JUDY WELDEN BIO Always singing from her heart, JUDY WELDEN wrings so much feeling from the lyrics of her song that her audience can identify with whatever emotion she's projecting at that moment. The next minute she'll have them roaring with laughter at her quips between songs! Born in PA, later moving to WV, MO, FL and more recently settling in GA, Judy's natural harmony ability comes easily, having started to sing harmony with her family in church at age seven. She has always given the Lord all the glory for the gifts He has given her. Judy has sung from numerous stages, with her favorite being the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, original home of the Grand Ole Opry, where she sang on the same show as KITTY WELLS in the mid 90's. For her 9 1/2 weeks overseas tour the summer of 1998, Judy put together an album of sixteen of her most played songs in an album (JUDY WELDEN COUNTRY HITS - '92 TO '98). She performed at Zevenbergen Festival in Holland and went on to tour in 6 other countries. Her album and songs stayed on the European charts, that included mostly major artists, all summer. Judy released a Christian album titled GRACE in January 2001. The first song on that album, a patriotic duet, (ONE NATION), co-written and sung with PHIL COLEY, from Bowden, GA, was dedicated to the new President of the US and the new Millennium. She received a thank you note from the White House, signed by GEORGE W. BUSH. It became another #1 song for her in March, 2001. Judy's country album, CHASING A DREAM, released in the spring of 2001, also includes ONE NATION and 16 other original songs. The songs received abundant airplay, especially in Europe. the title cut, "When I'm Chasing a Dream" was released again in the fall of 2006 and went to #1 on the Music Review Chart in Feb., 2007. Later, Allen Newton wrote a nice review of CHASING A DREAM CD - From: "View from the Country", by Allen Newton - " Had a chance to review the CHASING A DREAM CD by Judy Welden. This lady is a writing machine. Of the 17 songs on this CD, she either had full or partial writer's credits on 15 of the cuts. Go to www.judywelden.com for more information on this very talented lady." It should be noted here that Allen released the very first recording Judy ever released: In 1991, It was a 45 rpm... in gold color as he thought she could have a gold record because of the 2 strong songs, which were: WOMAN OF THE 90'S and on side 2: BUXOM LADIES ARE BACK IN STYLE, a tongue-in-cheek, up-tempo tune, written after Judy had read an article in a magazine with the same title! During the 90's Judy recorded two more versions of WOMAN OF THE 90'S, one in AC-Pop ('94) and one in Country ('98). Earlier albums Ms Welden released are SHADES OF BLUE, WOMAN OF THE 90'S (both on TREASURE COAST RECORDS and FOREVER GRATEFUL, on her Christian label, HEARTFELT RECORDS. In June, 2006, Judy, released a basically blusey type 18-song CD, with earlier unreleased songs of that genre, 3 new songs plus songs from prior released albums that had songs which fit the concept. Called PAIN SHY, BLUES & TRIBULATION, it has songs that most everyone can relate to. Over the years Judy has received many awards and nominations. Her latest awards are: International Female Recording Artist of the Year 1999, Album of the Year, (New Country, 1999), Song of the Year (FISHING FOR A NEW LOVE), co-written with Tom Littleby, American Horizon Award and Co-Writer of the Year, with DJ Mia Heylen and Terrance Alan. In addition...Judy was nominated for 6 awards for the year 2001, including Artist of the 20th Century and Artist/Songwriter of the Year. Her most recent award was being awarded a HALL OF FAME trophy at the CCMA (Colorado Country Music Assn) Award ceremony in June, 2006. Judy was honored mainly for helping so many artist/songwriters get heard on worldwide radio from '93 to '99, publishing their original songs, and also starting the Treasure Coast Songwriter Assn. With over 350 original songs to her credit, Judy has recorded 70 of them and most all have charted on the Independent charts, with 8 of them reaching #1. Those were I'M HITTIN' THE ROAD, LOVE CONQUERS ALL, SHELTER IN THE RAIN and ONE NATION (with co-writers Tina Billias, Tom Littleby and Phil Coley respectively), ABSTAIN- DON'T PLAY THE GAME (co-written with Rhonnie Scheuerman), CHURCH CALLED THE RISEN SON (Judy's lyrics to the public domain tune HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN), WHEN I'M CHASING A DREAM (solely written by Judy) and I'M PAIN SHY (co-written with Marc Rabins). Dozens of her original songs have reached top 10 of the Independent charts. Fourteen (14) artists have recorded 32 of her songs. Dubbed "WONDER WOMAN OF THE 90'S" by her then PR man, the late Gene Bear, after Judy released 10 compilation CDs with multiple artists/songwriters (including her own composed /recorded songs) in a 12 month period, she has since stopped releasing the compilations. Her focus now is on publishing songs written by herself and other songwriters she publishes in order to find suitable songs for talented artists. Like all Independent artists, she would love to have a major "hit" herself, thus the title of her CD, "CHASING A DREAM". Judy started the TREASURE COAST SONGWRITERS ASSN. (TCSA) in 1993, was the director for 4 years, later serving as Advisor. In 1995 she started FIRP (FAIRNESS IN ROYALTY PAYMENTS) to appeal to BMI and ASCAP concerning equality in royalty payments, requesting that their radio monitoring be updated to modern technology to assure that all songwriters be paid fairly, not just the major ones. Since early 2003 Judy has been a resident in Gainesville, GA where she continues her musical endeavors. Judy has been a soloist at her home church (1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH)and enjoys participating there with another of her creative gifts, that of flower arranging. With a successful career that spans several decades, and having been nominated and accepted for inclusion in International Who's Who In Music and Marquis Who's Who In Entertainment & Who's Who Worldwide, Judy Welden's musical star continues to shine!