We recently connected with Gabby Patrice and have shared our conversation below.

Gabby , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As long as I can remember I have wanted to be a performer, but I was not sure at a young age what the word “professional” entailed. I figured I just wanted to sing and dance forever and that was it. I grew up doing what I thought you were supposed to do. I went to school, played sports including collegiate sports, and then I graduated. I had a job out of college in Boston and would gig on the side. My job was working with young creates to help them make merchandise for their brand. Although my coworkers were great and I was lucky to have a job, I couldn’t help but feel like I was working for people doing what I wanted to. I was then offered another job in Boston that was extremely lucrative if I was good at it. My plan was to get good at it, make a ton of money, and then start my musical journey.

I was not good at it.

I could not sell the product to save my life. It was six months of crying myself to sleep, waking up too early, going to bed too late, nightmares about being late for work, ten cups of coffee a day, panic attacks, anxiety, and little to no music gigs. It was six months of stress. It was six months of incredibly large signs that this was NOT what I was meant to do.

And then I met Arthur.

I met my fathers friend Arthur, an extremely successful entrepreneur, at a hockey game where I was in my business suit after meeting with some CEO. He asked about my work and for some reason I went on and on about music. “Yes I do this sales thing, but my real love is singing and songwriting.” I am not sure what made me say that to someone who SURELY could have helped me in my current state, but I just went on and on about music and Gods plan and how I KNEW I would be a musician and a songwriter. I just knew it.

About a week later Arthur called me asking to sponsor me to live in Nashville for eight months. If i didn’t like it, I could come back and he would help me find a job.

That was six and a half years ago.

I will never forget what Arthur did for me. It wasn’t just help financially, it was the push that I needed. It was the “no excuses anymore” option. My life completely changed for the better after that, and I thank God for Arthur and his kind generosity often.

Having corporate jobs, especially ones that were so very different, is what showed me that this was not a dream, but something that I would need to make a reality and work extremely hard at in order to survive. I was not going back to the terrible mental state I was in. I did not need to be famous, I just wanted to make money doing what I love. Like all jobs, the scale is huge. I could be a starving artist and work every day for tips, I could be a famous songwriter in a mansion working with all the best, or I could be somewhere in the middle as an EDM artist working with labels and bartending. Most importantly, the entire scale consists of options that have me happier than I ever was in Boston working those jobs.

Gabby , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Gabrielle Patrice Boyle, but I go by Gabby Patrice.

I have been writing poetry since I learned what a rhyme was. I have been singing since before I could talk and dancing since I was in the womb (at least that’s what my mom says).

Writing is what I believe to be my “gift” and then the singing and music is a passion that I work on getting better at every day. I started off with a guitar with Taylor Swift and Alanis Morissette as my inspirations. Since then, I have become a writer for all genres and an EDM artist.

EDM: Electronic Dance Music

It is far more common than it sounds. You will hear it in every bar or store you walk into. It started as remixes of popular songs and has since then grown into a huge genre with all different branches and I was lucky enough to get involved early!

My friend from middle school, Pat Johnston, was working in EDM and reached out about wanting to make an original song. He was based in LA and I was planning a writing trip there anyway so we set up a time to write. Fast forward and an amazing label loved what we created so much that they picked it up! That was my first song to ever stream a half of a million (TIME ZONES, PHZES and Gabby Patrice). I knew that this was the path for me as an artist. My vocals fit and it was easy to write to. After that song came out, other producers wanted my voice for their tracks and I suggested writing as well. I have since then came out with three more EDM songs put out by labels and have more on the way! I have also written EDM songs for other artists thanks to Ben Bailer and his publishing company!

I absolutely love writing for other artists because I was a creative writing major and I am an entertainer so diving into another persons story is extremely enjoyable! Whether it be country, pop, EDM, or indie! Whatever it is I want to write it. And now more than ever, if it’s EDM I want to be the writer AND the performer on the track as much as I can be!

So I think that answers what I do and what I provide!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think I have others with me on this, but it drives me insane that to most people this is not a “real job.”

I know a lot of friends with 9-5s that find it fun and they absolutely love it. If I love my job and I have fun, why does that mean it isn’t real?

I also am asked often if i’m famous yet. Do I ask doctors or nurses or lawyers why they are not famous doctors or lawyers or nurses? No. Do I then say “Oh well, maybe one day you will be a famous doctor?” again, no.

I am not offended by this because it is just an all day every day occurance, but it is something I would love for people to think about!

Why is it not a real job if I work every day at it, and make an income? Why is it only important if I am famous, when I am happy and supporting myself, and constantly inventing new songs!

What do those doctors and lawyers, or any “real job” really, what do those people listen to in the car? When they have events, are they all silent? When they have morning meetings and each share some sort of uplifting quote, are those all coming from people with “real jobs”? Is every wall in these corporate buildings completely blank? At their homes, are the walls just white paint or are their pictures from artists? Let’s take that a little further, do they have children that paint and sing? Who are their inspirations for those songs or that art?

Music and writing or any kind of art at ALL make the world better, yet artists are not seen as real. That is, unless we are famous. That’s a bummer. It used to be something I would get upset about but I have learned that if you focus on the goals you have completed and how you have made a life for yourself with this job that you have, it is freaking awesome. You are doing it, even on days where you fail. JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER JOB!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is the easiest question I have gotten, The effect it has on others.

As I have stated I write all genres but I would say my most cherished songs are the ones about heavy situations. I have written about heart break, love, miscarriages, alcoholics, abuse, mental illness etc and although it is hard to write, it feels purposeful, like I can help someone understand they are not alone.

For example I sang the song about an alcoholic once, which I believe may be one of my best written, and as the song went on a girl came closer and closer to the stage. The song is about a mother who is choosing alcohol over her child. After the song the girl came up to me and told me that her mother passed from addiction, and that was the first time she heard a song that touched on how she felt about it. We hugged for a while and it hit me harder than she will ever know.

My mother is not an alcoholic, but I wrote someone for someone who had to go through that. I know mothers that are and I have experienced certain situations around that, but I was able to write a song for someone who couldn’t. That is a powerful and emotional feeling. Things like that happen often with my heavier songs, and that is something that pushes me to continue. I am HELPING people feel heart and less alone. I couldn’t think of anything better.

I will say, with my pop and EDM songs, I also LOVE making people want to dance! That is an effect that I have always cherished in performing. Getting people moving and happy and dancing around and smiling and celebrating with their friends as a result of hearing something I created is an AWESOME feeling and something I love to see often!

So yes, the effect. Nothing like it.

Contact Info:

• Website: in the works
• Instagram: instagram.com/gabbypatricemusic
• Facebook: facebook.com/gabbypatricemusic
• Twitter: twitter.com/gabbypmusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/gabbypatricemusic
• Other: spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2AetdVhnSGqjCXKoK0cWPR

Image Credits
NTP PHOTOGRAPHY NTP__PHOTOGRAPHY