No doubt many of you have seen posts from Zach Thomas regarding a rising
young singer named Joey Pearson. Well today I was privileged to be at
Joey's first "Mini Concert" at the mall in his home town. I give Joey and
his performance 2 resounding thumbs up!

I arrived at the concert early and had a chance to meet Joey, his dad and
his manager. Joey is 9 years old and in the third grade. It was obvious
from the start that Joey's people were more nervous than the young star, as
Joey kept the composure that any 9 year old would have running around the
mall. I let Joey play with my backup camera and he wandered the mall taking
pictures of anyone who would pose (mostly pretty girls!), although he knew
there was no film in the camera. Joey was a riot!

The show took place at the Bainbridge Mall way down in south Georgia and was
sponsored by the Mall and the Mall's radio Shack, which provided the karaoke
machine and sound system. Joey performed from a stage set up at center mall
just in front of Santa Clause. The crowd included invited guests, local
radio personalities, Joey's personal photographer (side note - my pictures
will be better than hers!!!) as well as people who just happened by the mall
to see Santa.

Joey was dressed in an orange pullover sweater, orange cargo pants, and
black leather Skechers shoes. As time neared for Joey's noon performance to
begin, some of his invited guests were not yet on hand due to the bad
weather. So Joey warmed up the crowd with a beautiful rendition of "There's
No Place That Far". Joey is a true balladeer, and the crowd was in awe.
This little kid can sing - and he's got some lungs!

The show started without Joey's grandma there yet, but she did arrive into
Joey's second or third song. Joey's five-song set included "There's No
Place That Far" followed by "One Voice". Now before anyone gets the wrong
idea, let me assure you that Joey is not trying to be a Billy Gilman clone.
First of all, Joey's voice is not the same as Billy's. Joey's vocal styling
is all his own. His voice is full and rich and has a touch of vibrato. His
transition to falsetto for some of the high notes was almost
indistinguishable from when he was singing natural. And his hint of vibrato
added his own touch to the popular ballad. And secondly, even though Joey
admires Billy and considers him to be one of his inspirations, young Mr.
Pearson does not seem intent on riding anyone's coattails to make it to the
bigtime - he has plenty of talent and charm all his own!

Joey's third song got the crowd clapping as he sang "Too Bad You're No
Good", a catchy and jumpy tune that had Joey rocking on stage. Next Joey
performed and original song written by his dad, entitled "Don't Give Up". I
have a copy of Joey's CD single of that song (personally autographed to me
from Joey!) and it is already a treasure. The single has already received
airtime on the local radio station, WMGR.

Joey closed his show with "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and showed us all how
much power his voice really has. Now nothing personal here, but Joey is a
little kid. His lungs must go down to his legs! He belted out the finale
to that song with all the gusto of a seasoned pro.

After his show Joey autographed photos and copies of his CD for the crowd
that immediately gathered at his table. I think there were only 2 CDs
remaining from his original large pile of discs when the crowd was gone -
everybody wanted one. And even Santa Clause was overflowing with praise for
Joey's beautiful voice and talent!

When the show was over I went to lunch with Joey and his family we and spent
some time getting to know each other. What a fine bunch! Me an Joey played
some pool, foosball and pinball, Joey demolished a hamburger, and we went
back to the mall for a 3pm show where Joey performed the songs for his
Grandma that she missed from the first performance. Afterward as I talked
business with Joey's manager, his grandma got Joey a BIG toy fire truck and
the 9-year-old contented himself with trying to make the remote-controlled
truck jump a ramp. Typical boy!

Joey seems to be already making the sort of connections that can propel him
to the bigtime. There's lots of info in this regard at his website,
www.joeypearson.com

Give me a week or so and Joey and many photos of the rising star will be
joining the Boy Star Galleries!

Thanks, Joey, you are awesome!

Max
--
"Max's Boy Star Galleries" webmaster
www.maxgalleries.com (Joey will appear on this site in a day or two! This review also appears on Joeys Official Site)