A GIRL OF MANY HATS

MUSIC

As you may or may not know, my truest passion at heart is my music!  It’s what started everything for me and to be on stage playing with my husband, Benjamin, is my idea of a perfect night!

 

We have written and produced two albums together.  The first one is called “I Could Never Go”.  Ben and I recorded it when we were just getting out of high-school and  still learning what it meant to be “musicians”.  The second one called, “I’m Lovin’ It”, was released with an independent record label in 2012.  We have had a lot of success with this album selling over 10,000 copies and having the single “Take Me Back To Paradise” played on radio stations around the world!

 

I have some of our music on the MUSIC page of this site but if you want to see more of what we do you can go to rosaleeandben.com.  We are planning on releasing our next album in 2017 so keep a heads up!

 

For me, music = Life!

TURBANS

So everyone ask me how I came up with my idea for my “Bow Turban”.  As like most things in life, it comes out of necessity or by accident.  I just so happen to have incredibly long hair, if you haven’t noticed, and I thought to myself,  “what am I going to do with this big rat’s nest”?  Poof!  Rose Bow Turbans were invented!  It help of course that my Momma is a professional seamstress and helped bring the design to fruition.

 

It seems like other people liked the idea as well and they were always asking me where I got mine. Sooooooo, here they are for purchase in a multitude of fabrics.  I hope you will love them as much as I do!

MAKEUP

I want to start off by saying “I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF A PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP ARTIST”!  Phew, now let that’s out of the way!  I do however love everything about makeup and love being able to share some of my creations with the world.

 

This passion of mine also came out of necessity. When I started singing, I had to learn very quickly what translated well on stage.  Most of my looks were trial and error and with all the great resources available online, I have been able to “perfect” my craft to the best of my ability.  I’m always trying to learn and improve and as they say, practice makes perfect”……..kinda!

SMALL BEGINNINGS

HOME GROWN

Rose was born in a little town about 30 minutes South of Houston to a mechanic father and a seamstress mother. If you had asked her what she had wanted to be as a young girl, she would of told you a veterinarian.  This would have seemed an obvious answer if you could have seen the menagerie of animals that surrounded her at all times.  She grew up with all sorts of “critters”.  Some ordinary, some, less than ordinary.  For instance, most 8 year old little girls don’t really take a fondness for Russian Wild Boars…… Rose however wasn’t the most keen on being ordinary and it seemed the more unwanted an animal was to others,the more she gravitated towards it.  This was how life went on, Mom, Dad, wild “critters” running around everywhere, until she was around 14 years old.

A SONG

When Rose was about 14 years old,  she was already a sophomore in high school and started having some more free time on her hands.  She started to think about what she was going to do when she got out of school and what she was really interested in.  Well everyone new she loved animals which would of seemed and obvious choice given her love for anything that barked, meowed, chirped, oinked or any other variety of sounds made by creatures in the animal kingdom.  She also loved to cook and some thought maybe that would be something she could do. She’d been cooking since she was old enough to reach the pots and pans in the kitchen, but Rose had other plans it seemed.  One day her Mama asked her “Rose, what do you want to do as a hobby?” “What are you interested in?”  Much to her Mama’s surprise , Rose said “I want to sing!”  You have to understand this came as quite a shock to her parent given the fact that to the best of their knowledge, they had never heard their little girl sing a note.  At most, maybe she would hum along with the radio every once and awhile but that was about it.  Her Mama let out a little chuckle but as to not sadden her, her Mama said, “OK” lets get you some lesson.  Rose’s Mama took her to a vocal teacher not really expecting to much but if it was something her little girl wanted, it was the least she could do.  So they went to the voice coach and she said, “OK, Rose, why don’t you sing something for me.  Rose opened her mouth to sing for the first time anyone could remember and so began the rest of her life.

TO BLAVE

“Before I Held Your Hand, You Held My Heart”.  These are the lyrics to a song Rose wrote with her husband Ben about their relationship.  Love at first site may have become cliche over the years but that is exactly how they would describe what happened.  They met while they were still in high-school and within 6 months of their relationship, were already discussing wedding plans!  Sometimes life gives you the perfect pieces to help finish your puzzle and that’s the way it was with Rose and Ben.  Not to many couples seem to be able to work together but for them, it seemed natural.  They started playing music together when they were just getting high-school and have had the fortune of touring the world doing so. Once described in an article, “as having that special kind of chemistry on stage that only lovers have”.  If you ever wondered why Rose’s instagram name is @roseandben, this is the reason.

THE FOUNDATION

Seems like a giant leap to go from a full time singing career into the makeup, fashionista, blogger-influence world…..however, if you ask Rose,  it kind of evolved from her singing career.  Being on stage really puts you in the spotlight…..no pun intended, but seriously,  the demands of appearance are every more necessary in today’s music industry where a listener kind find access to videos and pictures of an artist whenever they want of.  Rose always had a unique sense of style, what made her unique.  She would experiment with different looks which included stage makeup that had to be seen from a distance and at the same time, look good for camera.  The same goes with her outfit selection.  When you are 16 years old, playing up to 5 shows a week,  you can’t necessarily hire a stylist to follow you around the country, so Rose had to improvise.  She would bring looks together that she liked started to learn what worked and what didn’t.  Once photography started exploding on social media, she started sharing some of the tricks she had learned over her career.  Seemed like people liked what she was doing and the rest writes itself.