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Ever since I was a little boy, I've sung

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really, really high.

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For me, when I'm singing, I'm most free.

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There is such a joy. I can't even

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describe it.

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To get up and share my

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myself with the audience.

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It is one of the most amazing feelings.

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When I was growing up, I always sang in

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the soprano section of the choir at

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church.

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I was made fun of a lot because I sang

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really high. I was always made fun of

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because I sang like a girl.

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But it never stopped me from doing the

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thing I love. I've always known that I

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was supposed to be a singer.

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When my voice did change, I kept my

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soprano range. I just didn't know what

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the term for my voice type was called.

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I got to college and I sang for my

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teacher and she says, "Well, you're a

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countertenor."

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And I said, "Oh, that's the word for

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it."

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When we talk about male voices, we are

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talking about voices that range from the

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lowest voice, which would be the bass,

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bass baritone,

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baritone, high lyric baritone, and you

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have a tenor,

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haute contre, which is a high tenor,

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and then you have a countertenor.

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For some countertenors, it is a

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falsetto, and for some of us, we're

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singing with our real voices.

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For me, I'm singing with the fullness of

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my range. My voice sits very high, and

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it's most comfortable when it's high.

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A lot of the music that I sing today is

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repertoire that comes from music that

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was originally written for castrati. The

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castrati were males who were castrated,

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which means that they were not allowed

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to go through puberty, so that they

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wouldn't lose the ability to sing very,

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very high. And it was done because there

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was a prohibition on women singing in

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church. So, there's a dark side to it,

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but fortunately, all that stopped, and

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now we have the countertenor voice,

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which goes and sings a lot of that

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music.

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There are very, very few of us in the

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world, and so they are in high demand.

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2011 was my first professional gig on

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stage, and then since then I've gone on

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to do so many other things. I've sung at

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the Barbican in London, England. I've

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sung at the Philharmonie in Paris.

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I've sung all over the world.

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My life has been a story.

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It's a dream that I could have never

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imagined.

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I'm a multi-dimensional person.

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Therefore, my sound is

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multi-dimensional. It has variations in

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it.

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I have roots in the church and I have

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roots with hearing

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beautiful jazz and R&B and blues.

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When I started singing classical music,

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one of the the things that was a

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challenge for me was to kind of let go

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of the gospel, let go of the jazz

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because I was such a part of who I was

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and still am.

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But then along the way, I also wanted to

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pay homage to my roots.

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And then it became a part of this

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intricate woven tapestry that is my

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life.

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And I've been able to incorporate so

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much of what I heard into my classical

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music.

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I'm really proud of my work and I'm so

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thankful for every opportunity that I've

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been given to shine.

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Let it shine.

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Let it

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shine.