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By Kent Larsen
Maren Ord's Waiting
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA -- 19-year-old LDS musician Maren Ord's
first album, Waiting, was released yesterday, with newspaper articles
in her hometown of Edmonton cheering her as Canada's next pop star
and praising her practical yet sophisticated nature. But the album's
release starts the beginning of hard work for Ord as she promotes the
album in her attempt to launch a successful pop singing career.
Ord is the eighth of 10 children in her musically-inclined Mormon
family. Her parents both teach music and the family has long
performed locally as the acappella group "the Ord Family Singers."
But in spite of that orientation, Ord never thought that music would
become her career. Then she performed at the music festival Lilith
Fair in 1998, where Nettwerk Records, the label made famous by Sarah
McLachlan, discovered her and signed her up.
For the past three years Nettwerk Records has had Ord bouncing
between New York, London and Los Angeles working to bring her songs
from voice and acoustic guitar to a level suitable for pop radio
airplay. During that time she also began working with Excel
Entertainment's Highway Records label, which issued Waiting early, in
November, for the LDS market. Recording Waiting took four months in
the studio last fall.
The album's producer, Stephen Hague, says he is particularly
impressed with Ord's maturity, according to a recent article in the
industry publication Billboard. "It was quite refreshing to be around
someone who was really excited to be making a record. ... She's
incredibly un-neurotic and wanted to have a good time. She's
amazingly sophisticated for someone so young." Ord demonstrates how
she is different from many pop stars, refusing to "flaunt her navel"
in photo shoots like Brittany Spears, for example.
But she is different from most pop stars on another count as well --
she writes her own songs and lyrics. And she is hesitant to let
others sing those lyrics, "In the early stages, there was one song
they wanted either Celine Dion or Toni Braxton to sing," says Ord.
"But I almost wouldn't want to give my songs away because it would be
hard to let someone else sing your songs. I think the only way I'd be
able to do that is I'd have to sing it myself and then someone else
could."
Ord credits her stability and maturity to her Mormon background and
her family, "I need to have balance in my life and do other things
than music especially as it's not occupying every day of the week --
not yet," says Ord. "You just have to take it a day at a time. That's
the best advice my mom has given me. She's the one that urged me to
get a part-time job." And, like many 19-year-olds, Ord worked that
job, but she did it in spite of the interest in her singing.
Now that the album is out, Ord will have to do the sometimes more
difficult job of promoting it. Nettwerk has her scheduled for a tour
including interviews and public appearances in cities across the US
and Canada. She has even worked in a stop to perform at BYU's
Especially for Youth Camp this summer.
For her the only question that remains is if this album will be the
end of her wait for a singing career.
Sources:
'A lot of talent and a good heart'
Edmonton Alberta Canada Journal 20Feb01 A2
By Sandra Sperounes: Journal Music Writer
Dream comes true today for Maren Ord with release of CD
Extra-Ord-inary
Jam! Showbiz 20Feb01 A2
By Mike Ross: Edmonton Sun
'Waiting' is just beginning for Ord
Billboard 10Feb01 A2
By Larry LeBlanc
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