances throughout the weekend with a meet & greet session at Firehouse Subs in North Myrtle Beach on Friday and another at Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday morning.
We spoke with the rising star recently at while at the studio with her manager Ian Burke. Here’s what she had to say about her newfound fame, her music and her show at Riverfest:
How’s the family getting along in Atlanta?
We’re getting along just fine. There’s so much to do and see here in Atlanta, and we’re doing our best to just get out and really enjoy the city.
Now that we’ve been here awhile, some of my friends and family have started to visit and I really love taking them around the city to see everything it has to offer.
I see that you are casting for a new video, how’s that coming along and can you tell us what’s it all about?
Yeah, my manager Mr. Ian Burke just sent out a casting notice and OH MY GOSH, it’s going to be so much fun!
The video will be for my song “Turn It Up” and I can’t give too much detail about it yet, but believe me this video is going to be so awesome.
It’s really going to be a different experience from the last two videos and I believe we’re getting ready to start shooting here in a couple weeks, right after Riverfest actually.
You also recently shot a video here in Murrells Inlet recently, how did that go?
That went really well for us. Shooting back home was great for me and I definitely loved being able to have so many of my fans in the video.
What about the album, when do you expect to have something released?
Well we have an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) coming out soon that we’re excited to get out there, but the album we’re still looking at 2012 for it to come out.
Can you talk a little about how you got hooked up with the deal with Purple Ribbon Kidz?
Yeah, it was really cool actually. As you know I’ve been performing for years and there’s a lot of stuff out on YouTube that we’ve put out.
Myrtle Beach Music: Gabbie Rae (right) poses with Jordan Patton and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton at the Purple Ribbon Kidz announcement party.So I guess it just happened that Jordan Patton, which is Big Boi’s daughter, heard some chatter about me and decided to check out my YouTube videos and I guess she really liked what she heard, because she told her dad Big Boi about me and they contacted my manager and it just kinda fell into place from there.I know it hasn’t been long, but what’s it been like working with Big Boi and crew?
Jordan herself is more on the business side. She love music and wants to be a part of the music business, but she’s always said she wants to be behind the scenes.
We really have just started working together, but so far it’s been totally amazing and so much fun. Jordan and I have so much in common and we really share a lot of the same ideas.
I’ve already learned so much from Big Boi too. He is amazing. He’s just so cool and when I met him he told me to make room on my wall for my platinum album. (laughs)
How much would you say things changed in the past few weeks, with all the added national exposure and everything else going on?
Things have been progressing pretty much since I arrived in Atlanta. Burke Stone, my management, they’ve been keeping me so busy and I’ve met so many people and had opportunities already that I never imagined.
But since I’ve signed with Purple Kidz and the press has gotten hold of that, I have to say that things have definitely gone crazy.
When Big Boi announced signing me, on that very same day my “Neverland” video was featured on VH1’s “Best Week Ever” and my name was in Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, USA Today and it’s just been crazy.
Facebook has gotten really, really busy all of a sudden. I’ve got a lot more followers these days.
Do you ever get much chance to sit back and be a kid still or do you feel like you’re working pretty much non-stop?
Well it’s hard to say it’s work because part of it is that I love recording and going to the studio. It’s like I wake up and first thing it’s “Are we going to the studio today?”
But my manager Ian is a big movie buff and so we go to the movies a lot and hang out at the pool a lot.
So yeah, I do all that normal stuff. Plus, I’ve got to make time to go to the mall and get my nails done, you know.
This is one of your first big performances at the Beach since you left, how excited are you to perform at Riverfest?
I’m really excited to go back home and see all my friends and fans. We’re actually going to be handing out and selling some limited-edition EP for the occasion and I just can’t wait for everyone back there to here all the stuff we’ve been working on here for the past 6 months.
Myrtle Beach Music: Gabbie Rae Performs at Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta during the Purple Ribbon Kidz party.What can folks expect to see from you? Have you added any new elements to your show or your band?
Well I think that everybody that knows me down there knows my stage prescence and knows that I love working the stage live. So that’s going to stay the same.
I think there’s going to be a couple more dance moves involved and I have a new band as well. I call them my “band of pirates,” that’s not their official name but we were just kinda messing around one day and it stuck.
But in addition to the new band, it’s just that I’m now performing my own original material and that’s pretty much the best feeling in the world.
What’s the thing you miss most about being in Myrtle Beach?
I miss the weather, I miss the palm trees and just the whole touristy setting of what we have there.
I miss all my friends...performing in Myrtle Beach for 5-plus years we made so many good friends and I just can’t wait to see them when I come back.
Is there anything else fun coming up that you can talk about?
Oh, we have so much stuff going on right now. You gotta follow me on Twitter, like my Facebook page check out the website at GabbieRae.com and just stay tuned for updates on everything we’re doing.
I promise y’all it’s going to be great.
Read more on Gabbie Rae's single Neverland and see the video here.