I don’t talk about this part of my life very often, but growing up, I wanted to be a singer more than anything in the world. Music was my first love. My mother supported every dream I ever had—she bought me every record, album, tape, and CD I asked for (yes, I’m dating myself here, lol). That music became the soundtrack that shaped me. I grew up singing in the San Francisco Boys Choir, the Oakland Boys Choir, and later the Castlemont Castleers in Oakland, California. Singing