By Theresa Gardner
At 10-years-old, one Webster Parish girl already has 8 years’ experience at singing and playing music.
When she is not busy playing soccer, drawing and painting, Central Elementary fifth-grader, Zoey Shirley’s mother Dana Shirley said her daughter loves to entertain with music. She said Zoey’s personality was never too shy to sing in front of other people and at age 2, she walked around the house singing for her family. When she turned 5, she began taking piano lessons and writing short little songs.
“Zoey just always loved to sing,” Shirley said of her daughter. “She first started performing at church with the children’s choir, and she would do verse solos from time to time. She sang with her dad a lot when he would perform live on Facebook and Instagram doing his original songs.”
Shirley said Zoey’s first full song was titled “The House We Shared.”
“She sang it for her dad about a year ago,” Shirley explained. “He helped her shape it up, and she recently performed it with him at the Germantown Bluegrass Festival.”
Shirley said Zoey and her dad Ben Shirley sing together at Emanuel Baptist Church in Minden and that she is inspired by her older sister Ayla, who plays multiple instruments and also gives Zoey lessons.
“Ayla sings and writes, too,” Shirley said. “Also her dad writes his own music and even a handful of songs about Zoey – I guess it just runs in the family.”
Zoey’s goals are to write songs, post them and share them with world, and she wants to be a veterinarian. She loves Praise and Worship music. She is a fan of bands Weezer and The Beatles and the singer Rachel Crow.
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