We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mary Murphy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was about 8 years old, I sang a line from a song called “Always” by Atlantic Star (It must have been sent from up above and I know you’ll stay this way, always) . That’s the first time I realized that I could really sing. However, in 8th grade I became a cheerleader and was introduced to sports. I was very good at them and quite honestly, I loved them. That made me completely forget about singing. I never joined any school choir or took drama.
After graduating high school, I met a guy who is now my husband. He asked me to join his choir and I also joined the church choir. Shortly after that, he (my husband before he was my husband) prophesied to me. He said that I would help him plant churches, but eventually there will be a time that I’m going to branch off and go on tour and do concerts around the world. That’s when I initially developed the desire to sing professionally.
Twenty eight years later, I wrote a song. When I sent the song to my producer, he said the song was a hit and that it would be a good cross over song. My husband said something I wasn’t expecting. “It’s time! It’s time for you to go on tour.” I immediately started touring. I traveled to 15 states in 6 months from the east to the west coast, and I’m still going. I have done several interviews, been on blogs and podcast. My song, “If it weren’t for Grace” is being played in radio stations in the U.S, the Bahamas, Portugal, India, South America and Canada. A magazine in Spain has written articles about me and my song.

Mary, 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?

I have recorded several albums with my church., and several solo albums. I won a competition in 2003 that led me to sing in front of Clifton Davis from the hit T.V Show “Amen”, Russ Lee, Sherry Keagy, Brian Free who received tenor of the year four years in a row, and former Destiny’s Child singer Michele Williams.
That same year, I opened for Jesse Duplentis. The next year, I opened for Jesse again. I opened for Alvin Slaughter and Mary Alessi.
In 2006 I went on a Broadway-Style tour. We traveled to almost every city in Florida.; then to New York, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. When I went in that tour, it was a glimpse into my future. I loved traveling, singing and performing. I KNEW that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started my solo career, my husband suggested that I sing Christian Pop. If you don’t know my husband, I’ll tell you this. When he says something, it’s money. He is a seer meaning he sees where the future is headed, and he also knows people. He can tell what people are supposed to do in life by just talking with them for five minutes so when he told me to sing Christian Pop, I said YES SIR! When I came out with my first album professionally, churches didn’t really want to book me for their events because they ignorantly thought that it wasn’t “worship music “ or that it wasn’t “anointed”.
My husband and I have never waited on people to book me. We set our own stages!
Once people started hearing my lyrics, they realized that my songs are full of the Word of God. It’s empowering and uplifting.
I just kept going and I have been able to sing in bars, clubs, AND churches!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There is a book that my husband actually wrote. It’s called “GO, READY, SET”. That book will radically transform the way you think. It will eliminate all excuses you’ve created in your mind that’s keeping you from pursuing your dreams. It also focuses you. It causes you to realize EXACTLY what you are supposed to do in life so you won’t waste time or money being in someone else’s lane. It encourages you to set your own stage in lieu of waiting on people to book you.
Once you know your directive, GO! You can get READY on the way and once you get there, everything will be SET!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.marymurphymusic.com
• Instagram: @marymurphymusic
• Facebook: marymurphymusic
• Linkedin: marymurphymusic
• Twitter: marymurphymusic
• Youtube: Mary Murphy Music