Music has always been a part of who Lissie is.
The 33-year-old singer/songwriter from Rock Island, Illinois now has four full-length studio albums under her belt, as well as five EPs, and she performed in September at the Daytime Village at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. And it all started when she began singing at a very early age.
Lissie recently shared her story with iHeartRadio through our Artist Stories series, where we got a first-hand look at her musical journey.
Lissie, her parents, and her sister Annika all realized her interest in music early on. Whether it would be fighting with her sister, or while having a hard time with something, she would sing about everything -- it was how she often expressed herself. "I was always kind of singing when I was little," she said, "whether because I was exposed to music, or it just sort of was in me."
As a kid, Lissie also performed in dance recitals, and when she was just nine years old, she was cast in the title role (out of over 200 girls who auditioned) in the musical Annie at the local theatre in town. "I was going to school and being this little professional. It was such a defining experience for me."
When she was 18, Lissie decided she wanted to leave Rock Island in pursuit of something bigger.
"I feel very fortunate in this life because if I couldn't sell any records, and no one cared about a word I had to say, I have this huge network of family and friends who I know would be there for me if I needed them. But I wanted to get up, and I wanted to sing, and I wanted to travel, and have this bigger life than what I felt was available to me here [in Rock Island]. When I left Rock Island at 18, I was definitely like, 'I'm outta here.'"
On her midwestern roots
Lissie left Rock Island to move out to California, where she landed a record deal. But eventually, she returned to the midwest and bought a farm in Iowa to call home. She says:
"It wasn't until my late 20s that I started to really see, as I traveled, that I am very midwestern, and I am very close to my family, and I do miss the seasons, and I miss the smells, and I miss the grass, and I miss the people, and their openness. I guess this is just where my heart feels at home."
Original article at iHeartRadio.