Singer seeks divine guidance for her music
By:Lauren Campbell
It’s 3 a.m., but Marsha Livingston isn’t sleeping. She doesn’t hear a crying infant or a neighbor’s dog barking. Ms. Livingston hears music in her head.
"I keep a keyboard set up in my bedroom. I get up at 3 or 4 a.m. when God gives me a song. I wake up crying and praying," she said.
Ms. Livingston, 37, is a gospel jazz music writer and performer. She is putting the finishing touches on her second CD, titled "At Last," which she expects to complete in three to four months.
Once the 10-song CD is finished, she plans to host a release party and begin distribution.
Ms. Livingston, who lives in Hillsborough, has written both music and lyrics for all the songs on the CD, which she plans to release under her own record label, J&D Records. The "J" and the "D" stand for the names of her nephew Jeffery and niece Diona.
Ms. Livingston’s business manager is her "spiritual sister," Amanda Thompson, a preacher at Zion Holy Church in Newark, where Ms. Livingston is the minister of music.
"I really love what I do. It’s my passion," Ms. Livingston said.
But Ms. Livingston considers Ms. Thompson to be more than a manager. She thinks of her as her spiritual guide.
"I was always in church, but I wasn’t really living up to what I was singing about. Through her is where I am with Christ today," she said.
Ms. Livingston said her parents taught her about God, but when she grew older, she strayed away.
Ms. Livingston finds inspiration for her songs in daily life and also through church and preachers.
Her song "Since He Came Into My Life" is about her life since she was "saved" with a conversion experience two years ago.
Ms. Livingston said God helps her go down the right path and now she has joy and peace and treats her neighbors the right way.
She said her music is influenced by gospel singers Yolanda Adams and Nancy Wilson, and by pianists David Benoit and Ramsey Louis.
Ms. Livingston said life has taught her how to be strong, an important attribute in the music industry, which often is harsh.
"You have to be a very strong person and be focused to be in music," she said.
Criticism hasn’t dampened Ms. Livingston’s determination to fulfill her dream of becoming a successful songwriter, producer and musician.
She said her vision is to "get out what God has given me and to let young people know you never give up on your dreams."
"I’m always writing and I’m always dreaming. You have to dream to be successful. I set goals and strive for them and with the help of God I get there," she said.
Music and religion always have been part of Ms. Livingston’s family life. Her father, Clemmie Livingston, was a preacher.
Ms. Livingston said she inherited her musical talent from her father’s side of the family. She has cousins, aunts and uncles who are musicians, singers, song-writers and preachers.
"I come from a very religious family," she said.
Her mother, Rebecca "Gladys" Livingston, a longtime church member, is the first person Ms. Livingston calls when she has written a new song.
"She sticks by me no matter what. She believes in me," Ms. Livingston said.
Family continues to be a very important part of Ms. Livingston’s life. On Mondays she hosts "family day" at her house. Her sister and brother and nieces and nephews come over and they cook on the grill and visit with her 86-year-old grandmother.
"It’s a very close family. I love family," she said.
Ms. Livingston hopes to get married and have her own family. Cooking is another activity Ms. Livingston loves, but she also enjoys watching movies, cleaning, decorating and working in the yard of the Hillsborough home she shares with Ms. Thompson, she said.
She also works at summer camp in Newark, where she teaches children songs.
Ms. Livingston began performing when she was 9. In church, listening to the organist, she told her mother she could play the organ. She had never had any musical instruction but she played the organ from that day on without ever learning to read music.
"I can’t read music. Everything is from feeling," Ms. Livingston said. She learns songs by listening to tapes rather than looking at the music. "It truly is a gift," she said.
With some practice, Ms. Livingston soon began playing the organ at various churches and also worked as the minister of music at Baptist and Pentecostal churches.
But music was only a side job for Ms. Livingston until two years ago, when she incorporated her business into Living Ministry Music Inc.
"I didn’t really know I had a business," she said. But people kept calling her to ask her to sing at an event and she couldn’t keep taking off from her job.
Ms. Livingston released her first CD, "Send Me, I’ll Go," in 1995 with The Marsha A. Livingston Ensemble. The ensemble held its debut concert at the State Theater in New Brunswick. After working with the ensemble, Ms. Livingston decided to branch out on her own.
"It was less headaches," she said.