HER VOICE FOUND HER A BARTENDER IS SINGING ON A NEW LEVEL.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Tonya Colin has gone from singing karaoke with her back to the audience to facing a theater full of music industry representatives.

With no formal training other than high school choirs, the bartender who used to sing a few songs with the bar bands was invited to perform in the Los Angeles branch of the International New York Music Festival.

``When I was 21, they came out with this karaoke thing, and I was, like, Hey, you can sing anything you want. I started singing backwards to the crowd. I didn't like anybody looking at me,'' recalled Colin, 30. ``I would get razzed like crazy.''

But from there, she graduated to singing with rock bands in the bar where she worked, and from there to singing with bands at other clubs and bars. Her manager, Lisa Edmunds, who she met while line-dancing, took her to see several agents and, last year, got Colin invited to showcase for a Nashville company. She placed sixth out of 60 performers.

``I didn't think I had it, and when she took me out to a couple of them (agents) and they said, Wow, you're really good, I went, Hey, maybe I can do this,'' said Colin.

Next up in September is the New York International Music Festival's Los Angeles show, which picks singers and bands to perform before record industry and music press representatives.

Colin will sing in a theater one night for music industry representatives and then will be booked into Los Angeles-area clubs and attend industry parties.

Colin moved to the Antelope Valley in 1998 to help her father through a divorce. He eventually moved to Texas, and she stayed. While she was bartending at The Trap in Lancaster, she would fill in singing for bands. She was surprised and pleased one night when a band showed up with two songs they had learned specifically for her.

``When I would get up with the other bands that come in on Friday night, I always sang 'Tush' by ZZ Top and 'Give Me Three Steps' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Every band knew those; they knew I knew how to sing them, so they'd call me up for those two songs. This band walked in with 'Stop Dragging My Heart' by Stevie Nicks and 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot' by Pat Benatar,'' said Colin.

Colin sings classic rock, country, ballads and r&b. Her style has been described as similar to that of Stevie Nicks, who happens to be Colin's favorite singer. She also enjoys the music of Cher, Janis Joplin, Macy Gray, Tracy Chapman and Jewel.

``The way their music comes across, it's not just the way it's played. (It's also) their vocals and the feelings that they had when they wrote the songs. And when they sing them, you can feel it. Every one of those singers, when they're singing, they take you into their song,'' said Colin.

Colin was invited to the Los Angeles event after Edmunds spoke to a festival representative and held up the phone for him to listen while Colin was singing with her band at a Rosamond club.

``He listened to her sing over the phone and said, 'If you can get me a demo in the next couple of days, I'll see what I can do,''' said Edmunds, who sent him a demo CD. ``The executive director called me back and said this is definitely a venue for her and why isn't she doing something now? He said basically if she doesn't get something out of this, something's wrong.''

For Colin, music is all about enjoyment.

``It's my stress relief,'' said Colin. ``When I'm up there, it's my chance to not have any problems and to be in my little zone. Every song I sing has a line somewhere in there or a phrase that just makes me feel better. I really enjoy and I have lots of fun doing it.''

Colin is still working as a bartender at the Longhorn in Lancaster while she pursues her singing career. She sings with the band No End once a week, in addition to enjoying frequent karaoke.

Antelope Valley residents can hear her sing June 8 at the Thunder on the Lot benefit car show at Desert Sands Park in Palmdale.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Budding singer Tonya Colin will perform before record industry and music press representatives in the New York International Music Festival's Los Angeles show.

(2) While bartending at The Trap in Lancaster, Tonya Colin would fill in singing for bands that played the club.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer