Elise, when did you first become interested in music and how?

I think I really became interested in music in my early teens. I had an affinity with music from birth but it wasn’t until I was ten or twelve that I started to realize music as a world I could live in.

What is your first musical memory?

My first musical memory was of me playing the piano at the next door neighbors. The woman was amazed at how easy it came to me. I think I was four or five and I began putting melodies together.

Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?

My biggest inspiration has been my first husband. He was the first to recognize my music as an art that should and could be declared. He had the vision of me as a composer and performer even before I did. He not only believed in me but he put things in place for my music to be heard. He unfortunately died of lung cancer quite young and that in some way has propelled me to become myself at a faster rate. I am now married to another man who is also extremely supportive of my musical abilities.

Your first two albums were done under the name Tabitha Lebec. If it is not

too personal, why did you use different names?

I was born with the name Tabitha but it never really resonated with me as a person. My career started with the name Tabitha because that was my first name. It wasn’t until two years ago that I let myself change to Elise.  Elise is the name that always felt like it should have been my name. Now some of my close friends call me TabElise as a joke. My folk/pop music is under the name Tabitha and my piano/new age music is under the name Elise Lebec

As your latest CD is called, "Possible Dreams," what are your dreams?

My dreams are many. One of my biggest dreams is to have a world that is fun to live in. I am bored with the way things are controlled and frankly I can see the way things would be different if we allowed more of the beauty of life to take over. There doesn’t have to be so much misery. We have brought this on ourselves; therefore we can take it away. My dream is to restore the beauty in the world in whatever way we can do this personally. My way is to share my music but everyone has there own gift…it is my dream to live in a world that supports this beauty.

How was it that you moved to New Zealand, Australia, and then England?

Like I mentioned earlier, I married young, to a man who wanted to live in New Zealand. He was British and we fell in love in San Diego when he was there visiting a friend of mine. After knowing him for two months, we left America and traveled to New Zealand, Australia and England, living in each place for a year or two at a time. It was a wonderful experience.

You've covered a lot of ground so far. What have been your biggest breaks?

I’ve had a lot of breaks. I’ve been lucky to have been able to write with some of the great writers of our time. Right now I am writing the lyrics to the music that Nicky Hopkins wrote before he died.

I guess my biggest break was composing my first album for the famous painter Charles Billich. That album opened many doors for me including being sponsored by Steinway, Australia and being able to perform all over Europe.

Please share with us some of your most rewarding and/or memorable moments as a musician.

There have so many and yet I know there will be many more even better memories than this one but this one is extraordinary because it explained to me the reason for my existence in a way. I was sitting in New Zealand playing my old piano that was in serious need of a tune and I had been playing for about an hour when I came to a rest and everything was silent again in the room. My husband at the time was in tears but smiling. He asked me if I could play it again. I said, “no, I can’t remember what I played, not even a note. “

I was gone for an hour of my life, channeling music from a source unknown to me. It was in that moment that I realized I had been given a very special gift and that I should somehow find a way to share it with others.

Wow, that’s awesome!

What all would you like to accomplish in your life?

I would like to eventually be in a position to open a school of music for children who cannot afford to have private lessons.  It is my endeavor to share my music with as many people as possible in order to ignite the gifts that are in all of us and to inspire what beauty there is in exchange for being inspired.

Where are you headed from here?

I am presently touring and working on my next album.

Any advice for budding new musicians?

My advice would be that the music business is not for the faint of heart but the making of music is for the full of heart and if it is your fate to do this then do it fully, while staying true to yourself and your dreams.

Thank you Elise for your time. May you be blessed always for all the good that you bring this world.

To find out more about Elise Lebec or to order any of her recordings, please visit her website: http://www.eliselebec.com. 

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