Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Carter.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a singer-songwriter. I was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in the Visual and Performing Arts schools. I started playing the piano when I was four. When I was 9 I started singing in my grandfathers church choir. My mom was the choir director. Around 12 years old I was also singing background for my mom when she would do local and corporate gigs. I’ve always had a serious passion for music and decided that I would pursue my love for the craft very early on. After graduating high school, I went on to attend college at The University of Missouri – Columbia (MIZZOU), where I majored in Biology until I relocated to Los Angeles, California. Also, I became pretty well known in my hometown before I moved to LA. That confidence helped me to make it in LA. When I relocated to Los Angeles, I became pretty well known for my writing talent and my work ethic and I was able to get the attention of record producer Randy Jackson who introduced me to my mentors and former co-publishers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. This introduction marked the start of my music career. I signed to Flyte Tyme/EMI Music Publishing (now Sony/ATV) in March 2008 and I was the only songwriter signed to the production company. I became widely known as Flyte Tyme’s “Protege.”
During my time at Flyte Tyme, I contributed lyric, melody and vocal arrangements to some of Pop and R&B’s best and brightest such as Usher, Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Keyshia Cole, Chaka Khan, Dawn Richard, Ruben Studdard, The Time (Original 7ven), Celine Dion, Ronald Isley, Charlie Wilson, Michelle Williams, Trinity 5:7, El Debarge and others.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After my experience in the music industry, I was convinced that the music industry was in need of an overhaul because many musicians I knew were taking home the smallest share of the money made by the music industry. Each day I listened to horror stories of how artists, songwriters, and producers were trapped in archaic contracts with predatory terms leading to emotional distress, creative suppression, and financial ruin. After ten years in a publishing deal myself, I was at rock bottom with no monetary gain to show for the time spent, and I was hospitalized at least four times due to the stress and pressures of the industry.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most known for my career as a songwriter. Upon gaining my independence from my publishing deal, I launched WriteCliq in October 2019. Writecliq is a Youtube series dedicated to up-and-coming creatives. When we say independent, we mean that in the truest sense because we are constantly giving our viewers knowledge so that they have the ability to maintain full ownership of their intellectual property, and that means their master’s and publishing. This time last year, we had less than 100 subscribers and a hand full of views. Currently, we collectively have over 1,100 dedicated viewers worldwide and over 100,000 channel views and growing.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I love astrology. I’m kind of an astrology nerd. I’ve been diligently studying and reading birth charts since 1998, so I absolutely love this new wave of interest in the science/art of astrology. I also play the violin. Well… I’m probably not as good as I used to be lol, but I was in a youth chamber orchestra where I was 1st chair, 1st violin most of the elementary, middle and high school. It was an all-black youth orchestra. We played at Disney World, The White House, and Symphony Halls across the midwest.
Pricing:
- WriteCliq has monthly club conversations. Our members have access to monthly webinars/club conversations, Monthly 1-on-1 Coaching with Award Winning Songwriters, music critique/feedback and more. Subscription prices range from $29-$149/month.
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@writecliq.com
- Website: writecliq.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/writecliq and @sunny_incarlafornia
- Facebook: facebook.com/writecliq
- Twitter: twitter.com/write_cliq
- Youtube: youtube.com/writecliq
