The Harlan family of Northern Virginia is a busy bunch. Tina and Scott Harlan have a media and marketing business, Talk 19 Media, which uses Mom’s expertise in advertising, sales and marketing, and Dad’s talents as a voice actor, audio engineer, producer, and studio owner, where he honed his audio / video production and directing skills.
Scott is a virtuoso bassist, in my humble opinion, and though he doesn’t play too much anymore, he’s still quite occupied with music because of…
Melody LaRue, their young teenage daughter.
Melody has just released her first single, Dream (posted below), and someone that accomplished didn’t get this far without the full support of her parents.
“Through the years our parental involvement has fluctuated, “Scott explains.” There have been times when I worked with Melody as her teacher, and times where that just wasn’t a good fit. Tina likes helping Melody find new music for inspiration and learning, and is always playing new things for her to learn.”
Tina also was the driving force behind the whole family doing some old-school Christmas caroling each year for the last 4 or 5 years. When they’re all together in the car, they’ll sometimes take turns picking songs and discussing what they like about them or why they resonate with them.
Although Melody’s release is new, the song dates back more than twenty years ago – Scott wrote it long before Melody was even born. But as Tina says about the uplifting tune, “I feel it’s a little of what the world needs today.”
Scott and Melody are now in a new phase of working in the studio together. That’s him on the background vocals and instruments.
Melody has been musical since she was about 8 or 9 years old, taking classes, learning from Dad, singing in school musicals. Then she got her first guitar for Christmas of 2019, and began taking regular lessons with a guitar + piano teacher shortly thereafter.
More recently, Melody has been studying voice with Maddi Mae (an artist whose music I’ve enjoyed for a while, by the way).
About the current relevance of the song he wrote so long ago, Scott says:
“’Dream discusses pushing through tragedies, embracing miracles, holding on to your dreams, and living your best life- those are things that I think people can connect with regardless of age. I do think a big factor here is the pandemic. Between the scariness of it, the politics of it, and how much we’ve all had to adjust our lifestyles because of it, these are incredibly trying times. Most people’s mental health has taken a beating over the last 2 years, and there aren’t many signs of it letting up any time soon. Kids Melody’s age are seeing and feeling this too – it’s not just us adults – and I think that makes it just as relatable to those born in the 2000s as those born in the 1900s.”
And Melody, in her own words, “If you don’t have dreams, you don’t really have motivation and inspiration. Everyone should have dreams, passion, and things to look forward to … things that make them happy.”
I am speechless! All accomplishments of this your girl is phenomena!! She has it all!