11-Year-Old Blind Singer Creates Christmas Song for Charity
An 11-year-old girl is helping to spread Christmas cheer this holiday season with her inspirational Christmas songs despite her own hardships – blindness.
"Night of Our Lives" was penned by Emmanuelle Lo, and uploaded to YouTube where thousands of people, including rock stars watched the video and gave praise.
Linda Chorney, a 2010 Grammy nominee, wrote, "Wow, what a sweet, pure voice, a real gem," while Bobby Whitlock of Delaney & Bonnie, Derek & The Dominoes said, "She sees the true world."
The young girl lives with her parents and five siblings small, one bedroom home in Michigan where she developed a love for music at an early age when she would pretend to read music.
Lo's family did not have enough money to get her music lessons so a neighbor hosted a backyard concert to help them raise money so she could begin to take lessons.
The money raised by the 80 or so people was enough to get Lo a guitar and a few weeks of training.
A few weeks later, and much to the surprise of her family, she debuted her song, "Nights of Our Lives" at a friend's house and in front of Doug B. Nelson, a record producer who worked on the Grammy nominated album Pinetop Perkins & Friends.
Upon seeing her performance, Nelson asked Lo to record the song with him.
The 11-year-old plans to donate a portion of her song's proceeds despite her family's struggles to iTunes' "Opportunity Music Project - OMP," which is a non-profit organization based in New York and provides music lessons for disadvantaged children.
"So many people have helped me, I want to help people like I've been helped."
"Night of Our Lives" can be purchased on Amazon and iTunes.