With MTV Fame, Kelsie Martin Aims for Grammy-Winning Singing Career

With an MTV-produced song on iTunes and a performance at the famed , Kelsie Martin has begun her climb to singing stardom.

The 18-year-old high school honor graduate is shooting high in the wake of last Wednesday’s appearance in the Made reality show on MTV—where she won the iTunes deal in competition with a 16-year-old girl from Kalamazoo, MI.

“I want to be a famous singer,” said Martin, sitting on a folding chair in her mother’s office. “I want to tour. I want to be a Grammy winner.”

Mainly, she wants to perform on stage—“singing for tens of thousands of people. That’s all I want to do.”

Tuesday, she sang on the Plaza Stage at the San Diego County Fair, where she was discovered a year ago by MTV Made producers. 

Kelsie—who took the name of her older brother Martin for her stage monicker—performed Wrapped Around Your Finger, written in 20 minutes in Michele Fanning’s English class at Grossmont High in February 2010, and her iTunes number Empty Ocean, written with the help of singer/songwriter Alex Reid during the MTV taping.

On Friday afternoon, Martin will take the Paddock Stage in the fair’s  Singer/Songwriter Contest—“a search for the best performance by a solo singer, and a showcase for original songwriting.”  She’s one of 15 to vie for prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000.

A year ago, while competing in a different contest, Martin signed up for Made on a lark. Knowing that the show was about transformation (and not star-making), she applied to achieve her makeover in—motocross.

“I don’t know [where the idea came from],” Martin said. “I don’t ride bikes.”

But since a snippet of her singing performance appeared in another Made episode, the show returned to her with another idea—putting her in a situation where she could try to reach the next step in her singing career.

Also tapped for the episode Chasing My Dream, which aired June 22, was Jasmine Symone Merritt-Camburn, a black foster child adopted at age 10 by a white family in Kalamazoo, MI.

The racial dynamic didn’t do justice to Martin’s background, however.

“We didn’t get to tell our story,” said Kathy Horeth, 53, a divorced mother of five, with three kids still at home in La Mesa. “Someone commented to her: ‘You’re a rich little white girl.’ [But] we’re certainly not wealthy. We barely scrape by. But they didn’t get into that with her—so it’s kind of funny, the stereotyping.”

Martin and Jasmine hit it off, however.  They spent many hours over four or five days, and traded phone numbers. They continue to text each other.

“We’re still friends and get along,” Martin said, five months after the late January taping in New York City, where they stayed in the same hotel room in a freezing, snowy city.

Other secrets from the making of Made:

Mother Kathy confirmed that she suffered claustrophobia at Lindbergh Field:  “I don’t fly very often. When I got to the airport [for the flight to Dallas where producers would help Martin write a song], I was fine. And right before I boarded, I had a panic attack.”

Mother and daughter had boarded the plane and were seated when Horeth turned to Martin and said: “I can’t do it.” 

“I gave her some money, a credit card and left the plane,” Horeth said at Singing Solo, her small suite of offices near La Mesa, California. “It turned out to be a big growth thing for Kelsie.”

Although Made taped interviews at her solo-performance offices, catering to youngsters, none of Horeth’s professional acumen was mentioned in the episode.

“On the show, they commented on how her performing skills were so up to par,” Horeth said. “And that made me feel really proud, because that is what I do—teaching [kids] how to get up on stage and how to move and work with the crowd. She’s been doing this since she was 3.”

Mother Horeth also aspired to a singing career, even making a cassette of Gospel songs at age 21. As a wife and mother, however, she never fulfilled her dream. But she still sings, even recording a song in Japanese (phonetically). Her brother lives in Japan. And she also writes children’s songs.

Martin, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had the blessing of Lane Smith, the La Mesa 1st Ward’s Mormon bishop, who has been aware of Kelsie’s goals for years.

When he learned that Martin would appear on an MTV reality show, Smith said: “Wow, good for you,” according to Martin. “He’s always known that I’ve wanted to be a singer. So when I told him, he said: ‘Make sure you keep your standards.’ I said: ‘Yeah, of course.’ ”

That extended to her dress for the audition before Universal Music Group executives in New York.

The show took the pair of teens to Lord & Taylor, and Martin had her pick of five outfits.  After trying them on, she rejected them.

“I was, like, none of these outfits really work for me.” But she took pieces and combined them with a belt, rakish hat and jewelry for “a collaborative effort with the stylist.”

“I got to keep the outfit,” she said.

Martin wasn’t paid for being on the show. Her only income is whatever she makes from iTunes—6 cents for every song she sells.  And 10 percent of her iTunes income will be tithed to her church, she said.

As of Monday night, 332 people on iTunes gave Empty Ocean an average four-star rating—with five stars being the best.  The song was based on her own experience—but its melody and lyrics were crafted by singer/songwriter Alex Reid in Dallas.

Martin hadn’t seen the show until its public airing last week. She watched it at home with her mother, sister Keara and four-year high school friend Rachel—the only one who didn’t know the outcome.

Rachel had no doubts, however. She just assumed Martin had won, Kelsie said. 

“I’m hoping the episode keeps playing—and word will spread around: ‘Have you seen this girl? Have you seen this girl?’ ” Martin said.

Martin’s mother, who also acts as manager and publicist, made sure her online presence was professional, and they noted 2,000 visits to Martin’s YouTube video in the first day after the MTV show aired.

Kelsie had been in touch with many supporters, but the day after the show, she especially wanted to thank one teacher who helped her make it to Made.

She gives credit to John Law, her advanced-ensemble teacher at La Mesa Middle School, for her diction.

“He was hard on us—but in a good way,” Martin recalled. He taught his singers: “You pronounce your words; you don’t slur them.”  She’s never forgotten that lesson, she said.

“And I was his favorite,” she said. “He said that to me at the time.”

Martin has ambitions beyond an award-winning singing career.

“After I accomplish singing,  and do what I want to do,” she said, “I also want to help young girls [with their] self-esteem and help them know that you’re beautiful just the way you are.

“You don’t have to be somebody else.”