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A Voice For Change: Local Singer A Champion For The Blind Singer and professional freelance commercial/voice-over artist Melissa Ungar is hitting a high note in her vocal career. With her debut CD, Checkered Past (featuring 10 covers) already on shelves and another CD on the way, it’s clear she’s a success story in the making. A pretty voice can get you far in the music industry, but it can also be a powerful tool for social change. Ungar also lends her chops to VoicePrint Canada (where she’s been for five years and was voted volunteer of the month in January 2007), a non-profit organization in which volunteers regularly visit a broadcasting studio to do in-depth readings of news and various print media for the visually impaired. “It’s like a friend whispering in your ear to make sense of what’s going on,” says VoicePrint founder Marc Rosen. VoicePrint only selects readers whose voice can make listeners whose voice can make listeners feel comfortable while they experience their favourite films. Helping listeners nationwide, this charity needs all the help it can receive, and Ungar, in an effort to help fundraise for the cause, decided to pitch an innovative idea last year. “I was reading once a week for VoicePrint Canada, and they were growing as well,” she says. “I knew I was starting my CD. I asked them if they would be involved in a project with me.” In exchange for help promoting her album, Ungar would donate a portion of her sales to VoicePrint. The collaboration was the culmination of a dream she’d been nurturing since her days as a student in North York. “[The teachers] really loved what they were doing. I think that good, very interesting teachers help you realize that you have to choose something that you love doing,” says Ungar. As an independent artist, Ungar’s drive to continue learning and working hard is essential. However, there is one exception: she never writes her own songs. “I just can’t write,” she admits. “I am really trying to find a songwriter to collaborate with. It’s hard to get radio airplay. They don’t want to push covers. They want to push Canadian songs, Canadian writers. So the main purpose of the last [CD] and anything in the future is to find writers that suit my style.” Despite her supposed inability to write songs like her heroes Sarah McLachlan and Jann Arden, her singing talent is evident. But more than that, maybe her humility is refreshing in an industry that celebrates ego. “It’s nice to know that, if I do the best product I can, someone will put it on and say, ‘You know, it really made my day a little better.’” | Back to News |
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