Tragedy gives singer his voice

Out of tragedy, Jewel Wall found his voice.

He was 12 years old on Feb. 2, 1979, the day his father killed his mother and then committed suicide.

The seventh-grader began singing as a tribute to his mother in the school gymnasium.

"My mom’s favorite song at the time was ‘Three Times a Lady’ by the Commodores," Wall said. "So my cousin was my gym teacher. He would send me to the gym to cut the lights on before first period every morning. And as I was turning on the lights, I would sing ‘Three Times a Lady’ to my mom as the lights came up. Nobody was in there."

But now Wall, an engineering supervisor in avionics at Fleet Readiness Center East at Cherry Point, is singing for audiences, and he just released his first CD, "Transformation of a CHRISTian."

An event celebrating the release is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at The Inn of Havelock.

"It’s been a long-time dream," Wall said of the CD. "I’ve been singing for some time and people were always asking me when I was going to put out a CD."

Wall, a N.C. State University graduate with a degree in electrical engineering, was in a leadership training class for Fleet Readiness Center East in 2006 when he found out a coworker, Darren Carpenter, was a studio musician.

The collaboration led to the creation of the CD.

"First it was just giving him an idea of the music I did," Wall said. "I didn’t know song structure so it was getting my ideas into structure. It was a very long and costly experience."

Troy Henry at PureMix recording studio in Morehead City put together the CD.

"The studio was great, very professional, very inexpensive for the quality that you got out of it," Wall said.

Wall said making a CD is a lot more than just singing into a microphone.

"I wasn’t part of a group. I didn’t have musicians and backup singers. I had to acquire people to do those things," Wall said. "I had to teach people the songs and spend time doing that. There are a lot of things involved that you wouldn’t think about."

The music is a collaboration with Jerry Moncrief of Havelock, with one track written by Patrick Trumpet, a Marine once stationed at Cherry Point who is now in San Diego.

Wall used backup singers, including Tujuana Guthrie-Hill, minister of music at White Oak Church of God in Newport, Marcus Blango of Havelock, Gwen Godette of Havelock, Meredith Holmes Johnson, formerly of Morehead City, and Brittany Thompson of Newport.

Pastor Larry Taylor of Fountain of Life Ministries in Havelock did a prayer on the track Altar Call.

David Snook Photography did the pictures for the CD cover.

The CD is available for anywhere from $10 to $15 depending on where you buy it. They are available at Straight Up Faith Gear in James City, Visions Ahead in Havelock, True Vine Christian Bookstore in Havelock, Daily Bread Christian Bookstore in Bayboro or by sending Wall an e-mail request at juwalwahl@yahoo.com.

Wall said the CD follows a Christian from answering the altar call to Christian maturity. "It’s 10 songs on the CD. Hopefully anybody can find themselves in one of the songs," he said. "I think it turned out great. Of course as an artist you look back and think I could have done this better or I could have done that better, but I think it turned out great."

He said he has gotten positive response to the release.

"My wife likes it. I didn’t expect the response that I’m getting from it. The response has been wonderful," Wall said.

Wall has been married to Patricia Wall, a teacher at Havelock Middle School, for more than 20 years. The couple has two sons.

"They think it’s cool and they’ve been real supportive," Wall said of his sons. "My son is going to school for marketing at Winston-Salem State University, and he’s looking forward to helping Dad with marketing the CD."

Wall has scheduled a performance from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Community Park in Maysville. The event is free.