Undergraduate seeks “iSupport” from greek houses to jump-start singing career

Alexis Joi Carter was in fourth grade at Charles R. Drew Elementary School in Gary, when her teacher singled her out from the rest of the students in the class. It was around Thanksgiving and the class was singing a song called “Truly Thankful.”\n“A little snippet it of the song called for a solo,” Carter said. “We were all young and shy and no one was taking the initiative to say ‘I wanna do the solo.’”\nCarter said she was sitting in the back of the class when she hesitantly agreed to do the solo upon her teacher’s request. She surprised herself when she began to sing the solo.\n“I just started singing and I was like, ‘Whoa. Who is this?’” Carter said.\nImmediately after Carter finished her solo her teacher grabbed her by the hand and took her to the fifth-grade music teacher where she sang the same solo him.\n“They called my parents and told them I had to stay after school,” Carter said. “I had my first rehearsal that day.”\nThe summer after her fifth-grade graduation, she was accepted to Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Gary. There she studied classical and operatic genres of music before coming to IU.\n“Emerson laid the fundamental ground work to prepare me for where I am today,” Carter said.\nCarter is now a senior at IU and plans to sign her first record deal after graduation in May. She said she is specifically looking at Indianapolis-based Tyscot Records, which is the largest black-owned record label in the country. She is also looking at Verity Records, which is under the Zomba Records label.\nCarter is trying to get as much support as she can from people here on campus and in Bloomington while she is still independent. She said she is trying to sell as many copies of her self-titled CD before signing with a record company “to make it a sweeter deal.” \nTo do this, Carter started her “iSupport” campaign, which is a competition to see which greek house on campus will purchase the most copies of Carter’s CD. Each member of a house who purchases a CD signs his or her name on an “iSupport” sheet to keep track of how many have been sold to each house. The winners of the competition will receive VIP seating and special recognition at one of Carter’s concerts in April.\nCarter previewed some of the songs on her CD by singing serenades for several houses on campus such as Kappa Gamma Delta, Alpha Gamma Delta and Phi Kappa Tau. Carter said some houses have already started turning in their sheets.\n“I didn’t know these would be going so fast,” Carter said.\nCarter contacted Residential Programs and Services directors on Monday to include a competition between dormitories as part her “iSupport” campaign.\nAlthough Carter has enjoyed her experience at IU, the past couple years have been tough and she has battled with the decision to choose music as a career. In the end, Carter said she realized she had too much in her she had to give.\n“It’s just a matter of doing what you know is best today,” Carter said. “If you do that, you’re OK.”\nFor more information about Carter and her music, visit www.myspace.com/alexisjcarter. To purchase a copy of Carter’s CD e-mail her at aljcarte@indiana.edu.