My Story

 

    Growing up I remember singing along to Barry Manilow in the car. Every lyric, every melody was ingrained in my little sponge of a brain. One car ride I vividly remember blurting out, “I want to be a singer when I grow up.” The only problem was, I couldn’t even speak in school or record a presentation, let alone sing in front of a live audience or record myself singing to share with the world. I have Selective Mutism, a severe anxiety disorder characterized by the inability to speak in certain situations, places, or to certain people. Growing up I could talk perfectly fine at home, but I was mute in school and most other social situations. Yet, my love for singing and the idea of being a performer has always been there, persistent rattling around in my subconscious…

       During the first quarantine of Covid (August 2020) I was singing a Phantom of The Opera song in the kitchen doing dishes with my parents and their friends in the next room. They suggested I make a YouTube and post singing videos and, the next day, TheMeganGilbey was born. I now have over 388 subscribers and over 41,057 views across my 44 musical theatre covers with my cover of You Raise Me Up at over 22.1k views. I couldn’t, and still can’t read music so I started watching other professional singers and began teaching myself by ear. When I first started my YouTube, I only posted audios, but that slowly turned into small videos where I would hide behind a music stand and stand sideways so I didn’t have to look in the camera. These first videos blossomed into what are now full on video productions. Now not only do I face the camera straight on, but I express all the emotions that I could never share before I started singing.

     Just in the last 6 months, (starting October 2023), did I start to venture into singing live and in person. From hiding behind a music stand and staring at the lyrics for dear life, I teamed up with Burlington singer songwriter Andrew Irving, and can now face an audience, singing with confidence and grace. I have now sang on stages all across Southern Ontario as a professional singer learning how to perform and overcome my Selective Mutism.

       I have since had so many full circle moments like when I sang and played Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty) at a daddy daughter gala. When I was really little my first ever favorite princess was Aurora. Now not only have I grown up to be her for many little girls, but I’ve gotten to do what I never could as a kid. When I was little I could never dance or even take pictures with my favorite princesses. Not only did I get to make kids like me feel more comfortable, but I got to do what was ripped away from me as a kid because of selective mutism. I got to be a kid. I got to dance and twirl and just participate in everything I had missed out on.

           My message is that with determination, honesty, love, persistence, maybe even a little bit of pure stubbornness, anything is possible. I want to be the person that I needed to see on stage when I was younger. I needed someone with Selective Mutism on public stages who I could look up to and aspire to be, so I am going to be that person. Singing has always been in my life. It’s always been my God given path, I just needed a “little” push to get started. My journey is just that, a journey, with lots of ups and downs and still a lot more to come, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

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Musical Inspirations:

• Ramin Karimloo

• Michael Ball OBE

• Alfie Boe OBE

• Barry Manilow

• Linda Eder 

• Betty Buckley

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Fun Facts:

• I have an Honours Bachelor of Arts and graduated from the University of Toronto with distinction. I studied a major in Communication, Culture, Information, Technology (CCIT), a major in Criminology, and a minor in Professional Writing 

• I am a Laser Radial sailor and won the Ontario Summer Games in 2018

• I am a published author

• I love rug hooking and knitting 

• I love animals! (Especially cats!)

• I was a rep level softball fast pitch pitcher

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