The Signature
6
Averi Chandler
By Megan Mills, NAS Sigonella Public Affairs, Photos by twincurl
“Cara Delilah, tutto bene a New York City, io ti scrivo dall’Italia..” veri Chandler’s eyes are bold as she croons and strums her guitar, switching easily from Italian to English as the music goes on. As in most of her TikToks, her warm face is the focus of the frame, her guitar her only accompaniment as she records snippets of songs in her bedroom. With her smooth voice, acoustic skills, and confident demeanor, it’s not hard to see why this video has over one million views. In fact, one viewer in particular, Italian musician Edo Fiacchi, was so impressed that he invited her to collaborate on an original song and music video.
A
KICKING AND SCREAMING At first, Averi’s musical passion took a backseat to her athletic side. “My family was a sports family,” she says. Her older sister won Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA) Europe Female Athlete of the Year in 2017, and her mother serves as athletic director at Sigonella Community Schools. Averi upheld the family tradition while also exploring her creativity. As a young child, she attended a sports and music academy, and she went on to learn to play drums, piano and guitar, while also participating in several sports. By sixth grade, she was becoming more serious about music, but only from the privacy of her own home—she suffered from intense stage fright. The following year, her father, seeing her talent and dedication, took matters into his own hands, resulting
in her first ever public performance. “I was singing and playing guitar, I was doing it every day, and he decided he was going to force me to do [Sig’s Got Talent],” she says, chuckling once again. “There was a lot of kicking and screaming and dragging.” Despite her resistance, she figured out a way to fight through the fright. “I put in my headphones to listen to the song,” she recalls. “I couldn’t hear anybody. I couldn’t see anybody. I just played the song.” Laughing, she adds, “I don’t really know how that performance went!” After getting positive feedback from the audience, Averi began to bring her guitar with her to school, playing first for her English classes, and then others too. Soon, her informal school concerts became a daily occurrence, and she even played in the orchestra pit for musicals at the school. All the while, she also pursued athletic excellence. A CHANGE IN PLANS As a freshman in high school, Averi followed in her sister’s athletic footsteps, winning the DoDEA Europe Female Athlete of the Year as well as the MVP title for volleyball, basketball, and softball. She hoped to continue playing sports through high school and into college, but after an injury in the first week of her junior year, those plans came to a screeching halt. “I had just come back from a really competitive camp that summer before where I was playing for nine hours a day, so I was really at my peak performance,” she says.
