Welcome to the very first episode of On a Positive Note.

I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and each month I'm sitting down with a songwriter, recording

artist, or both, to talk about music that can lift our spirits and heal our hearts.

To kick off this monthly podcast, I'm excited to sit down with songwriter and recording artist

Sylvia. Her mega hit Nobody made her somebody in the 80s, and since then, she's always wanted

to record an album that could be enjoyed both by children and adults. Now she's done that with her new

concept album, Nature's Child, A Dreamers Journey, which is earning rave reviews and has put her back on the Billboard Music Charts.

In this episode, Sylvia talks about how this album was 30 years in the making, where the songs came from, and why she wants to awaken the dreamer in all of us.

Sylvia, welcome to our very first episode of On a Positive Note.

I'm so excited to have you as our inaugural guest.

Oh, thank you.

I'm honored to be your first guest.

That's just wonderful.

Well, the timing on this was pretty spectacular. By the time this

airs, your new album will be out, and it is truly delightful, but it's also a big departure from

your previous work. So tell us what inspired you to create Nature Child. This album has been

in the works, in a sense, since the late 80s. Oh, wow. Yes. Six of the

songs on this album were written. I wrote those six with Verland Thompson, and they were written between

1988 and 1990. The idea came to me when I was kind of processing all those years on the road during the

decade of the 80s. I looked back and I realized what a gift it was, all these children showing up at

my shows, unbidden. I mean, it wasn't anything anyone thought would happen, but I mean, kids

brought their parents to the show.

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