![\"Issue38-keta\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Issue38-keta.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nHOMETOWN:<\/b> Greenwood, Ind.
\ninfluences:<\/b> Elvis Presley, Imogen Heap, the Supremes
\nALBUM:<\/b> Generation Call<\/i> EP, out now
\nWEBSITE:<\/b> whoisketa.com<\/p>\n
Born into a musical home\u2014her mother was a classically trained violinist and vocalist, and her father played guitar\u2014K\u00eata grew up singing at church and county fairs. But at the age of 10, her budding career was halted after contracting Lyme disease. \u201cMy life was all doctor\u2019s appointments, tests, needles and experiments with different medications,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember lying in bed thinking that I needed to rethink my entire life and who I was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
After she recovered, K\u00eata\u2014born Keta Jo McCue\u2014learned how to play guitar and ukulele and entered talent competitions. While attending a showcase in Orlando, Fla., she connected with producer-musicians Mike Mac and Jordan Baum, and they began collaborating via Skype. \u201cWe just had an instant chemistry,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019d think those first sessions would\u2019ve been awkward, but we finished<\/p>\n
a song the first time we talked.\u201d<\/p>\n
After visiting L.A. to complete a series of recording sessions, K\u00eata signed with Evolve\/Capitol. While working on her debut EP, Generation Call<\/i>, she had clear intentions about the conceptual structure. \u201cI gave Mike and Jordan as much insight as I could in terms of the sound I wanted my music to have,\u201d says K\u00eata, 16. \u201cIt was important for me to be really exact about the kind of art I wanted to make, and it ended up 100 percent spot-on and<\/p>\n
completely what I\u2019d envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2014, K\u00eata earned a plum assignment as opening act for Sam Smith on his West Coast tour. Onstage and in the recording studio, she often reflects upon the difficulties of her youth. \u201cFor me, to go from being in such a dark place, where the dream of making music seemed so out of reach, and now doing it on such a huge scale, it\u2019s just so exciting and amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
K\u00caTA HOMETOWN: Greenwood, Ind. influences: Elvis Presley, Imogen Heap, the Supremes ALBUM: Generation Call EP, out now WEBSITE: whoisketa.com Born into a musical home\u2014her mother was a classically trained violinist and vocalist, and her father played guitar\u2014K\u00eata grew up singing at church and county fairs. But at the age of 10, her budding career was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[83],"tags":[7667,7665],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14704,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14702\/revisions\/14704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}