Joe Bonamassa Music Studies Scholarship

My vocal coach asked if I would like to perform at Daniel Pearl World music Days when i was just 12 years old. I looked up Daniel Pearl and found out about his brutal murder in Pakistan in 2002, the year I was born. I was encouraged by the music events started around the globe in his name and decided to perform at the event in Santa Monica. I had written a song called, “Sign in the Sky” with my sister and found it was a hopeful message and a perfect choice as a change maker. At the event the performance went well and I was able to actually meet Daniel’s parents and hear his dad speak. It was truly an honor to hear from him that music is a universal language that touches people across the globe and can unify people. This really rings true for me and is the focus of my career goals. I am inspired by this in all my songwriting. Just last year I wrote and recorded a group global unity song with friends in and out of the entertainment industry which has won many international awards, it’s also been performed by many schools across the globe which is truly inspiring. I believe music should deliver a meaningful message and I try to do this in all my works and would like to master this in college. I established a teen music jam in my backyard with a full sound system for young people to come and share their voices in song and share their individual messages and help their craft. Most of these talented kids performed on my unity song, Love is the only River. It recently won a “Songs For Change” contest which shows that my music can bring change in the world. Given the latest outbreaks of social and racial injustice I worked recently on a duet with a friend from school and my teen musician nights. Cameron Nino, on a song called, “I Can’t Breathe”. The song is in honor of George Floyd but discussea the racial injustice suffered by so many black people in our country at the hands of the police. It’s something that can and will have to stop with a change in attitude and morals if we raise our voices together and demand justice. As a singer and a songwriter I can connect with people on a whole other level. I remember singing at the LA Marathon two years ago for the 25,000 participants and becoming so overwhelmed with emotion from the crowd that I burst into tears after the song was finished. A lot of mutual energy goes into every performance and you feel everything from the crowd, the excitement, the pressure,, the stress, the highs and the lows. It’s an awesome thing to experience. I also remember performing for 15000 people at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and not being able to hear my guitar at all or it was delayed and I was freaking out during the sound check. The high pressure I’m under to perform perfectly is intense and I ended up memorizing the guitar without hearing it in an hour and just strummed and sang during the performance like it was perfectly natural and it all worked out miraculously. You’ve got to problem solve under pressure and not give in to your emotions too much. And use the pressure and emotion to enhance my performance. It’s not easy to get up in front of thousands of people and show your talent but there’s also nothing like it in the world and it’s so rewarding personally and on a large scale. I hope to continue to have monthly music jams in college where people can collaborate and create positive music and messages together. This will help prepare me to be a songwriter and performer that can write lyrics and start campaigns to be a real change maker in this world. I would learn to be able to manage my own career as well as other artists and brand them as a change for good to make the world a better place through their music. My Dad became disabled two years ago and as the sole breadwinner it’s been hard on the family. This scholarship will help defray the costs of college for me and is truly necessary. I appreciate your consideration of my talent, commitment and hard work to achieve all my wildest dreams and goals. Thank you. Here is a link to one of my personal live performances of an original song and the link attached is my award winning global unity song, “Love Is The Only River” : https://youtu.be/8SSWESXR79Y