Carol Mayberry-Sanchez
represented by:


Villancico Music, Inc. (SESAC)

Biography

 

 







From an early age, Carol's world has been filled with music, playing by ear and beginning piano lessons at the age of three.  Her teacher discovered that she was gifted with "perfect pitch" as she began studying classical piano at that time.  Her pre-school years saw entry into numerous contests (at her parents' prodding) and included her winning the Kiwanis Stars of Tomorrow at the ripe age of 4.  The story goes that minutes before her performance she refused to go on stage until bribed with the promise of new shoes.

A Colorado native raised on a dairy farm near Loveland, Colorado, she lived the life of a country girl growing up with her closest friends, her animals.  When not a top a horse, she was busy feeding calves, finding kittens moved by the mother cat (because Carol had handled them too much), playing with the family dog or bottle feeding orphaned lambs,
all of this establishing her engrained love and respect for animals, a passion she holds to this day.  While helping with barn chores, she absorbed the sounds of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Glen Miller resonating from the barn radio.  Polkas, not her favorite, were on the selected button on the car radio on Sunday afternoon family drives to see the neighbors' crops.  Her older sister ushered in the beginnings of rock and roll, introducing Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis to the house.  And yet, the classic soundtracks of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein filled the air while she ironed and cleaned and did her indoor chores. 

Carol took up the clarinet in band, and became first chair in junior high and high school.  Her musical versatility has resulted from the perhaps "strange", perhaps well-rounded mix of life she led while growing up.  Her early adulthood, steeped in the music of the Beatles, Gene Pitney, Burt Bacharach, and the Motown era, rounded out her appreciation of many musical genres.

She attended Colorado State University but forfeited her scholarship the middle of her junior year when she quit to "become a rock and roll star". That did not happen, but she played in numerous groups over the next few decades, including a nine piece R&B group which included Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind, & Fire, prior to his fame.  Keyboardist for seven years with the popular Denver-based group "A Nice Change", she traveled cross country from Chicago to Las Vegas and appeared alongside the Kingston Trio and comedian Gallagher.  Her keyboard skills with other groups, have backed up those as diversified as the Shirelles, Bobby Bare, Little Jimmy Dickens, the raging Cajun Doug Kershaw, and others.

The year 2010 brought about big changes for Carol and the world as she had known it!  Her extensive involvement in the Colorado music scene (as church pianist for two different churches; as a private piano teacher for years; as a regular player at weddings, private parties, musical theater, and the occasional studio sessions; having been a member of three bands (A Touch of Jazz quartet, the EMR easy listening group, and The Meteors oldies rock and roll band) ........ was all now behind her ....... 500 miles behind her!  She and Dan, the two dogs, and the five fish moved to New Mexico.

Even though her network of family, friends, and business associates were in Colorado, it did not take long for Carol to start making music in the Land of Enchantment.  Currently, she is playing with "RoundAbout", a six piece classic rock group that can accommodate tastes as diversified as George Strait to the Temptations.


Amidst this schedule, her intensity and passion for songwriting remains strong.  Although she wrote songs during her performing years on the road, it was not until 2000 that she picked it up again in a very serious and dedicated way.  Admitting the music, rather than the lyrics, has had the greatest impact on her, Carol brings strong melody to her compositions.  And quite naturally, as you would expect, her songs vary in genre from commercial pop/R&B/adult contemporary with a theatrical edge (lending itself toward film crossover) to country and Christian.  She writes both lyrics and music for the majority of her material but collaborates with other lyricists from time to time.  Being skilled in the “old school” of piano theory, she scores all of her compositions.  She is a member of SESAC (see favorite links page).  Her demos have been receiving airplay on the Colorado Wave Radio, streaming for thousands of listeners, and are available for sale at cdbaby.com, as well as the "My Songs" page on this site.  She is represented by Villancico Music, Inc.

An avid adventure seeker, Carol has skydived, bungee jumped and completed two 500 mile bicycle tours.  She and her very supportive husband, Dan, live happily ever after with their two dogs, a horse, and a pond of koi on their acreage between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

 

This page was last updated 8/9 2016