Can dreams come true? Ask Paula DeAnda, the 16-year-old Corpus Christi resident who - in short order - found herself with a rhythm radio hit that made its way on to Billboard's charts (as a result of constant airplay throughout the South West), followed by a live audition in front of music industry legend Clive Davis who signed her on the spot! "I was shocked," says the young singer/songwriter. "I sang for Steve Ferrera, Senior VP, A&R at Arista on a Thursday morning after the label heard my record 'Doing Too Much' was getting airplay and was on the charts. Steve asked me to come back later that day to perform for Clive Davis who offered me a deal right there at my audition, and I had a signed contract by Friday evening." When it sank in that she had been signed by one of the industry's most renowned executives, Paula said "it was just as well I didn't know everything he'd done...I would have probably been even more nervous!"
That audition would prove to be a turning point: Paula sang the Spanish language song "Amor Como Tu" along with the R&B/pop flavored "Doing Too Much" and "Good Girl," two songs which displayed her talent as not just a young singer with a powerhouse voice but as a songwriter in her own right. "I may not have lived through all the things I write about, but I do have friends who have had different experiences which I can put into my songs when I write," Paula explains.
Her signing to Arista is just the latest in a series of events that have catapulted the young lady with the big voice from singing at local parties in San Angelo, Texas to becoming the latest chartmaker to emerge from the burgeoning Corpus Christi music scene.
